Hārūn al-Rashīd

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Family and early life
Abbasid wealth under Hārūn
The fall of the Barmakids

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Hārūn al-Rashīd summary

Related Questions

How did Baghdad become connected to China, India, and East Africa?
How did Hārūn al-Rashīd become caliph in 786?
How did Hārūn al-Rashīd support musicians and poets?
How did Jaʿfar Barmakid respond to the disturbance in Syria in 796?
How did Persian traditions influence government and culture under the Abbasids?
How did al-Faḍl Barmakid end the rebellion of Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd Allāh?
How did al-Khayzurān influence Hārūn al-Rashīd’s rise to power?
How did trade contribute to Baghdad’s wealth under Hārūn al-Rashīd?
How far did the Abbasid empire extend when Hārūn al-Rashīd became caliph?
How was Hārūn al-Rashīd’s court described in The Thousand and One Nights?
What authority did a vizier hold in the Abbasid government?
What forms of luxury were found in Hārūn al-Rashīd’s palace?
What happened during Hārūn al-Rashīd’s military expedition against the Byzantine Empire in 782?
When did Hārūn al-Rashīd rule as Abbasid caliph?
When was Jaʿfar Barmakid executed?
Where did Hārūn al-Rashīd die?
Where was Hārūn al-Rashīd born?
Which provinces were assigned to Hārūn al-Rashīd before he became caliph?
Which public works were promoted by the Barmakid family?
Which subjects did Hārūn al-Rashīd study as a prince in Baghdad?
Who succeeded Hārūn al-Rashīd as caliph after his death in 809?
Who was Yaḥyā the Barmakid in Hārūn al-Rashīd’s early life?
Who were Hārūn al-Rashīd’s sons al-Amīn and al-Maʾmūn?
Who were al-Faḍl and Jaʿfar Barmakid?
Why did Hārūn al-Rashīd grant Ibrāhīm ibn al-Aghlab semi-independent rule over Ifrīqiyyah?
Why did the Barmakids become so influential in Abbasid administration?
Why was Hārūn al-Rashīd traveling toward Khorāsān in 808?
What was Ibn Battuta’s occupation?
Who was Muhammad?
What family did Muhammad have?
What are the traditional events of Muhammad’s life?
What are the scholarly sources of Muhammad’s biography?
Why are images of Muhammad generally prohibited in Islam?
How was ʿAlī influential?
What was ʿAlī’s early life like?
How did ʿAlī die?
What was ʿAlī’s legacy?

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External Websites

SOAS Research Online - Hārūn al-Rashīd in Pre-Modern Arabic Literary Imaginary: Ideology of Monogamy, Harem Politics and Court Intrigues
BBC Sounds - The Essay - The Islamic Golden Age Harun al-Rashid
Heritage History - The Youth of Harun, Son Of Mahdi
Encyclopaedia Iranica - Hārūn al-Rashīd
History of Islam - Biography of Harun al Rashid
Jewish Virtual Library - Biography of Harun al-Rashid

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Harun al-Rashid - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Hārūn al-Rashīd

ʿAbbāsid caliph

Also known as: Hārūn al-Rashīd, Hārūn al-Rashīd ibn Muḥammad al-Mahdī ibn al-Manṣūr al(Show More)

Written by

William Montgomery Watt

Professor of Arabic and Islāmic Studies, University of Edinburgh, 1964–79. Author of Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman; Muslim Intellectual: A Study of al-Ghazālī; General Editor of Islāmic Surveys.

William Montgomery Watt

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

Quick Facts Hārūn al-Rashīd (born February 766/March 763, Rayy, Iran—died March 24, 809, Ṭūs, Iran) was the fifth caliph of the Abbasid dynasty (786–809), who ruled the Islamic world at the zenith of its empire with a luxury in Baghdad memorialized in The Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights Entertainment). Hārūn al-Rashīd was the son of al-Mahdī, the third Abbasid caliph (ruled 775–785), and al-Khayzurān, a formerly enslaved girl from Yemen and a woman...

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