DECLINE OF THE CALIPHS’ AUTHORITY IN KHORĀSĀN. THE TĀHIRIDES
On the death of Hārūn er-Rashīd, A.H. 193 (809), a serious dispute
arose between his two sons, Amīn and Ma´mūn. The former, probably
on the advice of his vezīr, Fadhl ibn Rabī`a,[205] ordered the
army, which was at Tūs, to return to Baghdād. This act was not only
unfriendly towards his brother, but was also in direct contravention
of his father’s will. Ma´mūn, in retaliation, put a stop to all postal
communication between Baghdād and the East, and assumed the title of
Caliph over a kingdom which extended from Hamadān to Tibet, and from
the Caspian to the Persian Gulf. With the help of his able vezīr,
Fadhl ibn Sahl,[206] he succeeded in establishing order throughout his
realms. Meanwhile Harthama took Samarkand after a protracted siege;
whereupon Rāfi` threw himself on Ma´mūn’s mercy and was pardoned, and
thus peace was restored throughout Khorāsān. But the elements of civil
disorder still held sway. While Amīn, on the one hand, struck Ma´mūn
from the succession, the latter ordered the omission of his brother’s
name from the public prayers. Amīn, angered at his rival’s attitude,
resolved on reducing him by force of arms. To this end he despatched
`Alī ibn `Isā against him at the head of 50,000 men. On reaching Ray,
A.H. 195 (810), he encountered Tāhir, who had been posted there by
Ma´mūn to watch the frontier. In the battle that ensued `Alī was slain
in single combat by Tāhir, and his army was put to flight. Tāhir,
in obedience to Ma´mūn’s orders, now marched on Baghdād, and with
reinforcements brought by Harthama defeated all the armies sent to stop
his progress. Having secured the submission of Arabia and Mesopotamia,
he laid siege to Baghdād, and took the city by storm in A.H. 198 (813),
after twelve months’ investment. Amīn made a vain attempt to escape,
and was finally slain by a party of Persian soldiers.
Ma´mūn, who was now the undisputed master of the Caliphate, made Merv
his capital instead of removing to Baghdād. He took this fatal step,
which gave offence to the people of the West generally, on the advice
of Fadhl ibn Sahl; for Ma´mūn, like his brother, was overruled by
a selfish and masterful vezīr. After the capture of Baghdād, Tāhir
placed himself at the head of affairs in that town; but the people soon
rose against him to avenge the death of Amīn. The revolt was quelled
by the distribution of largesses, and all `Irāk acknowledged Tāhir’s
sway.[207] It is impossible to enumerate the disorders which distracted
Baghdād and the West, and the countless difficulties which Ma´mūn had
to face during the next few years. Suffice it to say that, in spite
of repeated risings and conspiracies against the Caliph’s authority,
Ma´mūn continued to be guided by the short-sighted counsels of his
vezīr, who, as a Persian[208] and a Shī`ite, was hated in the orthodox
West. Not till A.H. 202 (817) did the monarch awaken to the dangers of
the situation and set out from Merv to Baghdād. On reaching Sarakhs,
Fadhl, the real cause of all Ma´mūn’s misfortunes, was murdered in his
bath--it appears, at the instigation of his master. In A.H. 204 (817)
Ma´mūn entered Baghdād, and Tāhir, who had during the recent troubles
fallen into disfavour with the Caliph, was now appointed governor of
Baghdād. He did not remain long in this office, for at his own request
he was appointed to the viceroyalty of the East, A.H. 205 (818).[209]
With him the Caliph sent a confidential eunuch, who had orders to
poison Tāhir should he show any signs of insubordination. After a
successful rule of two years Tāhir suddenly omitted the Caliph’s name
in the weekly prayers, and on the following day he was found dead in
his bed, A.H. 207 (822). But so great were the esteem and influence
which the viceroy had gained in Khorāsān, that the Caliph did not
dare to take the governorship of that province out of the hands of
Tāhir’s family. His two sons, Talha and `Abdullah, did not inherit
his turbulent character; and whilst `Abdullah was fighting Ma´mūn’s
battles in Mesopotamia and Egypt, his brother Talha governed the
Eastern provinces (from A.H. 207–213 (822–828)) in the Caliph’s name.
His residence was Nīshāpūr, whence he exercised complete authority over
Khorāsān, Tabaristān, and Transoxiana.
It is fitting in this place to revert to the rise of a family destined
to play an important part in the East under the Tāhirides, and, after
succeeding their former masters in the governorship of Khorāsān, to
found the first independent Mohammedan dynasty in Central Asia.
While Asad ibn `Abdullah el-Kasrī[210] held the governorship of
Khorāsān a certain nobleman of Balkh named Sāmān,[211] who had been
driven out of his native town, came to Asad in Merv and begged the
governor to help him against his enemies. Asad warmly espoused his
cause and succeeded in reinstating him in Balkh. Out of gratitude for
this action, Sāmān, who had hitherto been a Zoroastrian,[212] embraced
Islām and named his son Asad after his protector. This Asad had four
sons, who rendered excellent services to Hārūn er-Rashīd in quelling
the revolt of Rāfi` ibn Layth.[213] Ma´mūn, mindful of the obligations
under which the sons of Asad had placed his father, ordered the then
governor of Khorāsān, Ghassān ibn `Abād,[214] to give to each of them
the government of a town. Thus in the year A.H. 202 (817)[215] Nūh, the
eldest son, became Amīr of Samarkand; Ahmed, Amīr of Farghāna; Yahya,
Amīr of Shāsh (Tashkent) and Oshrūsana; and Ilyās, lord of Herāt.[216]
When, in A.H. 205, Ghassān was superseded by Tāhir, these grants to the
family of Sāmān were confirmed, and continued in the same hands until
the downfall of the Tāhirides and the rise of the Sāmānides to the
supreme power in the East.
In A.H. 213 (828) Talha died and was succeeded by his son `Alī, who,
however, perished shortly afterwards in a conflict with the Khārijites
near Nīshāpūr. Ma´mūn thereupon sent Talha’s brother `Abdullah to
Khorāsān to assume the reins of government, which he held until his
death in A.H. 230 (844), at the age of forty-eight, after seventeen
years of most successful administration. But although the Caliph’s name
was scrupulously mentioned in Friday prayers, Khorāsān was now to all
intents and purposes independent of Baghdād. The falling away of this
essentially Persian province was but the first step towards the final
separation of the Arabs and the Persians which was shortly to follow,
after two hundred years of involuntary and unnatural association. The
Tāhirides continued to rule Khorāsān and the East during a period of
fifty-six years, when their last representative, Mohammad,[217] in A.H.
259 (872), was overthrown by the Saffāride Ya`kūb ibn Layth, of whom we
must now speak.