Friday, PM, August 22, 1997
Shaykh Samir said:
The period after when Harun ar-Rashid became the caliph.
We said that after the death of al-Hadi, his brother, Harun, (famous by ar-Rashid) became the caliph. This was the year 170 after the Hijrah. On the same night in which his brother died, he was given allegiance to and became the caliph. On the same night, also, a son was born to him, and he called him ^Abdullah. And this is the one who was known later by al-Ma’mun. So that night, a caliph died, and a caliph were given allegiance to, and a caliph was born. (Because al-ma’mun later became a caliph).
Ar-Rashid, may Allah have mercy on him, was beautiful. He was tall; heavy (he wasn’t thin, that is.) He had a strong charisma, he was among the most powerful and strong rulers on earth at his time. He was knowledgeable about the Religious knowledge and about the language. And he was eloquent at the same time. He used to pray every day and night 100 rak^ah, that is, among the optional prayers. He is among the very rare rulers who travelled especially to seek the knowledge while they were in power. He took his two sons, (amine and ma’mun–I think I heard these names in Arabic)) and travelled for a very long distance, just to hear the hadith of the Prophet from one of the scholars. Then long time after ar-Rashid, Salahud-Din is the other ruler who did that. He travelled to Alexandria to hear the hadith of the Prophet from a hafidh named, As-Silafiyy–and that is, when he was a ruler. One of the scholars said, “I don’t know any third ruler who did the same thing. These are the only two rulers whom I know about them that they travelled while they were in power to acquire the knowledge of the religion.”
It was narrated that he used to give in charity, every day, from his own money, $1,000 dirham. (This is the regular thing, and many times he would give more than that.) It was narrated that he saw in his dream the Prophet before he became the caliph, telling him, “You will become the ruler, so when this occurs, make al-jihad (fight for the sake of Allah) and go to al Hajj. The same year he became the caliph, he did both matters: He lead an army in al-jihad, and he performed al-Hajj.
Ar-Rashid used to love the knowledge AND the scholars. And if anyone would preach him, he would listen carefully. And he would be very affected to the point that he would cry because of that. One of the scholars of hadith was a blind man. He ate one day with ar-Rashid (they ate together). After he finished, someone came with a container of water and he washed his hand. After a period of time, ar-Rashid told him, “Do you know who washed your hand.” He said, “No.” Ar-Rashid said, “I did it in respect of your knowledge.”
During his ruler ship, the Islamic state was a strong one, financially, economically, militarily, on the level of the knowledge, and on other levels. During his ruler ship, the clock was first made. And he is the one who sent the famous clock as a gift to the French king, Charlemagne. And the stories which some people mention about him that he used to drink alcohol, and that he used to follow the forbidden pleasures is false. All of this is fabricated. That is, the stories related about him in the famous book, One Thousand and One Nights is not a reliable thing. Especially when one thinks how knowledgeable he was and how much he appreciated acquiring the knowledge; how much he had a soft heart, and that he was a relative of the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam. Between him and al ^Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet) there are only a few generations, a few people.
One day, Ibnu Sammak, the very famous preacher, came to his session. He sat. Harun ar-Rashid asked for a cup of water. When the cup was brought to ar-Rashid, he told him, “Wait, don’t drink. He asked him, “If you are prevented from drinking this water, that is, if you were thirsty, this is the only water you can get to it, how much you would pay to get it?” Ar-Rashid said, “I would purchase it in exchange for the half of my kingdom.” So he told him, “Drink.” After he drank it, he told him, “If you become unable to excrete it from your body, how much would you pay to be able to do that.” He said, “I would give all my ruler ship in exchange for that.” So he told him, “Such a ruler ship which has a value of a sip of water and some urine, such a ruler ship, one shouldn’t compete to get it.” When he heard that, he cried a lot.
In the same year, that is 170, his second son, Muhammad was born. Muhammad was known later by the title, “al-Amin. IN that year, ar-Rashid asked Yahya Ibn Khalid to become his special assistant; called in Arabic “Wazir” (wazir means the assistant.) It is not strange for a ruler to have assistants, but the special thing about this event is that ar-Rashid gave him his ring, and he told him, “I authorize you to take care of my subjects.” That is, the ring is what they used to use to seal the official orders. That is, he could make the orders, assign rulers, and ask others to leave their offices, and many other things. This is what it meant.
He told him, “Put out of office whomever you want. And assign for the different positions, whomever you want. Of course, ar-Rashid was a strong ruler. So, such an assistant could not become the true ruler. But later, after ar-Rashid by a period of time, weak rulers ruled, and at that point of time, their assistant became the true rulers, and they became only like a decoration in many matters. In many matters, they were just there like a decoration.
Do you remember that we mentioned anything like this about a ruler before ar-Rashid? He was the first one to start this.
In the next year, 171, the Umayyad ruler in an Andalusia died. He was the one who established the Umayyad kingdom in Spain. And from now on you will notice that every while we will talk about what happens in Spain alone, because now we have two states. The Abbassi state and the Umayyad state in Andalusia, in Spain. He died after he ruled thirty three years (33) and a few months. Abdur Rahman ad-Dakhil was a very energetic person; he didn’t use to delay the matters. He took care to fight anyone who would revolt against him–immediately, he would act quickly. And he used to take care in person about the matters, but at the same time, he used to seek always the advices of others about the matters. He wasn’t arrogant, thinking that his opinion is always the best. He was very brave. He wasn’t a coward. He would take risks. He was very generous. And he used to control the matters in his kingdom in a strong way, so they used to compare him to al-Mansur in that issue.
After he died, his son, Hisham became the ruler. And notice that despite the Umayyad rulers were practically independent form the Abbasid state (even they were the enemies of the Abbasid state) at that period, no one among the Umayyad rulers called himself a caliph. Rather, they used to call themselves “al-Amir” (The Prince). Prince so and so. Or they would call themselves, The Leader so and so. This is because even with all that enmity, they were thinking that there should not be two (2) caliphs for the Muslims. Even with all that enmity between them and the Abbasid, they were still thinking that there should not be two caliphs for the Muslims.
The next year, 172, ^Abdullah and Suleiman the two brothers of Hisham, the one who became the ruler in spain, revolted against him. They wanted the power. He fought them several years until they kind of surrendered. One of them left the country and the other one surrendered. These events took place for several years, that is, until the year 174. And why is that? Just because they wanted to rule instead of their brother. This is despite that their enemies, they were at the border. Their country was at the border of the enemies of the Muslims, and they were in a continuous chain of wars with the enemies of Muslims there. But despite that, because they wanted to rule, they revolted. And you can imagine how much effort and money and other things this cost the state.
At the year 175, ar-Rashid appointed his son, Muhammad al-Amin, to be his successor.
And al-Amin was his son from his wife zubaydah, who was ar-Rashid’s cousin.
At this year, in Spain, during this year, Hicham almost established peace in his state. Because there were other people who revolted against him (that is, people other than his brothers.) When he did that, then he could direct his efforts to fight the enemies of the Muslims. The result of that was that he opened several areas and he added them to his state.
At the year 176, Yahya, the son of ^Abdullah, the son of al-Hasan, the son of Hasan, the son of ^Aliyy, the son of Abi Talib, revolted against ar-Rashid in an area of Iran. And he became strong. Ar-Rashid asked one of the people whom he used to trust very much, named al-Fadl the son of Yahya, to fight that person. And he sent with him an army of 50,000 soldiers. But, al-Fadl did not want to fight Yahya, because Yahya was among the relatives of the Prophet, so he didn’t want to fight him. He started negotiating with him until he convinced him not to fight. And he told ar-Rashid that he is ready to come to you, if you grant him safety. So ar-Rashid wrote to him a declaration of safety. So he came to ar-Rashid, and ar-Rashid received him in a very good way. But, after a period of time, he didn’t let him go and come as he wanted (kind of he imprisoned him.) Until he died, and he was still in that situation.
In the same year, a big tribulation occurred in ash-Sham between the tribe of Mudar and the Yamani tribes. A lot of people were killed because of that. In the next year Hicham in Spain continued fighting the enemies of the Muslims. He added to the Islamic state several cities among their cities. And that victorious war which the Muslims had that year was among the most famous wars which they had in Spain.
In that year and the following years, many consecutive tribulations occurred in Tunisia and the area around it. Some of them because some people wanted to become rulers. Some others because the ruler was a bad ruler. He was unjust. Some of them because of the Khawaarij. But there were always tribulations for several years in that area.
In that year and the year after it, several leaders among the leaders of the army were occupied in fighting the Khawarij, who were still active until that time. You remember when they first appeared, it was at the time of ^Aliyy. So until that time, they were still active. Every while they would cause harm for the Muslims here and there.
When they would say bilad al jazeerah – the jazeerah are the countries between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Among the most dangerous of the Khawarij was a man named Walid, from the tribe of Taghlib, who appeared in al jazeerah. The southern area between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. This person caused a lot of tribulations, starting by THAT area, until Armenia, which was, at that time, under the Islamic rulership. Then he went to Adharbijaan in Iran and other areas, so he did a lot of harm to the Muslims.
Ar Rashid sent a man to fight him. His name was Yazid, the son of Mazyad, the son of Zaa’idah, from the tribe of Shayban. (He is the nephew of Ma^n the son of Zaa’idah — the famous man. (Ma^n) was a ruler, he was a brave person, he was a very generous person. He didn’t accept to leave the Umayyad rulers. (He worked with them). He didn’t accept to leave them until the last of their battles. He was loyal to them. So later, al Mansur was looking for him to kill him, until one day he saw al-Mansur in a great danger. At the time of al-Mansur, some people worshipped al-Mansur. And they were called ar-Raawandiyyah. At one point of time, they surrounded his palace, and they were fighting the guards, and he had with him a few people only, and he was in a very delicate situation. At that moment, when Ma^n saw that, he helped him. He stood before him, although al-Mansur wanted to kill him. He said you don’t have to fight; I will fight anyone who wants to harm you. So al-Mansur gave him safety. He blamed him, said, you were very loyal to my enemies. He said, “Yes, I gave them my word, and I kept it. And if I give you my word, I will keep it.” So since then, he depended on him.
The one who ar Rashid sent to fight the Khawarij is the nephew of this man. I am telling you this, so you will see how the poeple used to raise their children. So you would know that this was like a habit, a common manner, trait in them.
So Yazid, because he was an intelligent person, he started tricking al Khawarij. He didn’t rush to fight them, because they were very strong. Some of the people started to say to ar-Rashid that this man is not fighting them, because He and their leader BOTH go back to the same branch, the same tribe. Both of them their lineage goes back to Wa’il. So ar-Rashid became angry, and he wrote to him a letter while he was in that situation. Ar-Rashid told him, “Had I sent one of my servants, he would have done much better than what you did. But you are a person who is affected by the tribal solidarity. (al-^Asabiyyah) and you are compromising on my account.” Then he threatened him, “If you don’t rush to fight the Khawarij, I will punish you very severely.”
Then he decided to rush to fight them, and he ordered the people with him to get ready for that… When he got to them, the month was the month of Ramadan. It was hot, and he became very thirsty. To a point that he put his ring in his mouth out of thirst. And he started making du^a’ to Allah: Saying, “This is a very hard situation. O Allah, give us safety. Let us go through it in a safe manner.” He told his soldiers. “These are the Khawarij. And their habit is to attack in a very severe way. If you are patient enough and you don’t’ run away, after that, the situation would change and I promise you that you would defeat them.” The battle went as he said. The Khawarij attacked them in a very severe way. A part of his soldiers escaped. But, he and his family were steadfast. And they fought very severely. When the Khawarij noticed that, they ran away, they couldn’t keep fighting. So he followed them, and he killed a lot of them, and among those who were killed was their leader. After the leader of the Khawarij was killed, his sister wore the armor, she rode the horse and she started fighting, and it was known that this is a woman. So Yazid told the people, leave her. He got close to her and he hit the horse without killing him with his spear. And he told her, “Go away. What are you doing? You are disgracing our tribe.” So she felt shy, and she went away.
At that year, and the years after it, the ruler of Andalusia continued to fight the enemies of the Muslims. He added many areas to his state. Until he died in the year 180. After him, his son, al-Hakam, became the ruler. He continued what his father was doing. So he fought the enemies of the Muslims there in several strong battles, and he was victorious in all of them.
As for Tunisia and the areas around it, the tribulations continued there until a man named Ibrahim ibnul Aghlab became the ruler there. He put a lot of effort until the peace was established in that area. And by him, the ruler ship of his family over that area became. That is, you will notice that after he died, he himself appointed who would succeed him, and the caliph said it is OK. So they started by him a ruler ship of that family started over that area. This became the habit that the ruler would be from that family. And you know what that means. If at one point of time the caliph any weakness occurs to the power of the caliphate, then if the family is very well established in an area, it would be very hard to get them out of the office. So practically they would become the rulers of that area REGARDLESS of the opinion of the caliph. So they would pay allegiance to the caliph, so the people wouldn’t say that they are against the caliph, but at the same time, the caliph would tell them to remain the rulers because he can’t tell them to do otherwise. So it is not a good situation.
And Allah knows best.
1. The period of time when ar-Rashid governed was an important period of time for the Islamic state. Think about all the tribulations. Yet, remember the state was very powerful. Economically the people were in a good situation. The knowledge was well spread, etc–despite all of that. So think the secret and the motive behind that is al Islam. This is what kept it like that, despite all these issues.
2. This is why I mentioned that the mother of Amine was the cousin of ar-Rashid. Because of that, ar-Rashid appointed his son, al Amin to be his successor, although his opinion was that al-ma’mum is more capable. And if you take into consideration that the mother of al-Ma’mum was a slave, and originally a Persian slave, and that ar-Rashid appointed at the same time al-Ma’mum to be the caliph after the death of his brother, then you would know why later they fought one another. And why the people of Iran supported al-Ma’mum, etc. In sha’ Allah, we will get to that. Some people said that when ar-Rashid appointed his two sons to succeed him, one after the death of the other, some people said this is the way for them to fight. They said, because al-Mansur obligated the one who was appointed originally to be his successor to resin. So he would make his son, al mahdi his successor And his son, al Mahdi, when he appointed his sons, (al Hadi and al Rashid), al Hadi tried to make his brother ar-Rashid resign, so he could appoint his son. So some people said that ar-Rashid didn’t take a lesson from that, and he appointed his two sons. So as if he prepared the reason for them to fight one another. And this is what happened, after Al-amin became the caliph, he tried to make his brother resign. And this was the reason for a war between them.
3. Think about if all the effort directed to calm these tribulations was directed against the enemies of the Muslims, and then for sure the results would have been very much different than what they were.
4. For nine months in the Khutbah, , Abdur Rahman ad-Dakhil kept mentioning the name of al-Mansur as the caliph in his khutbah, until one of his relatives told him not to do that. So after that, he didn’t mention this issue.