the Mosque; indeed, it was reported that they would deliberately befoul the very corners of the sanctuary. On several occasions they clashed with the Musawwida—the Abbasid partisans—and men were killed on both sides.

He then marched to Mecca and stayed there until the time of the Hajj. After the pilgrims had completed the rites, al-Hādī sent an army against him; they engaged him in battle, slew him, and put a number of his followers to death. The rest fled in every direction, scattered to the winds. His revolt lasted nine months and eighteen days from beginning to end.

Al-Ḥusayn was famed for his openhandedness, among the most generous of men. Once he entered upon al-Mahdī, who granted him forty thousand dinars; he distributed the whole sum among his relatives and friends in Baghdad and Kufah. When he later departed Kufah he wore no shirt, only a fur cloak with nothing beneath it.

During the same year the people were led in the pilgrimage by Sulaymān ibn Abī Jaʿfar, the Caliph’s uncle. The summer campaign was conducted along the Darb al-Rāhib route by Maʿtūq ibn Yaḥyā at the head of a large host; the Byzantines advanced with their patrikios, and the two forces reached al-Ḥadath.

Those who died this year included:
• Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, killed during the Days of Tashrīq, as mentioned above.
• Al-Rabīʿ ibn Yūnus the chamberlain, client of al-Manṣūr. He had served al-Manṣūr as chamberlain and vizier, and later held the vizierate for al-Mahdī and al-Hādī. Some questioned his lineage. Al-Khaṭīb relates a hadith through him, but it is considered spurious and its authenticity doubtful. After his death the post of chamberlain passed to his son al-Faḍl ibn al-Rabīʿ, whom al-Hādī appointed.

[The year 170 AH]

In this year al-Hādī resolved to depose his brother Hārūn al-Rashīd from the succession and to name his own son Jaʿfar ibn al-Hādī as heir apparent. Hārūn complied and showed no outward resistance. Al-Hādī summoned a group of commanders, and they assented, but their mother al-Khayzurān refused, for she favored Hārūn over Mūsā. Al-Hādī had already barred her from meddling in state affairs, though at the start of his reign she had wielded great influence, with petitions and dignitaries flocking to her door. He swore that if any commander again approached her residence he would strike off his head and accept no intercession for him. She therefore kept silent, swore never again to speak to him, and moved to another dwelling.

Meanwhile al-Hādī pressed Hārūn to abdicate and summoned Yaḥyā ibn Khālid al-Baramakī—one of the foremost commanders aligned with al-Rashīd. He asked him, “What do you think of my intention to remove Hārūn and appoint my son Jaʿfar?”

Yaḥyā replied, “I fear that people will learn to take oaths lightly, yet the public interest would be served if you were to make Jaʿfar heir apparent after Hārūn. I also fear that most people will refuse to pledge allegiance to Jaʿfar, for he is still a minor; the affair may become grave and division may arise.”

Al-Hādī bowed his head in thought—it was night—then ordered Yaḥyā imprisoned, only to release him afterward. One day Hārūn al-Rashīd visited him and sat some distance to his right. Al-Hādī fixed his gaze on him for a long time and then said, “O Hārūn, do you really hope to be the true heir to the caliphate?”

He replied: