Harun al-Rashid (1), Commander of the Faithful, son of the caliph al-Mahdi Muhammad ibn al-Mansur Abu Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib, a Qurashi Hashimite. His kunya was Abu Muhammad, though some called him Abu Jaʿfar. His mother was al-Khayzurān, a concubine.
He was born in Shawwal 146 AH—some say 147, others 148 AH; still others place his birth in 150 AH. He received the oath of allegiance as caliph, by the testament of his father al-Mahdi, after the death of his brother Musa al-Hadi, in Rabiʿ al-Awwal 170 AH.
He transmitted hadith from his father and grandfather, and he related—through al-Mubarak ibn Faḍalah, from al-Hasan, from Anas ibn Malik—that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Guard yourselves against the Fire, even with half a date.” (2) He quoted this tradition from the pulpit while addressing the people. Narrations from him were carried by his son, by Sulayman al-Hashimi the father of Ishaq, and by Nubatah ibn ʿAmr.
Harun al-Rashid was fair-skinned, tall, and handsome. During his father al-Mahdi’s lifetime he joined the summer campaigns several times, and after besieging Constantinople he concluded a truce between the Muslims and the Byzantines. The Muslims had suffered great hardship and fear in that expedition. The peace was negotiated with Leo’s wife, nicknamed Aghṭishah (3), on condition that she pay the Muslims a large annual tribute, a settlement that gladdened them greatly. This success moved his father, in 166 AH, to designate him heir after his brother.
When the caliphate passed to him in 170 AH, he proved to be among the best of rulers, the most constant in campaigning and pilgrimage. Abu al-Saʿli said of him:
Whoever seeks to meet you, or desires your presence,
Will find you in the Two Sanctuaries or on the furthest frontiers.
In the enemy’s land you ride a galloping steed,
And in the settled realm (4) upon a camel’s saddle.
No one else among the stay-at-homes
Has ever secured the frontiers as you have done.
He gave in charity from his own wealth one thousand dirhams every day. When he performed the pilgrimage he took one hundred jurists and their sons with him; when he did not go himself he sent three hundred of them at his expense, providing them with abundant provisions and full clothing. He loved to emulate his grandfather Abu Jaʿfar