Among his daughters were Sakinah, whose mother was Qaṣf; Umm Ḥabīb, whose mother was Māradah; Arwā; Umm al-Ḥusayn; Umm Muḥammad—whose given name was Ḥamdūnah; Fāṭimah, whose mother was Ghiṣaṣ; Umm Salamah; Khadījah; Umm al-Qāsim, called Ramlah; Umm ʿAlī; Umm al-Ghāliyah; and Rayṭah. All of them were born to slave mothers.

The Caliphate of Muḥammad al-Amīn

When Hārūn al-Rashīd died in Ṭūs during Jumada al-Ākhirah of that same year—193 AH—his son Ṣāliḥ b. al-Rashīd wrote from there to his brother and designated heir, Muḥammad al-Amīn b. Zubaydah, who was in Baghdad, informing him of their father’s death and offering condolences. The letter, borne by the servant Rajāʾ and accompanied by the signet ring, the staff, and the mantle, reached Baghdad on Thursday, the fourteenth of Jumada al-Ākhirah.

Al-Amīn rode from his Palace of Eternity to the Palace of Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr—also known as the Palace of Gold—on the bank of the Tigris. He led the people in prayer, ascended the pulpit, addressed them and consoled them for the loss of al-Rashīd, broadened their hopes, and promised them prosperity. The nobles of his clan, the notable members of Banū Hāshim, and the commanders then pledged their allegiance to him. He ordered that the soldiers receive two years’ stipend in advance, after which he descended. He next instructed his uncle Sulaymān b. Jaʿfar to secure the pledge from the rest of the populace. Once al-Amīn’s affairs were firmly in order, his brother al-Maʾmūn became envious, and disagreement arose between them, as we shall recount, God willing.

The Dissension between al-Amīn and al-Maʾmūn

The cause lay in the fact that, when al-Rashīd first entered the lands of Khurāsān, he granted all the region’s treasuries, mounts, and weaponry to his son al-Maʾmūn and renewed the oath of allegiance to him. Al-Amīn, meanwhile, had secretly sent Bakr b. al-Muʿtamir with letters to be delivered to the governors upon al-Rashīd’s death. When the caliph passed away, those letters reached the governors and Ṣāliḥ b. al-Rashīd; one of them, addressed to al-Maʾmūn, commanded him to listen and obey. Ṣāliḥ therefore took the people’s pledge for al-Amīn, and al-Faḍl b. al-Rabīʿ led the army to Baghdad. Many soldiers, however, still felt uneasy about the earlier oath sworn for al-Maʾmūn. Al-Maʾmūn wrote to them calling them to his own allegiance, but they would not respond, and estrangement developed between the two brothers. The bulk of the army inclined to al-Amīn, whereupon al-Maʾmūn wrote submissively to his brother, professing obedience and respect, and sent him gifts from Khurāsān—fine mounts, musk, and other treasures—for he served there as al-Amīn’s deputy.

On the Saturday morning following the Friday on which the pledge had been taken, al-Amīn ordered the construction of two hunting grounds. Concerning this, one of the poets composed:

The trustee of God raised a hunting ground,
And turned the barren plain to gardened round.
Slender as bān (willow) trees the gazelles would glide;
To him, within that park, gazelles were offered with pride. (1)