until he would enter the mosque, pray Friday there, and not leave until he had performed the night prayer (ʿishāʾ).

On one occasion he admonished Hārūn al-Rashīd with an eloquent address. He said:

“Know that Allah will question you about the community of His Prophet, so prepare an answer for that. ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb said: ‘If a kid goat were to die neglected in Iraq, I would fear that Allah would ask me about it.’”

Al-Rashīd replied, “I am not like ʿUmar, and my era is not like his.”

He retorted, “That will avail you nothing.” The caliph then ordered that he be given three hundred dinars, but he said, “I am one of the people of the ṣuffah; have it distributed among them, and count me among them.”

[Then the year 195 AH began]

In Ṣafar of that year al-Amīn ordered the people not to use dirhams or dinars that bore al-Maʾmūn’s name. He also forbade that al-Maʾmūn be mentioned from the pulpits or that prayers be said for him or for his sons after him.

That same year al-Maʾmūn adopted the title Imām al-Hudā (Leader of Guidance). In Rabīʿ al-Ākhir al-Amīn appointed ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā b. Māhān governor of Jabal, Hamadhān, Isfahān, Qumm, and the neighboring regions, commanding him to wage war against al-Maʾmūn. He supplied him with a large army, spent lavishly on them, and gave him two hundred thousand dinars, fifty thousand more for his son, two thousand gilt swords, and six thousand ceremonial robes. ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā b. Māhān left Baghdad with forty thousand mounted troops, carrying a silver fetter with which to bring al-Maʾmūn.

Al-Amīn accompanied him part of the way, then turned back. ʿAlī marched until he reached Rayy, where the commander Ṭāhir confronted him with four thousand men. Matters escalated until battle was joined: ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā was killed, his army routed, and his head and body carried to Ṭāhir. Ṭāhir wrote of this to al-Maʾmūn’s vizier, Dhu’l-Riʾāsatayn. The man who slew ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā was called Ṭāhir the Younger, and was nicknamed Dhu’l-Taymīnayn (“the Two Right Hands”) because he grasped the sword with both hands and cut down ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā b. Māhān. Al-Maʾmūn and his household rejoiced at the news, which reached al-Amīn while he was fishing in the palace pond.

He exclaimed, “Woe to you! Leave me to this, for Kawthar has already caught two fish and I have not yet caught anything.” Rumors swept Baghdad and the people feared the consequences. Muḥammad al-Amīn regretted his breach of the covenant, his deposition of al-Maʾmūn, and the terrible events that had ensued. The report reached him in Shawwāl of that year.

He next dispatched ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Jablah al-Abnawī with twenty thousand fighters to Hamadhān to battle Ṭāhir b. al-Ḥusayn b. Muṣʿab and the Khurāsānī contingents with him. When they drew near, the two sides engaged in fierce combat, with heavy casualties on both sides. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s men were then routed and withdrew to Hamadhān, where Ṭāhir besieged them until they were compelled to seek a truce. He granted them safe-conduct and kept his word. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Jablah withdrew on condition that he return to Baghdad. Later, however, they betrayed Ṭāhir’s men, fell upon them unawares, and killed a number of them,