and a ṭaylasān (cloak). He then summoned his two young sons, kissed them, hugged them to his breast and said, “I entrust you both to Allah.” Wiping his tears with the edge of his sleeve, he mounted a black horse while a candle was carried before him. When he reached Harthamah, the latter welcomed and honoured him, and together they boarded a ḥarraqah (armoured river-boat) on the Tigris.
News of this reached Ṭāhir, who flew into a rage: “I am the one who has done all of this, yet he turns to someone else so that everything will be credited to Harthamah?” He set off after them and overtook them while they were still aboard the ḥarraqah. His men tilted the vessel, drowning everyone on it; Muḥammad al-Amīn alone swam to the opposite bank, where some soldiers captured him and informed Ṭāhir. Ṭāhir thereupon dispatched a detachment of non-Arab troops, who went to the house where he had taken refuge.
One of his companions was with him, and Muḥammad kept saying to the man, “Come closer, for I feel a terrible loneliness.” Wrapping his garments tightly around himself, he trembled while his heart pounded so violently it seemed about to burst from his chest. When the troops burst in he exclaimed, “Indeed we belong to Allah, and to Him we shall return.” One of them stepped forward and struck him with his sword on the crown of his head. He cried, “Woe to you! I am the cousin of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—I am the son of Hārūn and the brother of al-Maʾmūn. For Allah’s sake, spare my blood!” They paid no heed; instead they closed in on him and slaughtered him from the back of his neck while he lay face-down. They carried his head to Ṭāhir and left the body. The next morning they returned, placed the corpse in a horse’s saddlecloth, and took it away. This occurred on the night of Sunday, four nights having elapsed of Ṣafar that year.
A brief account of his life (1)
He was Muḥammad al-Amīn ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd ibn Muḥammad al-Mahdī ibn Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, known as Abū ʿAbd Allāh—and some said Abū Mūsā—of the Hāshimī ʿAbbāsid line. His mother was Umm Jaʿfar Zubaydah bint Jaʿfar ibn Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr. He was born in al-Ruṣāfah in 170 AH.
Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā said, “ʿAbbās (2) ibn Hishām narrated to us from his father that Muḥammad al-Amīn, son of Hārūn al-Rashīd, was born in Shawwāl 170 AH.”
The caliphate reached him in the City of Peace, Baghdad, when thirteen nights remained of Jumādā al-Ākhirah, 193 AH; another report says it was on the night of Sunday when five nights remained of Muḥarram. He was killed in 198 AH; his slayer was Quraysh al-Dandānī. His head was carried to Ṭāhir ibn al-Ḥusayn, who hoisted it upon a spear and recited:
“Say, O Allah, Possessor of all sovereignty…” (Qur’an 3:26).
His reign lasted four years, seven months, and eight days. He was tall, stout, and fair-complexioned, with a prominent nose, small eyes, large joints and broad shoulders, and some people accused him of excessive—