Editing Abbasid Caliphate (section)

===Golden age (775–861)===
The Abbasid leadership had to work hard in the last half of the 8th century (750–800) under several competent caliphs and their [[Vizier (Abbasid Caliphate)|viziers]] to usher in the administrative changes needed to keep order of the political challenges created by the far-flung nature of the empire, and the limited communication across it.<ref name="Brauer">{{harvnb|Brauer|1995}}</ref> It was also during this early period of the dynasty, in particular during the rule of al-Mansur, Harun al-Rashid, and [[al-Ma'mun]], that its reputation and power were created.<ref name=":11" />

[[File:Decorated niche, 750-825 CE, Afrasiab, Samarkand.jpg|thumb|Decorated niche from the Abbasid mosque of [[Afrasiyab (Samarkand)|Afrasiab]], [[Samarkand]] in [[Sogdia]], 750–825 CE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Allegranzi |first1=Viola |last2=Aube |first2=Sandra|title=Splendeurs des oasis d'Ouzbékistan |date=2022 |publisher=Louvre Editions |location=Paris |isbn=978-8412527858 |page=181}}</ref>]]
The position of ''wazir'' (vizier) developed in this period. It was initially akin to a secretary, but under the tenure of the [[Barmakids]], an Iranian family close to the Abbasids, the position became powerful and Harun al-Rashid delegated state affairs to them for many years.<ref>{{Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|volume=11|page=185|first=Muhammad Qasim|last=Zaman|article=Wazīr}}</ref> This resulted in a more ceremonial role for many Abbasid caliphs relative to their time under the Umayyads; the viziers began to exert greater influence, and the role of the caliph's aristocracy was slowly replaced by a Barmakid bureaucracy.<ref name="AHGC" /> At the western end of the empire, Harun al-Rashid agreed to grant the province of [[Ifriqiya]] (centered in present-day Tunisia) as a hereditary emirate to [[Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab]], who founded the [[Aghlabid dynasty]] there.{{sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=88}}

Under Harun al-Rashid's reign ({{Reign|786|809}}), the Abbasid Empire reached its peak.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RIB5qT9sGnwC&dq=harun+al-rashid+released+umayyads&pg=PA191 | title=Historical Dictionary of Iraq | isbn=978-0810865686 | last1=Ghareeb | first1=Edmund A. | last2=Dougherty | first2=Beth | date=2004 | publisher=Scarecrow Press }}</ref><ref name="mag">{{harvnb|Magnusson|Goring|1990|p=2}}</ref> His father, [[al-Mahdi]] ({{Reign|775|785}}), [[Abbasid invasion of Asia Minor (782)|restarted the fighting]] with the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]], and his sons continued the conflict until [[Irene of Athens|Empress Irene]] pushed for peace.{{sfn|Dupuy|Dupuy|1986|p=233}} After several years of peace, [[Nikephoros I]] broke the treaty, then fended off multiple incursions during the first decade of the 9th century. These Abbasid attacks pushed into the [[Taurus Mountains]], culminating with a victory at the [[Battle of Krasos]] and the [[Abbasid invasion of Asia Minor (806)|massive invasion of 806]], led by al-Rashid himself.<ref name="DD1">{{harvnb|Dupuy|Dupuy|1986|p=265}}</ref> Harun al-Rashid's navy also proved successful, taking [[Cyprus]]. Al-Rashid then focused on the rebellion of [[Rafi ibn al-Layth]] in Khurasan and died while there.<ref name="DD1" />

[[File:Harun al-Rashid receives envoys from Charlemagne.jpg|thumb|[[Harun al-Rashid]] ([[reign|r.]] 786–809) receiving a delegation sent by [[Charlemagne]] at his court in Baghdad. Painting by Julius Köckert (1827–1918), dated 1864. Oil on canvas.]]
Domestically, al-Rashid pursued policies similar to those of his father al-Mahdi. He released many of the Umayyads and Alids his brother [[al-Hadi]] ({{Reign|785|786}}) had imprisoned and declared amnesty for all political groups of the [[Quraysh]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RIB5qT9sGnwC&dq=harun+al-rashid+released+umayyads&pg=PA191 | title=Historical Dictionary of Iraq | isbn=978-0810865686 | last1=Ghareeb | first1=Edmund A. | last2=Dougherty | first2=Beth | year=2004 | publisher=Scarecrow Press }}</ref> While Baghdad remained the official capital, al-Rashid chose to reside in [[Raqqa]] from 796 until the end of his reign.{{sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=88}}{{refn|group=nb|This city had previously been the residence of his father, al-Mahdi, whom al-Mansur had appointed its governor in 771. Al-Mahdi constructed a new city for himself, al-Rafiqa, next to Raqqa, and the two towns came to form a single urban agglomeration over time.{{sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=69}}}} In 802, he established an unusual succession plan which decreed that his son [[al-Amin]] would inherit the title of Caliph and have control of Iraq and the western empire while his other son [[al-Ma'mun]] would rule Khurasan and most eastern parts of the empire.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2016|pp=124–127}} In 803, he turned on and imprisoned or killed most of the Barmakids, who had wielded administrative power on his behalf.<ref>{{harvnb|Meisami|1999}}</ref>{{sfn|El-Hibri|2021|pp=84-88}} The reasons for this sudden and ruthless move remain unclear and have been the subject of much discussion by contemporary writers and later historians.{{sfn|El-Hibri|2021|pp=84-88}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|2016|pp=127–129}} 

[[File:Abbasid Dinar - Al Amin - 195 AH (811 AD).jpg|thumb|[[Gold dinar]] minted during the reign of [[al-Amin]] (809–813)]]
Al-Rashid's decision to split the succession proved to be damaging to the longevity of the empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frye |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hvx9jq_2L3EC&pg=PA86 |title=The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 4: The Period from the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs |date=26 June 1975 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139054966 |pages=86}}</ref> After his death in 809, his succession pact eventually collapsed and the empire was split by a [[Fourth Fitna|civil war]] between al-Amin in Iraq and al-Ma'mun in Khurasan. This ended with a successful [[Siege of Baghdad (812–813)|siege of Baghdad]] by al-Ma'mun's forces.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2016|p=|pp=135–148}} When the city fell in 813, al-Amin was captured and executed on the orders of al-Ma'mun's general, [[Tahir ibn Husayn]]. This marked the first time that an Abbasid ruler was publicly executed and it irrevocably damaged the prestige of the caliphate.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2016|p=148}}

Al-Ma'mun became caliph and ruled until his death in 833. He initially ruled the empire from his established base in Merv, Khurasan, where his main support was found, but this prolonged the discontent and instability in Iraq and triggered further fighting in the years following his victory.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2016|pp=151–162}}{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=|pp=108–109}} In 817, he officially declared an Alid, [[Ali al-Rida|'Ali al-Rida]], as his heir, instead of an Abbasid family member, perhaps hoping to promote Muslim unity, but the move backfired.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2016|pp=157–161}}{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=109}} Eventually, he was compelled to step back from these policies and move his court to Baghdad, where he arrived in August 819.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2016|pp=161–162}} After this, the rest of his reign was relatively peaceful. Exceptions included a rebellion in [[Iranian Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]] by the [[Khurramites]], supported by the Byzantines, which continued until 837.<ref name="DD1" /> He also repulsed a Byzantine attack on Syria around 829, followed by counter-attacks into Anatolia, and suppressed a rebellion in Egypt in 832.<ref name="DD1" /> 

The later years of al-Ma'mun's reign are known for his intellectual interests and patronage. The so-called [[Graeco-Arabic translation movement|"translation movement"]] — the state-sponsored translation of scientific and literary works of antiquity into Arabic — that had begun under his predecessors was pushed even further during this time and al-Ma'mun shifted its focus to [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] works of [[Science in classical antiquity|science]] and [[Ancient Greek philosophy|philosophy]].{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=|pp=117–122}} In matters of religion, his interest in philosophy spurred him to endorse [[Mu'tazilism]], the rationalist school of Islamic thought. Under its influence, he officially endorsed the doctrine of [[createdness of the Qur'an]] in 827. In 833, he went further and forcibly imposed it on the ''[[ulama]]'', the [[Sunni]] religious scholars.{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=|pp=122–123}} This controversial policy, known as the ''[[Mihna]]'', was eventually abandoned in 848. Ultimately, it failed to convince the Sunni ''ulama'' and instead contributed to the emergence of the latter as a more cohesive social class whose views and interests did not always align with the caliph.{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=|pp=122–126}}

Following the civil war between al-Amin and al-Ma'mun, the traditional mainstay of the Abbasid army, the ''Khurasaniyya'' and ''[[Abna al-dawla|<nowiki/>'Abna al-dawla]]'', were no longer seen as reliable and the caliphs sought to recruit a new type of army whose loyalty could be better assured.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=118}} This process began under al-Ma'mun but it is his brother and successor, [[al-Mu'tasim]] ({{Reign|833|842}}), who is known for its more radical implementation. Soldiers were recruited from several new sources, but the most important, especially under al-Mu'tasim, were the group referred to by Arabic chronicles as "Turks" ({{Transliteration|ar|atrāk}}), who appear to have been mainly [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] people from Central Asia.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=|pp=118–120}}{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=131}} Some modern scholars refer to them as [[Mamluks]], marking them as the antecedent of the later slave-soldiers known by that term, but their exact legal status has been a subject of scholarly debate.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=|pp=121–122}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=157}}{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=131}} Many, perhaps the majority, were originally purchased or captured slaves,{{Sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=|pp=121–122}}{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=131}} but they were paid regular salaries and thus likely [[manumitted]].{{Sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=|pp=121–122}} In any case, these outsiders did not have political ties among the traditional elites and thus their loyalty was to the caliph alone.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=118}}

[[File:قصر البركة في سامراء.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Partly-reconstructed remains of a courtyard with circular pool in the ''Dār al-Khilāfa'', the caliph's palace, in [[Abbasid Samarra|Samarra]], begun in 836.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Northedge |first=Alastair |date=1993 |title=An Interpretation of the Palace of the Caliph at Samarra (Dar al-Khilafa or Jawsaq al-Khaqani) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629446 |journal=Ars Orientalis |volume=23 |pages=143–170 |jstor=4629446 |issn=0571-1371}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Westbrook |first=Nigel |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwEtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA140 |title=Byzantium, Its Neighbours and Its Cultures |publisher=Brill |year=2014 |isbn=978-90-04-34491-4 |editor-last=Dzino |editor-first=Danijel |pages=140 |language=en |chapter=Exchange of palatine architectural motifs between Byzantium, Persia and the Caliphate |editor-last2=Parry |editor-first2=Ken}}</ref>]]
These troops were likely the first [[standing army]] of the caliphate{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=132}} and provided the caliph with a strong base of military support.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=163}} However, the influx of new foreign troops into the capital created tensions with its inhabitants and with older elites. This was one of the main reasons why, in 836, al-Mu'tasim decided to found a new capital, [[Abbasid Samarra|Samarra]], on an open site to the north of Baghdad.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=163}}{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=132}} The new capital housed the caliph's army, allowed for the unhindered construction of massive new palaces, and became the focus of an even more elaborate courtly culture.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=163–164}}{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=|pp=133–139}}

Al-Mu'tasim's reign marked the end of the strong caliphs. He strengthened his personal army with the Mamluks and promptly restarted the war with the Byzantines. Though his attempt to seize [[Constantinople]] failed when his fleet was destroyed by a storm, his military excursions were generally successful, culminating with a resounding victory in the [[Sack of Amorium]].<ref>{{harvnb|Dupuy|Dupuy|1986|pp=265–266}}</ref>