Editing Harun al-Rashid (section)

=== Diplomacy ===

[[File:Harun al-Rashid receives envoys from Charlemagne.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|right|Harun al-Rashid at left receiving a delegation sent by [[Charlemagne]] to his court in Baghdad.<br>1864 painting by Julius Köckert.]]

Both [[Einhard]] and [[Notker the Stammerer]] refer to envoys traveling between the courts of Harun and [[Charlemagne]], king of the [[Franks]], and entering friendly discussions about Christian access to holy sites and gift exchanges. Notker mentions Charlemagne sent Harun Spanish horses, colorful [[Frisian Kingdom|Frisian]] cloaks and impressive hunting dogs. In 802 Harun sent Charlemagne a present consisting of [[silk]]s, [[brass]] [[candelabra]], [[perfume]], [[Balsam of Mecca|balsam]], [[ivory]] chessmen, a colossal tent with many-colored curtains, an [[elephant]] named [[Abul-Abbas]], and a [[water clock]] that marked the hours by dropping bronze balls into a bowl, as mechanical [[knight]]s – one for each hour – emerged from little doors which shut behind them. The presents were unprecedented in Western Europe and may have influenced [[Carolingian]] art.<ref>Lodovico Antonio Muratori, Giuseppe Catalani (1742), [https://books.google.com/books?id=pNVCAQAAMAAJ ''Annali d'Italia: Dall'anno 601 dell'era volare fino all'anno 840''], Monaco, p. 465. Muratori describes only some of these gifts.</ref> This exchange of embassies was due to the fact that Harun was interested, like Charlemagne, in subduing the [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyad]] [[Emirate of Córdoba|emirs of Córdoba]]. Also, the common enmity against the Byzantines was what brought Harun closer to the contemporary Charlemagne.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

When the Byzantine empress [[Irene (empress)|Irene]] was deposed in 802, [[Nikephoros I]] became emperor and refused to pay tribute to Harun, saying that Irene should have been receiving the tribute the whole time. News of this angered Harun, who wrote a message on the back of the Byzantine emperor's letter and said, "In the name of God the most merciful, From [[Amir al-Mu'minin]] Harun ar-Rashid, commander of the faithful, to Nikephoros, dog of the Romans. Thou shalt not hear, thou shalt behold my reply". After [[Abbasid invasion of Asia Minor (806)|campaigns in Asia Minor]], Nikephoros was forced to conclude a treaty, with humiliating terms.<ref>Tarikh ath-Thabari 4/668–669.</ref><ref>Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidaya wa'l-Nihaya v 13 p. 650.</ref> According to Dr Ahmad Mukhtar al-Abadi, it is due to the particularly fierce second retribution campaign against Nikephoros, that the Byzantine practically ceased any attempt to incite any conflict against the Abbasid again until the rule of [[Al-Ma'mun]].<ref name="Ahmad Mukhtar al Abadi">{{cite book |last1=Mukhtar al-Abadi |first1=Ahmad |title=In Abbasid and Andalusian History |year= 2019 |publisher=Ain University Library |url=https://ebook.univeyes.com/28050/pdf-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%ae-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b3%d9%8a-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a3%d9%86%d8%af%d9%84%d8%b3%d9%8a-%d9%84%d8%a3%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%af-%d9%85%d8%ae%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%af%d9%8a |access-date=28 September 2021}}</ref><ref name="Tabari, bosworth version, SUNY press">{{cite book |last1=C.E |first1=Bosworth |title=The History of al-Tabari Vol. 30: The 'Abbasid Caliphate in Equilibrium: The Caliphates of Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid A.D. 785–809/A.H. 169–193 |date=1989 |publisher=SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany: State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-88706-564-4 |page=365 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqf1gwM9O58C |access-date=28 September 2021}}</ref>

An alliance was established with the Chinese [[Tang dynasty]] by Ar-Rashid after he sent embassies to China.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QivwtVwq8ykC|title=The Chinese Machiavelli: 3000 years of Chinese statecraft|author=Dennis Bloodworth, Ching Ping Bloodworth|year=2004|publisher=Transaction Publishers|page=214|isbn=0-7658-0568-5|access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=drPQaUGOJQIC&q=harun+raschid+less+obtrusive&pg=PA138|title=Confucianism and its rivals|author=Herbert Allen Giles |year=1926 |publisher=Forgotten Books |isbn=1-60680-248-8 |page=139}}</ref> He was called "A-lun" in the Chinese [[Old Book of Tang|Tang Annals]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ObcNAAAAIAAJ|title=Islam in China: a neglected problem|author=Marshall Broomhall|access-date=14 December 2011 |year=1910 |publisher=Morgan & Scott, ltd. |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ObcNAAAAIAAJ/page/n46 25], 26}}</ref> The alliance was aimed against the [[Tibetan Empire|Tibetans]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=W4mCH1oCKTkC&dq=Luciano+Petech+Harun+Tibetans&pg=PA15 Bajpai 2002], p. 15.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Tn5oVOER2ogC Bajpai 1981], p. 55.</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aBcdAAAAMAAJ |title=Nomadic Empires: From Mongolia to the Danube|first=Gérard|last=Chaliand|year=1970|publisher=Transaction Publishers|access-date=1 September 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>Luciano Petech, ''A Study of the Chronicles of Ladakh'' (Calcutta, 1939), pp. 73–73.</ref><ref>Luciano Petech, ''A Study of the Chronicles of Ladakh'' (Calcutta, 1939), pp. 55–85.</ref>

When diplomats and messengers visited Harun in his palace, he was screened behind a curtain. No visitor or petitioner could speak first, interrupt, or oppose the caliph. They were expected to give their undivided attention to the caliph and calculate their responses with great care.{{sfn|Bobrick|2012|p=40}}