Editing Harran (section)

==== Harran under the caliphates ====
[[File:Umayyad750ADloc.png|left|thumb|Harran was briefly the capital of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] 744–750]]
Maurice's persecution of the pagans of Harran had little effect on the strength of the pagan community and Harran remained a largely pagan city.{{Sfn|Vedeshkin|2018|p=267}} When the armies of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]], led by the general [[Iyad ibn Ghanm]], besieged Harran in the winter of 639–640 it was the pagans of the city who negotiated its peaceful surrender.{{Sfn|Pingree|2002|p=17}} Ibn Ghanm is recorded to have given the pagans of Harran a new moon temple after the capture of the city.{{Sfn|Rice|1952|p=44}} Harran under Islamic rule became one of the most important settlements in the [[Diyar Mudar]] district.{{Sfn|Bosworth|2003|pp=13–14}} In 657, Caliph [[Ali]] asked the Harranians to aid him against [[Mu'awiya I]], the first [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]] caliph, but the Harranians instead sided with Mu'awiya at the [[Battle of Siffin]] in the same year. In response, it is said that Ali enacted a brutal massacre in Harran, exterminating most of the inhabitants.{{Sfn|Pingree|2002|p=17}}

Under the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), Harran was renovated{{Sfn|Bosworth|2003|pp=13–14}} and prospered once more.{{Sfn|Pingree|2002|p=17}} In 717, Caliph [[Umar II]] founded the first Muslim university at Harran, bringing many scholars from other cities in the caliphate (including [[Alexandria]]) and installing them in Harran.{{Sfn|Frew|1999}} Harran was made the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate under its last caliph, [[Marwan II]], from 744 to 750.{{sfn|Özdeniz|Bekleyen|Gönül|Gönül|1998|p=478}}{{Sfn|Blankinship|1994|p=51}} The reason for Marwan moving his court to Harran is not known,{{Sfn|Sinclair|1990|p=31}} but might be either to better monitor the troublesome eastern provinces of the caliphate{{Sfn|Bosworth|2003|pp=13–14}} or due to the anti-Christian sentiment of the city's pagan population,{{Sfn|Green|1992|p=95}} who had never been disloyal to the Umayyads.{{Sfn|Sinclair|1990|p=31}} The move of the capital to Harran caused some outrage; the [[Banu Kalb]] tribe saw it as an abandonment of Syria and under [[Yazid ibn Khalid al-Qasri]] besieged the former capital of [[Damascus]] before being suppressed.{{sfn|Gil|1997|p=87}} Harran did not continue to function as a capital under the succeeding [[Abbasid Caliphate]], though the city enjoyed some special privileges. When [[Al-Mansur]] ({{Reign|754|775}}) ordered the destruction of the walls of all cities in northern Mesopotamia, Harran was a notable exception.{{Sfn|Green|1992|p=95}}
[[File:Ancient city of Harran Ruins - Sanliurfa.jpg|thumb|Ruins of the medieval [[Harran University (Middle Ages)|Harran University]]]]
The [[Harran University (Middle Ages)|Harran University]]{{Efn||name=university}} underwent its golden age in the 8th century, particularly under the Abbasid caliph [[Harun al-Rashid]] ({{Reign|786|809}}).{{sfn|Özdeniz|Bekleyen|Gönül|Gönül|1998|p=478}}{{efn|Harun al-Rashid is also famous for founding the [[House of Wisdom]] in [[Baghdad]], to which scholars from Harran would later be brought.{{Sfn|Frew|1999}}}} Many prominent scholars of this time were educated at the university in subjects such as mathematics, philosophy, medicine and astrology. The university was also an important site for translations of documents from [[Syriac language|Syriac]] and Greek into Arabic{{sfn|Özdeniz|Bekleyen|Gönül|Gönül|1998|p=478}} and Harran flourished as a center of science and learning. Al-Rashid furthermore supplied Harran with a new water supply, constructing a canal from the [[Balikh River]].{{Sfn|Bosworth|2003|pp=13–14}} At some point, [[Neoplatonism]] was introduced to Harranian intellectuals, though the precise timing is not clear. It might have been brought to Harran by the scholar [[Thābit ibn Qurra]] in the late 9th century, who could have learnt Neoplatonism in Baghdad. Alternatively, Neoplatonism might have been brought to Harran as early as the 6th century by Neoplatonists such as [[Simplicius of Cilicia]], who fled persecution in the Byzantine Empire.{{Sfn|Pingree|2002|p=10}}

The local Harranian religion continued to develop as a blend of [[ancient Mesopotamian religion]] and Neoplatonism{{Sfn|Lloyd|Brice|Gadd|1951|p=90}} and Harran remained notorious for its strong pagan traditions long into the Islamic period.{{Sfn|Bosworth|2003|pp=13–14}} The city retained a highly heterogenous population that practiced many different religions. Some adopted [[syncretistic]] faiths tolerable by the Muslims, others continued to honor the old deities of ancient Mesopotamia and Syria, and some primarily worshipped the stars and planets.{{Sfn|Pingree|2002|p=|pp=17–18}}{{efn|The medieval Harranian worshippers of astronomical objects continued to use ancient names for the celestial bodies, alternating between Greek, Akkadian and Aramaic names (the moon for instance continued to be known as Sīn).{{Sfn|Pingree|2002|p=|pp=17–18}}}} The Harranian pagans considered themselves the heirs of ancient star-worshipping civilizations such as Babylonia, Greece, India, Persia and Egypt.{{Sfn|Pingree|2002|p=35}} In addition to pagans, Harran was also home to Muslims, Christians, Jews, [[Samaritans]], [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrians]], [[Manicheans]], and other groups.<ref>{{harvnb|Van Bladel|2009|p=66, note 8}}.</ref>

In 830, Harun al-Rashid's son [[Al-Ma'mun]] ({{Reign|813|833}}) arrived at Harran with an army on his way to raid in the Byzantine Empire{{Sfn|Sinclair|1990|p=29}} and intended to destroy the city due to its large pagan population. Al-Ma'mun asked the populace if they were Muslims, Christians or Jews ("[[People of the Book|people of the book]]" protected under Islamic law). Unable to claim that they were, the people of Harran instead claimed that they were "[[Sabians]]", a mysterious religious group also protected according to the Quran but who no one at the time knew who they were.{{Sfn|Frew|1999}} Upon being inquired who their prophet was, the Harranians claimed that their prophet was the legendary Hellenistic figure [[Hermes Trismegistus]].{{Sfn|Pingree|2002|p=23}} There were many Islamic writers who saw through the claims of Harranians and still considered them to be pagans and not Sabians, and thus lacking any special right to toleration or protection.{{Sfn|Green|1992|p=122}} In 933, the Harranian pagans were ordered through a decree to convert to Islam, but a visitor to the city in the following year found that there were still pagan religious leaders operating a remaining public temple. Toleration of the pagans at Harran appears to have been renewed in the late 10th century.{{Sfn|Hutton|2006|p=141}}