Thread by @aaolomi

At the height of their power, the Abbasids fell into a civil war which lasted years.

Brother fought brother, competing astrologers read the omens of the stars, scheming viziers plotted in secret, and the course of Islamic history was changed.

A thread-

There were two major civil wars, the Anarchy of Samarra from 861-870 and the Great Civil War of 811.

Today we’ll talk about the latter.

The fifth Abbasid Caliph, Harun al Rashid, fearing chaos and violence in the process of succession devised a plan where his son al-Amin would inherit the caliphate first followed by his other son, al-Ma’mun.

But they say when humans plan, God laughs

Upon Harun al Rashid’s death, al-Amin ascended to the throne, but the relationship between the two brothers quickly grew bitter.

al-Ma’mun had established for himself an autonomous powerbase in Khorasan in the east, a place where the Abbasids had drew support to overthrow the Umayyads.

The Baghdad elite hoped to undermine the power of Khorasan and al-Ma’mun.

al-Amin himself showed little interest in rule.

A great patron of the arts and poetry, he preferred the company of his male pages who he took as lovers.

He was even reputed to have been the paramour of Abu Nuwas the father of Arabic poetry and the original Arab twink.

Under al-Amin, poetry and art flourished.

The caliph left governance to the cunning, al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi who along with the Abna military elite worked to undermine Khorasanai autonomy.

The final blow between the brothers came when al-Amin named his son, Musa, as his heir breaking the agreement established by his father.

Thus began the Great Abbasid Civil War.

Al-Amin demanded al-Ma’mun return to Baghdad.

Al-Ma’mun refused.

Instead al-Ma'mun began gathering support among local elites who saw him as a champion of Khorasani autonomy.

al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi then encouraged al-Amin to demand the western parts of Khorasan cede to him and all tax revenue be collected and shipped to Baghdad.

Al-Ma’mun refused

Al-Ma’mun had his own vizier, the clever al Fadl ibn Sahl who quickly gathered the support of the people of Khorasan, using the encroachment upon their autonomy to rally the troops.

Al-Ma'mun then removed al-Amin’s name from all coins and from the Friday khutbah or sermon while declaring himself Imam, symbolically breaking with his brother.

There was no going back.

Al-Amin responded by sending an army of 40,000 abna, the elite warriors of Baghdad to depose his brother.

This was a staggering army and one which al-Ma’mun could not match. He had at his disposal 5,000 troops led by Tahir ibn al Husayn.

Al-Ma’mun was anxious and considered surrender, but once more his vizier intervened.

For you see, Fadl ibn Sahl was also an astrologer and a skilled one at that.

He was the descendent of Nawbakht, the legendary astrologer who helped the Abbasids found the city of Baghdad.

Once more a Nawbakht would shape the course of Abbasid history.

According to ibn Tawus Fadl raised his astrolabe to the heavens and told al-Ma’mun to take heart for they portend victory. Al-Amin launched his war in an inauspicious time and it would be his undoing.

Al-Amin ignored the warnings of his astrologer and would now pay the price

When Tahir ibn al Husayn met the approaching forces of Baghdad the Moon was about to enter Scorpio an inauspicious omen, while the Sun was in bad aspect to Mars and the Moon was afflicted by malefics

On July 3rd 811 the two armies met in a ferocious but definitive battle. The armies of Baghdad, though superior in number, were routed soundly and their general killed.

Bolstered by the victory, Tahir went on to several more decisive wins against the abna throwing the military elite of Baghdad into turmoil as they began to question their allegiance.

By 812 Tahir had put Baghdad to siege. But in an unexpected turn of events the ordinary people rose up to defend their city and fought street by street against the invaders.

They fought fiercely for a year.

But Tahir managed to sway the abna to his side and they finally captured al-Amin and executed him.

The caliph was dead.

They sent his head back to al-Ma’mun.

The sacrosanct city of Baghdad would never be the same. When the city was founded it was promised to be a city of peace, a place where the blood of the caliph would never be shed.

But in the horoscope of the foundation of Baghdad Mars was in Gemini signifying war between siblings.

Mars would be in Gemini again when Tahir first met the forces of Baghdad in battle.

Though historians indicated Tahir acted on his own without orders from al-Ma’mun, the historian al-Tabari notes that while Fadl ibn Sahl was horrified when presented with the head, al-Ma’mun responded the deed was done and they needed to move on.

al-Ma’mun--himself skilled in astrology--despite being declared caliph would not enter Baghdad until an eclipse, completing his usurpation.

He and his retinue donned all green as they marched triumphant into the City of Peace.

But all was not well.

His trusted vizier Fadl ibn al Sahl would be assassinated.

Fadl’s brother the father of the astrologer queen, Buran, would warn Fadl that his horoscope signified danger from fire and steel.

Fadl dismissed the warning claiming it signified the cupping treatment he was to receive at the bathhouse.

When he entered the bathhouse he was set upon by men with knives and torches.

The Abbasids would lose much of their western territories in the subsequent years, nor would it be the last time they were plagued by civil war.

For those interested, I’ve posted translation and instructions on the nature of the soul in astrology from the Islamic world on my patreon- patreon.com/headonhistory

I’ll cover more in Islamic history, including the other Abbasid civil war in future threads.