The rise of the Abbasids THE FIRST BUTCHER OF Justin Marozzi introduces the murderous eighth-century caliph al-Mansur, who le a remarkable legacy but whose brutality foreshadowed a more recent Iraqi leader

The bronze head of Caliph al-Mansur in Baghdad, the city he built. “The greatest tribute to his reign,” says Justin Marozzi, was that he “bequeathed a dynasty that would endure for five centuries”

56 BBC History Magazine ahdi and his wi fe Ri ta avera ge of al most 25 a day – ca n be trace d to hurrie d down to th e the earlies t day s of Mansur’ s Baghdad. Strif e A TALE OF TWO locked , under groun d an d instabilit y on a gran d sc al e ar e inseparabl e AUTOCRATS storeroom in a pala ce in fr om the histor y of the cit y. Ba ghda d is th e Mcentra l Baghdad. They capita l of a country that is the fulcru m of How does Saddam Hussein’s di dn ’t kn ow exactl y wh at th e Sunn i- Sh ia di vi de . In fact , it was just legacy compare with Mansur’s? th ey woul d find behin d the doo r tha t ha d 60 mile s south-west of the cit y – at the battl e remaine d barre d to the outsi de wor ld for all of Kar bala in AD 680 – th at the see ds of the thes e years , but the y we re expect ing great sectar ian split withi n Isla m wer e sow n whe n treasure s of one kin d or anot her: pro digiou s an Umayya d army crus hed forces led by the stores of gol d and silver , preciou s stones an d Pro phet Muhamma d’s grandson Hussein . priceless artefacts . The y wer e in fo r a shock . From what we ar e to ld of him in the As the doo r opened, the y were confronte d histories , the cali ph Ma nsu r share d man y of not with piles of riches, but by an alto gether the qualitie s that ca me to be associate d wi th le ss we lc om e sight . Th e va st ch am be r wa s th e cit y he fo un de d. Th er e wa s, on th e on e fill ed wit h corpses . Ro w after row of bodie s han d, ex trem e re finement , un dou bte d vision, stretc hed befor e them. Boys and gir ls, old me n generos ity of spi rit, organisation al gen ius , an d women , al l ag es an d bo th se xes. Al l were co mm erci al acu men an d reli giou s piet y. On Shia Musl im s. In a macab re twist, the re was the othe r hand he possesse d a capac ity for a tag in the ear of eve ry corpse, detai lin g the exp losive vi ole nce and extreme crue lty, a name an d genealo gy of the vict im . murderou s tem per and a dee p ve in of reli giou s Saddam Hussein speaks at his trial It migh t have be en Sadda m Husse in’ s in to lerance. In the manif est strength s and in Baghdad in March 2006 Ba ghda d in 198 5, but it was in fact 12 ce ntu ries failin gs of Ma nsu r’ s characte r there la y a The parallels between Mansur and ea rlier. The ruler who had ordere d these mi crocosm of Ba ghd ad’ s futu re pat h. Saddam, Butchers of Baghdad sepa- execut ions was the Abb asi d caliph al -Mansur , rated by 1,200 years, are irresistible. foun der of Bag hd ad, ironica ll y dubb ed the Goo dIsl ami cliv es To begin with, both based their rule ‘Cit y of Peace ’, wh ic h wo ul d go on to be co me Ta ll an d sl im wi th a wisp y beard , Ma ns ur on a vicious suppression of the the grea t centr e of the Is lami c wor ld for was a pi ou s Mus lim an d a fin e orato r wh o Shia population. the nex t 500 yea rs. An d the man who had pr eached in hi s own mosq ue at Frida y pra yers , Both were autocratic rulers who stum bl ed ac ross th e cor pses in AD 77 5 was urging th e fa it hf ul to le ad goo d Is la mi c cowed their subjects into submission. his son an d he ir . liv es. Unlik e so me of his mo re high-spirited However, the sheer ghastly inventive- Mansu r was par t of the Abb asi d dynasty , a successo rs, he did not drink wine an d ness of the punishments inflicted on power ful Ara b fami ly livin g in what was then disa pp roved vigorousl y of mus ic. Once , we Iraqis by Saddam’s Baathist regime suggests a perversion unique even the Umayya d ca liph ate. In 75 0, Abb asi d force s are told , having hear d mus ic so mewhe re in in Iraqi history. had defeat ed a much lar ger Uma yy ad arm y on his palace , he discover ed a eu nuch pl ayin g the Posterity is likely to judge Saddam the ba nk s of the Great Zab river , a tributar y of tunbur , or man dolin . He immediatel y ordere d much less favourably than Mansur. The the in nort hern Ira q. Damascus fell in the in st rument to be broken over the eu nuch’s Abbasid caliph founded a great city and the same year an d the Abb asi d ca liph ate wa s hea d, after which the mi sc rea nt was se nt to be presided over a caliphate whose fabulous born , inheritin g an empire th at st re tc he d fr om so ld in th e sl av e- ma rk et . riches provided the perfect setting for the shores of the Atlantic in the west to the Hard-workin g, pron e to lon g period s of one of the most extraordinary periods of mou nta in s of ce ntral Asia in the east. reflection , an d relentlessl y driven , Ma nsu r civilisation the world had ever witnessed. If Sadd am ’s rele ntle ss persecution of th e be gan hi s da y we ll be fo re sunr is e wi th privat e Saddam inherited and squandered vast Shi a – not to mentio n the , Jew s and and the n household pra yers , afte r which he oil wealth, led his country into three ruinous wars and turned into a giant an yon e of an y stri pe who opp osed his re gime would adjour n to hi s iwa n (arche d audien ce prison and failed state. in any wa y – earne d him the ‘Butcher of chamber ) to atten d to affair s of state. Afte r Mansur proved a more enlightened Ba ghdad ’ mo nik er in the 20th cen tur y, there is a siesta, he woul d spen d afte rn oo ns relaxi ng ruler by far. Jews, Christians and no bette r can didat e tha n Mansur fo r the title wit h hi s famil y, befor e evenin g pra yers , coexisted more or less harmoniously in th e ei ghth centur y. correspondenc e and governmen t business during his reign. Even before he came to Th e cor pse-fille d storeroom, which Mansur took him to be d at 10 o’clock. power, Saddam had the Jews of Iraq in ha d or dere d seale d until hi s death , was chilli ng War and killin g we re in Mansur’s blood, his sights. As vice-president in 1969, he ev id en ce of th e de li be ra te poli cy he, as a Sunni , as the y ha d be en fo r hi s predecessor , th e fir st paraded nine Jewish corpses on ha d pursue d against the Shi a descen dant s scaffolds in Baghdad’s Liberation of Ali an d his wif e Fatima, dau ghter of th e Square. It was, wrote the eyewitness Max Sawdayee, a “perfect, masterly, cold- Pro phe t Mu ha mm ad . Mansu r’s me th od ic al “On the one hand he blooded, wicked, diabolic” display… persecutio n of the Shi a wa s an earl y in dication possessed intellect “It shakes even one’s faith in humanity.” of the destructiv e tens ion s betwee n Sunn i and The Jews of Iraq were subsequently Shia in Ba ghda d an d be yond .

S hounded into virtual extinction. As for the

E and generosity of G Durin g th e nex t 13 centurie s thi s sectaria n Christian community that once numbered

IMA divisio n woul d periodicall y bo il over in to 1.5 million, it was decimated to around Y spirit; on the other, violence and se e bloo d flow in Ba ghdad’ s 100,000 in the wake of the 2003 invasion ETT stree ts. The rampa gin g carna ge witnesse d that was Saddam’s fina l footnote in the S/G a capacity for I acro ss Ira q toda y – 201 3 wa s the deadliest yea r history of Baghdad.

CORB si nc e 2008 , wi th an estimate d 8,955 killed , an explosive violence”

BB C Histor y Magaz ine 57 The rise of the Abbasids

Abb asi d ca liph, Al Saff a, ‘Th e Sh edd er of when the histo ri an won der s how he foun d the Bloo d’. Muc h of Mansur’s 21 -year re ign was time to atten d to other affair s of state . ta ke n up wi th consolidatin g th e powe r of th e Ma ns ur ’s me an ne ss wa s le gendar y. He ne w dynast y an d suppressin g rebellions , tw o was nickname d Abul Dawanik , th e Fathe r of of whic h er up ted and wer e quickl y pu t down Pennies, a reference to hi s relentless scrimping durin g th e buildin g of Baghdad. an d saving. Th e 10th-century hi stor ia n In the ma gisterial histor y of the Abbasi ds Masu di recor ded some tellin g anec dote s about by the nint h-century historia n Mu hamma d Mansur in his won der ful boo k The Mea dow s ib n Jar ir al Tabari , the sect ion on Mans ur is of Gold and Mi ne s of Gems , an engag ing a whir lwin d of summ ary execut ions. “‘ Cut histor y of the wor ld from Adam an d Eve to the of f his hea d!’ crie d [Mansur], an d he was Abbasi d cali phate . “Mansur’s prudence , the take n an d deca pitated, ” rea ds a typical line. rectitu de of hi s jud gmen t an d the excellence “[Mansur ] gav e the order an d his hea d was cu t of his policies are beyon d al l descri ption,” off,” goes anot her. he acknowledged . “He did not avoi d the Wh en it ca me to killin g sw or n en em ie s or mo st extrava gan t generosit y wh en th er e wa s his mos t unswerving ly loya l suppor ters, like somethin g to be ha d in exchange , but he the genera l Abu Mus lim , wh o had help ed wou ld re fus e the sma ll est favou r if grantin g brin g th e Ab ba si ds to power , th ere was it enta il ed lo ss .” not hin g remote ly se ntim ental or sq ueamis h At the time of his deat h, Masu di wrote, about Ma nsu r. The ca lip h’s executio ns were Mansur left 14m dinars an d 600 m dir ham s so numerous , in fact , that there are in sta nce s in the treasur y (a sin gl e gold dinar wa s wort h arou nd 20 silver dir hams an d each dir ham wei ghe d aroun d 3 grams). Nevertheless , “t hi s thoug h it has all -to o rare ly manage d to live up “Mansur was grea t fortune did no t preven t him from bein g to its name as the Cit y of Peac e – wa s Bag hd ad. miser ly, nor did it preven t hi m from goin g By the time of Mansur ’s deat h duri ng his nicknamed the in to detai ls which even a co mm oner ignores . hajj (pi lg rima ge) to Mecca in 775, Baghd ad Thus , he co nt ra ct ed wi th hi s co ok th at th e was , in th e wo rd s of th e ninth-centur y Father of Pennies, latte r shou ld kee p the hea ds, feet and sk in s Ara b geograp her and historia n Ya kubi, a reference to his in exc hange for provi din g the firewoo d an d “the crossroa ds of the universe ”, a capita l seasonings. ” Such a ha nd s-o n an d niggar dly unequa ll ed ei th er in th e east or wes t, a cit y relentless scrimping app roac h to accountin g had its advanta ges , that attracted superlativ es as easil y as the coo l no t least for his son, Ma hd i. wa ters of the Tigri s flowe d th roug h it. and saving” The first of Mansu r’s two greatest legacies – Its desig n was start ling ly innovative . “The y

THE EMPIRE, c750 Under Mansur’s leadership, the Abbasid empire stretched from central Asia’s mountains to the Atlantic coast

MA P ILL US TRATI ON BY MARTIN SANDER S

58 BBC Hi stor y Magaz ine An artwork shows Baghdad in the 10th century at the peak of the Abbasid caliphate. The city was the scene of some of the greatest scientific and cultural achieve- ments of the Middle Ages

“Baghdad became the cultural zenith of the Islamic world and the intellectual capital of the planet”

say that no other round city is known in all the regions of the world,” wrote Al Khatib al Baghdadi, the 11th-century author of the History of Baghdad , a mine of information on its construction. Within the massive round walls, at the heart of the city was a great This 14th-century illumination shows Mongols conquering Baghdad in 1258. In doing so, circular space, some 6,500 feet in diameter, they brought the caliphate that Mansur had ruled five centuries earlier to an end in the centre of which stood the Great Mosque and the caliph’s Golden Gate Palace, astronomers, even cookery writers, together Mansur was probably the most visionary and a classically Islamic expression of the union made this a golden age. talented of the 37 Abbasid caliphs who ruled between temporal and spiritual authority. “Arab Muslims now studied astronomy, from Baghdad. The greatest tribute to his Palaces, mosques, markets, shrines, colleges alchemy, medicine and mathematics with reign was the story of what followed it. Mansur and grand houses sprang up as, within just a such success that, during the 9th and 10th bequeathed a dynasty that would endure for few years, the new city became the cultural centuries, more scientific discoveries had five centuries in the capital he had built, and a zenith of the Islamic world and the intellectual been achieved in the Abbasid empire than treasury that would sustain it. He set the stage capital of the planet. in any previous period of history,” wrote for one of the most extraordinary periods in Karen Armstrong in A History of God . As the history of civilisation. Agoldenage Richard Coke observed in his 1927 study of Mansur’s second legacy was the Abbasid the city: “Baghdad was born at an auspicious Justin Marozzi’s latest book, Baghdad: City of caliphate, which endured to 1258, when moment, which predestined the city to Peace, City of Blood , is published by Allen Lane Hulagu, grandson of Genghis Khan, become not merely the administrative capital this month. Justin will be speaking at BBC History descended on the city with his Mongol hordes of a mighty empire, not merely the greatest Magazine ’s History Weekend . historyweekend.com and sacked it. For much of its 500 years, trading centre of the early Middle Ages, but the dynasty presided over some of the most a focus of world culture and refinement, the DISCOVER MORE extraordinary scientific, artistic and cultural goal of every man of talent from central Asia LISTEN AGAIN achievements on Earth. Poets and writers, to the Atlantic.” ̈ For more on the Abbasid culture, scientists and mathematicians, musicians Though his name has been largely eclipsed listen to In Our Time on iPlayer and physicians, historians, legalists and by that of his grandson Harun al-Rashid, the Radio: bbc.co.uk/programmes/

SCIENCE PHOTOlexicographers, LIBRARY/STAATSBIBLIOTHEK BERLIN/ theologians, philosophers and street-prowling doyen of The Arabian Nights , p003hyfd

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