Description
Book SynopsisThis accessible biography treats al-Ma'mum (786-833) as the product of his age, which was a formative period in the development of Islamic law and theology. It presents him in his many facets: rebel, rationalist, scientist, poet, politician, warrior, inquisitor, and self-proclaimed defender of the faith. Drawing on contemporary sources, some friendly and others hostile, it offers a comprehensive portrait of a fascinating figure in Islamic history.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
1 INTRODUCTION
Al-Ma’mun Attacks the Pyramid
The Scholar-Caliph
The World Inherited by Islam
Muslims: A Divided Minority
The Coming of the Abbasids
The Problem of the Sources
2 EDUCATION
Parents, Step-parents and Foster Parents
Topography and Domestic Space
Elementary Education
Grammar
Poetry
History and Hadith
Learning to Think
The Legacy of Iran
The Question of the Law
An Inscrutable Personality?
3 THE FIRST SUCCESSION CRISIS
The Succession to al-Rashid
Al-Ma’mun Left in the Lurch
A New Force in Khurasan
The Civil War
The Siege of Baghdad
The Death of al-Amin and the Crisis of Legitimacy
4 THE SECOND SUCCESSION CRISIS
Al-Rida’s Claim to the Imamate
The End of the World?
An Appeal to Iranian Muslims?
The Proto-Sunni Response
A Reversal of Policy?
Al-Ma’mun’s Return to Baghdad
Al-Ma’mun’s Later pro-Alid Policies
Later Shiite Responses
The Pilgrimage to Mashhad
5 SCIENCE AND RATIONALISM
The Ancient Scientific Legacy
The Translation Movement
Measuring the Earth
Greek Medicine in Baghdad
The Book of Ingenious Devices
Breakthroughs in Mathematics
The Map of the World
Hostility to the Literalists
6 DEFENDER OF THE FAITH
Recentralization and the New Military
The Byzantine Campaigns
The Dome of the Rock
Provoking the Literalists
The Inquisition
The Scholars Resist
The Death of al-Ma’mun
The Inquisition After al-Ma’mun
The Historical Significance of the Inquisition
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
