From Berlin to Bagdad and Babylon

Name: From Berlin to Bagdad and Babylon
Author: Zahm, J. A. (John Augustine)

Zahm, J. A. (John Augustine)

Middle East -- Civilization; Middle East -- Description and travel

And yet, sad to relate, there is a dark spot in the career of
Harun-al-Rashid. This is due to his inhuman treatment of the
Barmecides, whose tragic fate at the hands of the Caliph is one of the
most shocking occurrences in oriental annals. One of this ill-fated
family, Yaya ibin Barmek, was Harun’s vizier, who, by his consummate
ability, had contributed more than any other man towards the success
of the Caliph’s reign. It was he, and not the Commander of the
Faithful, who directed the course of events that rendered the reign
of Harun-al-Rashid the culminating point of Islamic history. His son
Jaafer was the most cherished friend of the Caliph and his constant
companion in his nightly _incognito_ wanderings through the city
of Bagdad. “Harun’s attachment to Jaafer was of so extravagant a
character that he could never bear him to be absent from his side, and
he went to the absurd length of having a cloak made with two collars,
so that he and Jaafer could wear it at one and the same time.”[438]

But to wipe out a fancied indignity he did not hesitate foully
to murder his friend and companion, “by far the most lovable and
attractive character of the many that live for us in the _Thousand
and One Nights_.[439] He cast his old and loyal vizier, the father
of Jaafer, into prison. Not content with this barbarous treatment of
men to whom he owed so much, he vented his fury on their family and
did not abate his anger until he had slain more than a thousand of the
Barmecides. So great an impression did Harun’s atrocious treatment
of his best friends make on his contemporaries that it became “the
proverbial example in oriental history of the change of fortune and the
mutability of royal favor.” It is because of this barbarous cruelty
and his revolting treachery that the Harun of history is so unlike the
Harun of legend, in which he is always painted as a merry monarch--the
patron of scholars and the boon companion of congenial friends. And
it is because of this that we must refuse him his long-accorded title
of “The Just” and “The Good,” although, in view of his achievements
as a ruler and his unfailing and generous patronage of men of science
and letters, we cannot deny him the epithet of “The Great.” Were it
not for the stain on his escutcheon, due to his infamous treatment of
the Barmecides, we could, with some semblance of truth, say of this
illustrious Caliph of Bagdad, in the words of Tennyson:

    _Sole star of all that place and time,_
    _I saw him in his golden prime,_
    _The Good Harun-al-Rashid._

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

From Berlin to Bagdad and BabylonZahm, J. A. (John Augustine)

HistoryChristian

From Berlin to Bagdad and Babylon

Zahm, J. A. (John Augustine)

Middle East -- Civilization; Middle East -- Description and travel

And yet, sad to relate, there is a dark spot in the career of
Harun-al-Rashid. This is due to his inhuman treatment of the
Barmecides, whose tragic fate at the hands of the Caliph is one of the
most shocking occurrences in oriental annals. One of this ill-fated
family, Yaya ibin Barmek, was Harun’s vizier, who, by his consummate
ability, had contributed more than any other man towards the success
of the Caliph’s reign. It was he, and not the Commander of the
Faithful, who directed the course of events that rendered the reign
of Harun-al-Rashid the culminating point of Islamic history. His son
Jaafer was the most cherished friend of the Caliph and his constant
companion in his nightly _incognito_ wanderings through the city
of Bagdad. “Harun’s attachment to Jaafer was of so extravagant a
character that he could never bear him to be absent from his side, and
he went to the absurd length of having a cloak made with two collars,
so that he and Jaafer could wear it at one and the same time.”[438]

But to wipe out a fancied indignity he did not hesitate foully
to murder his friend and companion, “by far the most lovable and
attractive character of the many that live for us in the _Thousand
and One Nights_.[439] He cast his old and loyal vizier, the father
of Jaafer, into prison. Not content with this barbarous treatment of
men to whom he owed so much, he vented his fury on their family and
did not abate his anger until he had slain more than a thousand of the
Barmecides. So great an impression did Harun’s atrocious treatment
of his best friends make on his contemporaries that it became “the
proverbial example in oriental history of the change of fortune and the
mutability of royal favor.” It is because of this barbarous cruelty
and his revolting treachery that the Harun of history is so unlike the
Harun of legend, in which he is always painted as a merry monarch--the
patron of scholars and the boon companion of congenial friends. And
it is because of this that we must refuse him his long-accorded title
of “The Just” and “The Good,” although, in view of his achievements
as a ruler and his unfailing and generous patronage of men of science
and letters, we cannot deny him the epithet of “The Great.” Were it
not for the stain on his escutcheon, due to his infamous treatment of
the Barmecides, we could, with some semblance of truth, say of this
illustrious Caliph of Bagdad, in the words of Tennyson:

    _Sole star of all that place and time,_
    _I saw him in his golden prime,_
    _The Good Harun-al-Rashid._

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

From Berlin to Bagdad and Babylon

From Berlin to Bagdad and Babylon

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