nations of the West and in the palaces of a handful
of autocratic Muslim kings and sUlta ns.
See also cinema; hijab; hoUses; mUghal dynasty;
ottoman dynasty; saFavid dynasty; veil.
Further reading: Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in
Islam (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1992),
17–19, 79–84; 116–123; Sarah Graham Brown, Images
of Women: The Portrayal of Women in Photography of the
Middle East 1860–1950 (New York: Columbia University
Press, 1988), 70–85; Ruby Lal, Domesticity and Power
in the Early Mughal World (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2005); Fatima Mernissi, Dreams of
Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood (New York: Perseus
Books, 1994); Leslie P. Peirce, The Imperial Harem:
Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1993).
Harun al-Rashid (766–809) Abbasid caliph of
Baghdad who achieved legendary status in the stories
of the Arabian Nights
Harun al-Rashid was the fifth ruler of the abbasid
caliphate and ruled its vast empire from 786 to
- A son of the third Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi
(r. 775–85), he was born in the city of Rayy,
located near the modern Iranian capital of Teh-
ran. His mother, al-Khayzuran, was a former slave
girl from yemen. She was known as a woman of
strong personality who greatly influenced affairs
of state in the reigns of her husband and sons
until her death in 789. While still a teenager,
Harun was appointed to lead attacks on Byzantine
armies in the West, which allowed the Abbasid
forces to reach the Bosporus Strait, near the city
of Constantinople, the Byzantine capital. Later,
his father appointed him to be the governor of
some of the wealthiest provinces of the empire,
including egypt and syria. He became caliph in
his early 20s, inaugurating a great medieval Isl-
amicate golden age. baghdad, the Abbasid capital,
began its rise to preeminence during Harun’s
reign. The empire’s economic prosperity and its
openness to learning from all parts of the known
world contributed significantly to the flourishing
of the arts and literature, Islamic learning, and the
development of medicine and the sciences. Harun
corresponded with rulers in china and Europe.
He was also a learned man who patronized artists
and scholars. A man of great personal piety, he put
the weight of his authority behind proponents of
the emerging Sunni tradition and maintained the
anti-Shii policy of his predecessors. Harun is also
remembered for having performed the haJJ nine or
10 times. He appointed followers of Abu Hanifa
(d. 767), founder of the hanaFi legal school, to
serve as legal advisers and judges. Abu Nuwas, the
foremost Arabic poet of the Abbasid era, lived in
Baghdad during much of Harun’s life. The caliph’s
wife, Queen Zubayda (d. 831), sponsored many
charitable works, most memorably a water system
for pilgrims going to mecca on the annual hajj.
Harun’s portrayal in the arabian nights is
largely fictional, but it serves as a tribute to him
and the splendor of his court. He conducted
campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, but his
rule was marred by political unrest in syria and
iran. Also, andalUsia fell under Umayyad rule
during his reign. In his last years, Harun ordered
that the Abbasid Empire be divided between his
two sons, al-Amin (r. 809–813) and al-Mamun
(r. 813–833), which led to a devastating civil war.
Harun died during a campaign to quell a rebellion
and was allegedly buried in the city of Tus. His
son al-Mamun reunited the empire after defeating
his brother in battle. The height of the Abbasid
golden age was reached during al-Mamun’s reign.
See also adab; arabic langUage and litera-
tUre; sUnnism; Umayyad caliphate.
A. Nazir AtassiFurther reading: Andre Clot, Harun al-Rashid and the
World of the Thousand and One Nights. Translated by
J. Howe (London: Saqi Books, 1989); Tayeb El-Hibri,
Reinterpreting Islamic Historiography: Harun al-Rashid
and the Narrative of the Abbasid Caliphate (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1999); Hugh Kennedy,
When Baghdad Ruled the World: The Rise and Fall ofHarun al-Rashid 293 J