GRADUAL DECLINE OF ARABIAN DOMINION IN THE EAST

[1Sidenote: [786-892 A.D.]]

2Charlemagne, having heard much of the power of the Baghdad sovereigns, determined to enter into relations with them, and despatched one Jewish deputy and two Franks to Irak with presents for the commander of the faithful. Harun, who feared an alliance between the Frankish king and the Omayyads of Spain, responded with alacrity to this advance, and sent ambassadors with splendid presents to Charlemagne in return. Not only in Europe, but in China and among the Hindus and the Tatars, the Arab potentates were looked upon as the richest princes in the world, and exaggerated ideas prevailed as to their power.

3Indeed at a casual glance it might seem that centralisation had drawn into unity all their various provinces, and that a long and prosperous future lay before the nation; but to an observant eye the signs of approaching decadence were already apparent. In the material order of things, that a sovereign should have supreme rights over the property of his subjects necessarily destroys all impulse towards emulation and progress among the latter. A people so governed is bound to die out in discouragement and decay. Under the earlier caliphs no injustice or spoliation was to be feared; but when the brutal and astute Turks took the reins of power, the law of the _Koran_, by which supreme authority centred in one individual, the representative of God on earth, was certain to work irreparable harm.

4In the moral and religious order the same unfortunate conditions prevailed. Gifted minds, irresistibly drawn towards science while still bound by the letter of Mohammed’s books, had need of a deliverer who should free them from the yoke of principles too rigid for the times. Al-Mamun, and after him Mutasim and Wathik, attempted some modification of doctrines formed for primitive times, but their efforts were set at naught by the blind obstinacy of the doctors of the Moslem faith. The _Koran_ now being established as the direct word of God, its laws were held to be beyond appeal, and all the prerogatives of absolute despotism were still accorded to monarchy even against the judgment of those in whom it was vested.

5If the later Abbasid princes had been men of high attainments and solid virtue, they would doubtless have wielded their unrestricted power entirely for the good of the people, and the golden age might again have been ushered in; but unfortunately during the second half of the ninth century we see on the throne only crowned and sceptred slaves. The contempt they inspired broke the springs of government; anarchy reached its height, and numerous factions, long suppressed, took up arms once more and spread abroad disorder and dread.

6The Alids had several times renewed their pretensions to the throne. Once Al-Mamun was on the point of abdicating in their favour, thus recognising the justice of their claims; but a revolt was immediately raised in Baghdad by the house of Abbas and its partisans, which forced Al-Mamun to relinquish the idea of dispossessing his whole family. Though their ambition was not yet fulfilled, the Alids were emboldened by the caliph’s attitude toward them, and henceforth lost no chance of profiting by the divisions that necessarily arose in a state possessing no definite law of succession.

7Under Harun and Al-Mamun the Arabian empire in the East attained its greatest degree of splendour; we shall now observe its gradual dissolution.

8From the reign of Wathik (846) onwards, we see the caliphate becoming the sport and prey of anarchy, and Baghdad fell under the yoke of a series of cruel or implacable despots. Mutawakkil, whose reign ushered in the new order of things, was guilty of atrocities that surpass those of Nero. He took vengeance on a vizir who had offended him by causing him to be thrown into a furnace lined with points of steel; and fearing that a plot was being formed against him, he invited to a festival all the important officers of his court and had them massacred by his soldiery. The horror which his cruelties inspired armed against him the hand of his own son, Muntasir, who himself died of sorrow and remorse within a year of his accession to the throne (862).

9Mustain, grandson of Mutasim, was chosen to succeed him, to the exclusion of four brothers, two of whom, Mutazz and Mutamid, subsequently came to the throne. Mustain reigned little longer than three years, and was replaced by Mutazz, whom a faction raised to the caliphate in 866. A second faction deposed him in 869 and a son of Wathik, Muhtadi Billah by name, was proclaimed caliph. This prince’s projects of reform aroused hatred in many quarters, and he was murdered in his own palace. After him Mutamid enjoyed the exceptionally long reign of twenty-two years (870-892), thanks to the ability and devotion of his brother, Muwaffak, who frustrated all attempts at revolt.

10Most of the perpetual disorders from which the country suffered were caused by the Turks whom Mutasim had raised to the position of body-guard. In permanent garrison at Baghdad, and in close proximity to the person of the sovereign, these slaves had from the first been guilty of such excesses that Mutasim was obliged to leave the capital and retire to the little village of Samara. Their number and influence had constantly increased during the reign of Wathik, and at the time of his death they had become such a power in the state that they had no difficulty in placing Mutawakkil on the throne.

11The danger that can arise from the establishment of alien bodies, organised to be the instrument of the will of a sovereign who is himself the first victim, is plainly apparent. With interests distinct from those of the native Arabs, and subject to no control save that of the caliph himself, these unruly Turks made brute force the agent by which they obtained their desires. They became accomplices of the parricide Muntasir out of revenge for some slight suffered at his father’s hands, and forced him to exclude his brothers and appoint Mustain to the throne. A delay in the distribution of their pay was sufficient to excite a revolt, and oblige the caliph to sign his abdication. Muhtadi met with a still sorrier fate for having desired to subject his redoubtable body-guard to some sort of discipline; and Muwaffak’s only means of diverting them from dangerous enterprises at home was to employ them on distant missions.

12[Illustration: AN ARAB CHIEF

13(Based on decorations in the Alhambra)]

14[Sidenote: [819-879 A.D.]]

15The troubles which surrounded the caliphate in Baghdad wrought the most serious consequences throughout the empire. The governors of provinces, sole depositaries of power during the intervals of government, aspired to complete independence and sold their submission to each successive sovereign. The provinces themselves, regretting the riches that went from them to swell the disorders of the capital, encouraged the pretensions of their governors, until these latter finally succeeded in reducing the caliph to a purely nominal supremacy.

16The dismemberment of Spain and Africa had been the first blow struck at the unity of the Moslem states; when the Abbasid caliphs had invested the Aghlabites with the government, they had not regarded it as an act of final abdication on their own part. In Asia the work of disintegration had gone on more slowly. The Tahirites, whom Al-Mamun had established in Khorasan by giving full control of that province to his general Tahir, maintained amicable relations with the caliphs until their realm in turn became torn by dissensions, and they were finally overthrown by the power of the Saffarids. Yakub, the leader of this family of Saffarids, wished to push his victories further, and advanced to the attack of Baghdad (874). Muwaffak, who was in command of the city, met and defeated him at Wasit, but did not feel sufficiently strong to follow up his advantage by pursuit. Yakub retired to his own dominions, and having by the following year regained all his losses, would shortly have visited the caliph with complete destruction, had not his life been suddenly cut short (879).

17[Sidenote: [819-913 A.D.]]

18The establishment of the dynasty of the Saffarids in Khorasan, Sistan, and Tabaristan cut off all communication between the centre of the empire, Khwarizm, and the Mawarannahar, and Ismail, the governor of those provinces, declared his independence in full assurance of impunity. In 819 the sons of Asad ben Saman had obtained from Al-Mamun the command of Samarcand, Ferghana, and Balkh respectively; one of them, Akhmed, transmitted his power to his eldest son Nasr, who, by taking possession of Bokhara, became later sovereign over all Transoxiana. Suspecting his brother Ismail of complicity with the Turks and Saffarids, against whom he was obliged vigorously to defend his province, Nasr pursued him with an armed force (888), but was himself taken prisoner. On this occasion, Ismail revealed the magnanimity of his character; he caused all the deference due his rank to be paid to his brother, and up to the time of the latter’s death in 892 saw that his authority was respected. When he was at last free to act as sovereign, Ismail forced the Turks to retreat beyond the Jaxartes, and laid a solid foundation for the Samanid dynasty.

19Other principalities were springing into power in the remaining parts of western Asia. The city of Bassora was seized by an adventurer who successfully resisted all attacks during the reigns of Mutazz and Mutamid, and nearly the whole of Arabian Irak was under the dominion of the Zengians. To Muwaffak is due the glory of retaking these provinces--and Bassora likewise in 882. He was not so successful in his enterprise against the Tulunids, who detached Egypt and Syria from the Arabian empire. Akhmed ben Tulun, one of the Turks educated at the court of the caliph, had distinguished himself by ability and courage, and was considered worthy of the post of governor of Egypt and Syria.

20Once established in these provinces he had no difficulty in maintaining his authority, supported as he was by the whole force of the Turkish militia; and he resolved to declare himself independent. In 877 he claimed the right of collecting taxes, thus openly cutting himself off from the caliphs, who, knowing their own weakness, incited the emirs of Syria to revolt against the Tulunids. Akhmed overcame all these difficulties, and when he died, in 884, left behind him a consolidated power. His son Khumaraweih succeeded him, and quelled the opposition of the few hostile parties that remained.

21The rule of the Tulunids was on the whole advantageous to Egypt and Syria. Akhmed loved science and was withal liberal-minded, generous, and charitable. At Fostat, the capital of Egypt, he caused a superb mosque to be erected, which is known to-day as the mosque of Tulun, and also built palaces and laid out market-places for the accommodation of the traders of different nations who flocked to Egypt at that time. Khumaraweih was distinguished for his luxury and magnificence; he was said to have built an immense menagerie, in which the animals were lodged in splendid cages, having water brought to them in bronze canals. The bed in which he slept was said to be gently rocked and supported by a tiny lake of quicksilver, on which it rested. His death was by assassination, and with him perished the splendour of the Tulunids.

22[Sidenote: [908-946 A.D.]]

23No new dismemberments occurring during the reigns of Mutadid (892-902), Muktafi (902-908), and the first part of the reign of Muktadir (908-913), it might have been thought that the caliphs would retain the extensive empire that remained to them. Indeed, many circumstances arose which materially increased their power. Shortly after his accession to the throne Mutadid received tribute from Khumaraweih, and subsequently repulsed the tribes of Arabs and Kurds who had swarmed out of the Syrian deserts with the intention of overpowering Mosul. Muktafi was even more successful; he attacked Harun by sea and land and immediately received the submission of all the emirs. In Egypt the descendants of Tulun were deserted by the very supporters whom they had formerly laden with benefits.

24About this time the Saffarids likewise disappeared, overthrown by the Samanids, against whom they had been pitted by the artful policy of the caliphs. In addition to their newly-gained province of Khorasan the Samanids were given the investiture of Tabaristan and Sidjistan, Muktafi thus replacing two rival princes in his immediate neighbourhood by a single ruler whom the Turks did not allow to become dangerous. Muktafi’s successor, Muktadir Billah (908-932), did not succeed, as Muktafi had done, in keeping his dominions intact. Powerless in his own capital, he was little respected outside, and on all sides arose disturbances that his predecessors had temporarily kept down.

25After Muktadir, Kahir (932-934), Radhi (934-940), Muttaki (940-944), and Mustakfi (944-946) lost their few remaining provinces, and the temporal power of the caliphs in Baghdad was forever at an end.

26In 930 a descendant of the emir, Hamdan, who had asserted his independence, took several strongholds in the province of Jezira, and pushing on as far as the northwest of Syria, founded there an important principality of which the capital was Mosul. The establishment of the Hamdanites in Jezira facilitated the rebellion of Egypt. Since the fall of the Tulunids the caliphs had committed the blunder of allowing Egypt and Syria to remain united, thinking that a frequent change of governors was all that was necessary to maintain peace. But one of these governors, Ikhshid the Turk, won over a large party of supporters, and when the order came for him to relinquish his rule to another, he refused to obey. Thus Egypt and Syria were finally lost to the Abbasids in 936.

27In the neighbourhood of Baghdad the Raikites and the Baridians disputed the possession of Bassora, Wasit, and the province of Ahwaz, and sought to play an important part in the politics of the capital. The lords of Armenia and Georgia ceased to pay a tribute that was no longer demanded, and the two provinces commenced at that epoch to separate into distinct realms. In the provinces bordering on the Caspian Sea the same tendency was to be observed. During the reign of Muktadir a chief named Merdawij had conquered the province of Gilhan, wrested Tabaristan away from the Samanids, and subdued the greater part of Aderbaijan. The glory of founding a new dynasty, however, fell not to him but to three brothers who fought in his army and who claimed descent from the old Sassanid kings, although their father, Buya, was only a simple fisherman. Struck by their courage and ability, the people flocked to their standard, and to the provinces already gained by Merdawij they added Kerman, Mekran, Laristan, and many others (933-940).

28Baghdad being now surrounded by independent principalities, the dominion of the caliphs was limited to that city itself, and even in that small realm their authority was purely nominal. Owing to court intrigues and the rebellions that were constantly breaking out in the city, the history of the later Abbasids is nothing but a panorama of executions of generals, vizirs, sovereigns, and pretenders. Out of fifty-nine commanders of the faithful thirty-eight came to violent ends, and suffered calamities worse than death. That the blood of the family of Mohammed might not be shed, many were made to die of starvation; others were walled up or cast into glaciers. Kahir emerged from his imprisonment with blinded eyes, and for the rest of his life begged alms at the doors of mosques.

29His successor, Radhi, to escape the tyranny of the Turks who were now in charge of every branch of the government, created the post of emir of the emirs. This dignitary, to whom was given command over the army and control over the public finances, soon came to be the real sovereign, Radhi, who withdrew to strict seclusion, reserving not a vestige of authority to himself. But instead of setting, as he thought, a master over the turbulent Turkish guard, Radhi’s act had simply augmented the power of its chiefs. One of these, Bajkam, irritated at the rise of Ibn Raik, got possession of the person of Radhi and forced him to appoint him, Bajkam, emir of the emirs. The death of this ambitious politician in the second year of Muttaki’s reign was the signal for fresh disturbances.

30Claimants, whose pretensions the Turks were obliged to combat, sprang up on every side, and the post of emir of the emirs came to be as hotly contested as that of caliph had formerly been. Muttaki, having no alternative but to sanction the acts of the stronger side, thought for a moment of placing himself in the hands of the Ikhshidites; but Turun ordered him to be put to death and proclaimed Mustakfi caliph. Exasperated by this terrible abuse of power, the inhabitants of Baghdad called to their aid the Buyid princes, who had recently established themselves in the provinces of the former Persian Empire, and in 945 the Turks were finally driven from the city.

31Muiz ad-Daula set upon the throne a caliph who was a mere tool to his desires, and reserving the post of emir of the emirs for himself, became the first of that series of Buyid emirs which continued for more than a century.

32Meanwhile, in singular contrast with the sanguinary turbulence of those who had usurped their power, the Arabs, weary of wars and civil strife, gave themselves up to the study of science and letters; the last of the Abbasids, in the closest seclusion their palaces would afford, sought consolation for the hardships of their lot in the society of scholars and literary men. The Buyid princes also followed the example set by Al-Mamun, and gave a great impetus to the study of astronomy and mathematics. They levied in their tributary provinces forces sufficient to enable them to maintain their supremacy against all rival factions, while the caliphs Muti, Tai, Kadir, and Kaim, deprived of their revenues and shorn of all authority and kingly state, played exactly the same part as was enacted by the Merovingian _rois fainéants_ under the tutelage of their mayors of the palace. Nevertheless, it was only from the hands of the caliphs that the greater part of the ruling families of Asia would receive their investitures, the Abbasids being still the legitimate sovereigns in the eyes of devout Moslems.