Oppressions of Harun al-Rashid (l.a)

Like any other Abbasid and Umayyad, the Holy Ahlebait (a.s) and Shias suffered heavy calamities under the rule of Harun al-Rashid (l.a).  He martyred Imam  al-Kazim (a.s), the notables of the Shias and the progeny of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a), swallowed Allah’s wealth like camels swallow the spring plants, spend the properties of the Muslims lavishly on his base and carnal desires and on warring against the Ahlebait (a.s). 

Let us list down his acts oppressions:

1   Gifts to Singers

He went too far in spending on the singers. He spent huge wealth and properties on them instead of channelizing them towards the common welfare.

    Gifts to the Poets

Likewise he spent generously on the poets who showered false praises on him and giving him the qualities of the pious, the protection of the religion and one keeping it. They described him as the shadow of Allah on earth. They said that Allah would not accept deeds except through Harun’s pleasure and showing obedience to him. They also said that if Harun was discontented with someone, then prayer and acts of worship would not benefit him.

    Spending on Gluttony

Harun spend lavishly on food. He spend ten thousand dirhams on it a day and his servants cooked thirty kinds of foods for him thus violating the verse of Allah ‘Eat and drink but do not be extravagant’. This was when the common people i.e. his subjects could barely gather a livelihood.

    Spending on base desires

Harun also slipped deep into the abyss of carnal desires through slave girls. He also married the slave girl of his brother who had taken the oath from him that he would not marry her after the formers death. He also spent lavish amounts on other slave girls

 Spending on Jewels

Harun was very fond of jewels and precious stones that he spent a lot of money on buying them. He had a ring of hundred thousand dinars, an emerald bar longer than a cubit, wore a very precious -like ruby crown whose value was hundred thousand dinars. Moreover he scattered jewels over his slave girls without reckoning.

    Indifference to Ignorance and progress of people

Harun al-Rashid (l.a) did not appoint any amount of money to spread knowledge and sciences and to remove the ignorance from the people. This was for the reason that he knew that if people are educated they would ask for their rights and be inclined to the Ahlebait (a.s). Besides he did not spend anything on developing the economy and industry in the country.

   The torture on Alawis

Harun al-Rashid (l.a) inherited from his grandfather al-Mansur strong enmity toward the Alawis and from the beginning of his reign, he treated them rudely and wreaked his wrath upon them. He swore by Allah to uproot and kill them. He said:

 “By Allah, I will kill them (the ‘Alawis s) and their Shi‘ites (followers).”

The imprisonment, beating and killing of Alawis became common practices.  He sent a big group of them to the fields of execution, buried part of them alive, threw many of them into the dark cells of prisons, and subjected them to other painful tragedies. The following is an account of some of them

Harun committed the most horrible crime history has recorded against them. He ordered a group of them to be executed on one night in a sorrowful way. Hamid b. Qahteba, a headsman, related that terrible tragedy. ‘Ubayd Allah al-Nishapuri narrated, saying: “I came in to Hamid b. Qahteba in the month of Ramazan. He ordered a lunch to be brought. 

Then he invited me to have food, so I said to him:

‘O Emir, this is the month of Ramazan. I am not sick, nor have I an illness that makes fast breaking obligatory. Perhaps the Emir has an excuse in respect with that.’ 

He said to me: ‘I have no illness that makes fast breaking obligatory. Then he wept.’” 

After he had had the lunch, ‘Ubayd Allah turned to him and asked him about the reason for his weeping, and he answered him:

When I was at Tus, Harun sent for me at a dark night. When I stood before him, he asked me:

How is your obedience to the Commander of the faithful?

I sacrifice my soul and property for him.

So Harun bowed his head, and then he let me go. Shortly after that he sent for me. When I stood before him, he asked me:

How is your obedience to the Commander of the faithful?

I sacrifice my soul and property for him.

So Harun smiled, and then he allowed me to go. When I came into my house, the messenger came for the third time, saying: “Respond to the Commander of the faithful.” 

When I stood before him, he asked me:

How is your obedience to the Commander of the faithful?

I sacrifice my faith and religion for him.

So he smiled and said:

“Take this sword and carry out the servant’s orders.”

I took the sword. The servant walked in front of me until he led me to a closed house. There was a well in the middle of the house. In it there were three closed rooms. He opened one of them, and I found in it twenty persons; they were ranging among old, middle-aged, and young. Then he said to me: “Indeed, the Commander of the faithful is commanding you to kill these (people); they all are the sons of ‘Ali and Fatima.”

He took them out one by one, and I beheaded them. Then he threw their bodies and their heads into the well. Then he opened the second room where there were twenty persons and said to me: “Indeed, the Commander of the faithful is commanding you to kill these (people); they all are the sons of ‘Ali and Fatima.” He took them out one by one, and I beheaded them. Then he threw their bodies and their heads into the well. Then he opened the third room where there was twenty ‘Alawis s. He took them out one by one and ordered me to kill them. I executed nineteen of them, and there remained an old man, who said to me: “Woe to you! Which an excuse will you have on the Day of Resurrection when you meet my grandfather, Allah’s Apostle, may Allah bless him and his family, and you killed sixty persons from among his grandsons? So I shook all over with fear. A violent shock befell me, so the servant looked at me angrily and rebuked me. For this reason I killed that old man and threw him in that well.

8.  Banishing the Alawis

Immidiately after ascending on throne, Harun al-Rashid (l.a), issued a royal decree ordering the ‘Alawis to be immediately banished from Baghdad to Yasrib.

Harun al-Rashid (l.a) practiced a severe pressure on the family of the Prophet. When they came to know that he detested and hated them, they lived in disguise and wandered from place to place in a state of fear lest someone should recognize them. The soldiers went too far in following and pursuing them; the intelligence and the security forces spread to look for them. They arrested some of them, sent them to graves, prisons and to some of Harun’s ministers, that they might send their heads as gifts on his birthdays.

    Defaming the Ahlebait (a.s)

Harun al-Rashid (l.a) employed all his efforts and abilities to destroy the ‘Alawis and defame them. He gave huge sums money to poets to malign them.

Harun al-Rashid (l.a) gave enormous properties to a poet because he satirized Ahlebait (a.s) the members of the house, peace be on them, praised the ‘Abbasids, and indicated that he was worthier of the Prophet than the ‘Alawis .

            Banning the mention of virtues of Ahlebait (a.s)

He severely punished those who mentioned the virtues of Ahlebait (a.s) to the people. Thus Muslims in his black period were afraid of mentioning the laudable deeds of Ahlebait (a.s). No poet dared to praise them or lament for them. If anyone did that he was subjected to vengeance and torture. He attacked the closest of all the people to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family

            Demolishing the Shrine of Imam Husayn (a.s)

Harun al-Rashid (l.a) was unable to the rage when he saw the Muslim masses frequently and in groups visit the shrine of Imam Husain (a.s). He ordered the Holy Shrine and the neighboring houses to be demolished. He ordered the nabk tree beside the Holy Grave to be uprooted. Moreover he ordered the land of Kerbela to be ploughed, that he might efface the traces of the Pure Grave. However, Allah took vengeance on him and he died in Khurasan before the end of the year.

      Executing the great figures of Alawis 

The tyrannical, Harun, ordered a large group of the ‘Alawis great figures to be executed and assassinated, while they were the best of the Muslims in knowledge, piety, and sticking to religion. As an example we mention Yehya b Abdullah:

Yehya b. ‘Abd Allah b. al-Hasan b. al-Hasan b. ‘Ali, the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him.

His kunya was Abu al-Hasan. He was a man of great importance and a high rank. He had a remarkable position with the Muslims. The progeny of the prophets was recognized through his face.He was among the great men of knowledge and virtue. He narrated hadith (tradition) and narrated many traditions on the authority of Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq, peace be on him. He narrated traditions on the authority of his father, his brother, and Aban b. Teghlub. Mukauwal b. Ibrahim, Bekkar b. Ziyad, Yehya b. Musawir, and ‘Amru b. Hemmad narrated traditions on his authority. When Malik b. Anas saw him, he rose for him and seated him beside him.

He grew up in the house of Imam al-Sadiq, peace be on him. The Imam gave him many of his sciences and appointed him as one of his testamentary trustees. When he narrated traditions on the authority of

Yehya was among the heroes of the revolt of the martyr leader of the (Battle of) Fekh. He played an active role in it. He along with his companions struggled for a long time, that they might establish justice and equality in the areas of the Islamic society and to remove the government of the oppressive from among the ‘Abbasids. When the ‘Abbasid troops arrested al-Husayn and killed him with that fearful and painful way, Yehya hid himself; and then he along with his brave companions escaped. They walked through the countries seeking a refuge.

Yehya had fear for himself and his companions of Harun. So he along with seventy men from among his companions secretly and in disguise went to al-Daylem.

       Oppression on Imam al-Kazim (a.s)

Harun al-Rashid (l.a) did not leave any stone unturned in torturing the holy Imam (a.s). In 179 A.H. he ordered the arrest of Imam al-Kazim (A.S.). The holy Imam (a.s) was captured and sent to Basrah.  He (a.s) stayed in prison for a year and was sent to Baghdad and imprisoned there for a long time. After that, he was imprisoned under Sindi bin Shahak (l.a), the cruelest in word and deed against Imam al-Kazim (a.s). 

He ordered the beating, stripping and cursing publicly of Yahya Barmaki because he provided some comfort to Imam al-Kazim (a.s) in prison. 

Harun al-Rashid (l.a) also tortured the companions of Imam al-Kazim (a.s) like Muhammad bin Abi Umair Azadi who was imprisoned in the prisons of Harun al-Rashid (l.a) for about ten years and was severely punished .  Ali bin Hashim bin Barid, Abdulla bin Alqama, and Mukhawwal bin Ibrahim Sahdi were also imprisoned by Harun al-Rashid (l.a) in his prison called Matbiq where they remained for twelve years.

Harun al-Rashid (l.a) also ordered the Imam (a.s) to be given over to Fadl bin Yahya, who imprisoned him in one of his houses and put him on house arrest.

Harun al-Rashid (l.a) also ordered two his officers to kill Imam al-Kazim (a.s) but they refused to carry this heinous task. He finally ordered the cruel Sindi ibn Shahik  (l.a) to kill Imam and Sindi ibn Shahik (l.a) accepted it gratefully.

Last but not the least Harun al-Rashid (l.a) seated himself on the caliphate which belonged to Imam al-Kazim (a.s).

May Allah curse those who oppressed Ahlebait (a.s) and their shias.