...When al-Mahdi died suddenly and unexpectedly, Hārūn Al-Rashīd duly had Mūsā recognised as caliph, but Mūsā was to reign for only a short period. He died after fourteen months of being the caliph. As a result, accounts of the events of his short caliphate were shaped during the caliphate of Hārūn Al...

...In 809, Hārūn Al-Rashīd died at the Khurasani city of Tūs. After his death the brothers took pledge of allegiance from the notables and soldiers at Baghdad and Marw. However, al-Rashīd's death also marked the impending disagreement between his heir al-Amīn and his second successor al-Ma،mūn...

...The chapter reviews the fictional account of Ḥusniyya, a slave girl who supposedly bested the leading Sunni scholars of her day, in the late eighth century. When her master died, so the story goes, Ḥusniyya suggested to his son that he sell her to the Caliph, Hārūn al-Rashīd (r. 786-809...

...). The sway of Baghdad, the fabled city of Hārūn al-Rashīd and the enchanted land of A Thousand and One Nights, continues to capture the imagination of successive generations of poets, writers, and artists the world over. Neither East nor West seems immune to its irresistible charm...