The Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun (786-813) is best known for sponsoring the translation of Greek philosophy into Arabic and for promoting the activity of mathematicians, astronomers, engineers, physicians and cartographers. In his own time, however, he was a wildly controversial figure: having come to power by overthrowing the central government in Baghdad and killing his half brother, the caliph al-Amin, he astonished this contemporaries by choosing a member of the rival house of Ali as his heir apparent. A self- proclaimed defender of the faith, he supported theological positions many believers considered heretical, and towards the end of his career launched an inquisition against the scholars of Hadith who refused to accept his guidance on matters of theology.

This accessible new biography offers an insight into the life and times of al-Mämum, treating him as the product of an age that has come to be seen as a formative period in the development of Islamic law and theology. Drawing on both contemporary and well- established sources, it offers a comprehensive portrait of one of the most fascinating figures in Islamic history, and will appeal to readers of all backgrounds.

Acknowledgements

1 INTRODUCTION

Al-Mämun Attacks the Pyramid

The Scholar-Caliph

The World Inherited by Islam

Muslims: A Divided Minority

The Coming of the Abbasids

The Problem of the Sources

2 EDUCATION

Parents, Step-parents and Foster Parents

Topography and Domestic Space

Elementary Education

Grammar

Poetry

History and Hadith

Learning to Think

The Legacy of Iran

The Question of the Law

An Inscrutable Personality?

3 THE FIRST SUCCESSION CRISIS

The Succession to al-Rashid

Al-Mämun Left in the Lurch

A New Force in Khurasan

The Civil War

The Siege of Baghdad

The Death of al-Amin and the Crisis of Legitimacy

4 THE SECOND SUCCESSION CRISIS

Al-Ridäs Claim to the Imamate

The End of the World?

An Appeal to Iranian Muslims?

The Proto-Sunni Response

A Reversal of Policy?

Al-Mämun¿s Return to Baghdad

Al-Mämun¿s Later pro-Alid Policies

Later Shiite Responses

The Pilgrimage to Mashhad

5 SCIENCE AND RATIONALISM

The Ancient Scientific Legacy

The Translation Movement

Measuring the Earth

Greek Medicine in Baghdad

The Book of Ingenious Devices

Breakthroughs in Mathematics

The Map of the World

Hostility to the Literalists

6 DEFENDER OF THE FAITH

Recentralization and the New Military

The Byzantine Campaigns

The Dome of the Rock

Provoking the Literalists

The Inquisition

The Scholars Resist

The Death of al-Mämun

The Inquisition After al-Mämun

The Historical Significance of the Inquisition

Epilogue

Bibliography

Index

Michael Cooperson is Associate Professor of Arabic at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Classical Arabic Biography: The Heirs of the Prophet in the Age of al-Ma'mun.