The death of Caliph Harun al-Rashid

The Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid died at Tus in Khurasan while on his way to quell a rebellion, after twenty-three years of rule in which the Abbasid state reached the peak of its power and prosperity.

Harun al-Rashid assumed the caliphate in 170 AH as a young man, and his era witnessed the height of the golden age: Baghdad the greatest city in the world, the House of Wisdom translating the sciences of nations, and wealth flowing so that it was said he would address the cloud: Rain where you wish, for your tribute will come to me.

With all this he was frequent in jihad and Hajj; it is related that he would perform Hajj one year and campaign the next, and he raided the land of the Byzantines in person several times. The kings of the earth feared him, his fame spread across the horizons, and his name entered world literature in "One Thousand and One Nights."

He set out himself, though ill, to quell the revolt of Rafiʿ ibn al-Layth beyond the river. His illness worsened at Tus, and he died there in Jumada al-Akhira 193 AH at about forty-five years of age, and was buried there. With his death began the strife between his sons al-Amin and al-Maʾmun.