Maʾmūn ʿAbbāsī’s Stance Toward Imām ʿAlī (Peace be Upon him)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Mojtaba Soltani Ahmadi ¹
• Mostafa Gohari Fakhrabad ²
• Davood Fathollahi ³

¹ Associate Professor, Department of History and Civilization of Islamic Nations, Payam-e Noor University, Tehran, Iran

² Assistant Professor, Department of History and Civilization of Islamic Nations, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

³ MA Student, History of Shi’ism, Payam-e Noor University, Tehran, Iran

10.22067/jhistory.2024.83902.1245

Abstract

The Abbasids, similar to their ancestor ʿAbbās, the prophet’s paternal uncle, were Shīʿa and among the supporters of Ahl al-Bayt prior to the victory of their movement. However, after gaining power by overthrowing the Alids and dealing with their uprisings, they abandoned their previous stance and aligned themselves with the majority, placing ʿAlī (peace be upon him) and his family in a rank lower compared to early caliphs, and converting to Tasannun. Almost all of the early Abbasid caliphs held the same position on this matter, with the only exception being Maʾmūn (r. 198-218 A.H. / 813-833 A.D.). Therefore, the present research seeks to discover Maʾmūn’s position toward ʿAlī (peace be upon him), and his reasons for adopting this position.
The study concludes that Maʾmūn believed in Imām ʿAlī’s (peace be upon him) legitimacy for the caliphate after the Prophet, considered him to be superior to other companions of the Prophet (ṣaḥāba), and believed in his administration (Viṣāyat). However, the Shīʿa showed little interest in his position, or denied it altogether. This is because Maʾmūn was responsible for the martyrdom of Imām Riżā (peace be upon him). Maʾmūn made significant efforts to elevate the name and memory of Imām ʿAlī, and can therefore be considered a believer and a devotee of the Ahl al-Bayt and ʿAlī, although he took different measures regarding the Alids in order to protect his own rule, for instance by appointing Imām Riżā as his heir apparent and then planning his martyrdom.  It seems that Maʾmūn’s Muʿtazilī beliefs, coupled with the influence of his advisors (including his Shīʿī teacher, Kasāʾī) played a key role in the expression of these Shīʿī interests.

Keywords

• Maʾmūn’s Shīʿism
• Imām ʿAlī
• The Abbasids
• The Alids

Main Subjects

• History of Islam

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