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Article: The Road to Power.(transfer of power of Caliphate of Baghdad during Abbasid dynasty)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Calliope
- Article date:
- February 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The events of September 15, 786, permanently altered the future of the Islamic empire. That night, the reigning caliph was killed, a new caliph assumed the throne, and a future caliph was born. The infant's right to the throne, however, was not guaranteed at birth. Rather, he would find the road to power littered with corpses. Most of these were the result of a bloody civil war that pitted two nephews of the dead caliph against each other.
One nephew, `Abdallah, was the infant born in 786. The other was his brother, Muhammad. Their father, Harun al-Rashid, had become the fifth caliph of the Abbasid dynasty. `Abdallah's mother was not an aristocrat, but a Persian ...