Al-Amin

Abū Mūsā Muḥammad ibn Harun al-Amīn (Arabic: أبو موسى محمد بن هارون الأمين; April 787 – 24/25 September 813), better known by just his laqab of al-Amīn (Arabic: الأمين, lit. 'the Trustworthy'), was the sixth Abbasid caliph from 809 to 813.

Al-Amin succeeded his father, Harun al-Rashid, in 809 and ruled until he was deposed and killed in 813, during the civil war by his half-brother, al-Ma'mun.

Early life and career

Muhammad, the future al-Amin, was born in April 787 to the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809) and Zubayda, herself descended from the second Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur (r. 754–775).

His mother, Zubayda was the first wife Harun al-Rashid. They both married in 781–82, at the residence of Muhammad ibn Sulayman in Baghdad. She was the daughter of Abbasid prince Ja'far ibn Abdallah al-Mansur and Salsal bint Atta.

Appointment as first heir and successor

Muhammad had an elder half-brother, Abdallah, the future al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833), who had been born in September 786. However, Abdallah's mother was a Persian slave concubine, and his pure Abbasid lineage gave Muhammad seniority over his half-brother. Indeed, he was the only Abbasid caliph to claim such descent. Already in 792, Harun had Muhammad receive the oath of allegiance (bay'ah) with the name of al-Amīn ("The Trustworthy"), effectively marking him out as his main heir, while Abdallah was not named second heir, under the name al-Maʾmūn ("The Trusted One") until 799.