Harun al-Rashid

هارون الرشيد

Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi, fifth Abbasid caliph; in al-Baladhuri: as prince he led the summer raid of year 163 for his father, besieging Damalu and granting its people aman — settled at Baghdad's Samalu quarter — and in year 165 descending on the Gulf, repairing Masisa and its mosque, increasing its garrison and building the Adhana-bridge palace on the Sayhan; as caliph he learned in year 171 that the Byzantines had conspired to fortify Tarsus and forestalled them through Harthama ibn A'yan and Faraj ibn Sulaym, settling the two levies, ordered Ayn Zarba built and fortified in year 180 and the city of the Black Church likewise, named the march cities the 'Awasim, returned the Cypriot captives taken by Hayy ibn Ma'yuf, restored Filastin's deserted estates to their people through Harthama with the takhafif and rudud, disbursed funds through the marches and coasts, and carried the craft of raiding, in Mu'awiya ibn Amr's words, to a pitch unmatched before him.