Al-Wathiq

Al-Wathiq was the son of al-Mu'tasim by a Byzantine Greek slave (umm walad), Qaratis. He was born on 17 April 812 (various sources give slightly earlier or later dates in 811–813), on the road to Mecca.[1][2] He was named Harun after his grandfather, Caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809),[3] and had the teknonym Abu Ja'far.[4]

His early life is obscure, all the more since his father was initially a junior prince without prospects of succession.[1] When al-Mu'tasim became caliph, he took care for his son and heir to acquire experience in governance. Thus al-Wathiq was left in charge of the capital Baghdad in 835, when al-Mu'tasim moved north to found a new capital at Samarra.[1] He is then mentioned in the account of al-Tabari as being sent to ceremonially welcome the general al-Afshin during his victorious return from the suppression of the revolt of Babak Khorramdin in 838.[1] He is then mentioned in 841 as bringing a bowl of fruit to al-Afshin, now disgraced and imprisoned. Fearing that the fruit was poisoned, al-Afshin refused to accept it, and asked for someone else to convey a message to the caliph.[1] In Samarra, his residence was immediately adjacent to his father's palace, and he was a fixed presence at court.[1] As historian John Turner remarks, these events show al-Wathiq in the "role of a trusted agent of his father, which positioned him well to take over the reins of power". On the other hand, al-Wathiq was never given a military command and did not even participate in the Amorion campaign of 838, in a departure from previous Abbasid practice.[1]

Al-Tabari records that al-Wathiq was of medium height, handsome and well-built. He was fair with a ruddy complexion. His left eye was paralyzed.[5] When al-Mu'tasim died on 5 January 842, al-Wathiq succeeded him without opposition. His reign was brief and unremarkable, being essentially a continuation of al-Mu'tasim's own, as the government continued to be led by the men al-Mu'tasim had raised to power: the Turkish military commanders Itakh, Wasif, and Ashinas, the vizier Muhammad ibn al-Zayyat, and the chief qādī, Ahmad ibn Abi Duwad.[6] His mother, Qaratis, accompanied al-Wathiq's brother Ja'far (the future caliph al-Mutawakkil) on the pilgrimage in 842, but she died on the way at al-Hirah, on 16 August 842. She was buried in Kufa.[7]

In 843/4, the Caliph—allegedly at the instigation of the vizier Ibn al-Zayyat, or, according to a story reported by al-Tabari, inspired by the downfall of the Barmakids under Harun al-Rashid—arrested, tortured, and imposed heavy fines on several of the secretaries in the central government, in an effort to raise money to pay the Turkish troops. The measure was at the same time aimed at reducing the power of the leading Turkish commanders, such as Itakh and Ashinas, since most of the secretaries arrested and forced to pay were in their service.[8]

In 838 al-Mu'tasim had scored a major victory against the Abbasid Caliphate's perennial foe, the Byzantine Empire, with the celebrated Sack of Amorium.[15] He did not follow up this success, however, and warfare reverted to the usual raids and counter-raids along the border. At the time of his death in 842, al-Mu'tasim was preparing yet another large-scale invasion, but the great fleet he had prepared to assault Constantinople perished in a storm off Cape Chelidonia a few months later.[16] Following al-Mu'tasim's death, the Byzantine regent Theoktistos attempted to reconquer the Emirate of Crete, an Abbasid vassal, but the campaign ended in disaster.[17] In 844, an army from the border emirates of Qaliqala and Tarsus, led by Abu Sa'id, and possibly the emir of Malatya Umar al-Aqta, raided deep into Byzantine Asia Minor and reached as far as the shore of the Bosporus. The Muslims then defeated Theoktistos at the Battle of Mauropotamos, aided by the defection of senior Byzantine officers.[18]

In 845, a Byzantine embassy arrived at the caliphal court to negotiate about a prisoner exchange. It was held in September of the same year under the auspices of Khaqan al-Khadim, and 4,362 Muslims were set free. A winter raid by the Abbasid governor of Tarsus shortly after failed disastrously, after which the Arab-Byzantine frontier remained quiet for six years.[19][20]

Al-Wathiq died as the result of dropsy, while being seated in an oven in an attempt to cure it,[21] on 10 August 847. His age is variously given as 32, 34, or 36 years at the time.[3]

His death was unexpected, and left the succession open. Consequently the leading officials, the vizier Ibn al-Zayyat, the chief qādī, Ahmad ibn Abi Duwad, the Turkish generals Itakh and Wasif, and a few others, assembled to determine his successor. Ibn al-Zayyat initially proposed al-Wathiq's son Muhammad (the future caliph al-Muhtadi), but due to his youth he was passed over, and instead the council chose al-Wathiq's 26-year-old half-brother Ja'far, who became the caliph al-Mutawakkil.[22][23]

Al-Wathiq is one of the more obscure Abbasid caliphs. According to the historian Hugh Kennedy, "no other caliph of the period has left so little trace of the history of his times, and it is impossible to form any clear impression of his personality",[24] while the Encyclopaedia of Islam writes that "he had not the gifts of a great ruler, and his brief reign was not distinguished by remarkable events".[3] He is reported as having been generous to the poor of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, but he did not enjoy any great popularity. What is known of his character shows him being given to indolence and the pleasures of court life: himself active as a composer, al-Wathiq was a patron of poets, singers and musicians. He is known for the favour he showed to the singer Mukhariq, and confirmed al-Dahhak al-Bahili, known as al-Khalīʿ, "the debauched one", as court poet.[3] The sources also relate some episodes that show al-Wathiq's "intellectual curiosity": he reportedly dreamed that the "Barrier of Dhu'l-Qarnayn" had been breached—probably resulting from news of the movements of the Kirghiz Turks at the time that caused large population shifts among the Turkic nomads of Central Asia—and sent Sallam al-Tarjman to journey to the region and investigate. Likewise, according to Ibn Khordadbeh the Caliph sent the astronomer al-Khwarizmi to the Byzantines to investigate the legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.[3]

His very obscurity allowed William Beckford to present a heavily fictionalized version of al-Wathiq in his classic 18th-century Gothic fantasy novel Vathek, which Hugh N. Kennedy describes as "a fantastic tale of cruelty, dissipation and a search for the lost treasure of ancient kings, guarded by Iblis/Satan himself".[6]

• Kennedy, Hugh (2004). The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century (Second ed.). Harlow: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-40525-7.
• Kennedy, Hugh (2006). When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306814808.
• Kraemer, Joel L., ed. (1989). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXXIV: Incipient Decline: The Caliphates of al-Wāthiq, al-Mutawakkil and al-Muntaṣir, A.D. 841–863/A.H. 227–248. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-874-4.
• Turner, John P. (2013). "The Enigmatic Reign of al-Wāthiq (r. 227/842-232/847)". In Bernards, Monique (ed.). Abbasid Studies IV. Occasional Papers of the School of Abbasid Studies. Gibb Memorial Trust. pp. 218–231. ISBN 9780906094983.
• Vasiliev, A. A. (1935). Byzance et les Arabes, Tome I: La Dynastie d'Amorium (820–867) (in French). French ed.: Henri Grégoire, Marius Canard. Brussels: Éditions de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales.
• Zetterstéen, K. V.; Bosworth, C. E. & van Donzel, E. (2002). "al-Wāt̲h̲iḳ Bi 'llāh". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume XI: W–Z. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 178. ISBN 978-90-04-12756-2.