 Historians have interpreted the conflict variously; in the words of the Iranologist Elton L. Daniel, it has been regard as "a conflict over the succession between a rather incompetent, besotted al-Amin and his shrewdly competent brother al-Ma 'mun; as the product of harem intrigues; as an extension of the personal rivalry between the ministers al-Fadl b. Rabi' and al-Fadl b. Sahl; or as a struggle between Arabs and Persians for the control of the government".
