Harun al-Rashid
A large portion of the English text is dedicated to stories involving the Caliph Harun al-Rashid () and his Barmakid advisors. These stories from Masudi are key elements in several English-language historical non-fiction books about Harun al-Rashid, including Hugh N. Kennedy's "When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World", André Clot's "Harun al-Rashid and the World of The Thousand and One Nights" and H. St. John Philby's "Harun Al-Rashid".