Itakh
Aytākh or Ītākh al- Khazarī was a leading commander in the Turkic army of the Abbasid caliph al- Mu'tasim( r. 833-842 C.E.).
As the" nisba" in his name suggests, he was a Khazar by origin, and is said to have been a slave working in the kitchen of Sallam al- Abrash al- Khadim —whence his nickname" al- Tabbakhthe cook" — before he was purchased as a" ghulām" by al- Mu'tasim in 815.
He rose to become one of the senior commanders in al- Mu'tasim's" Turkish" guard, and participated in several expeditions such as the Sack of Amorium.
Under al- Mu'tasim, he served as" sahib al- shurta" at Samarra, and became commander of the Caliph's personal guard.
By the time of the accession of al- Wathiq in 842, he was, along with the Turk Ashinas, the" mainstay of the caliphate".
Al- Wathiq named him governor of the Yemen in 843/ 4.
After the death of Ashinas, in 844/ 5, he was named governor of Egypt, but he appointed Harthamah ibn al- Nadr al- Jabali there in his stead.
Ya'qubi further reports that under al- Wathiq, he was appointed to the governorships of Khurasan, al- Sind, and the sub-provinces of the Tigris River.
When al- Wathiq died unexpectedly in August 847, Itakh was one of the leading officials, along with the vizier Muhammad ibn al- Zayyat, the chief" qādī", Ahmad ibn Abi Duwad, his fellow Turkish general Wasif al- Turki, who assembled to determine his successor.
Ibn al- Zayyat initially proposed al- Wathiq's son Muhammad( the future al- Muhtadi), but due to his youth he was passed over, and instead the council chose another of al- Mu'tasim's sons, the 26- year- old Ja'far, who became the caliph al- Mutawakkil.
Unbeknownst to them, the new Caliph was resolved to destroy the coterie of his father's officials that controlled the state.
Al- Mutawakkil's first target was the vizier Ibn al- Zayyat, against whom he harboured a deep grudge over the way he had disrespected him in the past.
Thus, on 22 September 847, he sent Itakh to summon Ibn al- Zayyat as if for an audience.
Instead, the vizier was brought to Itakh's residence, where he was placed under house arrest.
His possessions were confiscated, and he was tortured to death.
This was the apogee of Itakh's career: he combined the positions of chamberlain(" ḥājib"), head of the Caliph's personal guard, intendant of the palace, and head of the" barīd", the public post, which doubled as the government's intelligence network.
In 848, however, he was persuaded to go to the pilgrimage, and laid down his powers, only to be arrested on his return.
His possessions were confiscated — reportedly, in his house alone the Caliph's agents found one million gold dinars.
He died of thirst in prison in 849.
Zacharias III of Makuria
Zacharias III( c. 822c. 854) was ruler of the Nubian kingdom of Makuria.
In 833 he ceased paying the Baqt to the rulers of Egypt, and prepared to fight the Abbasid Caliph al- Mu'tasim( 833- 842) over the tribute.
He sent his son Georgios( Arabic:" Firaki") to renegotiate the terms, and al- Mu'tasim reduced the payment to once every third year.
When the Beja refused to pay their tribute to the Abbasids in 854, the forces of Makuria joined with them in attacking Egypt.
They slew the Egyptian working the emerald mines in the Eastern Desert, invaded Upper Egypt and pillaged Edfu, Esna and many other villages.
Al-Musta'sim (Cairo)
Al- Musta'sim, also known as al- Mu'tasim, served twice( first in 1377, then again in 1386 – 1389) as Abbasid caliph of Cairo under the tutelage of the Mamluk sultans.
Al-Mu'ayyad
Al- Mu'ayyad( died 866) was the third son of the Abbasid caliph, al- Mutawakkil and the brother of al- Muntasir and al- Mu'tazz, who both would eventually become Caliphs as well.
In 860, al- Mutawakkil had named his three sons heirs and seemed to favour al- Muntasir.
However, this appeared to change and al- Muntasir feared his father was going to move against him.
With the implicit support of the Turkish faction of the army, he ordered the assassination of al- Mutawakkil which was carried out by a Turkish soldier on December 11, 861.
The Turkish party then prevailed on al- Muntasir to remove his brothers from the succession, fearing revenge for the murder of their father.
In their place, he was to appoint his son as heir- apparent.
On April 27, 862 both brothers, al- Mu'ayyad and al- Mu'tazz, wrote a statement of abdication.
Al- Muntasir's reign lasted for half a year and ended with his death of unknown causes on 862.
After the death of al- Muntasir, the Turkish chiefs assembled in a council to select his successor.
They did not want to elect al- Mu'ayyad or any of the brothers; so they elected al- Musta'in, another grandson of al- Mu'tasim.
In 866, al- Musta'in was deposed and al- Mu'tazz came into power.
Immediately upon becoming the new Caliph, al- Mu'tazz had the former Caliph al- Musta'in executed.
The Turkish soldiery, after a brawl with the" Maghariba" troops, now turned their support to al- Mu'ayyad.
Enraged by this predicament, the jealous Caliph had his brother, al- Mu'ayyad, being next heir to the throne, imprisoned along with another brother, Abu Ahmad, who had bravely led the troops in the late struggle on his side.
The Turks attempted his release, but al- Mu'tazz, the more alarmed, resolved on his death.
He was smothered in a downy robe( or, as others say, frozen in a bed of ice); and the body was then exposed before the Court, as if, being without mark of violence, he had died a natural death,( a transparent subterfuge).
This period saw the rise of a legend that an Abbasid prince had converted to Christianity under the influence of Theodore of Edessa, taken the name" John" and been killed for his apostasy; Alexander Vasiliev speculates that Muayyad, who was killed in 866 by his brother Mu`tazz, may have been the convert.
However, there is no Christian or Muslim record remotely associating Muayyad with Christianity or even, indeed, religious speculation.
The motives for his murder seem to have been purely political; had he indeed converted, it would have given Mutazz an excuse to murder him for apostasy and been recorded.
Ashinas
Abu Ja'far Ashinas( died 17 or 19 December 844) was a general of the Abbasid caliph al- Mu'tasim.
One of the earliest and most prominent members of al- Mu'tasim's Turkish guard, he rose to become one of the leading figures of the empire under al- Mu'tasim, serving as a commander in the Amorium campaign, and playing a leading role in the purge of the old Abbasid elites that followed.
He was also governor of Egypt from 834, as well as of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia from 838 on, although in practice he appointed deputies to govern in his stead.
Under al- Mu'tasim's successor al- Wathiq, his powers were extended further into a virtual viceroyalty over all western provinces of the caliphate.
Al-Mu'tasim
Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd (October 796 – 5 January 842), better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaṣim biʾllāh ("he who seeks refuge in God"), was the eighth Abbasid caliph, ruling from 833 until his death in 842.
A younger son of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, he rose to prominence through his formation of a private army composed predominantly of Turkish slave-soldiers ("ghilmān").
This proved useful to his half-brother, Caliph al-Ma'mun, who employed al-Mu'tasim and his Turkish guard to counterbalance other powerful interest groups in the state, as well as employing them in campaigns against rebels and the Byzantine Empire.
When al-Ma'mun died unexpectedly on campaign in August 833, al-Mu'tasim was thus well placed to succeed him, overriding the claims of al-Ma'mun's son al-Abbas.
Al-Mu'tasim continued many of his brother's policies, such as the partnership with the Tahirids, who ruled Khurasan and Baghdad on behalf of the Abbasids.
With the support of the powerful chief "qādī", Ahmad ibn Abi Duwad, he continued to implement the rationalist Islamic doctrine of Mu'tazilism and the persecution of its opponents through the inquisition ("miḥna").
Although not personally interested in literary pursuits, al-Mu'tasim also nurtured the scientific renaissance begun under al-Ma'mun.
In other ways, his reign marks a departure and a watershed moment in Islamic history, with the creation of a new regime centred on the military, and particularly his Turkish guard.
In 836, a new capital was established at Samarra to symbolize this new regime and remove it from the restive populace of Baghdad.
The power of the caliphal government was increased by centralizing measures that reduced the power of provincial governors in favour of a small group of senior civil and military officials in Samarra, and the fiscal apparatus of the state was more and more dedicated to the maintenance of the professional army, which was dominated by Turks.
The Arab and Iranian elites that had played a major role in the early period of the Abbasid state were increasingly marginalized, and an abortive conspiracy against al-Mu'tasim in favour of al-Abbas in 838 resulted in a widespread purge of their ranks.
This strengthened the position of the Turks and their principal leaders, Ashinas, Wasif, Itakh, and Bugha.
Another prominent member of al-Mu'tasim's inner circle, the prince of Ushrusana, al-Afshin, fell afoul of his enemies at court and was overthrown and killed in 840/1.
The rise of the Turks would eventually result in the troubles of the "Anarchy at Samarra" and lead to the collapse of Abbasid power in the mid-10th century, but the "ghulām"-based system inaugurated by al-Mu'tasim would be widely adopted throughout the Muslim world.
Al-Mu'tasim's reign was marked by continuous warfare.
The two major internal campaigns of the reign were against the long-running Khurramite uprising of Babak Khorramdin in Adharbayjan, which was suppressed by al-Afshin in 835–837, and against Mazyar, the autonomous ruler of Tabaristan, who had clashed with the Tahirids and risen up in revolt.
While his generals led the fight against internal rebellions, al-Mu'tasim himself led the sole major external campaign of the period, in 838 against the Byzantine Empire.
His armies defeated Emperor Theophilos and sacked the city of Amorium.
The Amorium campaign was widely celebrated, and became a cornerstone of caliphal propaganda, cementing al-Mu'tasim's reputation as a warrior-caliph.
'Ujayf ibn 'Anbasa
ʿ Ujayf ibn ʿ Anbasa( died 838) was one of the senior- most military leaders of the Abbasid Caliphate under the caliphs al- Ma'mun and al- Mu'tasim.
Al-Abbas ibn al-Ma'mun
Al- Abbas ibn al- Ma'mun( died 838 CE) was an Abbasid prince and general, the son of the Abbasid Caliph al- Ma'mun.
A distinguished military leader in the Arab – Byzantine wars, he was passed over in the succession in favour of his uncle al- Mu'tasim.
In 838, he was arrested for his involvement in a failed conspiracy against al- Mu'tasim, and died in prison.
Al-Fadl ibn Marwan
Al- Fadl ibn Marwan( ca. 774–864) was a Christian Arab official of the Abbasid Caliphate, who rose to become vizier under Caliph al- Mu'tasim( reigned 833 – 842).
He was the first of a series of Iraqi Christian officials who would come to play a significant role in the Caliphate's administration during the 9th century.
Fadl began his career in the reign of Harun al- Rashid( r. 786–809) as a retainer of Harthama ibn A'yan, at the time head of the caliphal bodyguard.
His administrative talent brought him to the attention of Harun, who appointed him a secretary in the" diwan al- kharaj"( the" Bureau of the Land Tax").
During the civil war that followed Harun's death, Fadl retired to his estates in Iraq.
It was there that he came to the attention of Abu Ishaq, the younger brother of Caliph al- Ma'mun( r. 813–833) and future Caliph al- Mu'tasim, who valued is expert knowledge on taxation and agriculture.
In 828, Abu Ishaq took him along to Egypt and then appointed him to head the" diwan al- kharaj".
During al- Ma'mun's absence on campaign against the Byzantine Empire in 832–833, Fadl remained in Baghdad as the Caliph's deputy, and it was he who had the oath of allegiance(" bay'ah") sworn to al- Mu'tasim when news came of al- Ma'mun's death.
In September 833, he was appointed as vizier with wide- ranging powers, but his attempts to limit expenditure, and especially the Caliph's largesse to his courtiers, brought about his dismissal in February 836.
He continued to serve Mu'tasim and his successors as an advisor on taxation issues until his death in 864, aged about 90.
Harun al-Rashid
Harun al-Rashid ("Hārūn Ar-RašīdAaron the Orthodox" or "Aaron the Rightly-Guided", 17 March 763 or February 766 – 24 March 809 (148–193 Hijri)) was the fifth Abbasid Caliph.
His birth date is debated, with various sources giving dates from 763 to 766.
His epithet "al-Rashid" translates to "the Orthodoxthe Justthe Upright", or "the Rightly-Guided".
Al-Rashid ruled from 786 to 809, during the peak of the Islamic Golden Age.
He established the legendary library Bayt al-Hikma ("House of Wisdom") in Baghdad in present-day Iraq, and during his rule Baghdad began to flourish as a center of knowledge, culture and trade.
During his rule, the family of Barmakids, which played a deciding role in establishing the Abbasid Caliphate, declined gradually.
In 796, he moved his court and government to Raqqa in present-day Syria.
A Frankish mission came to offer Harun friendship in 799.
Harun sent various presents with the emissaries on their return to Charlemagne's court, including a clock that Charlemagne and his retinue deemed to be a conjuration because of the sounds it emanated and the tricks it displayed every time an hour ticked.
Portions of the fictional "One Thousand and One Nights" are set in Harun's court and some of its stories involve Harun himself.
Harun's life and court have been the subject of many other tales, both factual and fictitious.
Some of the Twelver sect of Shia Muslims blame Harun for his supposed role in the murder of their 7th Imam
(Musa ibn Ja'far).

Question: Which country Al-Mu'Tasim's father is from?
Answer: Abbasid Caliphate