Hayzürân’ın Halife Hâdî ile İktidar Mücadelesi

Abstract

Information about Khayzurān’s (d. 173/789) past is quite insufficient and closed. She came to the Abbāsī palace in Baghdad as a concubine during the time of Mahdī (d. 169/785). With the help of her intelligence and dominant character she quickly caught the attention of the caliph Mahdī and managed to become his wife. After being the wife of the caliph she started to join the state administration thanks to his tolerance and her high self-confidence. After a while she reached the power and reputation that had not been granted to any caliph wife until then. Khayzurān tried to use the same authority and power in the time of her eldest son, Hādī (d. 170/786), after Mahdī’s death. However Hādī, who had the opposite character with his father, was disturbed by his mother’s intervention in the state administration. For this reason there was a verbal struggle between the mother and son in the first times and an unfriendly struggle in the later times. Khayzurān won this tough fight and killed him by strangling according to the transfer of most sources. After Hādī’s death she brought her other son Hārūn al-Rashīd (d. 193/809) to power. Khayzurān passed away in Baghdad in 173/789 after her ruling life in Hārūn al-Rashīd which lasted about three years. Her extraordinary personality and her actions after coming to the Abbasid palace were considered remarkable. Even the fact that Khayzurān was the first woman to rule over Abbāsī’s power is a valid reason to make her a research subject. Another aim of this study is the political struggle between Khayzurān and his son Hādī and the interest in the dramatic outcome of this struggle. Keywords: Islamic History, Abbasids, Mahdī, Khayzurān, Hādī.