Hārūn ar-Rashīd (Arabic هارون الرشيد also spelled Harun ar-Rashid, Haroun al-Rashid or Haroon al Rasheed (English: Aaron the Upright or rightly-guided) (c. 763 – 809) was the fifth and most famous Abbasid Caliph. Ruling from 786 C.E. until his death in 809 C.E., his reign and the court over which he held sway are immortalized in, The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. His competent government was greatly aided by his choice of able administrators. Hārūn is regarded as having been a wise and just ruler, an enlightened patron of the arts who ruled over a generally open and tolerant court. This was a period of flourishing scholarship often referred to as the Golden Age of Islamic Civilization. This was also a time when much Greek learning was being copied into Arabic, much of which, lost to Europe, would later reach Europe via Islamic Spain.

Biography

Hārūn was the son of al-Mahdi, the third ‘Abbasid caliph (ruled 775–785), and al-Khayzuran, a former slave girl from Yemen, a woman of strong personality who greatly influenced the affairs of state during the reigns of her husband and sons.

Hārūn was strongly influenced by the will of his mother in the governance of the Islamic empire, until her death in 789. His vizier (chief minister) Yahya the Barmakid, his sons, and other Barmakids were also the main controlling forces in the administration.

The Barmakids were a Persian family that had become very powerful under al-Mahdi. Yahya had aided Hārūn in obtaining the caliphate, and he and his sons enjoyed the caliph’s high favor until 798, when, in a turnaround, he threw them into prison and confiscated their land. The cause assigned to that incident was as follows:

Yahya’s son, Ja’far ibn Yahya, was a great friend of Hārūn’s. The caliph enjoyed having his sisters Abbasa and Jafar join him at times of recreation, but Muslim etiquette did not permit them to interact so informally with one another. In order to facilitate their spending time in one another’s company, Hārūn arranged for a marriage between his friend and his sister, on the understanding that it was not to be a true marriage, but purely nominal. Yet according to some versions of the story, Abbasa entered Ja’far’s bedroom in the darkness, masquerading as one of his slave girls. She secretly gave birth to a child whom she sent off to Mecca. One of her maids, with whom she was quarreling, knew the secret and publicized the scandal. Hārūn heard the story while on a pilgrimage in Mecca and ascertained the tale was probably true.

On his return shortly thereafter, he had Ja’far executed, and his body was dispatched to Baghdad. There it was divided in two and impaled on either side of a bridge. It’s remains were visible for three years, when Harun, happening to pass through Baghdad from the East, gave command for the remains to be taken down and burned. Upon his death, Ja’far’s father and brother were both cast into prison.

The aforementioned story is usually regarded as nothing more than fiction. The reason for the fall of the Barkamids was more likely due to the fact that Barkamids were behaving in a manner Hārūn found disrespectful (such as entering his court unannounced) and making decisions of relevance to the state without consulting him first.

Hārūn became caliph when he was in his early twenties. On the day of accession, his son al-Ma’mun was born, and another, named al-Amin was born shortly thereafter. The latter was the son of Zubaida, a granddaughter of al-Mansur (founder of the city of Baghdad); so he took precedence over his older brother, whose mother was a Persian slave-girl. Hārūn began his reign by appointing very able ministers, who carried on the work of the government so well that they greatly improved the condition of the people.

It was under Hārūn ar-Rashīd that Baghdad flourished into the most splendid city of its period. Many foreign rulers paid tribute to the caliph, and these funds were used for architecture, the arts, and a luxurious life at court.

Hārūn built a palace in Baghdad, far grander and more beautiful than that of any caliph before him. He established his court and residence there and lived in great splendor, attended by hundreds of courtiers and slaves. Later in his life, he moved and set up his court at Ar Raqqah, in the north of Syria. He did this ostensibly to hold what was perceived as a disloyal Syria in check, in spite of his attachment to Baghdad, where he never actually resided again.

Hārūn ar-Rashīd was very anxious that his subjects be treated justly by the officers of the government, and he was determined to hear out any complaints. He is said to have occasionally disguised himself at night and gone through the streets and bazaars, listening to the talk of those whom he met and asking them questions. In this way he learned whether the people were contented and happy.

Hārūn was a great patron of learning, poetry, and music. He was a scholar and poet himself and whenever he heard of learned men in his own kingdom, or in neighboring countries, he is said to ahve invited them to his court and treated them with respect. The name of Hārūn, therefore, became known throughout the world. He had diplomatic relations with China and with Charlemagne. It is said that a correspondence took place between him and Charlemagne and in 802, Harun sent him a present consisting of silks, brass candelabra, perfume, slaves, balsam, ivory chessmen, a colossal tent with many-colored curtains, an elephant named Abul-Abbas, and a water clock that marked the hours by dropping bronze balls into a bowl, as mechanical knights—one for each hour—emerged from little doors which shut behind them. The presents were unprecedented in Western Europe and may have influenced Carolingian art. Charlemagne was awarded permission to send financial aid to the Christians of Palestine. On the one hand, Hārūn demanded that Christians wear distinctive clothes but on the other he employed Christians and Jews in significant positions and is said to have loved his Christian physician, Gabriel Bukhtichlo, as if he were a member of his own family.

In military matters, Hārūn was an excellent soldier and demonstrated this ability at a young age when his father was still caliph. He later commanded an army of 95,000 Arabs and Persians sent by his father to invade the Eastern Roman Empire, which was then ruled by the Empress Irene. After defeating Irene’s famous general, Nicetas, Harun marched his army to Chrysopolis (now Üsküdar in Turkey) on the Asiatic coast, opposite Constantinople. He encamped on the heights in full view of the Roman capital.

The Empress saw that the city would certainly be taken by the Muslims. She therefore sent ambassadors to Harun to arrange terms; but he sternly refused to agree to anything except immediate surrender. It is reported that then one of the ambassadors said, “‘The Empress has heard much of your ability as a general. Though you are her enemy, she admires you as a soldier.’ These flattering words were pleasing to Hārūn. He walked to and fro in front of his tent and then spoke again to the ambassadors. ‘Tell the Empress that I will spare Constantinople if she will pay me seventy thousand pieces of gold as a yearly tribute. If the tribute is regularly paid, Constantinople shall not be harmed by any Muslim force.'” The Empress agreed to these terms. She paid the first year’s tribute; and soon the great Muslim army set out on its homeward march. The tribute of gold that the Empress Irene agreed to pay Hārūn was sent regularly for many years. It was always received at Baghdad with great ceremony. The day on which it arrived was made a holiday. The Roman soldiers who came with it entered the gates in procession. Muslim troops also took part in the parade. When the gold had been delivered at the palace, the Roman soldiers were hospitably entertained, and were escorted to the main gate of the city when they set out on their journey back to Constantinople.

In 802, Nicephorus I usurped the throne of the Eastern Empire. He sent ambassadors with a letter to Harun to tell him that the tribute would no longer be paid. The letter contained these words:

“The weak and faint-hearted Irene submitted to pay you tribute. She ought to have made you pay tribute to her. Return to me all that she paid you; else the matter must be settled by the sword.”

As soon as Hārūn had read these words, the ambassadors threw a bundle of swords at his feet. The caliph smiled, and drawing his own sword, or scimitar, he cut the Roman swords in two with one stroke without injuring the blade or even turning the edge of his weapon. Then he dictated a letter to Nicephorus, in which he said: “Hārūn ar-Rashīd, Commander of the Faithful to Nicephorus, the Roman dog: I have read your letter. You shalt not hear but you will see my reply.”

Hārūn was as good as his word. He set out with a large army intent on punishing the emperor. He laid siege to Heraclea, a city on the shores of the Black Sea, and in a week forced it to surrender. Nicephorus felt forced to agree to pay the tribute.

However, scarcely had the caliph reached his palace in Baghdad when the emperor again refused to pay. Hārūn, consequently, advanced into the Roman province of Phrygia in Asia Minor with an army of 15,000 men. Nicephorus marched against him with 125,000 men. In the battle which followed, the emperor was wounded, and 40,000 of his men were killed. After this defeat, Nicephorus again promised payment of the tribute, but once again failed to keep his promise. Hārūn vowed that he would kill the emperor if he should ever lay hands upon him. But as he was getting ready to march once more into the Roman provinces, a revolt broke out in one of the cities of his own kingdom; and while on his way to suppress it he died from a chronic illness. He is said to be buried in Tus.

Timeline

766: Hārūn is born, the son of Caliph al-Mahdi and the Yemeni slave girl al-Khayzuran.

780: Hārūn is the nominal leader of military expeditions against the Byzantine Empire.

782: Hārūn is nominal leader of a military campaign against the Byzantine Empire reaching as far as the Bosporus. A peace treaty is signed on favourable terms. Harun receives the honorific title ar-Rashīd, named second in succession to the caliphal throne and also appointed governor of Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

786: Hārūn’s brother al-Hadi dies under mysterious circumstances—it was rumored that his mother al-Khayzuran was responsible. Hārūn becomes the new caliph and makes Yahya the Barmakid his Grand Vizier—but al-Khayzuran exercised much influence over the politics.

789: Al-Khayzuran dies, leaving more of the effective power in the hands of Hārūn.

791: Hārūn wages war against the Byzantine Empire.

800: Hārūn appoints Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab governor over Tunisia, making him a semi-autonomous ruler in return for substantial yearly payments.

803: Yahya dies, and even more of effective power comes in the hands of Hārūn.

807: Hārūn’s forces occupy Cyprus.

809: Dies while traveling in the eastern parts of his empire. al-Amin succeeds him as caliph.

Hārūn is widely considered the greatest of the Abbasid caliphs, presiding over the Arab Empire at its political and cultural peak. Consequently, Islamic literature (the work of ibn Kather, for example) has raised him to the level of an ideal figure, a great military and intellectual leader, and even a paragon for future rulers to emulate. His best-known portrayal in the West, in the stories of the Thousand and One Nights, has little basis in historical fact, but does show the mythic stature he has attained over time.

Popular culture and references

Future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, when he was a New York Police Department Commissioner, was called in the local newspapers “Haroun-al-Roosevelt” for his habit of lonely all-night rambles on the streets of Manhattan, surreptitiously catching police officers off their posts, sleeping, or otherwise engaged in restaurants or brothels.

The character Jafar, in Walt Disney’s animated motion picture, 1992’s Aladdin, is vaguely based on Hārūn’s vizier’s son.

The comic book The Sandman issue 50 featured a story set in the world of the Arabian Nights, with Hārūn ar-Rashīd as one of the protagonists. The story, entitled “Ramadan,” is included in the collection The Sandman: Fables and Reflections.

The two protagonists of Salman Rushdie’s 1990 novel, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Haroun and his father Rashid Khalifa were clearly named after the Caliph.

Hārūn ar-Rashīd figures in the third chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses, in a dream of Stephen Dedalus, one of the protagonists: “Wait. Open hallway. Street of harlots. Remember. Haroun al Raschid. I am almosting it.”

Harun al-Rashid is also celebrated in the 1923 poem by W.B. Yeats, The Gift of Harun al-Rashid, first published as part of The Dial in 1924.

In Quest for Glory II, the sultan who adopts Devon Aidendale as his son, is named Hārūn ar-Rashīd. He is often seen prophesizing on the streets of Shapeir as The Poet Omar.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem which started “One day Haroun Al-Raschid read/A book wherein the poet said/Where are the kings and where the rest/Of those who once the world possessed?”

On May 29 an accident at a power plant near the northern Siberian city of Norilsk led to a massive spill that released 23,000 tons of diesel into the environment, most of which has drifted into the Ambarnaya River. It is one the greatest environmental catastrophes to ever occur in the Arctic, and is being compared to the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989, when about 39,000 tons of fuel flooded into the waters off the coast of Alaska.

The company which owns the plant, Norilsk Nickel, stated that the accident likely occurred because thawing permafrost caused an oil tank to collapse. According to Norilsk, the tank rested on 30-year-old pillars. An area of 350 sq kilometers (135 sq miles) has been contaminated. The Ambarnaya is now crimson red.

Special booms could contain the spill. However, Alexei Knizhnikov from the World Wildlife Fund Russia warned, this “doesn’t mean that toxic elements have not gotten into the water of the lake [Pyasino]. Unfortunately, the most poisonous elements of diesel fuel are aromatic compounds like benzol, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene, which will massively mix with water. It is impossible to collect them using oil booms.”

Environmental groups have noted that cleaning up the spill is difficult because of its scale and the geography of the river, which is located in a remote and swampy area. According to Oleg Mitvoi, the former deputy head of Russia’s environmental agency Rosprirodnadzor, there has “never been such an accident in the Arctic zone”. The clean-up, he said, could take between five and ten years, and cost up to $1.5 billion.

The criminally slow response by both the company Norilsk Nickel and regional authorities has dramatically amplified the scale of the disaster.

Even though the catastrophe occurred on May 29, regional authorities did not take any action until two days later on May 31, when images of the spill had spread on social media. Authorities claimed that they were not aware of the incident until oil oozed onto a highway, causing a car to catch fire.

Sergey Verkhovets from Greenpeace Russia said that in the case of such a catastrophe two days is “a very long time.” He also stated that the company had been reckless in its exploitation of natural resources under conditions where thawing permafrost—a result of global warming—has dramatically transformed the ecological landscape.

Verkhovets warned that the impact of the oil spill would be felt for “many years to come”, further polluting the already damaged water systems in the region. The indigenous population, which depends on these rivers for its livelihood, will be particularly impacted.

“We are talking about dead fish, polluted plumage of birds and poisoned animals”, he said. Authorities have assured the population that the oil has not polluted the ground water, but whether this is true or not is far from certain. About 175,000 people live in the nearby city of Norilsk.

On June 3, Russian president Vladimir Putin, in a highly-staged televised address, chided the company and declared a federal state of emergency. A federal investigation was initiated and state television made a point of showing the foreman at the power plant being led off to jail in handcuffs. He is being made the main scapegoat of the disaster, and is being charged for violating environmental protection rules. He may face up to five years in prison.

In reality, however, it is the government and Norilsk Nickel that bear primary responsibility.

Norilsk Nickel is one of the largest producers of nickel, platinum and copper in the world, and one of the most influential and valuable in Russia. The multi-billion state-owned company has been at the center of intense struggles between Russian oligarchs since the destruction of the Soviet Union and restoration of capitalism. It is now headed by Vladimir Potanin, who is worth over $25 billion, and is close to President Vladimir Putin. In a statement on Friday, Potanin claimed the company would pay for the clean-up of the disaster.

Environmental protection regulations in Russia are notoriously poor, and systematic violations by companies are routinely overlooked by state authorities. Four years ago, an accident at another plant of Norilsk Nickel in the region resulted in an oil spill that turned another river red and transformed an area twice the size of Rhode Island into a “dead zone.” The company was fined less than $1,000, which made clear signal that it had nothing to fear in case of future disasters.

The catastrophe on the Ambarnaya underlies the dangers bound up with the “new scramble for the Arctic” by the major powers and corporations. Rapidly warming temperatures have made the exploitation of raw material resources in the region much more dangerous from an environmental standpoint, but also more alluring for major corporations.

At the same time, the Arctic, which is of major economic and geostrategic significance to Russia, has become a central arena of the US imperialist drive to encircle Russia. This further heightens the danger of military and environmental catastrophes.

As part of the standoff with the US, Russia launched a floating nuclear power plant in the Arctic Sea late last summer. The ship has been called a “nuclear Titanic” and “floating Chernobyl” by environmental groups that warn of the potentially catastrophic consequences of any accident on board. Just a few months before the launching of the floating nuclear power plant, a fire on a Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea killed 14 high-ranking Russian navy officers. An aide to the commander of Russia’s navy later ominously warned that, “With their lives, they saved the lives of their colleagues, saved the vessel and prevented a planetary catastrophe.”

How awesome will you feel after putting on this Savage American shirt (or tank) from American AF? Check out this user review.

“As soon as I put it on, my house started shaking. I walked outside and saw 1776 bald eagles sitting on my roof. They all in perfect unison saluted with their right wing. I saluted back and they screeched the anthem then flew off. In the sky they made an American flag with their formation. It was beautiful.”

That was god damn beautiful.

If you’re still not convinced, you must be dead. My condolences.

I continue my Top 10 list with my Top 10 Best Movies of the 90’s.

In the post-Evangelion landscape, mecha anime became even more serious, deeply philosophical and emotionally overwrought. I say even more, because really those wheels had been set in motion since Gundam, which marked a major shift away from super robots as toyetic kids shows, and towards “war is hell” allegories. However, post-Evangelion, stories tended to be even bleaker. Against this drab backdrop came Martian Successor Nadesico, a perfectly satirical yet incredibly likable love letter to the super robot shows of old. In an era that soon trended towards drab existentialism, Nadesico was a wonderfully unexpected and immensely welcome dose of somewhat more traditional mecha action. It was also a gutsy show as it was so steeped in nostalgia, and much more multi-dimensional than even many shows airing today. However, does it hold together with another 17 years in between it’s original airing and now?

Akito Tenkawa is our lead male, and he’s had a rather rough life. After having lost his parents to an “industrial accident” (read: state-sponsored murder,) he only narrowly escapes death during an attack from invading forces, the mysterious Jovian Lizards. Right in the middle of the blood-bath, he miraculously finds himself on Earth with no idea how he got there, and no interest in fighting the impending Jovian threat, in spite of that fact that he has the nanomachine implants to be a Aestivalis (mech) pilot. He has massive PTSD from multiple traumas, so he tries to keep his head down as a fry cook. Alas, fate never works that way in an anime. He ends up running into an old elementary school classmate of his, Yurika Misumaru, and after a half-second of not remembering her, he pursues her to the Nadesico, the ship she happens to be captaining. Why? Not out of love as Yurika thinks, but to get some closure regarding his parents.

Here, Akito finds a motley but talented crew that might as well be a cross between the A-Team (the best of the best) and the study group of Community (an absolutely hilarious group of weirdos and misfits with more quirks than common sense.) Akito himself is an example of this, as he’s originally brought on the Nadesico as a chef, only to end up thrown into battle because, hey, that’s how it happens in this kind of anime, and this anime knows you know the tropes. Surreal crew members and self-aware antics aside, some absolutely and unexpectedly brutal moments are interspersed throughout the series from the get go. One of the most likable characters is killed quite early on in the show, and in a surprisingly realistic, honest way for a show with such a satirical element. The moment almost crosses over into commentary on how unrealistic death is even in serious mecha series, and yet, it doesn’t actually break the flow or tone of the show. It just clues the audience to never forget that the setting is a massive interplanetary war where good people can die, even if there are some laughs a long the way.

For the most part though, an energetic, light, and generally engaging tone with snappy, clever direction drives Nadesico, at least with the TV series*. It has an absolutely massive ensemble cast of characters since it really does include everyone you’d need to run a corporately-owned space battleship, right down to the cooks and accountants. There are a lot of trope-ish characters in the show as such, including the Nadesico’s pilot, Ruri Hoshino, who was arguably and notably the first Rei Ayanami-clone and who was certainly a template for future tsundere characters. The size of the cast and their initially thin character histories could have killed this show, but instead everyone manages to get development and screen time enough to be more than just window dressing. The pacing and direction never drag because of that development either, and if anything, it’s amazing how much is stuffed into every episode. It also never crosses over into feeling abridged or hyperactive, and when the time come to actually make the dramatic plot elements count, it never falters. If anything, those moments bring the series into a surprising level of plausibility since they often logically fill in gaps in just how a lot of the things in the series work.

The rather likable voice acting from both the Japanese and American casts may also have provided Nadesico with a huge assist in believability. Even Spike Spencer, who often was (unfairly) brutalized for his work in the Evangelion dub, is unquestionably fitting as Akito. He brings a great range between silliness and seriousness, and that’s really works wonderfully in Nadesico. Everyone else in both casts are also a delight as there are no traces of sniff, over-dramatic, or over-saccharine delivery. Even Ruri, who has a deadpan delivery in both languages, sounds less like a character and more like some one actually bored yet annoyed by the occasionally antics surrounding her. The soundtrack is a treat as well, and the opening may be one of my favorite of any 1990s anime; it is almost viral in it’s infectiousness. The audio mix itself is rather smooth as well, with the 5.1 Japanese audio feeling down right cinematic.

Visually, both the animation and the DVD encoding itself are in great form . Yes, there are few scenes that aren’t as synced with the American dub because Nozomi Entertainment has used new masters, but really, that’s a nitpick, and one I wouldn’t have even noticed to make had Nozomi not been so kind as to warn me as the DVD started to play. I’ll certainly take a few out sync scenes that the horrible overlays/replaced visuals that the old ADV release had. The animation is definitely 1990’s by design both for the characters and mechs, but it’s rather good 1990’s animation. The fluidity makes it still one of Xebec’s better titles visually. The mech fights are nicely choreographed, but even the handling of simple conversations feel like they have a nice sense of positioning and flow. Keiji Gotoh’s designs have actually aged alright as well, as they reflect some of the best trends of 1990’s anime character design. Nadesico is not without it’s cheats, but the cheats are used intelligently rather than lazily, and at that point, they go from being cheats to style choices. The retro-style animation used for the Gekigengar 3 scenes (the anime within the anime,) is also expertly done. Taken out of context (as it almost is in the finally released in America and included Gekigengar OVA,) you’d never know they’d made a fake anime from whole cloth for the Nadesico to use and meta-reference.

With all this said, the question comes up of whether it’s worth it for existing fans to double dip. Personally, I feel it’s a yes, as this is the Nadesico we were always supposed to have, in it’s entirety, and for a price that’s quite reasonable. More practically though, as with any double dip, you have to ask yourself how much the show means to you. If you love Nadesico, this is the set to own until we get a Blu-ray release. If you’ve only watched your existing copy once since you’ve bought it, maybe you should think twice. However, if you don’t own it, and you’ve never seen it, this is definitely the Nadesico boxset to get right now as even the packaging is rather nice. More importantly Nadesico is still one of the best ensemble cast mecha shows ever, and it’s now itself a wonderful time capsule of a bygone era of mecha anime.

Today I take a look back at one of the most integral parts of my childhood, the GameBoy Advance SP.

I continue my Top 10 list with my Top 10 Best Movies of the 80’s.