Abū Muḥammad Mūsā ibn al-Mahdī al-Hādī (; 759/762 14 September 786 CE)al-Suyuti, Tarikh al-Khulafa' (The History of Caliphs) better known by his laqab al-Hādī () was the fourth Abbasid caliph who succeeded his father al-Mahdi and ruled from 169 AH (785 CE) until his death in 170 AH (786 CE). His short reign ended with internal chaos and power struggles with his mother.Stanley Lane-Poole, The Coins of the Eastern Khaleefahs in the British Museum
Early life Al-Hadi was born in 759 or 762 as the eldest son of al-Mahdi and al-Khayzuran bint Atta. He had three full-siblings; Harun, Isa, and a sister Banuqah (or Banujah). His mother was born in Mecca and brought up in Jurash. She had two sisters, Salsal bint Atta and Asma bint Atta, and a brother Ghitrif ibn Atta. She was al-Mahdi's favorite wife, and he consulted her on matters of defense and administration. Officers and clerics approached her to get favors from the caliph, and petitioners regularly gathered outside her residence. Her influence in public and political life increased gradually from interferer and decisive incursions during her husband's reign to more powerful and wider ones during the reigns of her two sons. Al-Hadi also had an elder-half sister Abbasa, two other half-sisters Ulayya and Aliyah, and several half-brothers; Ubaydallah, Ibrahim, Mansur, Ali, and Abdallah.
Al-Hadi was appointed as the first crown prince by his father at the age of 16 and was chosen as the leader of the army.Khiḍrī, Tārīkh-i khalāfat-i ʿabbāsīyān, p. 51 Prior to his death, al-Mahdi supposedly favored his second son Harun as his successor, taking him on multiple military expeditions in 779 and 781 to train him to be the next caliph, as his own father prepared him, but died before the formal transfer of the crown prince title could occur. In addition, based on her actions during al-Hadi's rule, Khayzuran might have also played a role in this. Alternatively, al-Rashid was a general and may have accompanied his father to war in this role.
His father, Al-Mahdi give military commands to al-Hadi in 167 AH / 783-784 CE. Caliph al-Mahdi sent his heir apparent Musa al-Hadi and Yazid ibn Mazyad al-Shaybani to Tabaristan. In 168/784–785, the new army was reinforced by Sa'id al-Harishi with 40,000 soldiers. Yazid al-Shaybani defeated Wandad Hurmuzd in a decisive battle in which Wandad Hurmuzd himself was wounded. The large number of Abbasid troops and Yazid al-Shaybani's military capability compelled Wandad Hurmuzd to surrender to Musa in Gorgan, on the condition of a pardon that his influence in Tabaristan would not be harmed. In return, he pledged to cease stirring up disturbances and attacking Abbasid garrisons. Musa al-Hadi took Wandad Hurmuzd with him to Baghdad, but al-Hadi delayed his return to Baghdad after he heard of the conspiracies being woven against him to remove him from the succession and transfer it to his brother Harun al-Rashid. al-Hadi did not return to Baghdad until he heard of his father al-Mahdi's death, whereupon he was proclaimed Caliph of the Muslims.
Caliphate In August 785, Al-Mahdi died unexpectedly during an expedition with his son Harun, who rushed back to Baghdad to inform his mother. To secure the succession for her son al-Hadi, who was not in the capital, she called the viziers and had them pay the army wages to secure order, and swear allegiance to al-Hadi as caliph in his absence. She held control until al-Hadi returned to Baghdad, and ascended to the throne, with his brother Harun al-Rashid becoming his crown prince. This was a point of contention for al-Hadi as he spent the majority of his rule attempting to wrest the title of crown prince from Harun and install his young son Ja'far in his place. al-Hadi's attempts to convince Harun to resign from his title lead to the latter leaving the capital, and not returning till al-Hadi's death. al-Hadi's attempts also created conflict between him and his mother Khayzuran, who was in favor of Harun being the successor.Ṭaqūsh, Dawlat-i ʿabbāsīyān, p. 94.
Al-Hadi was considered an "enlightened ruler" by his constituents and continued the "progressive" moves of his Abbasids predecessor. Like his father he was very open to the people of his empire and allowed citizens to visit him in the palace at Baghdad to address him. He was physically strong and famous for his bravery and talent in government and generosity. However, he was cruel, daring and zealous. Al-Hadi was especially malevolent to non-Muslim citizens, as he continued his father's persecutions and quashed multiple internal uprisings. He crushed a Kharijite rebellion, repelled a Byzantine invasion and seized some territory in the process.al-Suyuti, Tarikh al-Khulafa' (The History of Caliphs)
Al-Hadi appointed Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Abdallah as governor of Medina in 785 and he remained in office (785–786) throughout al-Hadi's reign..
Also during his reign, al-Hadi appointed his paternal uncle Sulayman ibn Abi Ja'far as the Amir al-Hajj to led the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
Al-Hadi was also notorious for his cruelty and persecution of the Alids and the Shia, He imposed further restrictions on them and the remaining descendants of the Umayyad dynasty, and treated them cruelly. He cut all the allowances al-Mahdi previously assigned them due to fear of an Alid uprising.Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī, al-Aghānī, vol. 5, p. 6 He ordered his agents to watch all Alid activities and place some spies among themṬaqūsh, Dawlat-i ʿabbāsīyān, p. 92. and ordered them to register their presence daily with local authority. In 786, the Alids of Hijaz led by Al-Husayn ibn Ali staged an uprising in response to these conditions. They gained control of Medina, released prisoners, imprisoned Abbasid agents, and made the Prophet's Mosque their command center. Then, they set out to Mecca, were denied entry by its people, and were forced to confront the Abbasid army led by al-Hadi in the valley of Fakhkh. There, Al-Husayn and his companions were defeated and killed at the Battle of Fakhkh. This event became famous, and he became known as Shahid Fakhkh (the martyr of Fakhkh). However, Al-Husayn's cousin, Idris ibn Abdallah, escaped to Morocco aided by Wadih, an Egyptian postal manager. After the event of Fakhkh, al-Hadi accused the Alid Musa ibn Ja'far, one of his brother's advocates, of provoking the revolutionaries. He arrested the Alid and sentenced him to execution, but died before he could implement his decision.
There was no wanting for internal conflicts as well. At al-Mahdi's untimely death, Al-Khayzuran, his mother, reportedly wished to continue to engage in politics as she had become accustomed to during al-Mahdi's reign: "Khayzuran wanted to dominate her son. She continued to give audiences in her chambers and discuss state affairs: "She continued to monopolize decision-making without consulting him (al-Hadi), she behaved as she had before, during the reign of al-Mahdi, people came and went through her door. She used to exercise her authority over him in all his affairs without consulting him at all, assuming sole control over matters of ordaining and forbidding, just as she had done previously with his father." In the first months of al-Hadi's short reign as caliph, he allowed his mother to implement the same political freedoms his father allowed and al-Hadi was in full submission to his mother, Khayzuran. He responded positively to all the requests and demands coming to her, and when she talked to officials and other audiences and made decisions and only reported her decisions to him, he did not object and approved them. Al-Khayzuran took advantage of the fact that al-Hadi never rejected her personal request, and disguised her friends desires and the supplicants who come to her as her own in order to obtain what they wanted. It eventually came to the point in which petitioners lined up at Khayzuran's gate in order to attain their own goals and even letters from all the provinces were sent to her court to report the affairs to her and ask her for favors for themselves, and al- Hadi heard of how his officers and governors used to go to his mother Khayzuran in hopes that what they wanted from him would be done through her words. However, al-Hadi, began to oppose her participation in state affairs; he felt she overreached, and over time he retaliated against his mother's political power. He was not inclined to allow her displays of authority and attempted to exclude her from politics. After a serious incident, he told her: "Do not overstep the essential limits of womanly modesty and overdo in person the role of the generous donor. It is not dignified for women to enter upon affairs of state. It is not in the power of women to intervene ... in matters of sovereignty. Look to your prayers and your prayer beads." The harem system first became fully institutionalized in the Islamic World under the Abbasid caliphate, when the Abbasid harem was established.El-Azhari, Taef. Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661–1257. Edinburgh University Press, 2019. . Accessed 27 Mar. 2021. At this point, however, Muslim women had not yet been fully secluded from society in a harem.
The growing seclusion of women and decline of women's rights that would permeate the Abbasid Caliphate and the region's latter nations were illustrated by the power struggle between the Caliph al-Hadi and his mother al-Khayzuran, who refused to live in seclusion but instead challenged the power of the Caliph by giving her own audiences to male supplicants and officials and thus mixing with men.Mernissi, Fatima; Mary Jo Lakeland (2003). The forgotten queens of Islam. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-579868-5. Her son considered this improper, and he publicly addressed the issue of his mothers public life by assembling his generals and asked them: 'Who is the better among us, you or me?' asked Caliph al-Hadi of his audience. 'Obviously you are the better, Commander of the Faithful,' the assembly replied. 'And whose mother is the better, mine or yours?' continued the caliph. 'Your mother is the better, Commander of the Faithful.' 'Who among you', continued al-Hadi, 'would like to have men spreading news about your mother?' 'No one likes to have his mother talked about,' responded those present. 'Then why do men go to my mother to speak to her?'Mernissi, Fatima; Mary Jo Lakeland (2003). The forgotten queens of Islam. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-579868-5.
Al-Khayzuran would not be oppressed or silenced, much to al-Hadi's chagrin. The conflict was finally exposed in public when she interceded in favor of a supplicant, Abdallah ibn Malik, and publicly demanded a reply from her son, who lost his temper and openly yelled at her and they both discussed:
Khayzuran: You must meet my request.
al-Hadi: I will not do it.
Khayzuran: I already assured the chief of police that it will be done.
al-Hadi: He is a son of a harlot. I will not do it for him.
Khayzuran: Then I will never ask you for any more favours.
al-Hadi: I do not care.
al-Hadi continued:"Wait a moment and listen well to my words.. Whoever from among my entourage - my generals, my servants - comes to you with a petition will have his head cut off and his property confiscated. What is the meaning of those retinues that throng around your door every day? Don't you have a spindle to keep you busy, a Koran for praying, a residence in which to hide from those besieging you? Watch yourself, and woe to you if you open your mouth in favour of anyone at all." Khayzuran departed in absolute anger, and never had any words with him again, sweet or bitter. This situation between the royal mother and her son was never resolved and it remained an open wound. Al-Tabari says others refer to al-Hadi's overtures to Harun. One account al-Tabari cites has al-Hadi attempting to poison his mother: