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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3188
Fax: (401) 863-9423
Joukowsky_Institute@brown.edu
Al-Mu'tasim was the 8th caliph of the Abbasid dynasty. His reign marked a key turning point in Abbasid politics and military. Before he became caliph, he had essentially established his own personal army of Turkish slave soldiers. Once he became caliph, he used this military support as the backbone of his power. However, in doing this, he supplanted the old military elite of Khurasan, that had brought the Abbasid dynasty to power. The new military elite that came from the fringes of the empire was culturally divorced from the rest of the population.
He also abandoned Baghdad as the capital and built Samarra. This allowed him to escape the conflicts between the old and new military powers in Baghdad. Al-Mu'tasim was also finally able to consistently collect taxes from all areas of the empire.
Al-Mu'tasim's brother, the previous caliph, had adopted the title imam, indicating a claim to religious authority. He also adopted the position of Mu'tazilism, which claim that the Qur'an was created and thus it could be modified to fit the times. Al-Mu'tasim continued these policies and positions and Mu'tazilism was adopted as the position of the Samarra elite.
Posted at Apr 12/2009 09:19AM:
ian: Very thorough