Deposition of al-Amin and the pledge of allegiance to al-Ma'mun

خلع الأمين والبيعة للمأمون

196 AH

In the year 196 Muhammad al-Amin was deposed, the pledge of allegiance was taken at Baghdad for his brother Abd Allah al-Ma'mun, and al-Amin was confined in the palace of Abu Ja'far ¹. In the same year al-Tabari mentions al-Amin sending armies to fight Tahir ibn al-Husayn ². In al-Suyuti, in the year ninety-four al-Amin removed his brother al-Qasim from what al-Rashid had given him, and al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi' incited him to depose al-Ma'mun. Al-Ma'mun cut off the postal relays from him, removed his name from the tiraz inscriptions and the coinage, and al-Amin demanded the document al-Rashid had written, which had been placed in the Ka'ba; they brought it, and he tore it up. He gave the succession pledge to his son Musa, titled al-Natiq bi'l-Haqq, though the boy was a suckling infant. When al-Ma'mun became certain he had been deposed, he took the title Commander of the Faithful, and letters were sent to that effect. Khuzayma ibn Khazim advised al-Amin: 'Do not let the commanders dare to depose you, lest they depose you; and do not compel them to break the pledge, lest they break your allegiance'; but he did not heed the advice ³