Al-Ma'mun was an Abbasid caliph of the ninth century, son of Harun al-Rashid. He loved learning and books, and translation flourished at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad in his reign — which also saw the Mihna that tested the scholars. He ruled about twenty years and died in 833 CE.
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Abd Allah al-Ma'mun ibn Harun al-Rashid
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Abd Allah al-Ma'mun ibn Harun al-Rashid, seventh Abbasid caliph (198–218 AH / 813–833 CE), took power after his brother al-Amin was deposed and died in the brothers' civil war; he ruled from Merv before returning to Baghdad. His reign is famous for the translation movement at the House of Wisdom and for patronage of philosophy, astronomy and geography, including the celebrated measurement of the earth. On its other side was the Mihna: he imposed the Mu'tazili doctrine of the created Qur'an as a test on judges and scholars, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal was jailed for refusing — an episode Sunni memory reads as state intrusion into belief. Al-Ma'mun died at Tarsus in 218 AH; his brother al-Mu'tasim succeeded him.
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