Harun al-Raschid
Harun al-Rashid Arabic هارون الرشيد DMG Hārūn ar-Rašīd; * c. 763 in Ray ; † 809 in Tus in Persia, buried in Mashhad), a son of Caliph al-Mahdi of the Abbasid dynasty, grew up in the city of Balkh in the north of present-day Afghanistan in the care of the powerful Barmakid dynasty. In 778, al-Mahdi entrusted Yahya ibn Chalid with Harun's education. After the death of his brother al-Hadi, Harun al Raschid ruled as caliph from 786 to 809 and led the Abbasid caliphate to its economic, political and cultural flowering.
A major contribution was made by Yahya ibn Khalid, who was appointed vizier by Harun (786-803) and sought a balanced relationship between the Arab and Persian groups. Through his influence, Harun brought Christians and Zoroastrians to the court and had many Greek philosophical and scientific writings translated. He also invited many scholars and masters from India, especially Buddhists. Ibn an-Nadīm's Kitab al-Fihrist, a catalogue of Muslim and non-Muslim texts, contained a number of Buddhist works. Among them was an Arabic version of the account of Buddha's previous lives (Kitab al-Budd). In 803, the Barmakids were suddenly deprived of their power, their property confiscated and Yaha imprisoned together with his son Fadl, which also entered into the stories of One Thousand and One Nights, through which Harun al Raschid became very well known in the Western world.
At the time of Harun al Raschid, man's self-thinking developed after the cosmic intelligence Michael had descended and arrived in the earth region (Lit.:GA 240, p. 184). Shortly after his accession to power, he received Charlemagne's legation in 786 and presented the Frankish ruler with an Indian elephant named Abul Abbas as well as an elaborate water clock with an hour strike and automatic movement. Harun and Charlemagne never met in person, but maintained good diplomatic relations.
Literature
- Rudolf Steiner: Esoterische Betrachtungen karmischer Zusammenhänge. Zweiter Band, GA 236 (1988), ISBN 3-7274-2360-9 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Esoterische Betrachtungen karmischer Zusammenhänge. Sechster Band, GA 240 (1992), ISBN 3-7274-2401-X English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
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