1994/11/01 by John Nawas · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Islamic Studies and History #Education and Islamic Studies #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Glory #Declaration #Islam #Doctrine #History #Ancient history #Acquiescence #Greatness #Philosophy #Law #Theology #Literature #Art #Political science #Physics #Politics
paper · doi:10.1017/s0020743800061134
openalex publication_date 1994/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/23
The seventh Abbasid caliph ʿAbd Allah al-Maʾmun (r. 813–833) was noted for the breadth of his intellectual horizons, and historians often associate him with the Golden Age of Islam. This image of glory is tarnished, however, by two particular actions that the caliph took: his declaration (in 827) of a doctrine asserting that the Qurʾan was created and his ordering of a miḥna an inquisition, that was designed to ensure acquiescence in this doctrine. The miḥna , an unprecedented event in the history of Islam, was begun by al-Maʾmun just four months before his sudden death in 833 and continued by his two immediate successors, al-Muʾtasim and al-Wathiq. It lasted some sixteen years until it was finally abolished by the tenth Abbasid caliph, al-Mutawakkil.