Al-Ma'mun

Al-Ma'mun was one of the Abbasid Caliphs of Baghdad and a Hero during the Islamic Golden Age.

Biography

All his life, al-Ma'mun was plagued with nightmares about a mysterious inscription within the Great Pyramid of Giza.[1] This was an effect of the Refrain, and the signature feature the Heroic dynasty founded by his grandmother al-Khayzuran.[2]

In 811, al-Ma'mun revolted against his half-brother, the caliph al-Amin. His forces besieged Baghdad for two years before he managed to kill al-Amin and claim the throne. His reign was troubled by uprisings and discontent in Baghdad and abroad. He personally traveled to Egypt to put down a revolt in 832, and while there tried to discover the origins and meaning of the inscription in his nightmares. He met with scholars, historians and linguists to no avail, and even broke into the Great Pyramid itself to find the actual inscription. Eventually, he summoned "sorcerers" — actually miscellaneous supernatural beings — and made them swear to uncover the secret of the inscription.[1]

By this point in his reign, al-Ma'mun was convinced that he was not just a monarch, but a divinely-inspired guide for all Muslims, on par with the Prophet himself. In 833 he instigated an inquisition against those scholars who held to a literalist interpretation of the Qu'ran and the Hadith, along with anyone else who challenges his beliefs. Al-Ma'mun died while leading an army in Anatolia later that year, but the inquisition outlived him and became a thorn in the side of his successors.[3]

The coalition of "sorcerers" al-Ma'mun tasked with translating the inscription eventually formed part of the Rosetta Society.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 CofD: Dark Eras 2, p. 128
  2. ↑ CofD: Dark Eras 2, p. 147
  3. ↑ CofD: Dark Eras 2, p. 132-133
  4. ↑ CofD: Dark Eras 2, p. 133
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