HARUN AR-RASHID

born February 766/, March 763, Rayy, Iran died March 24, 809, Tus fifth caliph of the 'Abbasid dynasty (786809), who ruled Islam at the zenith of its empire with a luxury in Baghdad memorialized in The Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights Entertainment). Additional reading H.St.J.B. Philby, Harun al-Rashid (1933), is a popular work of limited merit. More scholarly is Nabia Abbott, Two Queens of Baghdad (1946), describing the political roles of Harun's mother and his wife Zubaydah. The fullest account in general histories is that by P.K. Hitti in his History of the Arabs, 8th ed. (1964).