Al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi'

Al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi (757/8–823/4) was one of the most influential officials of the Abbasid Caliphate in the reigns of Harun al-Rashid (reigned 786–809) and al-Amin (r. 809–813), whom he served as chamberlain and chief minister. Fadl played an important role as the chief instigator of the civil war that erupted after Harun's death, siding with al-Amin against his half-brother al-Ma'mun. After al-Ma'mun's victory he went into hiding, but eventually reconciled himself with the new ruler.

Born in AH 138 (757/8 CE), Fadl was the son of al-Rabi' ibn Yunus. Rabi was a former slave who had risen to occupy the influential post of chamberlain (hadjib) under caliphs al-Mansur (r. 754–775) and al-Mahdi (r. 775–785). Rabi's power relied on his control of the access of outsiders to the Caliph, as well as his de facto leadership of the Caliph's numerous and influential mawla (servants, freedmen). Fadl effectively inherited his father's position at court, and benefited from the high esteem in which Harun al-Rashid held him: upon his accession, the Caliph placed Fadl in charge of his personal seal, and in 789/90 he was made head of the diwan al-Nafaqat (the "Bureau of Expenditure"). In 795/6 he was named to his father's old post of hadjib, reportedly after succeeding in finding the poet Ibn Jami, who had been exiled under al-Hadi (r. 785–786).

Utterly loyal to his master, Fadl served as Harun's trusted agent. In the words of Hugh N. Kennedy, "If Hārūn wanted to have someone brought to him secretly or to organize a test for someone he suspected of disloyalty, Fadl could be relied on to carry this out." Anecdotes from the court also serve to emphasize his "hard-headed, practical and somewhat unimaginative" (Kennedy) character, in stark contrast to the cultured Barmakids, who until their sudden disgrace in 803 dominated the Abbasid court and government. Despite his apparently good personal relations to the Barmakid patriarch Yahya ibn Khalid, stories portray Fadl as the Barmakids' chief rival at court. Following the fall of the Barmakid family from power, Fadl succeeded Yahya as wazir, in effect becoming the Caliph's chief minister and advisor. However, Fadl lacked the almost plenipotentiary powers that Harun had granted Yahya, and his remit was limited to a supervisory role over expenditure and in the handling of petitions to the Caliph, while the actual financial administration was entrusted to another official.

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