Al-Rashid was born on March 17, 763 in Tehran Province, Iran, the son of al-Mahdi, the third Abbasid caliph (ruled 775-785), and al-Khayzuran, a former slave girl from Yemen, who was a woman of strong personality and who greatly influenced affairs of state in the reigns of her husband, mother and sons.
Al-Rashid was twenty-two years old when he ascended the throne. His father Mahdi just before his death conceived the idea of superseding his elder son Musa (afterwards known as HadI, the fourth caliph) by Harun. But on Mahdi's death Harun gave way to his brother. Al-Rashid owed his succession to the throne to the prudence and sagacity of Yahya, Khalid the Barmecide, his secretary, whom on his accession he appointed his lieutenant and grand vizier. Under his guidance the empire flourished on the whole, in spite of several revolts in the provinces by members of the old Alid family. Successful wars were waged with the rulers of Byzantium and the Khazars. In 803, however, Harun became suspicious of the Barmecides, whom with only a single exception he caused to be executed. Henceforward the chief power was exercised by Fadl b. Rabi', who had been chamberlain not only under Harun himself but under his predecessors, Mansur, Madhi and HadI. In the later years of Harun's reign troubles arose in the eastern parts of the empire. These troubles assumed proportions so serious that Harun himself decided to go to Khorasan. He died, however, at Tus in March 809. The reign of Harun was one of the most brilliant in the annals of the caliphate, in spite of losses in north-west Africa and Transoxiana. His fame spread to the West, and Charlemagne and he exchanged gifts and compliments as masters respectively of the West and the East. No caliph ever gathered round him so great a number of learned men, poets, jurists, grammarians, cadis and scribes, to say nothing of the wits and musicians who enjoyed his patronage. Harun himself was a scholar and poet, and was well versed in history, tradition and poetry. He possessed taste and discernment, and his dignified demeanour is extolled by the historians. At the same time he cannot be regarded as a great administrator. He seems to have left everything to his viziers Yahya and Fadl, to the former of whom especially was due the prosperous condition of the empire. Hariin is best known to Western readers as the hero of many of the stories in the Arabian Nights; and in Arabic literature he is the central figure of numberless anecdotes and humorous stories. Of his incognito walks through Bagdad, however, the authentic histories say nothing.
In religion Al-Rashid was extremely strict; he prostrated himself a hundred times daily, and nine or ten times made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Al-Rashid ruled from 786 to 809, during the peak of the Islamic Golden Age. His time was marked by scientific, cultural, and religious prosperity. Islamic art and music also flourished significantly during his reign. He established the legendary library Bayt al-Hikma ("House of Wisdom") in Baghdad in present-day Iraq, and during his rule Baghdad began to flourish as a center of knowledge, culture and trade
Al-Rashid's Arabic biographers are unanimous in describing him as noble and generous, but there is little doubt that he was in fact a man of little force of character, suspicious, untrustworthy and on occasions cruel.
As a caliph, al-Rashid had many wives.
He was the third Abbasid Caliph who reigned from 775 to his death in 785.
