The Caliph Who Sent an Army for One Woman

Al-Mu‘tasim Billah, son of Harun al-Rashid and the eighth Abbasid caliph, was undoubtedly an oppressor. He killed scholars and famously imprisoned others over disputes in ʿaqīdah. But this article isn’t about dissecting his legacy—it’s about one striking incident that highlights a virtue sorely lacking in today’s Muslim rulers: jealousy over a Muslim’s honour being violated.