Editing Al-Mu'tasim (section)

=== Domestic campaigns ===
Although al-Mu'tasim's reign was a time of peace in the Caliphate's heartland territories, al-Mu'tasim himself was an energetic campaigner, and according to Kennedy "acquired the reputation of being one of the warrior-caliphs of Islam".{{sfn|Kennedy|2004a|p=164}} With the exception of the Amorium campaign, most of the military expeditions of al-Mu'tasim's reign were domestic, directed against rebels in areas that, although nominally part of the Caliphate, had remained outside effective Muslim rule and where native peoples and princes retained ''de facto'' autonomy.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004a|p=164}} The three great campaigns of the reign—Amorium, the expedition against the Khurramite rebellion, and that against Mazyar, ruler of Tabaristan—were in part also conscious propaganda exercises, in which al-Mu'tasim could solidify his regime's legitimacy in the eyes of the populace by leading wars against infidels.{{sfn|Kennedy|2006|p=220}}

An Alid revolt led by [[Muhammad ibn Qasim (al-Alawi)|Muhammad ibn Qasim]] broke out in Khurasan in early 834, but was swiftly defeated and Muhammad brought as a prisoner to the Caliph's court. He managed to escape during the night of 8/9{{spaces}}October 834, taking advantage of the [[Eid al-Fitr]] festivities, and was never heard of again.{{sfn|Bosworth|1991|pp=5–7}} In June/July of the same year, Ujayf ibn 'Anbasa was sent to subdue the [[Zutt]]. These were people who had been brought from [[India]] by the [[Sassanid]] emperors and settled in the [[Mesopotamian Marshes]]. The Zutt had been in rebellion against caliphal authority since {{circa|820}}, and had frequently raided the environs of [[Basra]] and [[Wasit]]. After a seven-month campaign, Ujayf was successful in encircling the Zutt and forcing them to surrender. He made a triumphal entry into Baghdad in January 835 with numerous captives. Many of the Zutt were then sent to [[Ayn Zarba]] on the Byzantine frontier, to fight against the Byzantines.{{sfn|Bosworth|1991|pp=7–12}}{{sfn|Zetterstéen|1987|p=785}}

[[File:Balami - Tarikhnama - Babak parleys with the Afshin Haydar, the Caliph al-Mu'tasim's general (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|alt=Perso-Turkic miniature showing an armed horseman parlaying with a man within a castle, while several armed riders fight in the bottom|Babak parlays with al-Afshin, from [[Balami]]'s ''[[Tarikhnama|Tārīkhnāma]]'', 14th century]]
{{anchor|Babak}}The first major campaign of the new reign was directed against the [[Khurramites]] in [[Adharbayjan]] and [[Arran (Caucasus)|Arran]].{{sfn|Bosworth|1993|p=776}} The Khurramite revolt had been active since 816/7, aided by the inaccessible mountains of the province and the absence of large Arab Muslim population centres, except for a few cities in the lowlands. Al-Ma'mun had left the local Muslims largely to their own devices. A succession of military commanders attempted to subdue the rebellion on their own initiative, and thus gain control of the country's newly discovered mineral resources, only to be defeated by the Khurramites under the capable leadership of Babak.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004a|pp=164–165}} Immediately after his accession, al-Mu'tasim sent the Tahirid ''[[sahib al-shurta|ṣāḥib al-shurṭa]]'' of Baghdad and Samarra, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Mus'ab, to deal with an expansion of the Khurramite rebellion from [[Jibal]] into [[Hamadan]]. Ishaq swiftly achieved success, and by December 833 had suppressed the rebellion, forcing many Khurramites to seek refuge in the Byzantine Empire.{{sfn|Bosworth|1991|pp=2–3, 7}} In 835 al-Mu'tasim took action against Babak, assigning his trusted and capable lieutenant, al-Afshin, to command the campaign. After three years of cautious and methodical campaigning, al-Afshin was able to capture Babak at his capital of Budhdh on 26{{spaces}}August 837, extinguishing the rebellion. Babak was brought captive to Samarra, where, on{{spaces}}3 January 838, he was paraded before the people seated on an elephant, and then publicly executed.{{sfn|Mottahedeh|1975|p=75}}{{sfn|Bosworth|1991|pp=14–24, 36–93}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2001|pp=131–133}}

Shortly after, [[Mankjur al-Farghani|Minkajur al-Ushrusani]], whom al-Afshin had appointed as governor of Adharbayjan after the defeat of the Khurramites, rose in revolt, either because he had been involved in financial irregularities, or because he had been a co-conspirator of al-Afshin's. Bugha the Elder marched against him, forcing him to capitulate and receive a safe-passage to Samarra in 840.{{sfn|Gordon|2001|p=78}}{{sfn|Bosworth|1991|pp=175–178}}

{{anchor|Mazyar}}The second major domestic campaign of the reign began in 838, against Mazyar, the autonomous [[Qarinid]] ruler of Tabaristan.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004a|p=165}} Tabaristan had been subjected to Abbasid authority in 760, but Muslim presence was limited to the coastal lowlands of the [[Caspian Sea]] and their cities. The mountainous areas remained under native rulers—chief among whom were the [[Bavandids]] in the eastern and the Qarinids in the central and western mountain ranges—who retained their autonomy in exchange for paying a tribute to the Caliphate.{{sfn|Madelung|1975|pp=198–202}} With the support of al-Ma'mun, Mazyar had established himself as the ''de facto'' ruler of all Tabaristan, even capturing the Muslim city of [[Amol|Amul]] and imprisoning the local Abbasid governor. Al-Mu'tasim confirmed him in his post on his accession, but trouble soon began when Mazyar refused to accept his subordination to the Tahirid viceroy of the east, Abdallah ibn Tahir, instead insisting on paying the taxes of his region directly to al-Mu'tasim's agent.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004a|p=165}}{{sfn|Mottahedeh|1975|pp=75–76}}{{sfn|Madelung|1975|p=204}} According to al-Tabari, the Qarinid's intransigence had been secretly encouraged by al-Afshin, who hoped to discredit the Tahirids and assume their vast governorship in the east himself.{{sfn|Bosworth|1991|pp=137–138}}

Tension mounted as the Tahirids encouraged the local Muslims to resist Mazyar, forcing the latter to adopt an increasingly confrontational stance against the Muslim settlers and turn for support on the native Iranian, and mostly [[Zoroastrian]], peasantry, whom he encouraged to attack the Muslim landowners. Open conflict erupted in 838, when his troops seized the cities of Amul and [[Sari, Iran|Sari]], took the Muslim settlers prisoner, and executed many of them. In return, the Tahirids under [[al-Hasan ibn al-Husayn ibn Mus'ab]] and [[Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Mus'abi|Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Mus'ab]] invaded Tabaristan. Mazyar was betrayed by his brother [[Quhyar]], who also revealed to the Tahirids the correspondence between Mazyar and al-Afshin. Quhyar then succeeded his brother as a Tahirid appointee, while Mazyar was taken captive to Samarra. Like Babak, he was paraded before the populace, and then flogged to death, on 6{{spaces}}September 840.{{sfn|Mottahedeh|1975|p=76}}{{sfn|Madelung|1975|p=205}}{{sfn|Bosworth|1991|pp=162–172, 179–180}} While the autonomy of the local dynasties was maintained in the aftermath of the revolt, the event marked the onset of the country's rapid Islamization, including among the native dynasties.{{sfn|Madelung|1975|pp=205–206}}

Near the end of al-Mu'tasim's life there were a series of uprisings in the Syrian provinces, including the revolt by Abu Harb, known as [[al-Mubarqa]] or "the Veiled One", which brought to the fore the lingering pro-[[Umayyad]] sentiment of several Syrian Arabs.{{sfn|Bosworth|1993|p=776}}{{sfn|Bosworth|1991|pp=194–196, 203–206}}