His father was al-Mahdi and al-Khayzuran bint Atta was the mother of both caliphs Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid.

[9] Prior to his death, al-Mahdi supposedly favored his second son, Harun al-Rashid, as his successor, taking him on multiple military expeditions in 779 and 781 to train him to be the next caliph, as his own father prepared him, but died before the formal transfer of the crown prince title could occur.

Regardless of the intent, in 785, Al-Mahdi died during an expedition with his son Harun, who rushed back to Baghdad to inform his mother.

She ensured a smooth transition of power and to secure the succession for her son, she called upon the viziers and ordered them to pay the wages of the army to secure order, and then had them swear allegiance to her son as their new caliph in his absence, and held everything together until al-Hadi returned to Baghdad.

This was a point of insecurity for al-Hadi as he spent the majority of his rule attempting to wrest the title of crown prince from al-Rashid - whether he was granted it before or after his father's death - and install his 7-year-old son Ja'far in his place.

As Ja'far was very young and it went against law and wisdom to install him as crown prince, al-Hadi tried to put pressure on Harun and convince him to resign himself.

Al-Hadi was especially malevolent to non-Muslim citizens, as he continued his father's persecutions and quashed multiple internal uprisings.

[11] Al-Hadi was also notorious for his cruelty and persecution of the Sayyids and the Shia, he imposed further restrictions on the Alids and the remaining descendants of the Umayyad caliphate, and treated them cruelly.

They gained control of Medina, released prisoners, imprisoned Abbasid agents, and made Masjid al-Nabi his command center.

However, ibn Husayn's cousin, Idris bin Abdallah, escaped to Morocco aided by Wadih, an Egyptian postal manager, where he founded the Idrisi state.

Al-Khayzuran took advantage of the fact that al-Hadi never rejected her personal request, and disguised her friends desires and the supplicants who come to her as her own in order to obtain what they wanted.

It eventually came to the point in which petitioners lined up at Khayzuran's gate in order to attain their own goals and even letters from all the provinces were sent to her court to report the affairs to her and ask her for favors for themselves, and al- Hadi heard of how his officers and governors used to go to his mother Khayzuran in hopes that what they wanted from him would be done through her words.

However, al-Hadi, began to oppose her participation in state affairs; he felt she overreached, and over time he retaliated against his mother's political power.

The conflict was finally exposed in public when she interceded in favor of a supplicant, Abdallah ibn Malik, and publicly demanded a reply from her son, who lost his temper and openly yelled at her and they both discussed: Khayzuran departed in absolute anger, and never had any words with him again, sweet or bitter.

Al-Tabari notes varying accounts of this death, e.g. an abdominal ulcer or assassination prompted by al-Hadi's own mother.

288–289 of the Kitab al-'Uyun for the possibility that al-Khayzuran feared al-Hadi would recover from his illness and thus had slave girls suffocate him.

42f) notes al-Hadi's assertion of independence from his mother, his forbidding her further involvement in public affairs and his threatening Harun's succession.

[31] One of his concubines was Ghadir also known as Amat-al-Aziz, who had belonged to Rabi ibn Yunus, the powerful and ambitious chamberlain of caliphs al-Mansur and al-Mahdi.

Upon his accession, Harun led Friday prayers in Baghdad's Great Mosque and then sat publicly as officials and the layman alike lined up to swear allegiance and declare their happiness at his ascent to Amir al-Mu'minin.

[37] He began his reign by appointing very able ministers, who carried on the work of the government so well that they greatly improved the condition of the people.