The haras (Arabic: الحرس; "the Guard") was a personal bodyguard unit of the caliphs during the Umayyads and the Abbasids.
[3][4][5] During the ascension of Abu Bakar as first caliph and the outbreak of the Ridda wars, the Haras wa al-Shurta units under Ali ibn Abi Talib, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam saw combat in the battle of Zhu Qissa against the rebels who attacked Medina, and later in pursuing the rebels towards Dumat al-Jandal.
[12] He appointed a mawla, Muslim Abu Abdullah as its chief,[13] and built a guarded room for him inside the mosque that was surrounded by haras members during prayer time.
[2] The haras were led by the Visigothic leader of the secular Christians in Cordoba, the Comes (Count) Rabi, son of Theodulf, who also served as the Emir's tax collector.
[14] Professor Christopher I. Beckwith has compared the haras to other royal bodyguard units of Indo-European societies, generally referred to as Comitatus.
Haras members were known to guard the caliph even during private meetings, at night and during prayers at the mosque.