Ever since Mu‘awiyah had transformed the Caliphate into a monarchy, the question of the Caliph’s religious authority had been more or less settled: the Caliph ran the civil affairs of the community, while the Ulama guided the believers on the straight path to God. Certainly there were Caliphs who exercised religious influence over the Ummah. But none had ever dared to set themselves up as some sort of “Muslim Pope,” demanding absolute religious obedience from the community. And yet, that is exactly what al-Ma’mun, who had always thought of himself as a religious scholar first and a political
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