ABSTRACT
The influx of Muslims, Jews, Christians and Persians, coupled with the city's economic boom, paved the way for the development of a unique intellectual climate. Eighth-century Baghdad was the home of a spectrum of ancient traditions and newly formed worldviews. In its salons and courts, Persian dualists, Christian Patriarchs, Muslim theologians and (ulamti', encountered and debated one another. The
Sunni worldview, which would grow into the predominant system of beliefs in the Islamic world, was being forged in its mosques and homes. As the city became the arena of vigorous intellectual activities, new tensions and clashes surfaced. In the days of al-MahdI (d. 169), this religious and intellectual friction would lead to a concerted effort on the part of al-MahdI and proto-Sunni 'ulamii' to eradicate a group of religious deviants called zindfqs.4 By 167 A.H., al-MahdI would step up the 'hunt and search for zindIqs,'5 and this policy would be followed by the renowned Harlin aI-RashId (d. 193). Walking the streets of Baghdad, Ibn I:Ianbal would not merely absorb the sights and sounds that inspired the 7housand and One Nights, he would also hear of the first widescale and systematic religious persecution in Islam.
