When he approached it...

When he approached it, the masses received him with cheers, and the women uttered trilling cries of joy from the balconies of the palaces. So it was a wonderful, popular celebration. When it was time to pray, al-Rashid went to the mosque along with a great procession. He led the people in prayer, and those who were not present in the White Palace pledged allegiance to him. After he had finished the prayer and taken the pledge of allegiance, he went to his royal palace.

In the following day, he held a meeting attended by the politicians and high-ranking men. He summoned Yehya al-Bermeki. When he stood before him, he entrusted him with the office of the prime minister, gave him the ring, and said to him: O My father, you have seated me in this place through your blessed opinion and your good management. I have entrusted the affair of the subject to you and regarded you as responsible for it. Therefore govern according to your [1] Al-Tabari, Tarikh, vol. 3 p. 568.

viewpoint, employ whomever you please and depose whomever you please. For I will not be a supervisor along with you in anything.[1] A poet composed a poem before him, saying: Do you not see that the sun was ill, but when Harun has become a caliph, its light has shone. And the world has been clothed in beauty through his face. So Harun is its Caliph and Yehya is its minister.[2] Yehya received the seal of the ministry. He was entrusted with all the executive and administrative powers.

He was also entrusted with the fates of the state. Accordingly, he neither consulted nor resorted to anyone in respect with his work. Al-Rashid depended on him when he was in the prime of youth, and he supported him, freed him from need to watchfulness, and mental troubles. He devoted himself to life pleasures such as music, singing, and jokes in the gatherings of the witty. As for Yehya, he purified the organs of government from the hostile elements or those friends of the past reign.

He also took care of developing and constructing the country. He spent part of the budget on land reform, constructing bridges, industries, and other constructional projects that widened the civilization in Baghdad, to the extent that the world bloomed and fascinated the people. Fascinating gardens and charming flowers such as jasmine and pomegranate blossom spread in Baghdad. The luxurious palaces of the Abbasids and of the Beramika also spread in it.

The Palace of Immortality and other than it from among Haruns palaces towered over it.