Balʿamī, the name (nisba) of a number of Khurāsānī scholars and courtiers, two of whom served as viziers to the Sāmānid dynasty. Their lineage can be traced back to an Arab tribesman of the Banū Tamīm: Ibn Mākūlā (7/278) takes the kinship of Abū al-Faḍl Balʿamī back to Zayd Manāt, son of Tamīm, hence the Tamīmī nisba (see al-Dhahabī, Siyar, 15/292). However, since the figures appearing in this genealogy are not recognised by any extant Arab biographical works, the linkage is problematic. According to Ibn Mākūlā, one of the family’s ancestors called Rajā…