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b. Ṭāhir, statesman, general and poet, born about 182 (798) and died in 230 (844). ʿAbd Allāh’s father Ṭāhir b. al-Ḥusain had already rendered the caliph al-Maʾmūn great services, and ʿAbd Allāh himself soon won the good graces of the caliph not only for his father’s sake, but also on account of his personal merits. In 206 (821-822) he was appointed governor of the regions between al-Raḳḳa and Egypt, and at the same time received the supreme command in the battle against one of al-Amīn’s follower…

(Abbassides), the name of different dynasties: 1. Caliphs of Bagdad, the most celebrated dynasty of Islām, descended from the uncle of the Prophet, al-ʿAbbās b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib b. Hās̲h̲im. His descendants multiplied under the first four caliphs and under the Umaiyads in the countries taken by the Arabs, and their relationship to the Prophet won them high consideration everywhere. They had many partisans, especially in Ḵh̲orāsān, the Persian province of that name being then much larger that it is now…

b. Manṣūr b. Dubais b. ʿAlī b. Mazyad, Saif al-Dawla Abu ’l-Ḥasan al-Asadī, ruler of al-Ḥilla. After the death of his father in 479 (1086/1087), Ṣadaḳa was recognised by the Sald̲j̲ūḳ Sulṭān as lord of the territory of Malik S̲h̲āh on the left bank of the Tigris. During the fighting between Sulṭān Barkiyārūḳ and his brother Muḥammad, Ṣadaḳa was at first on the side of the former, but when Barkiyārūḳ’s vizier, al-Aʿazz Abu ’l-Maḥāsin al-Dihistānī, demanded a large sum of money from him in 494 (1100/1101) and finally threatened him with war, Ṣadaḳa abandoned Barkiyārūḳ and had the k̲h̲uṭba rea…

bint Ṭalḥa b. ʿUbaid Allāh was a celebrated Arabian woman. She possessed to a high degree all those qualities, which amongst the Arabs were valued most in the sex. She combined a rare beauty with noble descent and a lofty, proud spirit, such as the Arabs liked in their wives. Her father was one of the most distinguished companions of Muḥammed, her mother Umm Kult̲h̲ūm was a daug̲h̲ter of Caliph Abū Bekr, and the Prophet’s favourite wife ʿAʾis̲h̲a was her aunt. No wonder that the beautiful Arabian be…

, the name of two Sāmānids. 1. Abū Muḥammad Nūḥ I b. Naṣr b. Aḥmad, called al-Amīr al-Ḥamīd, succeeded his father [see naṣr]; but the real ruler was the pious theologian Abu ’l-Faḍl Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Sulamī. The latter long refused to take the title of “wazīr” but finally succumbed to Nūḥ’s pressing representations, and took much less interest in the business of government than in his devotional exercises and theological studies which earned him the name of “al-Ḥākim al-S̲h̲ahīd”. There were also by this time unmi…

, literally „the sons“: 1. The descendants of Saʿd b. Zaid Manāt b. Tamīm, with the exception of his two sons Kaʿb and ʿAmr. This tribe dwelt in the sandy plain of al-Dahnāʾ. 2. The descendants of the Persian immigrants born in Yemen. Even in early times the Ethiopians, who had since long cast covetous glances towards the Arabian coast lying opposite them, had sent military expeditions against Yemen, and as their attacks were in the course of time repeated with increasing success, they at last became dangerous not only to the p…

, Abu ’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Isḥāḳ, ʿAbbāsid Caliph. After the deposition of al-Ṭāʾīʿ, his cousin Abu ’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad was proclaimed Caliph in Ramāḍān 381 (Nov. 991) with the name al-Ḳādir. The latter was a grandson of al-Muḳtadir; his mother was a slave. During his long reign he was entirely under the influence of the amīrs ruling in Bag̲h̲dād and only once did ¶ he give evidence of having a mind of his own. This was when the Būyid Bahāʾ al-Dawla [q. v.] wished to replace the Sunnī chief ḳāḍī by a S̲h̲īʿī but his plan was frustrated by the opposition of al-Ḳā…

b. Abī Ṣufra, Abū Saʿīd al-Azdī, an Arab general. Al-Muhallab is said to have been born two years before the death of Muḥammad. In the reign of Muʿāwiya he undertook a campaign against India and raided the country between Kābul and Multān (44 = 664-665). He next distinguished himself in the expeditions of the governors of Ḵh̲urāsān against Samarḳand. Then however, he left the Umaiyads and joined the anti-Caliph ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Zubair who gave him the governorship of Ḵh̲urāsān. When he was just about to start for there, he was appointed commander-in-chief in the war against the Azraḳīs ¶ [q. …

bi ’llāh, Abu ’l-Muhẓaffar Yūsuf, ʿAbbāsid caliph, born on 1st Rabīʿ II 510 (Aug. 13, 1116), son of al-Muḳtafī and a Greek slave-girl named Nard̲j̲is or Ṭāʾūs. After his father’s death on 2nd Rabīʿ I 555 (March 12, 1160) al-Mustand̲j̲id succeeded him as caliph. While al-Muḳtafī was dying and hope of his recovery had been abandoned, the mother of his son Abū ʿAlī endeavoured to dispose of the future caliph who had already been selected heir-apparent in 542 (1147). After winning over several emīrs for her plot, she armed her slave-girls with daggers ¶ to murder the heir-apparent when he e…

Abu ’l-Muhẓaffar ʿAlī b. Nīhẓām al-Mulk, a vizier. Fak̲h̲r al-Mulk was the eldest son of the celebrated vizier Niẓām al-Mulk who was assassinated in Ramaḍān 485 (October 1092). After the death of Sulṭān Malik S̲h̲āh in the same year his son Barkiyāruḳ was proclaimed Sulṭān but had to defend his throne and kingdom against his rebellious uncles. Fak̲h̲r al-Mulk was then in Ḵh̲orāsān; but when he tried to go to Barkiyāruḳ to offer him his services, he was attacked by the followers of the latter’s younge…

al-Saffāḥ. Further Bibliography: Masʿūdī, Murūd̲j̲, Paris, v. 471 sq.; vi. 51 sqq.; ix. 43, 51; do., al-Tanbīh wa ’l-Is̲h̲rāf, ed. de Goeje, B.G.A., viii. see index; Balād̲h̲urī, ed. de Goeje, passim; Ibn al-Ṭiḳṭaḳā, al-Fak̲h̲rī, ed. Derenbourg, p. 202—213; Kitāb al-Ag̲h̲ānī, see Guidi, Tables alphabétiques; Amedroz, On the Meaning of the Laqab al-Saffāḥ as applied to the first Abbasid Caliph, in J. R. A. S., 1907, p. 660 sqq.; cf. also R. S. O., ii. 447. (K. V. Zetterstéen)

, Abū Saʿīd Muhẓaffar al-Dīn b. ʿAli b. Begtegīn, lord of Irbil, the most celebrated of the Begtegīnids. Kökbüri was born in Muḥarram 549 (April 1154) and was 14 when his father died. Although he was older than his brother Yūsuf, the Atābeg Mud̲j̲āhid al-Dīn Ḳaimaz succeeded in obtaining the succession of the latter to the throne under his guardianship, whereupon Kökbüri left Irbil and went first to Bag̲h̲dād and then to al-Mawṣil. Here he was welcomed by the Zangid Saif al-Dīn G̲h̲āzī b. Mawdūd, who to…

li ’llāh, Abu ’l-Ḳāsim al-Faḍl, an ʿAbbāsid caliph, son of al-Muḳtadir [q. v.], brother of al-Rāḍī and of al-Muttaḳī [q. v.]. Al-Muṭīʿ was a bitter enemy of al-Mustakfī [q. v.] and therefore went into hiding on the latter’s accession and after Muʿizz al-Dawla [q. v.] had become the real ruler, al-Muṭīʿ is said to have taken refuge with him and incited him against al-Mustakfī. After the deposition of the latter in Ḏj̲umādā II or S̲h̲aʿbān 334 (Jan. or March 946) al-Muṭīʿ was recognised as caliph. His…

b. Maʿrūr, a companion of Muḥammad. Among the seventy five proselytes who appeared at the ʿAḳaba in the summer of 622 at the pilgrims’ festival to enter into alliance with the Prophet, the aged S̲h̲aik̲h̲ al-Barāʾ b. Maʿrūr of Ḵh̲azrad̲j̲ was one of the most important and when Muḥammad declared he wished to make a compact with them that they should protect him as they would their wives and children, al-Barāʾ seized his hand, promised him protection in the name of all present and sealed the compac…

b. ʿĪsā al-ʿId̲j̲lī, usually called Abū Dulaf, a Muslim general. When in 195 (811) the Caliph al-Amīn sent an army under ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā b. Māhān against al-Maʾmūn’s general Ṭāhir b. al-Ḥusain, Abū Dulaf went with him. When Ibn Māhān had fallen, Abū Dulaf came back to the neighbourhood of Hamad̲h̲ān and, although he declined to pay homage to al-Maʾmūn, Ṭāhir left him in peace in al-Karad̲j̲. In 214 (829/830), when al-Maʾmūn came to Raiy, he sent for him. His friends advised him not to go, but he went…

b. Abī Rabāḥ, Arab jurist and traditionist. A native of Yemen he was reared in Mekka; he was of humble origin and is commonly referred to as Mawlā of the family of Abū Maisara b. Abī Ḵh̲ut̲h̲aim al-Fihrī. Among his masters ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿOmar and ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbbās and many others are mentioned. As Muftī in Mekka he attained extraordinary repute and was regarded as one of the most eminent authorities in jurisprudence and Muḥammadan tradition generally. Especially was he considered to be an unsur…

, Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Buwaih, first ruler of the Buyid dynasty. With the help of his two brothers ʿImād al-Dawla in 322 (934) conquered S̲h̲īrāz and thus became ruler of Fārs where he reigned till his death. He died in S̲h̲īrāz on Ḏj̲umādā I 16, 338 (Nov. II, 949) aged 57. According to another statement (Ibn Ḵh̲allikān, ed. Wüstenfeld, N°. 491), he did not die till 339 [cf. the article būyids.] (K. V. Zetterstéen)

b. al-Ḥasan b. al-Ḥasan, chief of the ʿAlides. ʿAbd Allāh was treated with great favor by the caliphs of the Umaiyad dynasty, and when he visited the first ʿAbbāside caliph Abu ’l-ʿAbbās al-Saffāḥ at Anbār, the latter received him with great distinction. Thence he returned to Medina, where he soon fell under the suspicion of the successor of al-Saffāḥ, al-Manṣūr. Yet ʿAbd Allāh owed his misfortune not so much to himself as to his two sons Muḥammed and Ibrāhīm. As early as the year 136 (754), when al-Manṣūr ¶ led the pilgrimage, the latter’s suspicions were aroused, because they did…

(also called Mustanṣir) bi ’llāh, Abū Ḏj̲aʿfar Muḥammad b. Ḏj̲aʿfar, ʿAbbāsid caliph, son of al-Mutawakkil by a Greek slave. After his father had been murdered in S̲h̲awwāl 247 (Dec. 861) by conspirators, among whom was al-Muntaṣir, the latter ascended the throne, aged 25 According to the usual statement. As a ruler he was only a tool in the hands of the vizier Aḥmad b. al-Ḵh̲aṣīb and the Turkish generals. His brothers al-Muʿtazz and al-Muʾaiyad were forced to renounce their claims to the throne and Waṣī…

b. ʿAlī, uncle of the caliphs Abu ’l-ʿAbbās al-Saffāḥ and Abū Ḏj̲aʿfar al-Manṣūr. ʿAbd Allāh was one of the most active participators in the battle of the ʿAbbāsides against the last Umaiyad caliph, Marwān II. He was commander-in-chief in the decisive battle at the Greater Zāb, where Marwān lost his crown, and when the latter took to flight, ʿAbd Allāh pursued him, soon after conquered Damascus and marched on to Palestine, whence he had the fugitive caliph pursued to Egypt. Even more im placably …