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, a Companion of the Prophet, was chief of the tribe of Aslam b. Afṣā who, together with about eighty families who were with him, accepted Islam when the Prophet halted at their settlement of al-G̲h̲amīm on his way from Mecca to Medina. (According to Ibn Ḥad̲j̲ar, however, ne accepted Islam after the battle of Badr). Burayda did not join the Prophet in Medina until after the battle of Uḥud, but then he resided there and took part in all the Prophet’s campaigns. In the year 9/630 he was sent to c…

, uncle of the caliphs Abu l-ʿAbbās al-Saffāḥ and Abū Ḏj̲aʿfar al-Manṣūr. ʿAbd Allāh was one of the most active participants in the struggle of the ʿAbbāsids against the last Umayyad 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, quickly captured Damascus and marched on to Palestine, whence he had the fugitive caliph pursued to Egypt. He was even more implacable than …

al-īyādī , abū ʿabd allāh , Muʿtazilite ḳāḍī born at Baṣra about 160/776. Through his own merit and also, it is said, through the good offices of Yaḥyā b. Akt̲h̲am [ q.v.], who introduced him to the Court at Bag̲h̲dād, he reached a position of great honour under the Caliph al-Maʾmūn, soon becoming one of the Caliph’s closest friends. Shortly before his death, the Caliph recommended his brother and successor al-Muʿtaṣim to admit Aḥmad, a fervent follower of the Muʿtazilite doctrine, to the circle of his advisers, and as a resu…

, Abu ’l-Ḥusayn Aḥmad b. Abī S̲h̲ud̲j̲āʿ Fanāk̲h̲usraw Būya, b. 303/915-16, the youngest of the Three Būyids of the first generation, founder of Būyid rule in Bag̲h̲dād, d. 356/967. While serving under ʿAlī, his eldest brother (the later ʿImād al-Dawla [ q.v.]), who had taken power in central and southern Iran, Aḥmad subdued Kirmān in 323/935. In 326/938 ʿImād al-Dawla ordered him to K̲h̲ūzistān to support Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad al-Barīdī [ q.v.], who ruled this province as independent governor, but was threatened by Ibn Rāʾiḳ and Bad̲j̲kam [ q.vv.], the chief amīrs ( amīr al-umarāʾ …

, Umayyad general, son of the caliph al-Walīd I. Al-ʿAbbās owes his celebrity principally to the energetic part he took in the continual struggles of the Umayyads with the Byzantines. Concerning the details, the Arabic and Byzantine sources do not always agree. In the early part of the reign of al-Walīd I, he and his uncle Maslama b. ʿAbd al-Malik, took Ṭuwāna, the most important fortress of Cappadocia. The Muslims had begun to be discouraged and ʿAbbās had to display the greatest energy to succ…

b. al-Aswad al-ʿAdawī , was, together with ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥanẓala [ q.v.], one of the chiefs of the revolt against the caliph Yazīd I in Medīna. When he saw that after the accession of Yazīd the Umayyad government was rousing increasing opposition, Ibn Muṭīʿ ¶ proposed to leave Medīna, but ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar [ q.v.] advised him to remain, and he gave in to Ibn ʿUmar’s arguments. When the inhabitants of Medīna revolted against the new caliph, he became the leader of the Ḳurays̲h̲ite elements in the city and took part in the battle of the Ḥarra in Ḏh̲u…

b. Ṭāhir D̲h̲i ’l-Yamīnayn , Abu ’l-ʿAbbās , Ṭāhirid governor of Bag̲h̲dād. Born in 209/824-5, Muḥammad in 237/851 was summoned from K̲h̲urāsān by the Caliph to Bag̲h̲dād and appointed military governor ( ṣāḥib al-s̲h̲urṭa ) in order to restore order in the chaos then prevailing. In spite of the great power of the Ṭāhirids, who ruled K̲h̲urāsān with considerable autonomy, although they nominally recognised the suzerainty of the caliph, his task was by no means a light one. After al-Mustaʿīn had ascended the…

, Abu ’l-Ḳāsim al-Faḍl , ʿAbbāsid caliph, reigned 334-63/946-74, son of al-Muḳtadir [ q.v.] by a Ṣaḳlabī slave concubine called Mas̲h̲ʿala, brother of al-Rāḍī and of al-Muttaḳī [ q.vv.]. 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 D̲j̲umādā II or S̲h̲aʿbān 334/January or March 946) al-Muṭīʿ was recognis…

(I) bi ’llāh , Abu ’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Muḥammad , ʿAbbāsid caliph, reigned 248-52/862-6, grandson of the caliph al-Muʿtaṣim [ q.v.] and the son of a slave concubine of Ṣaḳlabī origin named Muk̲h̲āriḳ. When his cousin al-Muntaṣir [ q.v.] died, the Turkish commanders in Sāmarrā plucked al-Mustaʿīn from a life of obscurity (he is said to have made a living as a copyist of manuscripts) to become caliph (6 Rabīʿ II 248/9 June 862). The choice aroused discontent in Sāmarrā and unrest broke out among those who supported al-Muʿtazz [ q.v.] which was only put down after much bloodshed and fina…

bi ’llāh , Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Hārun al-Wāt̲h̲iḳ , ʿAbbāsid caliph, reigned 255-6/869-70. After al-Wāt̲h̲iḳ’s death, a number of officials wished to pay homage to the young Muḥammad, son of the deceased caliph and a Greek slave; instead, however, al-Wāt̲h̲iḳ’s brother al-Mutawakkil [ q.v.] was proclaimed his successor and only after the deposition and murder of the unfortunate al-Muʿtazz ¶ (1 S̲h̲aʿbān 255/15 July 869) did Muḥammad ascend the throne on 7-8 S̲h̲aʿbān/21-2 July with the name al-Muhtadī. His ideal was the Umayyad ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzī…

, the name of two Ayyūbid sultans. I. al-Malik al-Nāṣir Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Dāwūd b. al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam , born in D̲j̲umādā I 603/December 1205) in Damascus. After the death of his father at the end of D̲h̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda 624/November 1227 Dāwūd succeeded him on the throne of Damascus and the Mamlūk ʿIzz al-Dīn Aybak acted as regent. Dāwūd’s uncle however, covetous of territory, did not leave him long in peace. Al-Malik al-Kāmil [ q.v.] first of all claimed the fortress of al-S̲h̲awbak [ q.v.], and when it was refused him he occupied Jerusalem, Nābulus and other places (625/1228). In t…

bi-llāh , Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī b. Aḥmad , ʿAbbāsid caliph, reigned 289-95/902-8, son of al-Muʿtaḍid and a Turkish slave concubine named Čiček (Arabic D̲j̲īd̲j̲ak). In 281/894-5 he was appointed by his father governor of al-Rayy and several towns in the neighbourhood, and five years later he was made governor of Mesopotamia and took up his quarters in ¶ al-Raḳḳa. After the death of al-Muʿtaḍid on 22 Rabīʿ II 289/5 April 902, he ascended the throne and at once won the good-will of the people by his liberality, by destroying the subter…

, abū Isḥāḳ Ibrāhīm , ʿAbbāsid caliph, reigned 329-33/940-4, son of al-Muḳtadir [ q.v.] and a slave-girl named K̲h̲alūb. At the age of 26 on 21 Rabīʿ I 329/24 Dec. 940 he succeeded his half-brother al-Rāḍī [ q.v.]; by this time the caliphate had sunk so low that five days passed after the death of al-Rāḍī before steps were taken to choose his successor. Al-Muttaḳī at once confirmed the Amīr al-Umarāʾ Bed̲j̲kem [ q.v. in EI 1] in office; after his death however, in Rad̲j̲ab 324/April 941, the Turks and Daylamīs in the army began to quarrel with one another. Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Barīdī [see al-barīdī …

bi-llāh , Abu ’l-Faḍl D̲j̲aʿfar . ʿAbbāsid caliph, son of al-Muʿtaḍid by a Greek slave concubine named S̲h̲ag̲h̲ib, reigned 295-320/908-32, but with two episodes when he was temporarily deposed, the first on 20 Rabīʿ I 296/17 December 908 in the fourth month of his caliphate, when Ibn al-Muʿtazz [ q.v.] replaced him for a day, and the second on 15 Muḥarram 317/28 February 929, when his brother Muḥammad al-Ḳāhir [ q.v.] was raised to the throne for two days. After the death of his brother al-Muḳtafī in D̲h̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda 295/August 908, al-Muḳtadir, who was only 13 at the time,…

b. Nuʿaym al-S̲h̲aybānī, K̲h̲ārid̲j̲ite leader of the early Umayyad period. A tribesman of the Banū Hammām b. Murra b. D̲h̲uhl lineage of the S̲h̲aybān, S̲h̲abīb’s father Yazīd b. Nuʿaym emigrated from al-Kūfa to the region of al-Mawṣil, and participated in Salmān b. Rabīʿa al-Bāhilī’s raids along the northern frontier; during one of these Nuʿaym is said to have taken a wife, and the union produced S̲h̲abīb in Ḏh̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a of year 25 (September/October 646) or 26 (September/October 647). S̲h̲abīb seems to have grown up in al-Mawṣil, ¶ perhaps in the town of Sātīdamā (on th…

, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad b. Hārūn, born in Baṣra in Muḥarram 291/Nov.-Dec. 903, celebrated chief minister and vizier 339-52/950-63 to the Būyid amīr of ʿIrāḳ Muʿizz al-Dawla [ q.v.]. He stemmed from the famous Arab Muhallabī family of Baṣra [see muhallabids ] as a descendant at six generations’ remove of the Umayyad commander and governor al-Muhallab b. Abī Ṣufra [ q.v.] (see genealogical table in Zambaur, Manuel , 11). In 334/945, when Muʿizz al-Dawla was marching on Bag̲h̲dād, he sent al-Muhallabī in advance to negotiate with the caliph, and on 27 D̲j̲…

, Abū D̲j̲aʿfar Hārūn b. al-Muʿtaṣim , ʿAbbāsid caliph. He was given the name Hārūn after his grandfather Hārūn al-Ras̲h̲īd; his mother was a Greek slave called Ḳarāṭīs. On the day that his father al-Muʿtaṣim bi ’llāh [ q.v.] died (18 Rabīʿ I 227/5 January 842), al-Wāt̲h̲iḳ was proclaimed his successor. Before al-Muʿtaṣim’s death, an alleged descendant of the Umayyads, named Abū Ḥarb, usually called al-Mubarḳaʿ [ q.v.] “the veiled one” from the veil that he always wore, had provoked a dangerous rising in Palestine, and Rad̲j̲āʾ b. Ayyūb al-Ḥiḍārī, whom al-Muʿta…