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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 th…

, 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 rea…

, 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

, 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…

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b. Ṭāhir D̲h̲i ’l-Yamīnayn , Abu ’l-ʿAbbās…

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(I) bi ’llāh , Abu ’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Muḥammad , ʿAbbāsid caliph, reigned 248-52/862-6, grandson of the caliph al-Muʿtaṣim [ …

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 [ …

, the name of two Ayyūbid sultans. I. …

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 subterranean dungeons in the capital built by his father, releasing prisoners and restoring confiscated lands. He proved a brave and fearless leader who fought with success against the many enemies of the caliphate. The Ḳarmaṭīs [ q.v.] were ravaging Syria; one town after another fell into their hands and Damascus itself was plundered. On 6 Muḥarram 291/29 November 903, the general Muḥammad b. Sulaymān finally succeeded in inflicting a crushing defeat on them and they scattered in all directions. Muḥammad then turned his attention to Egypt, where he put an end to the rule of the Ṭūlūnids. Many of their followers joined him and after the Ṭūlūnid Hārūn b. K̲h̲umārawayh had been slain, the capital had to surrender (Ṣafar 292/January 905) and ʿĪsā al-Nūs̲h̲arī was appointed governor of Egypt. An attempt to restore the Ṭūlūnids was easily crushed (293/905-6). About this time, the Ḳarmaṭīs again began to be troublesome and at the beginning of the year 294/October-November 906 they attacked the great pilgrim caravan returning from Mecca, massacred the men and carried off the women and children. In Rabīʿ I of the same year/December-January 906-7, they were defeated near al-Ḳādisiyya by the caliph’s troops under Waṣīf b. Suwārtigīn al-K̲h̲azarī. The war with the Byzantines was also vigorously pursued. In 291/903-4, a Greek named Leo who had adopted Islam undertook a number of raids on the Greek coasts with his fleet of 54 ships. The Byzantines, however, had the advantage by land. In 292/904-5, Marʿas̲h̲, al-Maṣṣīṣa and Ṭarsūs were taken by the Greek general Andronicus, and in the following year the Byzantines advanced as far as Aleppo. Then the Muslims gained the upper hand, and Andronicus went over to them. Al-Muḳtafī fell ill, and a power-struggle amongst the chief secretaries and v…

, 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-Mu…

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, was proclaimed caliph. Many however preferred ʿAbd Allāh, son of the caliph al-Muʿtazz, and after the murder of the vizier al-ʿAbbās b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad [see al-d̲j̲ard̲j̲arāʾī …

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. …

, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad b. Hārūn, born in Baṣra in Muḥarr…

, 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…