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Ẓahīr al-Dīn Abū S̲h̲ud̲j̲āʿ Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusain b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Ibrāhīm, an ʿAbbāsid vizier. Al-Rūd̲h̲rāwarī was born in al-Ahwāz in 437 (1045—1046); his father Abū Yaʿlā al-Ḥusain, who had died just as he was about to take over the vizierate to which he had been appointed by the Caliph al-Ḳāʾim [q. v.] (460 = 1067—1068), was a native of Rūd̲h̲rāwar, a little town near Hamad̲h̲ān. He studied in Bag̲h̲dād under the direction of S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Abū Isḥāḳ al-S̲h̲īrāzī and in 471 (1078—1079) was appoi…

bi ’llāh, Abu ’l-Ḳāsim ʿAbd Allāh, ʿ Abbāsid caliph, son of al-Muktafī and a slave-girl. After the Amīr al-Umarāʾ Tuzun had deposed the caliph al-Muttaḳī, he chose al-Mustakfī as his successor on the same day in Ṣafar 333 (Sept.-Oct. 944). The new caliph was only a tool in the hands of Tuzun and his successor Abū Ḏj̲aʿfar b. S̲h̲īrzād. Bag̲h̲dād began to suffer from a constant famine and neither food nor money could be raised for the troops. When the Būyid Aḥmad b. Abī S̲h̲ud̲j̲āʾ approached [cf. muʿizz al-dawla], the caliph had to declare himself ready to recognise the Būyids as t…

Further Bibliography: Bowen, The last Buwayhids (J. R. A. 5., 1929, p. 225—245). (K. V. Zetterstéen)

b. al-Mahdī, an ʿAbbāsid, born at the end of 162= July 779. His father was the Caliph Muḥammad al-Mahdī, his mother a negress named S̲h̲ikla. When the Caliph al-Maʾmūn, who was then in Marw, appointed the ʿAlid ʿAlī al-Riḍā successor on the end of Ramaḍān = 24th March 817, disturbances broke out among the ¶ followers of the ʿAbbāsids. At the end of Ḏh̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a = July 817 they proclaimed al-Maʾmūn’s uncle, Ibrāhīm, Caliph under the name al-Mubārak (“the blessed”) and on the 5th Muḥarram 202 = 24th July 817 he publicly appeared in the mosque as ruler. His reign did not last …

Abu ’l-Ḥārit̲h̲ Arslān S̲h̲āh b. Masʿūd b. Mawdūd b. Zangī, called al-Malik al-ʿĀdil, lord of al-Mawṣil. After the death of his father [q. v.] in S̲h̲aʿbān 589 (Aug. 1193) Nūr al-Dīn succeeded him; the real ruler however in the early years of his tenure of office was the governor of the citadel, the eunuch Mud̲j̲āhid al-Dīn Ḳaimaz al-Zainī, who is described not only as a pious and learned man but as an official much concerned with the welfare of the people. He died in Rabīʿ I 595 (Jan. 1199) or, according t…

al-Ras̲h̲id, the most celebrated of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphs, born in al-Raiy in Ḏh̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a 145 = March 763 or, according to another, in itself more probable authority, in Muḥarram 149 = February 766. His father was the Caliph Muḥammad al-Mahdī, his mother a slave named Ḵh̲aizurān, whom Mahdī set free and married in 159 = 775-776. After Hārūn ascended the throne in Rabīʿ I 170 = Sept. 786, he appointed the Barmakid Yaḥyā b. Ḵh̲ālid as vizier with unlimited power, and during the following se…

b. Ṣāliḥ b. ʿAlī, a cousin of the caliphs Abu ’l-ʿAbbās al-Saffāḥ and Abū Ḏj̲aʿfar al-Manṣūr. In Hārūn al-Ras̲h̲īd’s reign ʿAbd al-Malik undertook several expeditions against the Byzantines. Such campaigns took place under his command in the years 174 (790-791) and 181 (797-798), according to some authorities also in 175 (791-792), whilst others state that in the latter year not ʿAbd al-Malik himself, but his son ʿAbd al-Raḥmān held the command. Besides this he was governor of Medina for some time …

The theory, generally accepted by European historians, of the solemn transfer of the caliphate by al-Mutawakkil, the last Egyptian ʿAbbāsid, to the Ottoman Sulṭān Selīm is devoid of any foundation and has been definitely relegated to the realm of legend by Barthold ( M. I., St. Petersburg 1912, i. 203—226, 345—400; see also Becker, Barthold’s Studien fiber Kalif und Sulṭān, in Isl., vi. 250—412) It owes its dissemination to a Stambul Armenian in Swedish service, Mouradgea d’Ohsson, who published it in his Tableau général de l’Empire Othoman, Paris 1788—1824, i. 232 and 269 sq.; cf. also…

, Abu ’l-Ḳāsim Ismāʿīl b. ʿAbbād b. al-ʿAbbās b. ʿAbbād b. Aḥmad b. Idrīs al-Ṭālaḳānī, vizier of the two Būyids Muʾaiyid al-Dawla and Fak̲h̲r al-Dawla, born in Ḏh̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda 326 (September 938). His father had been Rukn al-Dawla’s vizier; he himselff received the name ‘al-Ṣāḥib’ (the companion) on account of his relations with Abu ’l-Faḍl b. al-ʿAmīd [v. ibn al-ʿamīd] or Muʾaiyid al-Dawla, who appointed him his secretary. After the fall of Abu ’l-Fatḥ b. al-ʿAmīd [v. ibn al-ʿamīd] he was raised to the rank of vizier and when Muʾaiyid al-Dawla died in 373 (984) and the pow…

bi ’llāh, Abu Isḥaḳ Muḥammad, an ʿAbbāsid caliph, born in 179(795—796) or 180 (796—7), the son of Hārūn al-Rag̲h̲īd and a slave-girl named Mārida. In the reign of his brother al-Maʾmūn [q. v.] he took part in the fighting against the Byzantines in Asia Minor and received the governorship of Egypt. After the death of al-Maʾmūn in Rad̲j̲ab 218 (Aug. 833) he ascended the throne and was soon afterwards acknowledged even by his nephew al-ʿAbbās b. al-Maʾmūn [q. v.] whom the troops had proclaimed caliph a…

b. Yazīd b. Nuʿaim al-S̲h̲aibānī, a Ḵh̲ārid̲j̲ī leader. He belonged to the region of al-Mawṣil, to which his family had migrated from the oasis of al-Laṣaf in the Kūfa desert, and was born in Ḏh̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a 25 (Sept./Oct. 646) or 26 (Sept./Oct. 647). In the beginning of 76 (695) he joined Ṣāliḥ b. Musarraḥ, the leader of the Ḵh̲ārid̲j̲īs in Dārā between Naṣībīn and Mārdīn and when the latter was slain on 17th Ḏj̲umādā I (2 Sept. 695) in battle against the troops of al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ [q. v.] under al-Ḥārit̲h̲. b. ʿUmaira al-Hamdānī at the village of al-Mudabbad…

, 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…

b. ʿāzib b. al-ḥārit̲h̲ al-awsī al-anṣārī , a Companion of the Prophet. He was too young to take part in the Battle of Badr, but he accompanied Muḥammad on numerous other expeditions and later took part in the wars of conquest; he brought Rayy and Ḳazwīn under Muslim dominion. He later espoused the cause of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and fought under his banner at the Battle of the Camel [see al-d̲j̲amal], at Ṣiffīn [ q.v.], and at al-Nahrawān [ q.v.]; the famous ḥadīt̲h̲ of G̲h̲adīr Ḵh̲umm [ q.v.] was related on his authority. After his retirement to Kūfa, he lost his sight towards the end…

was the ancestor of the ʿAbbāsids. According to Muslim tradition, ʿAlī was born in the year 40/661, the very same night in which the caliph ʿAlī was assassinated; but there are also other statements concerning the year of his birth. His mother was called Zurʿa bint Mis̲h̲raḥ. His grandfather al-ʿAbbās was the uncle of the Prophet, and on account of his high birth and his personal gifts ʿAlī attained to great distinction. He was looked upon as the handsomest and most pious Ḳurays̲h̲ite of his tim…

, pretender to the throne under al-Muʿtaṣim. His father, the caliph al-Maʾmūn, appointed him in 213/828-9 a governor of al-Ḏj̲azīra and the neighbouring frontier district, and he then showed great bravery in fighting the Byzantines. On the death of al-Maʾmūn in 218/833, his brother, Abū Isḥāḳ Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim bi-’llāh, by choice of the deceased, ascended the throne of the ʿAbbāsids. The army which al-Maʾmūn had collected against the Greeks, however, proclaimed al-ʿAbbās caliph, although he h…

b. Malik S̲h̲āh Nāṣir al-Dīn (afterwards Muʿizz al-Dīn) Abu ’l-Ḥārit̲h̲, a Sald̲j̲ūḳ Sulṭān. According to the usual statement, he was born on Rad̲j̲ab 25, 479 (Nov. 5, 1086), according to some, however, two years earlier, on Rad̲j̲ab 25, 477 (Nov. 27, 1084). His muhammadan name was Aḥmad; on the name Sand̲j̲ar, see p. 148b. After the assassination of his uncle Arslān Arg̲h̲ūn [q. v.] in 490 (Dec, 1096), the young Sand̲j̲ar was appointed governor of Ḵh̲urāsān by his brother Barkiyārūḳ [q. v.]. Some time afterwards, however, the third brother, Muḥam…

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…