Search

, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad, an ʿAbbāsid Caliph. His father was the Caliph al-Manṣūr, his mother was called Umm Mūsā bint al-Manṣūr b. ʿAbd Allāh and belonged to the family of the old Himyarite kings. When the governor of Ḵh̲urāsān ʿAbd al-Ḏj̲abbār b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān [q. v.] rebelled, the Caliph sent his son Muḥammad al-Mahdī with an army against him; the real commander was Ḵh̲āzim b. Ḵh̲uzaima. After taking ʿAbd al-Ḏj̲abbār prisoner, al-Mahdī by his father’s orders undertook an expedition against Ṭabaristān which had to submit to him [cf. dābūya]. In 144 (761—762) he returned to the ʿ…

b. Sahl, al-Maʾmūn’s vizier. Al-Faḍl was a native of Persia and did not adopt Islām till 190 (805-806). His family had been strongly recommended to Hārūn by the Barmecides and al-Faḍl b. al-Rabī, their implacable opponent, therefore became a personal enemy of Ibn Sahl. As the former was of Arab origin, the latter was also opposed to him as the represent…

, the name of three viziers: 1. Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿUbaid Allāh b. Yaḥyā b. Ḵh̲āḳān. Appointed secretary of state in 236 (850-851), ʿUbaid Allāh was raised to the vizierate by al-Mutawakkil and held this office till the latter’s assassination in 247 (861). Towards the end of the year 245 (860) he brou…

bi ’llāh, Abu ’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Muḥammad, an ʿAbbāsid caliph. His father was a son of the caliph al-Muʿtaṣim, his mother a slave-girl named Muk̲h̲āriḳ of Slav origin. After the death in Rabīʿ II 248 (June 862) of al-Muntaṣir the praetorians appointed his cousin Aḥmad caliph under the name al-Mustaʿīn. 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 by the Turkish soldiers. When al-Mustaʿīn was reco…

Muʿāwiya b. ʿUbaid Allāh b. Yasār al-As̲h̲ʿarī, a vizier. Abū ʿUbaid Allāh is mentioned as early as the reign of al-Manṣūr. When the latter sent his son Muḥammed against the rebellious governor of Ḵh̲orāsān, ʿAbd al-Ḏj…

, Abū Isḥāḳ Muḥammad b. Aḥmad [or Ibrāhīm] al-ḳarārīṭī, al-Muttaḳī’s vizier. In 323 (934—935) he is mentioned as secretary to Muḥammad b. Yāḳūt, chief of police in Bag̲h̲dād, and in S̲h̲awwāl 329 (June—July 941) the Caliph gave him the office of vizier, but after-only six weeks, in Dhu ’l-Ḳaʿda (July—Aug.) of thesame year, the Amīr al-Umarāʾ Kūrtek…

b. Ḵh̲āḳān, a favourite of al-Mutawakkil. Al-Fatḥ and the vizier ʿUbaid Allāh b. Yaḥyā, exercised an extraordinary influence over this cruel and frivolous Caliph, particularly in the last years of his reign. Both were ardent supporters of his second son al-Muʿtazz, and exerted all their efforts to exclude the Caliph’s eldest son, al-Muntaṣir…

, Abū Ṭālib Rustam b. Fak̲h̲r al-Dawla, a Būyid. After the death of his father Fak̲h̲r al-Dawla [q.v.], Mad̲j̲d al-Dawla, who, according to the usual statement, was then four years of age, according to another eleven (while Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, al-Kāmil, ix. 48 says he was born in 379 [989/990] which does not agree with either of these statements) was proclaimed as successor under the regency of his mother Saiyida. In 388 (998) Ḳābūs b. Was̲h̲mgīr [q. v.] seized the two provinces of Ḏj̲urd̲j̲ān and Ṭabaristān, to which was added by the treaty of peace Māzandarān also, and later he brought Gīlān also under his rule. In 397 (1006—1007) Mad̲j̲d al-Dawla with the help of the vizier al-Ḵh̲aṭīr Abū ʿAlī b. ʿAlī b. al-Ḳāsim attempted to overthrow his mother but he was taken prisoner by his brother S̲h̲ams al-Dawla [q.v.] and the Kurd chief Badrb.Ḥasanawaih, whereupon S̲h̲ams al-Dawla took control of the government. His rule did not last long, however; after a year Mad̲j̲d al-Dawla was released and again recognised as ruler, while his brother retired to his governorship of Hamad̲h̲ān. In 405 (1015) the latter succeeded in seizing the town of al-Raiy; Saiyida and Mad̲j̲d al-Dawla had to take to flight, but were soon able to return because S̲h̲ams al-Dawla was prevented from following them by a mutiny in the army and had to leave the field. Saiyida held the reins of government till her death (419 = 1028/1029), while Mad̲j̲d al-Dawla, who although extremely interested in learning, otherwise cared only for his numerous ḥarem, paid no heed to affairs of state. After Saiyida’…

, Abu ’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. ʿUbaid Allāh b. Aḥmad b. al-Ḵh̲aṣīb, a vizier. After the deposition of Abu ’l-Ḳāsim al-Ḵh̲āḳānī in Ramaḍān 313 (Nov. 925) (see ibn k̲h̲āḳān, 3) al-Ḵh̲aṣībī, who at that time was secretary to the mother of the Caliph al-Muḳtadir, was appointed vizier. But as he neglected his official duties and made himself generally hated for his extortions, he was deposed on the advice of the chief of police Muʾnis in Ḏh̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda 314 (Jan. 927) and ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā (see ibn al-d̲j̲arrāḥ, 2) appointed in his place. Till the latter could reach the capital, ʿUbaid Allāh b. M…

, Abū Ḏj̲aʿfar ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad, the second ʿAbbāsid caliph. His mother was a Berber slave girl called Sallāma, his brother the caliph Abu ’l-ʿAbbās al-Saffāḥ [q. v.]. In the fighting against the Omaiyads he distinguished himself and took part in the siege of Wāsiṭ, which had been fortified by Ibn Hubaira [q. v.], the last important supporter of Marwān. The treacherous murder of Ibn Hubaira, to whom the two ʿAbbāsids had expressly promised a pardon, is however not out of keeping with Abū Ḏj̲aʿfa…

, Abū Ḥafṣ al-Bāhilī, an Arab general. Ḳutaiba was born in 49 (669/670). In the war against ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥa…

, Abū Aiyūb Sulaimān al-Ḵh̲ūzī, vizier of the caliph al-Manṣūr. When the governor of Fārs Sulaimān b. Ḥabīb al-Muhallabī in the Umaiyad period had the future caliph al-Manṣūr, who was accused of embezzling state funds, flogged and intended to treat him with still greater indignity, the latter was saved by Abū Aiyūb …

b. al-Muḳallad Abu ’l-Manīʿ, Muʿtamid al-Dawla, an ʿUḳailid. After the murder of al-Muḳallad in 391 (1000/1) he was succeeded as Amīr by his eldest son, Ḳarwās̲h̲ In 392 (1001/2) the latter sent an army against al-Madāʾin, which then owed allegiance to the Būyids. The ʿUḳailids, however, had soon to retreat and when they made an alliance with the Banū Asad under Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Mazyad, Bahāʾ al-Dawla’s [q.v.] deputy, Abū Ḏj̲aʿfar al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲, at once took the field against them and summoned the Banū Ḵh̲afād̲j̲a to help him. In R…

, an Umaiyad governor. In 65 (684—685) he was sent by his father, the caliph Marwān I, to Mesopotamia, and in the battle of Dair al-Ḏj̲āt̲h̲alīḳ in 72 (691) in which his brother, the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik, defeated Muṣʿab b. al-Zubair, he commanded the advanced guard of the Syrian army. In the following year ʿAbd al-Malik gave him the governorship of Mesopotamia and Armenia which carried with it the command in the war with the Byzantines. On account of climatic conditions the Arab expeditions always took place in summer. In 73 (692), the ¶ emperor Justinian II was defeated at Sebaste or …

, ʿImād al-Dīn b. Ḳasīm al-Dawla Aḳsonḳor b. ʿAbd Allāh, atābeg of al-Mawṣil and one of the most distinguished emīrs of the Sald̲j̲ūḳ period. His father Aḳsonḳor al-Ḥād̲j̲ib (“the chamberlain”), a Turkish Mamlūk in the service of Sulṭān Maliks̲h̲āh [q. v.], had received from the latter the town of Ḥalab as a fief; but when Aḳsonḳor on the death of Maliks̲h̲āh rebelled against his brother Tutus̲h̲ [q. v.], he was taken prisoner and put to death (487 = 1094) and the young Zengī, who was then only ten years old, lost his father’s estates which went to …

b. al-Musaiyib, Ḥusām al-Dawla Abū Ḥassān, an ʿUḳailid. After the death in 386 (996) or 387 (997) of the ʿUḳailid emīr Abu ’l-Ḏh̲awwād Muḥammad b. al-Musaiyib [cf. …

Abu ’l-Ḳāsim Maḥmūd b. ʿImād al-Dīn Zengī, called al-Malik al-ʿĀdil, atābeg of Ḥalab and Damascus. Nūr al-Dīn was born in S̲h̲awwāl 511 (Febr. 1118) and took part ¶ under his father in the siege of Ḳalʿat Ḏj̲aʿbar where the latter was murdered in Rabīʿ II 541 (Sept. 1146). His kingdom was then divided between his two sons, Saif al-Dīn G̲h̲āzī [q. v.] who took possession of al-Mawṣil, and Nūr al-Dīn who established himself in Ḥalab. Scarely ha…

b. al-Rabīʿ, al-Amīn’s vizier. A descendant of a Syri…

Ẓahīr al-Dīn Abū S̲h̲ud̲j̲āʿ Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusain b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Ibrāhīm…

bi ’llāh, Abu ’l-Ḳāsim ʿAbd Allāh, ʿ Abbāsid caliph, son of al-Muktafī and a slave-girl. After the Amīr a…