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Cf. further Caetani and Gabrieli, Onomasticon Arabicum, ii. 982. (K. V. Zetterstéen)

, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad, a vizier of Muʿizz al-Dawla. He belonged to Baṣra and was born in Muḥarram 291 (= Dec. 903). In 334 (945) when Muʿizz al-Dawla was marching on Bag̲h̲dād, he sent him in advance to negotiate with the Caliph and on Ḏj̲umādā I, 27, 339 (= Nov. 950) al-Muhallabī was appointed vizier. He was given the supreme command in the war with ʿImrān b. S̲h̲āhīn [cf. muʿizz al-dawla] and had brought him into a very precarious position when he himself fell into an ambush and could only save himself with difficulty, whereupon Muʿizz al-Dawla had t…

, 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 representative of the Iranian element, and just as Ibn al-Rabīʿ controlled the one brother, al-Amīn, the other, al-Maʾmūn, was simply a tool in the hands o…

, 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 brought about the fall of Nad̲j̲āḥ b. Salama, the minister of finance; the latter was tortured to death and his property confiscated. Along with al-Fatḥ b. Ḵh̲āḳān [q. v.] ʿUbaid Allāh was the declared favourite of al-Muta…

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-Ḏj̲abbār b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Abū ʿUbaid Allāh accompanied the expedition. After the accession of Muḥammed al-Mahdī, Abū ʿUbaid Allāh, whose knowledge of the ancient Arab poets was greatly praised, was appointed secretary to the caliph. He soon acquired a great name at the ʿAbbāside Court and was promoted ¶ vizier. In the long run, however, he could not escape the je…

, 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 Kūrtekīn dismissed him. Some time after Kūrtekīn’s fall he received his rank again but could only hold it for 40 days. In S̲h̲awwāl 330 (June—July 942) he was again…

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, from the succession. The latter was publicly insulted and had to put up with all sorts of nicknames like al-Mustaʿd̲j̲il (the “premature”), al-Muntaẓir (the…

, 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 tr…

, 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. Muḥammad b. al-As̲h̲ʿat̲h̲ [q. v.], al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ recognised his ability and when the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik in 85 (704) had to fill the vacant governorship of Ḵh̲orāsān, he gave the post to Ḳutaiba on the advice of al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲, to whom the governors of Ḵh̲orāsān were subordinate. After his arrival in Merw, Ḳutaiba was able to make full use of his military gifts and by a series of…

, 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 al-Mūriyānī who was Sulaimān’s secretary. According to another story, al-Manṣūr purchased him as a young boy and sent him in ¶ some capacity to his brother, the caliph al-Saffāḥ, who was so pleased with him that he at once took him into his service and re…

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 summon…

, 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…

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. bahāʾ al-dawla], a quarrel arose between his brothers, ʿAlī and al-Muḳallad, each of whom claimed power. ʿAlī was the elder; but al-Muḳallad wrote to Bahāʾ al-Dawla and promised him an annual tribute and then told his brother that Bahāʾ al-Dawla had appointed him governor of al-Mawṣil and asked ʿAlī’s help to take the town. Bahāʾ al-Dawla’s general in al-Mawṣil, Abū Ḏj̲aʿfar al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲, ¶ took to flight and the tw…

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 had the news of ʿImād al-Dīn’s death reached Joscelin II who lived in Tell Bās̲h̲ir…

b. al-Rabīʿ, al-Amīn’s vizier. A descendant of a Syrian slave manumitted by the Caliph Ot̲h̲mān, al-Faḍl proved himself thoroughly Arab in his attitude and constantly championed the Arab spirit in opposition to the numerous Iranian elements in the ʿAbbāsid empire. His father al-Rabīʿ b. Yūnus had played a part in history as vizier to the two Caliphs al-Manṣūr and al-Mahdī. When Hārūn on his accession gave the Barmecides preferment, al-Faḍl felt himself slighted and became filled with hatred and j…

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…

, 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…