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b. ʿAbd al-Malik , Umayyad general. He was a faithful partisan of his cousin Yazīd III and one of his ¶ most eminent assistants. Already in al-Walīd II’s reign he helped Yazīd, who headed the malcontents, to enlist troops against the caliph. When they had succeeded in getting together an army in Damascus, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz received the supreme command and marched against al-Walīd. Yazīd’s brother ʿAbbās, who was about to go to the caliph’s assistance, was attacked and forced to pay homage to Yazīd. Shortly afterwards ʿ…

Abū Manṣūr b. Abī S̲h̲ud̲j̲āʿ Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn , vizier of the ʿAbbāsids and Sald̲j̲ūḳs. When the vizier Abū S̲h̲ud̲j̲āʿ Muḥammad al-Rūd̲h̲rāwarī [ q.v.] made the pilgrimage to Mecca in 481/1089, he appointed his son Rabīb al-Dawla and the naḳīb al-nuḳabāʾ Ṭirād b. Muḥammad al-Zaynabī his deputies, and in 507/1113-14, on the death of Abu ’l-Ḳāsim ʿAlī b. Fak̲h̲r al-Dawla Muḥammad b. D̲j̲ahīr [see …

, Abū Ṭāhir b. Bahā ʾal-Dawla , a Būyid, born in 383/993-4. When Sulṭān al-Dawla, after the death of his father Bahāʾ al-Dawla in 403/1012, was named amīr al-umarāʾ , he entrusted his brother D̲j̲alāl al-Dawla with the office of governor of Baṣra. The latter stayed there for several years without becoming involved in the private quarrels of the Būyids. In 415/1024-5 Sulṭān al-Dawla died and his brother Mus̲h̲arrif al-Dawla died in the following year. D̲j̲alāl al-Dawla was then proclaimed amīr al-umarāʾ, but, as he did not appear at Bag̲h̲dād to take possession of his new dig…

b. al-Muṭṭalib mad̲j̲d al-Dīn abu ’l-Maʿālī , vizier of the caliph al-Mustaẓhir. Hibat Allāh was appointed vizier in Muḥarram 501/August-September 1107, but he was dismissed in Ramaḍān under pressure from the Sald̲j̲ūḳ sultan Muḥammad b. Maliks̲h̲āh. It is true that the caliph soon restored him to office, forbidding him to employ any d̲h̲immīs [ q.v.], but in 502/1108-9 or 503/1109-10 Hibat Allāh was once again dismissed and he and his family were forced to seek the protection of the sultan. (K.V. Zetterstéen) Bibliography Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, x, 305, 309, 318, 330, 335.

, son of the caliph Marwān I and father of ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was appointed governor of Egypt by his father, and the appointment was confirmed by ʿAbd al-Malik, when he ascended the throne. During his twenty years’ sojourn in Egypt, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz proved himself a capable governor, who really had the welfare of his province at heart. When in the year 69/689, ʿAbd al-Malik, after the assasination of his rebellious lieutenant ʿAmr b. Saʿīd, intended to have the latter’s relatives…

, Abu ’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ( Muḥammad ) b. al-Muḳtadir , the twentieth ʿAbbāsid caliph. He was born in Rabīʿ II 297/December 909; his mother was a slave named Ẓalūm. He was proposed for the caliphate immediately after the assassination of his father al-Muḳtadir [ q.v.], but the choice fell upon al-Ḳāhir [ q.v.]. The latter had him thrown into prison; after the fall of al-Ḳāhir, he was released and put upon the throne (D̲j̲umādā I 322/April 934). As his adviser in this difficult period, al-Rāḍī chose al-Muḳtadir’s vizier ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā [ q.v.] who asked, however, to be excused on account of hi…

bi-Amr ’llāh , Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan , ʿAbbāsid caliph (566-75/1170-80), born on 23 S̲h̲aʿbān 536/23 March 1142, son of al-Mustand̲j̲id [ q.v.] and an Armenian slave named G̲h̲aḍḍa. After his father’s death on 9 Rabīʿ II 566/20 December 1170, al-Mustaḍīʾ succeeded him, and at the beginning of the following year was formally recognised as caliph in Egypt also, which passed into the hands of the Ayyūbids at this time [see fāṭimids ]. The assassins of al-Mustand̲j̲id soon quarrelled among themselves. ʿAḍud al-Dīn [ q.v.], whom al-Mustaḍīʾ had been forced to make vizier, was dismi…

b. ʿAbd Allāh , member of the powerful and numerous clan of Mak̲h̲zūm [ q.v.] in pre-Islamic Mecca, opponent of the Prophet Muḥammad and uncle of another opponent, Abū D̲j̲ahl [ q.v.] ʿAmr b. His̲h̲ām b. al-Mug̲h̲īra, d. just after the Hid̲j̲ra. Little is known of his life, but he clearly represented the aristocratic interests of his clan and was himself prosperous, seen in the fact that he is said to have owned a garden in Ṭāʾif which he planted for pleasure only and never gathered the fruit in it (Sprenger, i, 359). According to the commentators, there are references to him in several passages of the Ḳurʾān, e.g. VI, 10, XLIII, 30, LXXIV, 11 ff. and LXXX, 1 ff., although his name is never expressly mentioned. One cannot, of course, place implicit confidence on such statements, which are sometimes based on later deductions. Muslim historians frequently mention al-Walīd among those members of Ḳurays̲h̲ who vigorously persecuted Muḥammad and endeavoured to silence him. Thus he is said to have been a member of a deputation which…

, Abū Bakr , a chief of police ( ṣāḥib al-s̲h̲urṭa ) in Bag̲h̲dād. In 318/930 Muḥammad, whose father was chief chamberlain or ḥād̲j̲ib to the caliph al-Muḳtadir, was appointed chief of police. The maintenance of order in the capital at this time was much neglected, and the Turkish guards conducted a regular reign of terror. In a fracas between infantry and cavalry, Muḥammad intervened on behalf of the latter; their opponents ¶ were cut down, some driven from the city and only a small contingent of negroes, who at once surrendered, remained unscathed (Muḥarram 318/Fe…

b. Abī Sufyān , Abū Ḥarb , Umayyad general. Muʿāwiya appointed him governor of Sid̲j̲istān, where he stayed seven years; in the course of his expeditions to the East, he conquered Ḳandahār. In 61/680-1 he was dismissed by Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya who appointed in his place his brother Salm b. Ziyād to be governor of Sid̲j̲istān and Ḵh̲urāsān. In 64/684, he joined in the battle of Mard̲j̲ Rāhiṭ [ q.v.], at the head of a contingent formed by his own gens . Afterwards he wished to retire to Dūmat al-Ḏj̲andal, but he was obliged to combat a lieutenant of al-Muk̲h̲tār b. Abī ʿUbayd [ q.v.]. The date of his de…

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 …