Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdūs al-Jahshiyārī (died 942) was a prominent

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

bureaucrat and scholar. He authored ''Kitab al-wuzara wa'l-kuttab'' (Book of Viziers and Scribes).

Life

Al-Jahshiyari was born in

Kufa Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...

, a center of scholarship in the Islamic world. He was called "al-Jahshiyari" after one of his father's employers, Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn Jahshiyari, the ''

hajib Hajib or hadjib (, ) was a court official, equivalent to a chamberlain, in the early Muslim world, which evolved to fulfil various functions, often serving as chief ministers or enjoying dictatorial powers. The post appeared under the Umayyad Ca ...

'' (grand chamberlain) of the

prince and commander-in-chief

al-Muwaffaq Abu Ahmad Ṭalḥa ibn Al-Mutawakkil, Jaʿfar ibn al-Mu'tasim, Muḥammad ibn Harun al-Rashid, Hārūn al-Muwaffaq bi'Llah (; 29 November 843 – 2 June 891), better known by his as Al-Muwaffaq Billah (), was an Abbasid dynasty, Abbasid prince ...

(). A ''

katib A katib (, ''kātib'') is a writer, scribe, or secretary in the Arabic-speaking world, Persian World, and other Islamic areas as far as the Indian subcontinent. In North Africa, the local pronunciation of the term also causes it to be written ke ...

'' (scribe of secretary), al-Jahshiyari became a top bureaucrat of the Abbasid Caliphate in the 10th century. He succeeded his father Abdus as the ''hajib'' of Ali ibn Isa ibn al-Jarrah, the

vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

of Caliph

al-Muqtadir Abū’l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Al-Mu'tadid, Aḥmad ibn Al-Muwaffaq, Ṭalḥa ibn Al-Mutawakkil, Jaʿfar ibn al-Mu'tasim, Muḥammad ibn Harun al-Rashid, Hārūn Al-Muqtadir bi'Llāh () (895 – 31 October 932 AD), better known by his regnal name a ...

() in 913–917. In 918 al-Jahshiyari led Ali ibn Isa's '' haras'' (personal guard) and afterward served as the ''hajib'' for

Hamid ibn al-Abbas Hamid ibn al-Abbas was an Abbasid magnate who served as vizier of Caliph al-Muqtadir in 918–923. For most of that period, real power lay in the hands of his deputy, Ali ibn Isa ibn al-Jarrah, while Hamid tended to his tax farming estates at Wasi ...

, who served as vizier in 918–923, though Ali ibn Isa continued to wield real power. Al-Jahshiyari's support for

Ibn Muqla Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muqla (; 885/6 – 20 July 940/1), commonly known as Ibn Muqla, was an official of the Abbasid Caliphate who rose to high state posts in the early 10th century. His career culminated in his own assumption of the v ...

, a rival of Hamid's for the viziership, causing tensions with Hamid which may have been the reason he discontinued serving under him. Ibn Muqla became vizier in 928–930, 932, and 934–936, and al-Jahshiyari protected him when fell into disgrace. In 930 Ibn Muqla awarded al-Jahshiyari with the honor of transporting the ''

kiswa The ''kiswah'' or ''kiswa'' (, ''kiswaht al-ka'bah'') is the cloth that covers the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is draped annually, though the date of draping has changed over the years. A procession traditionally accompanies the ''kiswah'' ...

'', the black cloth used to cover the

Kaaba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

, during the

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

(pilgrimage to Mecca) from Iraq that year. Five or six years later Ibn Muqla gifted him 200,000

dinar The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

s, according to the 13th-century historian Ibn al-Athir. His frequent involvement in court intrigues led to him being jailed and fined a number of times by unfriendly viziers and the '' amirs al-umara'' (commander of commanders) Ibn Ra'iq () and

Bajkam Abū al-Husayn Bajkam al-Mākānī (), referred to as Bajkam, Badjkam or Bachkam (from ''Bäčkäm'', a Persian and Turkish word meaning a horse- or yak-tailCanard (1960), pp. 866–867), was a Turkish military commander and official of the Abb ...

(). Al-Jahshiyari died in political obscurity in the Abbasid capital,

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

Works

Al-Jahshiyari authored ''Kitab al-wuzara wa'l-kuttab'' (Book of Viziers and Scribes), a history of bureaucrats and administration. The book originally covered the period until 908 CE, but in its surviving form it ends with the reign of Caliph

al-Mahdi Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr (; 744 or 745 – 785), better known by his regnal name al-Mahdī (, "He who is guided by God"), was the third Abbasid Caliph who reigned from 775 to his death in 785. He succeeded his ...

(). He also authored a no longer extant chronicle of the Caliph

(). The book honors the bureaucrats of the Caliphate, offering special praise for the

Barmakids The Barmakids ( ''Barmakiyân''; ''al-Barāmikah''Harold Bailey, 1943. "Iranica" BSOAS 11: p. 2. India - Department of Archaeology, and V. S. Mirashi (ed.), ''Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era'' vol. 4 of ''Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum' ...

, a prominent family of viziers of the Abbasid caliphs, and is highly critical of their rivals, the

Banu al-Furat The Banu'l-Furat () were a Shia family of civil functionaries of the Abbasid Caliphate in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, several of whom held the office of vizier. In the sources, the members of the family are often simply designated as Ibn ...

. According to the historian

Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh Nigel Kennedy (born 22 October 1947) is a British medievalist and academic. He specialises in the history of the early Islamic Middle East, Muslim Iberia and the Crusades. From 1997 to 2007, he was Professor of Middle Eastern History at th ...

, al-Jahshiyari's view of the first century of Abbasid rule (750–850) is one of court intrigues, with "friendship, hatred and jealousy ... the main motive forces of his characters".

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jahshiyari 942 deaths 10th-century historians from the Abbasid Caliphate 10th-century Arabic-language writers Courtiers from the Abbasid Caliphate Officials of the Abbasid Caliphate People from Kufa Prisoners and detainees of the Abbasid Caliphate