Abu'l-Husayn al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah () was a senior official of the
Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Mutta ...
who served as
vizier
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...
from April 901 until his own death in October 904.
Hailing from the Banu Wahb, a family of
Nestorian Christian
Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian ...
origin that had served in the caliphal bureaucracy since late
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
times, Ubayd Allah was the son and grandson of viziers. He had served as aide to his father,
Ubayd Allah ibn Sulayman, during the latter's decade-long vizierate, and then succeeded him upon his death, heading the government during the last months of the reign of
al-Mu'tadid
Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Ṭalḥa al-Muwaffaq ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد بن طلحة الموفق), 853/4 or 860/1 – 5 April 902, better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaḍid bi-llāh ( ar, المعتضد بالله, link=no, ...
() and the early years of
al-Muktafi
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن أحمد; 877/78 – 13 August 908), better known by his regnal name al-Muktafī bi-llāh ( ar, المكتفي بالله, , Content with God Alone), was the Caliph of the Ab ...
(). Al-Qasim largely dominated the young al-Muktafi, who awarded him with the
title
A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...
of ''Wali al-Dawla'' ( ar, ولي الدولة, , Protector of the Dynasty) and gave one of his daughters to one of al-Qasim's sons.
Unlike his father, who was widely esteemed for his honesty and justice, al-Qasim was corrupt and cruel, ordering the executions of anyone that displeased him or presented a potential challenge, such as the
Saffarid
The Saffarid dynasty ( fa, صفاریان, safaryan) was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian origin that ruled over parts of Persia, Greater Khorasan, and eastern Makran from 861 to 1003. One of the first indigenous Persian dynasties to emerg ...
emir
Amr ibn al-Layth
Amr ibn al-Layth or Amr-i Laith Saffari ( fa, عمرو لیث صفاری) was the second ruler of the Saffarid dynasty of Iran from 879 to 901. He was the son of a whitesmith and the younger brother of the dynasty's founder, Ya'qub ibn al-Layth a ...
, the general
Badr al-Mu'tadidi
Abu'l-Najm Badr al-Mu'tadidi was the chief military commander of the Abbasid Caliphate during the reign of Caliph al-Mu'tadid (892–902). Originally a military slave (''ghulam'' or ''mawla'') who served under the future al-Mu'tadid in the suppr ...
, or the poet
Ibn al-Rumi. The powerful finance secretary
Ali ibn al-Furat
Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Musa ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Furat () (855 – 18 July 924) was a senior official of the Abbasid Caliphate who served three times as vizier under Caliph al-Muqtadir. Ali emerged into prominence as an able fiscal admini ...
was saved from a similar fate only by al-Qasim's illness and death. This death meant the end of the Banu Wahb's hold on power, which now passed to the
Banu'l-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 ...
. Only a generation later would al-Qasim's sons
al-Husayn and
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...
also rise to become viziers.
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah
9th-century births
904 deaths
Viziers of the Abbasid Caliphate
Banu Wahb
9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate
10th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate
9th-century Arabs
10th-century Arabs