Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mahdī (; 779–839) was an

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 ...

prince, singer, composer and poet. He was the son of the third

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 ...

, and the half-brother of the poet and musician Ulayya. Ibrahim was contemporary of Abbasid caliph al-Hadi, al-Rashid and his three nephews caliph

al-Amin Abū Mūsā Muḥammad bin Hārūn al-Amīn (; April 787 – 24/25 September 813), better known by just his laqab of al-Amīn (), was the sixth Abbasid caliph from 809 to 813. Al-Amin succeeded his father, Harun al-Rashid, in 809 and ruled unt ...

al-Ma'mun Abū al-ʿAbbās Abd Allāh ibn Hārūn al-Maʾmūn (; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name al-Ma'mun (), was the seventh Abbasid caliph, who reigned from 813 until his death in 833. His leadership was marked by t ...

al-Mu'tasim Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd (; October 796 – 5 January 842), better known by his laqab, regnal name al-Muʿtaṣim biʾllāh (, ), was the eighth Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid caliph, ruling from 833 until his death in 842. ...

Biography

Ibrahim was born in 779. He was the son of Abbasid caliph

, and was born during the Caliphate of his father. His mother was Shaklah, whose father was Khwanadan, steward of Masmughan. She had a brother named Humayd. She was acquired by Al-Mahdi when she was a child. He presented her to his concubine Muhayyat, who, discovering a musical talent in the child, sent her to the famous school of Taif in the Hijaz for a thorough musical education. Years later Al-Mahdi, then caliph, took her as his concubine. One of his wives was Umm Muhammad. She was the daughter of Salih al-Miskin and Umm Abdullah bint Isa ibn Ali. After Inrahi divorced her, she married Harun al-Rashid. During the

Fourth Fitna The Fourth Fitna, Fourth Muslim Civil War, or Great Abbasid Civil War resulted from the conflict between the brothers al-Amin and al-Ma'mun over the succession to the throne of the Abbasid Caliphate. Their father, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, had name ...

, Ibrahim was proclaimed caliph on 20 July 817 by the people of

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 ...

, who gave him the regnal name of al-Mubarak () and declared his reigning nephew

deposed. Ibrahim received the allegiance of the

Hashemites The Hashemites (), also House of Hashim, are the royal family of Jordan, which they have ruled since 1921, and were the royal family of the kingdoms of Hejaz (1916–1925), Syria (1920), and Iraq (1921–1958). The family had ruled the city of Me ...

. He had to resign in 819, and spent the rest of his life as a poet and a musician. He is remembered as "one of the most gifted musicians of his day, with a phenomenal

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...

", and a promoter of the then innovative 'Persian style' of song, 'which was characterized ''inter alia'' by redundant improvisation'. Ibrahim died in 839 during the Caliphate of his younger nephew

Siblings

Ibrahim was related to several

caliphs. He was also contemporary to several Abbasid caliphs, princess and princesses. Ibrahim was at one point married to Abbasid princess Umm Muhammad.

References

Sources

* * Kilpatrick, H. (1998). Meisami, Julie Scott; Starkey, Paul (eds.). Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature. Vol. 1. Taylor & Francis. p. 387. ISBN 978-0-415-18571-4. * Al-Tabari; John Alden Williams (1988). Al-̣Tabarī: Volume 1, The Reign of Abū Ja'Far Al-Maṇsūr A. D. 754-775: The Early ‛Abbāsī Empire. Al-Tabari. the Early Abbasi Empire. Cambridge University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-521-32662-9. * * Fishbein, Michael (2015). The History of al-Tabari Vol. 31: The War between Brothers: The Caliphate of Muhammad al-Amin A.D. 809-813/A.H. 193-198. SUNY series in Near Eastern Studies. State University of New York Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-4384-0289-5. 779 births 839 deaths Poets from the Abbasid Caliphate Medieval Arabic-language singers Composers of the medieval Islamic world People of the Fourth Fitna Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate Male classical composers One Thousand and One Nights characters 8th-century Arabic-language poets 9th-century Arabic-language poets Sons of Abbasid caliphs Singers of the medieval Islamic world {{MEast-poet-stub