Abu’l-Qāsim Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbbād ibn al-ʿAbbās (; born 938 - died 30 March 995), better known as Ṣāḥib ibn ʿAbbād (), also known as al-Ṣāḥib (), was a Persian scholar and statesman, who served as the

grand vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

of the Buyid rulers of Ray from 976 to 995. A native of the suburbs of

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

, he was greatly interested in

Arab culture Arab culture is the culture of the Arabs, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, in a region of the Middle East and North Africa known as the Arab world. The various religions the Arabs have adopted throughout Histor ...

, and wrote on dogmatic theology, history, grammar, lexicography, scholarly criticism and wrote poetry and ''

belles-lettres () is a category of writing, originally meaning beautiful or fine writing. In the modern narrow sense, it is a label for literary works that do not fall into the major categories such as fiction, poetry, or drama. The phrase is sometimes used pej ...

''.

Life

Caspian coast of Iran during the Iranian intermezzo

Sahib was born on 14 September 938 in Talaqancha, a village roughly 20 miles south of the major Buyid city of

. His father was Abu'l-Hasan Abbad ibn Abbas (d. 946), a renowned and well-educated administrator, who composed works on the

Mu'tazili Mu'tazilism (, singular ) is an Islamic theological school that appeared in early Islamic history and flourished in Basra and Baghdad. Its adherents, the Mu'tazilites, were known for their neutrality in the dispute between Ali and his opponents ...

doctrine. Sahib spent his childhood at Talakan, a town in Daylam near

Qazvin Qazvin (; ; ) is a city in the Central District (Qazvin County), Central District of Qazvin County, Qazvin province, Qazvin province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the largest city in the provi ...

. He later settled in Isfahan, and served for some time as an official of the Buyid ruler of

Jibal Jibāl (), also al-Jabal (), was the name given by the Arabs to a region and province located in western Iran, under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates. Its name means "the Mountains", being the plural of ''jabal'' ("mountain, hill"), highlight ...

, Rukn al-Dawla (r. 935–976). After the death of his father, Sahib became the pupil of the scholar and philosopher, Ibn 'al-Amid, who had recently replaced Sahib's deceased father as 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 Rukn al-Dawla. The story is told that to keep company with his collection of 117,000 books while travelling, Sahib had them "borne by a caravan of four hundred camels trained to walk in alphabetical order". His large section on theology (''kalam'') was burned by the staunch Sunni

Mahmud of Ghazni Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sabuktigin (; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi (), was Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, ruling from 998 to 1030. During his reign and in medieval sources, he is usuall ...

who opposed the Mu'tazili.

References

Sources

* * * * * * Pomerantz, M.A. (2021). ''Adab'' and governance in two letters of al-Ṣāḥib b. ʿAbbād. History Compass, e12684. https://doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12684 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sahib ibn Abbad 995 deaths 938 births 10th-century Iranian writers Buyid viziers Mu'tazilites Writers from Isfahan 10th-century Muslim scholars of Islam