Sahib ibn Abbad

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Abu’l-Qāsim Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbbād ibn al-ʿAbbās (Persian: ابوالقاسم اسماعیل بن عباد بن عباس; born 938 - died 30 March 995), better known as Ṣāḥib ibn ʿAbbād (صاحب بن عباد), also known as al-Ṣāḥib (الصاحب), was a Persian scholar and statesman, who served as the grand vizier of the Buyid rulers of Ray from 976 to 995.[1][2]

Sahib ibn Abbad
Grand Vizier of the Buyid emirate of Ray
In office
976–995
MonarchsMu'ayyad al-Dawla
Fakhr al-Dawla
Preceded byAbu'l-Fath Ali ibn Muhammad
Succeeded byUnknown
Personal
Born14 September 938
Talaqancha, near Isfahan
Died30 March 995
ReligionIslam
Parent
  • Abu'l-Hasan Abbad ibn Abbas (father)
CreedMu'tazila

A native of the suburbs of Isfahan, he was greatly interested in Arab culture, and wrote on dogmatic theology, history, grammar, lexicography, scholarly criticism and wrote poetry and belles-lettres.[3]

Life

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Map of northern Iran

Sahib was born on 14 September 938 in Talaqancha, a village roughly 20 miles south of the major Buyid city of Isfahan. His father was Abu'l-Hasan Abbad ibn Abbas (d. 946), a renowned and well-educated administrator, who composed works on the Mu'tazili doctrine. Sahib spent his childhood at Talakan, a town in Daylam near Qazvin.[4] He later settled in Isfahan, and served for some time as an official of the Buyid ruler of Jibal, 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 of Rukn al-Dawla.[5]

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".[6]

References

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  1. ^ Donohue 2003, p. 140.
  2. ^ Cook, Michael (2001). Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought. Cambridge University Press. p. 201. ISBN 9781139431606.
  3. ^ Donzel, E. J. van (1 January 1994). Islamic Desk Reference. BRILL. p. 142. ISBN 978-90-04-09738-4. Ibn Abbad*, Abu l-Qasim* (al-Sahib): vizier and man of letters of the Buyid period; 938995. Of Persian origin, he was an arabophile and wrote on dogmatic theology, history, grammar, lexicography, literary criticism and composed poetry and belles-lettres.
  4. ^ Pellat & Cahen 2012.
  5. ^ Pomerantz.
  6. ^ Burke, Edmund (2009). "Islam at the Center: Technological Complexes and the Roots of Modernity". Journal of World History. 20 (2): 181. JSTOR 40542756.

Sources

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Preceded by Grand Vizier of the Buyid amirate of Ray
976 – 995
Succeeded by
Unknown