- Khalid ibn Barmak
Khalid ibn Barmak (
705 -782 ) was a member of the powerful PersianBarmakids family. He played an important role in the formation of theAbbasid dynasty. He is the first Barmakid about whom much is known.Khalid supported the revolt of
As-Saffah , who was to become the first Abbassid caliph. In 747, he was put in charge of the distributions of war spoils from the revolt, then of the district ofDayr Qunna , and then in 749 was minister along withAbu Al-Jahm , and was chief of the land Tax bureau. He was also entrusted with the upbringing of the caliph's daughter.Under the Caliphate of
al-Mansur , he was appointed governor ofFars and, after helping obtain Prince'Isa ibn Musa 's renunciation of succession to the caliphate in 765, was governor ofTabaristan . He built the town of Mansura; and was later involved in the founding of Baghdad, and protested the use of material fromCtesiphon to build the new cityIn 765 (775?), he lost favour with the Caliph due to political intrigues, and was given a heavy fine, for which future Caliph
Al-Khayzuran , the wife of princeAl-Mahdi helped him raise money. But following Kurdish uprisings inMosul , Khalid was appointed governor of the city, which he was until Al-Mansur's death. Around the same time, his sonYahya ibn Khalid was appointed governor ofAzerbaijan .Afterwards, his family gained more privilege under the caliphate of
al-Mahdi , with Yahya's help.In 773, he was sent as guardian on an expedition led by
Harun al-Rashid (then 20), that went as far as theBosphorus .References
External links
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-601 Entry] in Encyclopedia Britannica.
* [http://answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Caliphate/chap62.htm Chapter 62] of "" byWilliam Muir , mentioning Khalid.
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