Al-Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Jarjara'i

Al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Ḥasan al-Jarjarāʾī (Arabic: العباس بن الحسن بن أيوب الجرجرائي‎) was a senior Abbasid official and vizier from October 904 until his murder on 17 December 908.

As his nisba shows, he came from the locality of Jarjaraya, south of Baghdad.[1] He began his career as private secretary to al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah. When al-Qasim died in October 904, he recommended either Abbas or the Jarrahid Ali Ibn Isa as his successor; when the latter declined, Caliph al-Muktafi (reigned 902–908) duly appointed Abbas to the post.[1][2] His tenure of office was marked by a close alliance with the Banu'l-Furat, whose leader Abu'l-Hasan Ali became his chief aide and designated successor.[1]

When al-Muktafi died in 908, it fell on Abbas and the senior bureaucrats to decide on his successor. In the end, Abbas heeded the advice of Abu'l-Hasan Ali, who counselled the selection of a weak ruler who would be easy to manipulate: al-Muktafi's 13-year-old brother Ja'far, who became Caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932).[1][3] In December 908, a palace revolt broke out led by the Jarrahids and the Hamdanid al-Husayn ibn Hamdan, aiming to install his more mature and experienced uncle, Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz, in his stead. The revolt ultimately failed, but not before the rebels managed to kill Abbas.[1][4]

References

1. Sourdel 1965, pp. 461–462.
2. Kennedy 2004, p. 185.
3. Kennedy 2004, pp. 185, 186.
4. Kennedy 2004, pp. 186, 191, 267.

Sources

• Kennedy, Hugh (2004). The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century (Second ed.). Harlow: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-40525-7.
• Rosenthal, Franz, ed. (1985). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXXVIII: The Return of the Caliphate to Baghdad: The Caliphates of al-Muʿtaḍid, al-Muktafī and al-Muqtadir, A.D. 892–915/A.H. 279–302. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-87395-876-9.
• Sourdel, Dominique (1965). "al-D̲j̲ard̲j̲arāʾī". In Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch. & Schacht, J. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume II: C–G. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 461–462. OCLC 495469475.