Ahmad ibn al-Khasib

أحمد بن الخصيب

Al-Mu'tasim's minister; per al-Suli the caliph told him 'the Umayyads ruled when none of us ruled — we rule and this Umayyad holds al-Andalus? Reckon what is needed to fight him' — begun before his illness worsened and he died ¹، وعند المسعودي هو ابن الضحاك الجرجاني ووزر للمنتصر وقال حين عفا عن الشاري إن لذة العفو أعذب من لذة التشفي وأقبح أفعال المقتدر الانتقام ².

Overview

Ahmad ibn al-Khasib, a vizier mentioned by al-Suyuti and al-Mas'udi. The two accounts differ about him.

In al-Suyuti

Al-Suyuti relates from al-Suli that he was a vizier of al-Mu'tasim. He reports that al-Mu'tasim said to him that the Umayyads had ruled, that none of the Abbasids had ruled in al-Andalus where the Umayyad rules, and he asked for an estimate of what would be needed to fight them. He began on it, then his illness grew severe and he died. ¹

In al-Mas'udi

Al-Mas'udi says he was the son of al-Dahhak al-Jurjani, and that he was vizier to al-Muntasir. He quotes him, when he pardoned al-Shari, as saying that the pleasure of pardon is sweeter than the pleasure of revenge, and that the ugliest acts of al-Muqtadir were revenge. ²

The difference between these reports needs an additional source.

Conquest of Amorium

Al-Mu'tasim set out campaigning into Byzantine lands in the year 223, though some say his departure was in 224 or 222, after he had killed Babak. According to al-Suyuti, he took it by the sword, killed thirty thousand of its people and took as many captive. The astrologers had judged the ascendant unlucky when he was preparing and that he would be broken; yet his victory exceeded anything feared, and Abu Tammam said that the sword is truer in its reports than books. According to al-Mas'udi, al-Mu'tasim was roused to war, donning a white woollen tunic and the raider's turban, when Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi recited to him, 'O raid of God, you have now beheld it, so break in.' He encamped on the west bank of the Tigris on Monday, two nights into Jumada I in the year 223. He placed Ashnas in the vanguard, Itakh on the right wing, Ja'far ibn Dinar al-Khayyat on the left, Bugha al-Kabir in the rear, and Ajif at the centre. He entered by the Pass of Safety, while al-Afshin entered by the Pass of Hadath; he met the king and defeated him. Lawi the patrician came out to him from Amorium and surrendered it; he took Batis captive, killed thirty thousand, and stayed four days demolishing and burning.

Ahmad ibn al-Khasib

At a glance

Overview

In al-Suyuti

In al-Mas'udi

Connections

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Sources

People

Conquest of Amorium