Al-Husayn ibn al-Qasim

Al-Husayn ibn al-Qasim (Arabic: الحسين بن القاسم) was a senior official of the Abbasid Caliphate who served as vizier from September 931 until May 932.

Al-Husayn ibn al-Qasim الحسين بن القاسم
Gold dinar of al-Muqtadir with the names of his heir, Abu 'l-Abbas, and vizier, Amid al-Dawla
Born	Abbasid Caliphate
Died	Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Other names	Ibn al-Qasim Amid al-Dawla (title)
Occupation(s)	Abbasid vizier and official
Years active	September 931 – May 932 (under al-Muqtadir)
Father	Al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah
Relatives	Muhammad ibn al-Qasim (brother)

Life

Hailing from the Banu Wahb, a family of Nestorian Christian origin that had served in the caliphal bureaucracy since late Umayyad times, al-Husayn was the son, grandson and great-grandson of viziers.^[1] The family however had lost power after the death of al-Husayn's father al-Qasim in 904.^[2]

He was appointed to the vizierate and the title of Amid al-Dawla ("Mainstay/Pillar of the State") by Caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932) in September 931, with the support of the Banu'l-Furat faction against the rival faction around Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah and the commander-in-chief Mu'nis al-Muzaffar.^[2][3] He quickly managed to win over Mu'nis' proteges, the chamberlain Muhammad ibn Ra'iq and his brother Ibrahim, and began plotting against Mu'nis.^[4] The latter tried to secure his dismissal from the caliph, and almost succeeded; it was only his demand that al-Husayn be exiled to Oman that made al-Muqtadir oppose it. At the same time, al-Husayn felt so threatened by the powerful general that he slept in a different house each night to prevent his arrest.^[5]

According to the scholar C.E. Bosworth, al-Husayn was "perhaps the last vizier to attempt to retain for the vizierate a measure of its former independence". He tried to restore the state finances, but fell from power due to the incessant court rivalries in May 932.^[2]