Muhammad ibn Khalid ibn Barmak

Muhammad ibn Khalid ibn Barmak was one of the Barmakids, a family of Iranian functionaries who rose to great power under the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809).

Muhammad ibn Khalid ibn Barmak
Chamberlain of the Abbasid caliph
In office 788–795
Monarch	Harun al-Rashid
Succeeded by	Al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi
Personal details
Cause of death	illness (natural)
Parent	Khalid ibn Barmak (father)

Life

He was the brother of Yahya ibn Khalid,^[1] whose appointment as vizier by Caliph Harun al-Rashid in 786 began the family's twenty-year domination of the Abbasid Caliphate's public affairs.^[2] Muhammad served as the Caliph's chamberlain (hajib) from 788 to 795.^[1] He was replaced by al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi,^[3] who in the anecdotes of the time appears both as the Barmakids' foil and main antagonist at court.^[4]

Muhammad also served Harun al-Rashid as governor in the Yemen and the Jazira.^[5]

He was the only Barmakid to be spared during the family's abrupt fall in 803,^[1][6][7] likely because he had reported on the attempted flight of the Alid Yahya ibn Abdallah, who had been released by Yahya's son Ja'far, contrary to the Caliph's orders to have him killed.^[8]

Family tree

v t e Family tree of the Barmakids
Barmak Khalid Sulayman al-Hasan Yahya Muhammad Ja'far al-Fadl Muhammad Musa al-Abbas Ja'far Imran Ahmad ("Jahza") Source: Barthold, W. & Sourdel, D. (1960). "al-Barāmika". In Gibb, H. A. R.; Kramers, J. H.; Lévi-Provençal, E.; Schacht, J.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume I: A–B. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 1033–1036. OCLC 495469456.