Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi

{{Short description|Abbasid prince, singer, composer and poet (779–839)}}

{{Infobox royalty

| name = Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi
إبراهيم بن المهدي

| image =

| caption =

| spouse = Umm Muhammad (divorced)
Shāriyah{{cite book | last=Kraemer | first=J.L. | last2=al-Ṭabarī | first2=A.J.M.J. | title=The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 34: Incipient Decline: The Caliphates of al-Wāthiq, al-Mutawakkil, and al-Muntaṣir A.D. 841-863/A.H. 227-248 | publisher=State University of New York Press | series=Bibliotheca Persica | year=1989 | isbn=978-0-88706-875-1 | page=54 n. 202}}
Bid'ah{{cite book | last=Zaouali | first=L. | last2=DeBevoise | first2=M.B. | title=Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174 Recipes | publisher=University of California Press | series=California Studies in Food and Culture | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-520-26174-7 | page=38}}
Rayyiq{{cite book | last=Al-Heitty | first=A.K. | title=دور المرأة الشاعرة في القصر العباسي، 132-247، 750-861: | publisher=Al Rayan | year=2005 | page=153}}
Khishf{{cite book | last=Caswell | first=F.M. | title=The Slave Girls of Baghdad: The Qiyan in the Early Abbasid Era | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-78672-959-0 | pages=276, 277}}
Shaja

| issue = Hibat Allah{{cite book | author = Ibn al-Sāʿī | title = Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad | translator = ((Shawkat M. Toorawa and the Editors of the Library of Arabic Literature)) | others = Introduction by Julia Bray, Foreword by Marina Warner | publisher = New York University Press | location = New York | year = 2017 | isbn = 978-1-4798-0477-1 | pp = 17}}

| issue-type = Children

| dynasty = Abbasid

| father = Al-Mahdi

| mother = Shakla

| birth_date = 779

| birth_place = Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate

| death_date = 839

| death_place = Baghdad/Samarra, Abbasid Caliphate

| full name = Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Mahd ibn Abdallah al-Mansur

| burial_place =

| occupation = Singer,
Composer,
Arabic poet

| religion = Islam

}}

Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mahdī ({{Langx|ar|إبراهيم بن المهدي}}; 779–839) was an Abbasid prince, singer, composer and poet. He was the son of the third Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi, and the half-brother of the poet and musician Ulayya.{{cite book |last=Kilpatrick |first=H. |editor1-last=Meisami |editor1-first=Julie Scott |editor2-last=Starkey |editor2-first=Paul |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sx1bqgibKhQC&pg=PA387 |volume=1 |year=1998 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-18571-4 |page=387}} Ibrahim was contemporary of Abbasid caliph al-Hadi, al-Rashid and his three nephews caliph al-Amin, al-Ma'mun, al-Mu'tasim.

Biography

Ibrahim was born in 779. He was the son of Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi,{{cite book | last=Kilpatrick | first=H. | title=Making the Great Book of Songs: Compilation and the Author's Craft in Abû I-Faraj al-Isbahânî's Kitâb al-aghânî | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-135-78793-6 | page=332}} and was born during the Caliphate of his father. His mother was Shaklah, a Negress,{{sfn|Abbott|1946|p=33}} whose father was Khwanadan, steward of Masmughan.{{cite book | author1 =Al-Tabari| author2 = John Alden Williams | title=Al-̣Tabarī: Volume 1, The Reign of Abū Ja'Far Al-Maṇsūr A. D. 754-775: The Early 'Abbāsī Empire | publisher=Cambridge University Press | series=Al-Tabari. the Early Abbasi Empire | year=1988 | isbn=978-0-521-32662-9 | page=46}} She had a brother named Humayd.{{cite book | last=Fishbein | first=Michael | title=The History of al-Tabari Vol. 31: The War between Brothers: The Caliphate of Muhammad al-Amin A.D. 809-813/A.H. 193-198 | publisher=State University of New York Press | series=SUNY series in Near Eastern Studies | year=2015 | isbn=978-1-4384-0289-5 | page=187}} She was acquired by Al-Mahdi when she was a child. He presented her to his concubine Muhayyat, who, discovering a musical talent in the child, sent her to the famous school of Taif in the Hijaz for a thorough musical education. Years later Al-Mahdi, then caliph, took her as his concubine.{{sfn|Abbott|1946|pages=33–34}}

One of his wives was Umm Muhammad. She was the daughter of Salih al-Miskin and Umm Abdullah bint Isa ibn Ali. After Inrahi divorced her, she married Harun al-Rashid.{{sfn|al-Tabari|Bosworth|1989|p=326}}

During the Fourth Fitna, Ibrahim was proclaimed caliph on 20 July 817 by the people of Baghdad, who gave him the regnal name of al-Mubarak ({{Langx|ar|المبارك}}) and declared his reigning nephew al-Ma'mun deposed. Ibrahim received the allegiance of the Hashemites.{{The History of al-Tabari | volume =32 |page=66 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4J3PJZDYBMoC&pg=PA66}} He had to resign in 819, and spent the rest of his life as a poet and a musician. He is remembered as "one of the most gifted musicians of his day, with a phenomenal vocal range", and a promoter of the then innovative 'Persian style' of song, 'which was characterized inter alia by redundant improvisation'.{{cite journal |first=Agnes |last=Imhof |title=Traditio vel Aemulatio? The Singing Contest of Sāmarrā', Expression of a Medieval Culture of Competition |journal=Der Islam |volume=90 |year=2013 |pages=1–20 [p. 1] |doi=10.1515/islam-2013-0001 |url=http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gs-1/10792 }}

Ibrahim died in 839 during the Caliphate of his younger nephew al-Mu'tasim.

Siblings

Ibrahim was related to several Abbasid caliphs. He was also contemporary to several Abbasid caliphs, princess and princesses. Ibrahim was at one point married to Abbasid princess Umm Muhammad.

class="wikitable" border="2"

!No.

!Abbasids

!Relation

| Musa al-Hadi

| Half-brother

| Harun al-Rashid

| Half-brother

| Abbasa bint al-Mahdi

| Half-sister

| Ubaydallah ibn al-Mahdi

| Half-brother

| Ulayya bint al-Mahdi

| Half-sister

| Banuqa bint al-Mahdi

| Half-sister

| Mansur ibn al-Mahdi

| Half-brother

| Aliyah bint al-Mahdi

| Half-sister

| Ali ibn al-Mahdi

| Half-brother

| Abdallah ibn al-Mahdi

| Half-brother

| Isa ibn al-Mahdi{{sfn|Abbott|1946|p=31}}

| Half-brother

References

Sources

{{cite book | last=Abbott | first=Nabia | title=Two Queens of Baghdad: Mother and Wife of Hārūn Al Rashīd | publisher=University of Chicago Press | year=1946 | isbn=978-0-86356-031-6 }}
Kilpatrick, H. (1998). Meisami, Julie Scott; Starkey, Paul (eds.). Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature. Vol. 1. Taylor & Francis. p. 387. ISBN 978-0-415-18571-4.
Al-Tabari; John Alden Williams (1988). Al-̣Tabarī: Volume 1, The Reign of Abū Ja'Far Al-Maṇsūr A. D. 754-775: The Early ‛Abbāsī Empire. Al-Tabari. the Early Abbasi Empire. Cambridge University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-521-32662-9.
{{cite book |last1=al-Tabari |first1=Muhammad Ibn Yarir |last2=Bosworth |first2=Clifford Edmund |title=The History of al-Tabari Vol. 30: The 'Abbasid Caliphate in Equilibrium: The Caliphates of Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid A.D. 785-809/A.H. 169-193 |publisher=State University of New York Press |series=Bibliotheca Persica |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-88706-564-4}}
Fishbein, Michael (2015). The History of al-Tabari Vol. 31: The War between Brothers: The Caliphate of Muhammad al-Amin A.D. 809-813/A.H. 193-198. SUNY series in Near Eastern Studies. State University of New York Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-4384-0289-5.

Category:779 births

Category:839 deaths

Category:Poets from the Abbasid Caliphate

Category:Medieval Arabic-language singers

Category:Composers of the medieval Islamic world

Category:People of the Fourth Fitna

Category:Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate

Category:Male classical composers

Category:One Thousand and One Nights characters

Category:8th-century Arabic-language poets

Category:9th-century Arabic-language poets

Category:Sons of Abbasid caliphs

Category:Singers of the medieval Islamic world