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).
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
AlidYahya ibn Abdallah, who had been released by Yahya's son
Ja'far, contrary to the Caliph's orders to have him killed.[8]