Jahza al-Barmaki
- Treatises on astrology,
- Lute-playing
- Cooking,
- Author of Caliph al-Mu'tamid's biography
Abu'l-Ḥasan Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar al-Barmakī al-Nadīm (839 – June/July 936), surnamed Jaḥẓa (Arabic: جحظة, lit. 'popping out, bulging') and al-Ṭunbūrī (lit. 'the lute player'), was a descendant of the Barmakid family, and a well-known scholar, singer, poet, and courtier of his time.
He was reportedly born in 839, the grandson of Musa ibn Yahya and great-grandson of the famous Yahya al-Barmaki, the vizier of Harun al-Rashid.[1] The historian Charles Pellat describes him as "a man of very varied culture, but little religion, of doubtful morals and repulsive appearance"; he was nicknamed Jaḥẓa by the Abbasid prince and poet Ibn al-Mu'tazz, on account of his bulging eyeballs. He nevertheless was a prominent member of the courtly society of his time, and appears in multiple anecdotes, associating with the grandees of the Abbasid Caliphate's court.[1] Little of his work survives, apart from a few poems; most of them are known through a list in the 10th-century compendium al-Fihrist, and include treatises on astrology, lute-playing, cooking, and a biography of Caliph al-Mu'tamid.[1] He died at Wasit in June/July 936.[1]
References
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- ^ a b c d Pellat 1965, p. 389.
Sources
- Pellat, Ch. (1965). "D̲j̲aḥẓa". In Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch. & Schacht, J. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume II: C–G. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 389. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1940. OCLC 495469475.