This book is the first ever translation into English of a medieval Persian story cycle about the Barmakids. It adds new perspectives to Abbasid history and Delhi sultanate history, as well as global history and world literature.
This volume offers the first annotated English translation of ?iya al-Din Barani’s The Accounts of the Barmakids, based on a little-known manuscript housed in the Bodleian Library, MS Ouseley 217. The Barmakids, originally from the Balkh region in modern-day Afghanistan, were a prominent family of converts to Islam who rose to great power in the 8th century, under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. Their influence reached its height under the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, who eventually brought about their downfall. The Barmakids have intrigued both medieval and modern scholars, with their legacy preserved in regional lore and Western popular culture, the latter particularly through the One Thousand and One Nights. While early Arabic sources provide factual accounts of the family, Barani's Persian story cycle, written in the 14th-century, paints a more vivid picture. Contained within this work are 70 tales, including stories of generosity, wise leadership, romance and skulduggery.
Arvustused
Part of Indo-Persian culture, but with deep Arabic roots, this saga of a family whose good name would endure until the Day of Judgement belongs to world literature. Its seventy tales are a message to rulers to always act rationally. The beautifully direct translation has a lucid historical introduction, full scholarly apparatus and delightful illustrations. -- Julia Bray, University of Oxford Copiously annotated with an excellent introductory essay, this is a fine English translation of a 14th-century text about the prominent Barmakid veziers who ruled the vast Abbasid empire. Students of comparative literature, anthropology, folkloristics, and history of Indo-Persian culture will find much of value in this exemplary volume. -- Mahmoud Omidsalar, Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, University of California - Irvine This translation offers lively and often intriguing human stories about the rise and fall of the Barmakids. Firoozbakhsh and Azad expertly introduce Baran and his milieu, and illuminate a blend of Abbasid history, Indo-Persian political culture, and mirror-for-princes narrative artindispensable for students of caliphs, viziers, and the Persianate world. -- John A. Nawas, KU Leuven & Institute for Advanced Arabic and Islamic Studies (IAAS)
Note on the Invisible East collection
Abbreviations
Editors and translators introduction
Notes on the translation and annotations
Translated text of Akhbr-i Barmakiyn (The Accounts of the Barmakids)
Introduction
Story 1: Barmaks meeting with Abd al-Malik b. Marwn; his son Khlid and
the construction of a new palace in Baghdad
Story 2: Khlids mentorship of al-Mahd and the battle with the Daylamites
Story 3: Yays illness and the Christian doctor from Fars
Story 4: Yay and the petitioners
Story 5: Fals generous acts towards li al-Anr
Story 6: The love affair of Jafar and Abbsa
Story 7: Fal b. Yay and the Sind visitor
Story 8: Fals squabble with his secretary, and his fathers reaction
Story 9: The faultless house of Fal
Story 10: Yay and Fal in prison without firewood
Story 11: Hrns dilemma: to destroy the Barmakids or not
Story 12: Hrns remorse and al-Fal b. al-Rabs poor advice
Story 13: Jafar, the poet ar al-Ghawn and the courtesan Rayna
Story 14: Yay saves Manr b. Ziyds life
Story 15: Jafars vitiligo and Yays confirmation of his filial piety
Story 16: Jafars party and Abd al-Malik al-Hshims requests
Story 17: Yay and the petitioner Amad b. Ab Khlid al-Awal
Story 18: Fal saves the secretary Musayyib b. Qsims life
Story 19: Mudh b. arbs forgery brings friendship to Yay and his rival
Story 20: Yay saves Amad from his beautiful but conniving wife
Story 21: Fal interrupts his drinking and saves the noble man Khall
al-Kind
Story 22: Jafar convinces the caliph to restore Sad b. Salm
Story 23: Yay builds a grand house for Isq b. Ibrhm al-Mawil
Story 24: Jafars skill at judging peoples petitions on behalf of the
caliph
Story 25: Jafar resolves an intractable legal case from Basra
Story 26: Al b. s b. Mhns ruinous rule and Hrns remorse
Story 27: Fal restores Yay b. Mudhs wealth and prestige
Story 28: Fal fears the fires of hell while taking a hot bath
Story 29: Fal changes the life of a youth on his wedding day
Story 30: al-Jis endorsement of Jafars erudition
Story 31: Hrns acrimony and his obstinate suppression of the Barmakids
legacy
Story 32: Al b. Hishms stinginess towards his teacher Isq al-Mawil
Story 33: An Abbasid family member asks Fal for a loan
Story 34: A youth doubts the truth of the accounts about the Barmakids
generosity
Story 35: Fal corrects his error by reinstating the commander of Khurasan
Story 36: The loyalty of Jafars Byzantine slave in defiance of Hrns ban
Story 37: The astrologers prediction of Yays disgrace
Story 38: Yay and the blind fortune teller Ab Yaqb
Story 39: The impertinent poet who became Fals most trusted companion
Story 40: Hrn breaks his oath to protect Jafar
Story 41: Yays plea for advice on how to save his family
Story 42: The Barmakids kindness to others while mourning their own demise
Story 43: Yays last-ditch attempt to save the Barmakids
Story 44: Hrns greed and desire for the Barmakids estate
Story 45: Jafar explains his expenditures on charity and beauty
Story 46: Jafars astrological predictions of his misfortune
Story 47: Jafar and the eloquent beggar
Story 48: Yay counsels Jafar on respecting ones neighbours
Story 49: Fals helps the poor doctor who treated him in prison
Story 50: Ab al-asan recites accounts about the Barmakids to Fal in
prison
Story 51: The man who called the Barmakids heretics and whom Fal forgave
Story 52: The Barmakid generosity extends to their knowledge and wisdom
Story 53: Hrn releases Yay and his family on the way to al-Raqqa
Story 54: An Arab commander mourns Jafars death and Hrn writes to the
Barmakid women
Story 55: Jafars brothers mourn his death, Hrn asks the guards to be good
to the Barmakids and an uncle disregards their plight
Story 56: Hrn aids some members of the Barmakid family and punishes others
Story 57: Hrns suspicions and the integrity of Yay and Fal in prison
Story 58: A few short anecdotes about Yays generosity
Story 59: Yay and the ascetic, and his abandonment of astrology
Story 60: Yay vows to abondon his faith in omens
Story 61: Yays rancid sweets and the petitioners who had to wait
Story 62: The superiority of Jafar in debating al-Fal b. al-Rab
Story 63: Jafar judges petitioners requests at the request of the caliph
Story 64: The caliph and Jafar trade places to teach rith a lesson
Story 65: Jafar hears a song about death when his executioner arrives
Story 66: Hrns and Fals identical horoscopes, Hrns wish to reinstate
Fal as vizier and Hrns death
Story 67: The loyalty of Jafar towards Hrn and of s b. Shh Frz
towards Jafar
Story 68: The restoration of the Barmakids by the caliphs Amn and al-Mamn
Story 69: Yay helps Fal donate money to all the poor people of Baghdad
Story 70: Al-Mamn revives the Barmakids glory in a new generation
Appendices
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo credits
Index
Pejman Firoozbakhsh is a Research Associate at the University of Hamburg and a former member of the Invisible East programme at the University of Oxford. He is a linguist interested in the formation and development of early New Persian, West Iranian dialects, Persian codicology and textual criticism. Pejman Firoozbakhshs recent publications include Manuscript of a Persian Qada from about the Year 400/1007, in Bi yd-i raj Afshr, edited by Jawd Bashar (vol. 2. Tehran: Duktur Mamd Afshr, 1402/2024, 66172) (In Persian) and The Story of Rustam and Suhrb, by Abu al-Qsim Firdaws, edited by Jalal Khaleqi Motlaq (Tehran: Sokhan 2014; rev. 2020). He has also contributed to a book by Arezou Azad The Warehouse of Bamiyan: Economic Life in Medieval Afghanistan (Edinburgh University Press, 2025). Arezou Azad is Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Invisible East programme at the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford. She is also Professor and Chair of the Arts and Heritage of Afghanistan at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (Inalco) in Paris. She has authored four other peer-reviewed books: The Rise and Fall of the Barmakids (Edinburgh University Press, 2026), The Warehouse of Bamiyan: Economic Life in Medieval Afghanistan (Edinburgh University Press, 2025), Fail-i Balkh or The Merits of Balkh, an annotated translation of a 13th-century history of Balkh (Edinburgh University Press, 2021) and Sacred Landscape in Medieval Afghanistan (Oxford University Press, 2013).
