البرامكة

The Barmakids were an old Persian family who traced their line to their ancestor Barmak, a title given to the keeper of the Nawbahar temple in the city of Balkh. ²

Among them came out Khalid ibn Barmak. Al-Saffah entrusted him with the land-tax office and the army office, and he took the office of executive vizier after the death of Abu Salama al-Khallal. He served as adviser to al-Mansur, and kept his standing under al-Mahdi. ²

His son Yahya came next. Harun al-Rashid appointed him vizier of delegation and gave him absolute powers, so that all the registers were in his hand. Yahya, with his two sons al-Fadl and Ja'far, ran the caliphate for seventeen years (170-187 AH), which was their golden age. ²

Al-Rashid had Ja'far killed on the first night of Safar in the year 187 AH, imprisoned Yahya and the rest of his sons, and confiscated their property. Yahya died in the year 190 AH and al-Fadl in 193 AH. This account is linked to the killing of Ja'far and the fall of the Barmakids. ²

Muhammad Suhayl Taqqush holds that the idea of avenging the killing of Abu Muslim took a new course: taking control of the caliphate from within, after attempts to harm it from outside had failed. He mentions that the Barmakids showed political leanings towards the Talibids, and their history was tied to their sympathy with Yahya ibn Abd Allah al-Alawi and Ahmad ibn Isa ibn Zayd. ^{2 3}

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