Ibn al-Muqaffa'

Abd Allah ibn al-Muqaffa', the well-known secretary of the chanceries (dawawin). Al-Baladhuri relates from him the Persian system of the reins and the seal, and the conduct of the chanceries. ¹

Ibn al-Nadim says that his name in Persian was Ruzbih, and that before he became a Muslim he was known as Abu Amr; after his conversion he was known as Abu Muhammad. His origin was in Juz, a town in the districts of Fars. Ibn al-Nadim says that the title al-Muqaffa' came from the fact that al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf struck his father al-Mubarak in Basra over money he had kept back from the sultan's funds, so that his hand became contracted (taqaffa'at). ²

He first wrote for Dawud ibn Umar ibn Hubayra, and then for Isa ibn Ali in Kerman. Ibn al-Nadim describes him as a writer and poet at the height of eloquence and rhetoric. ²

Ibn al-Nadim relates from him that the Persian languages are five: Pahlavi, Dari, Persian, Khuzi and Syriac. ³