Mardanshah ibn Zadhanfarrukh
مردانشاه بن زادان فروخ
Son of al-Hajjaj's Persian scribe; in al-Baladhuri he challenged Salih ibn Abd al-Rahman's Arabization: 'what of dahwiya and shashwiya?' — 'I write ushr and half-ushr'; 'and wid?' — 'likewise' — and cried 'may God cut your root from this world as you have cut Persian's root.'
At a glance
- Era
- The Umayyad Period
- Region
- Levant & Iraq
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Overview
Mardanshah ibn Zadhan Farrukh, the Persian scribe of al-Hajjaj. 1
The register
Al-Baladhuri relates that when al-Hajjaj appointed Salih ibn Abd al-Rahman, he moved the register into Arabic. Mardanshah asked him what he should do with dahawiyya and shashawiyya. Salih said that he would write them as "ten and a half a tenth". He asked him about "wayd", and Salih said he would write that too. 1
Mardanshah cursed him, saying that God had cut off his root from the world as He had cut off the root of Persian. 1
Sources
- Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition), p.422
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Mardanshah ibn Zadhanfarrukh”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/mardanshah-ibn-zadhanfarrukh/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.