7 – Ṭāhir ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muṣʿab ibn Ruzaīq al-Khuzaʿī—the emir, commander-in-chief, nicknamed Dhū al-Yamīnayn (1)—Abū Ṭalḥah al-Khuzaʿī, the man who secured al-Maʾmūn’s claim to the caliphate. Al-Maʾmūn appointed him to fight his brother al-Amīn, so he set out at the head of a vast army, besieged al-Amīn, captured him, and executed him while he was a prisoner. Because of the haste with which he killed him, he incurred widespread hostility (2).
He was brave, imposing, exceptionally astute, generous, and much praised.
He narrated ḥadith from Ibn al-Mubārak and from his uncle ʿAlī ibn Muṣʿab.
Those who transmitted from him include his son ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir, governor of Khurasan, and another of his sons, Ṭalḥah.
A striking example of his prodigal generosity is that on one occasion he authorized stipends amounting to one million seven hundred thousand dirhams.
(*) Primary sources: Khalifa, Tarikh, pp. 466–468, 472; al-Tabari, Tarikh, vol. 8, pp. 593–596; al-Jahshiyari, al-Wuzara wa-l-Kuttab, p. 290; al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 9, p. 353; Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil, vol. 6, p. 381; Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-Ayan, vol. 2, pp. 517–523; Ibn Wasil, Uyūn al-Tawarikh, vol. 7, fols. 203–208; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, vol. 10, pp. 255, 260–261; Ibn Taghribirdi, al-Nujum al-Zahira, vol. 2, pp. 149, 152, 155, 160, 178, 183, 184; Ibn al-Imad, Shadharāt al-Dhahab, vol. 2, p. 16.
(1) He was nicknamed “Both-Right-Hands.” One report says that, during the incident of Ali ibn Isa, he cleft a man in two with a single blow delivered by his left hand; a poet then exclaimed: “Both your hands are right hands when you strike!” Another view holds that al-Maʾmun wrote to him: “Your right hand is the right hand of the Commander of the Faithful, and your left hand is likewise a right hand.” A third explanation is that he governed both Iraq and Khurasan.
(2) For a full account of his killing of al-Amin, see al-Tabari, vol. 8, pp. 478–495, and Ibn al-Athir, vol. 6, p. 382.
(3) Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 9, p. 354, and Uyūn al-Tawarikh, vol. 7, fol. 206. The poet Maqdis ibn Sayfi al-Khuluqi praised him with these three verses:
I marvel at Ibn al-Husayn’s fire-ship—
that it did not sink: how could it not sink?
Above it one sea, beneath it another
completely enclosing it.
More wondrous still are its planks—
once his hand has touched them, why do they not put forth leaves?
He ordered: “Give him a thousand dinars,” then added, “Ask for more and we shall give you more.” The poet replied, “That is sufficient for me.”