• ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAṭāʾ al-Khaffāf (1).
• al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl, one of the foremost authorities on the Arabic language (2).
• Hishām ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Sāʾib al-Kalbī, a leading scholar of history (3).
[Then the year 205 AH began.]
In that year:
• al-Maʾmūn appointed Ṭāhir ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muṣʿab governor of Baghdad, Iraq, and Khurāsān as far as the remotest parts of the East. The caliph was greatly pleased with him and raised his standing considerably, because al-Ḥasan ibn Sahl had fallen ill with melancholia. al-Maʾmūn then replaced Ṭāhir in al-Raqqah and the Jazīrah with Yaḥyā ibn Muʿādh.
• ʿAbd Allāh (4) ibn Ṭāhir ibn al-Ḥusayn arrived in Baghdad during the same year; his father had left him as his deputy in al-Raqqah and had ordered him to fight Naṣr ibn Shabath (5).
• He appointed ʿĪsā ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Khālid over Ādharbayjān and Armenia, instructing him to wage war against Bābak al-Khurramī.
• He assigned ʿĪsā ibn Yazīd al-Julūdī the task of fighting the Zuṭṭ.
• The deputy of Egypt, al-Sarī ibn al-Ḥakam, died there, and the deputy of Sind, Dāwūd ibn Yazīd, also passed away. al-Maʾmūn therefore appointed Bishr ibn Dāwūd in his place on condition that he remit to him each year one million dirhams.
(1) Abu Nasr al-Basri al-Khaffaf, a mawla of Banu ’Ajl; an imam, saduq (truthful), devout worshiper, and muhaddith (hadith scholar), though some reports about him may be inaccurate. He lived in Baghdad. See Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’, 9:451; Taqrib al-Tahdhib, 1:528.
(2) al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl ibn Kharasha ibn Yazid al-Mazini al-Tamimi, Abu al-Ḥasan. Renowned for his expertise in Arab chronologies, hadith transmission, and philology. He was favored and befriended by the Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun. He died in Marw. See Inbah al-Ruwwat, 3:348; Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’, 9:328.
(3) Hisham ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sa’īb ibn Bishr al-Kalbi, Abu al-Mundhir. Historian and authority on genealogies, Arab annals and chronologies, like his father Muhammad ibn al-Sa’īb. His works reportedly number 150; Ibn al-Nadim lists 144 titles in his Fihrist. Notable titles include Jamharat al-Ansab, al-Asnam, and Nasb al-Khayl. See al-Qahrist, p. 108; Tarikh Baghdad, 14:45; Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’, 10:101.
(4) In manuscript A the name appears as “Tahir ibn ’Abd Allah ibn al-Husayn,” which is a corruption.
(5) In manuscript A the reading “Shayb” is incorrect. The reference is to Nasr ibn Shabath al-’Uqayli, a rebel against Arab tribal partisanship from Banu ’Uqayl. He was based at Kaisum north of Aleppo; ’Abd Allah ibn Tahir besieged him, resulting in his surrender and transfer to Baghdad in 210 AH. His fate thereafter is unknown. See al-Tabari, 8:580, 598; al-A‘lam, 8:23.