In fact, the post of ministry took a different form in the Abbasid era. The appointment of ministers was a necessity. Hafs ibn Sulayman, aka Abu Salamah Al-Khallal (died in 132 AH / 750 AD), was the first to hold the title of minister in Islam. He was called the minister of Muhammad’s family. He spent a lot of money for the sake of the Abbasid call. [1]

Abu Ja’far Al-Mansur appointed a man called Sulayman ibn Mukhallad, aka Abu Ayyub Al-Marwayani, as a minister and assigned him some departments. Ibn Kathir said the man assumed Diwan Al-Insha’[2] (a department in charge of drafting royal orders and letters and maintaining the government’s records).

The minister under the Abbasid dynasty reached a high status. He even ran the affairs of the country and people. We found this in the family of Barmakids, as Yahya ibn Khalid Al-Barmaki had an absolute power in the State. Ibn Kathir mentions that “when Harun Al-Rashid assumed power, he assigned Yahya ibn Khalid to the caliphate affairs, and the latter remained like this until the setback that afflicted the Barmakids.” [3]

The Abbasid caliphs used to look for the best ministers. Caliph Al-Ma'mun set some conditions to select his minister. He says: “I seek the help of a man who has all good morals, having modesty and straightness; a man who is educated by morality and had experiences; honest if he is entrusted with secrets; does well if he is assigned to affairs; keeps silent with patience; speaks with knowledge; suffices himself with a moment; be satisfied with a glance; having the prestige of princes, the patience of sages, the modesty of scholars and the understanding of jurisprudents; a man who is thankful upon benefaction, and patient upon afflictions; does not sell the share of his day through depriving his tomorrow; and attracts the hearts of men with his beautiful utterance.” [4]

Abbasid Caliph Al-Ma'mun appointed Al-Fadl ibn Sahl (died in 202 AH) as a minister, and the latter was one of the greatest ministers in the Islamic history. Thanks to his position, Al-Ma'mun assigned him all affairs "and called him the one of two presidencies, for he managed both the sword and the pen"[5], i.e. he was assigned the political and military affairs. No minister had this combination before. Al-Fadl ibn Sahl was assigned the ministry with a special written letter, which was the first honor of its kind. Perhaps the contents of the letter show its importance, as it stated: "I bestowed you a rank whereby you will be obeyed in everything and no one will have a rank higher than yours as long as you abides by what I asked you to do regarding working for the sake of Allah and His religion and for the goodness of the State. I make all this for you under the testimony of Allah Almighty, Who is the guarantor of my promise. I wrote this letter in Safar 194 AH." [6]

Ibn Al-Amid Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Al-Husayn (died in 360 AH) was also a famous minister in the fourth Hijri century. Although he was a minister for the Buwayhids, the institution of Caliphate praised him and put him in a high status. So, Caliph Al-Ta'i-lillah called him "the one of two competences", namely the sword and the pen. [7]

Abbasid Caliph Al-Ta'i-lillah praised minister Ibn Al-Amid for the latter lead the armies, participated in battles, looked like a lion in terms of courage and was reticent unless he was asked. He was kind and had pure morals. If a man of letter or a scientist specialized in a certain field met him, he used to listen to them. He managed to restore security in the country after it was lost due to the revolutions and disorders of soldiers in Baghdad. Therefore, he got a great status during the short period of his ministry. He restored security and gave scholars and writers their due statuses. As the Buwayhids feared for their State, they killed him. [8]

Ministers were very accurate, organized and devoted to their work. Historian Al-Shabushti said that minister Sa'id ibn Mukhallad (died in 275 AH) used wake up at night to pray until the early morning. Then, he allows people to shake hand with him. Then he goes to the house of Caliph Al-Muwaffaq and stays four hours there and then goes back home to examine people's needs and run their affairs. Then, he has his lunch and sleep. In the evening, he examines the State affairs until night. He used to levy money and check what was levied and what was spent. He was aware of everyday goings-on. He used to discuss all this with his deputies and then chat with a friend until he sleeps. [9]

Nizam-al-Mulk and Al-Nizamiyah School

There was a group of sincere ministers in the Islamic civilization who combined the shrewdness of politics and the ethics of religion. Those ministers had a big role in the march of the Islamic civilization. One of them was the Seljuk minister Nizam-al-Mulk Al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Ishaq. Imam Al-Zahabi reported that he established the great school in Baghdad, one in Nishapur, and another one in Tus; and that he encouraged people to learn, gave grants to students, taught hadiths and was widely famous. [10]

The great school mentioned by Al-Zahabi is Al-Nizamiyah School in Baghdad. Strangely enough, as minister Nizam-al-Mulk was preoccupied by the affairs of the ministry, he went to that school from time to time to teach hadiths. This is what Ibn Al-Athir mentioned when he said: "Nizam-al-Mulk entered the Al-Nizamiyah School and sat in the library where he read books. People at the school learnt some hadiths under him, and he dictated some other hadiths." [11]

Nizam-al-Mulk was one of the best ministers in the Islamic civilization, if not the best, after the era of Prophet's companions. He loved and venerated scholars. "If Imam Abu Al-Qasim Al-Qushayri and Imam Abu Al-Ma'ali Al-Juwayni came to Nizam-al-Mulk, the latter used to stand up and then sit down in his place again. And if Abu Ali Al-Farmazi entered, Nizam-al-Mulk used to stand up and make Al-Farmazi sit in his own place and Nizam-al-Mulk himself sits in front of Al-Farmazi. When Nizam-al-Mulk was asked about this, he said: those two shaykhs and their likes praise me and mention qualities that I do not have. So, their words increase my vanity and pride, but that shaykh mentions my defects and injustice. So, my self becomes broken, and I backtrack much of my conduct." [12]

As he loved knowledge, Nizam-al-Mulk composed the book of Siyasat-nama or Siyar Al-Muluk (the lives of kings). He composed the book for the Seljuk Sultan Mulk-Shah ibn Muhammad in 479 AH. The book was aimed to show the most successful ways used by former kings and princes in running the State's affairs so that the Seljuk State would adopt these ways in running its administrative political affairs. Nizam-al-Mulk said: "I then, drawing upon what I have found out, seen, experienced and learned from masters, have described what I know of this subject and composed this book in fifty chapters." [13] There is no doubt that this work was welcomed by the Sultan and by the readers later on. This work confirms that the ministry in Islam was not an administrative work isolated from the experience of the ancients.

Ministry in Andalusia

In our talk about the ministry and its importance in the Islamic civilization, we must not forget the importance of that post in the western part of the Islamic nation, namely Andalusia. In fact, the system of ministry in Andalusia was very similar to the cabinet lineup in our present time. At first, the premiership was assumed by the caliph himself. Later, the hajib (doorkeeper or chamberlain) was the de facto premier. Ibn Khaldun mentioned the system of ministry in Andalusia by saying: "The Umayyads in Andalusia at first continued to use the name wazir [minister] in its original meaning. Later, they subdivided the functions of the wazir into several parts. For each function, they appointed a special wazir. They appointed a wazir to furnish an accounting of (government) finances; another for (official) correspondence; another to take care of the needs of those who had suffered wrongs; and another to supervise the situation of people in the border regions. A (special) house was prepared for (all these wazirs). There, they sat upon carpets spread out for them and executed the orders of the ruler, each in the field entrusted to him. One of the wazirs was appointed liaison officer between the wazirs and the caliph. He had a higher position than the others, because he had constant contact with the ruler. His seat was higher than that of the other wazirs. He was distinguished by the title of hajib (doorkeeper). So it continued down to the end of the (Umayyad) dynasty. The function and rank of hajib took precedence over the other ranks. Eventually, the Taifa rulers came to adopt the title. The most important among them at that time was called hajib…"[14]

The aforementioned text by Ibn Khaldun shows that the Andalusian Islamic civilization was the real example that the current nations followed. It is known that the Umayyad dynasty in Andalusia started in 138 AH when Abd-al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiyah ibn Hisham (Al-Dakhil) conquered Andalusia. The aforesaid subdivision of ministers – including the ministers of finance, foreign affairs, justice, defense and national security, and then a prime minister called hajib, and a house where they meet like the council of ministers – existed in the early history of Andalusia.

Among the most famous ministers in the history of Andalusia is Al-Mansur ibn Abu Amir Muhammad ibn Abdullah, who was smart and talented. He managed to rise through the posts of the State until he became the chief of police. Then, he became the guardian of the young Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Al-Hakam, then a hajib, and then a prime minister.

In fact, Prime Minister Al-Mansur ibn Abu Amir was not submissive in his post, nor was he typical in his actions and aspirations. He was one of the great ministers who fought in the cause of Allah. He conquered the Kingdom of Leon himself in 373 AH and conquered Barcelona in 374 AH. He also annexed the Arab Maghreb to the Umayyad dynasty in Andalusia in 386 AH. The Umayyad dynasty in Andalusia during the era of Al-Mansur reached its largest expansion. [15]

Ministry in the history of Islam and its civilization was one of the important posts which added much to the vitality and strength of the Islamic State. As the institution of Caliphate and governance passed through periods of weakness, a lot of ministers played a role in the strength and vitality of the Islamic State. Strangely, those ministers did not dissent from the institution of Caliphate, which went through a stage of apparent weakness, as in the case of Al-Mansur ibn Abu Amir in Andalusia, and Ibn Al-Amid (died in 360 AH) in Al-Mashreq. [16]

[1]  Al-Zirikli: Al-A'lam 2/263.

[2]  Ibn Kathir: Al-Bidayah wa Al-Nihayah 10/110.

[3]  Ibid: 10/204.

[4]  Al-Mawardi: Al-Ahkam Al-Sultaniyah, p30, 31.

[5]  Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi: Tarikh Baghdad 14/229.

[6]  Al-Humayri: Al-Rawd Al-Mi'tar (perfumed garden), p 316, and Abd-al-Aziz Al-Duri: Al-Nuzum Al-Islamiyah (Islamic systems), p195.

[7]  Al-Safadi: Al-Wafi bi Al-Wafiyyat 2/282, and Al-Zahabi: Tarikh Al-Islam (the history of Islam) 26/216.

[8]  Adam Metz: Islamic Civilization in the fourth Hijri century 1/187, 188, and Ihsan Abbas: Shazarat min Kutub Mafqudah (bits from missing books) 2/240.

[9]  Al-Shabushti: Al-Diyarat (monasteries), p66.

[10]  Al-Zahabi: Siyar A'lam Al-Nubala 19/96.

[11]  Ibn Al-Athir: Al-Kamil fi Al-Tarikh (the complete history) 8/449.

[12] Ibid: 8/481.

[13]  Nizam-al-Mulk: Siyasat-nama, p44.

[14]  Ibn Khaldun: Al-Ibar wa Diwan Al-Mubtada wa Al-Khabar 1/240.

[15]  See: Husayn Mu'nis: Mawsu'at Tarikh Al-Andalus (encyclopedia of the history of Andalusia) 1/363-372.

[16]  Adam Metz: Islamic Civilization in the fourth Hijri century, 1/185-188.

http://consult.islamstory.com/en/artical/3408710/Ministry-in-Abbasid-and-Andalusian-eras