Al-Qasim b 'Ubayd Allah : The vizier as villain: On classical Arabic gossip

This paper looks at some historical/literary accounts involving al-Qāsim b. ʿUbayd Allāh (d. 291/904), vizier of al-Muʿtadid. The episodes, taken both from chronicles and from biographical collections, portray al-Qāsim at different points of his life and describe his dealings with his father (the more famous vizier ʿUbayd Allāh b. Sulaymān b. Wahb, d. 288/901), with poets, scholars, religious scholars or the caliph himself. Notwithstanding the variety of situations, it is quite hard to find a positive portrayal of al-Qasim, or an event in which he acts honourably: his “evil” image follows him faithfully regardless of the environment in which he operates. So strong a characterisation, this paper argues, forms a sharp contrast with another one familiar to many: that of al-Qāsim’s yunger contemporary ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā as “the good vizier”. The conclusions offers some hipotheses on the origins of this univocal image and on the reasons for its coherence.