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Al- Mashāʿirī

MASHĀʿIRĪ, AL-, family in Iraq. The al-Mashāʿirī family members in Babylonia during the 13th century included some distinguished personalities who occupied important positions in the state. They are mentioned by *Eleazar b. Jacob in his poems (see Divan R. Eleazar b. Jacob ha-Bavli, Jerusalem, 1935). They included: ISAAC MUHADHDHIB AL DAWLA IBN AL-MASHĀʿIRĪ and his sons, ELEAZAR, ELIEZER, and OBADIAH (poem 8); and ELEAZAR AMĪN ABU (or IBN) MANṢŪR IBN AL-MASHĀʿIRĪ and his sons, EZEKIEL, YESHU'AH, and ISAAC (poem 185). The nature of their public positions is unknown. In the Arabic chronicle of Ibn al Fūṭī, a Jewish state official named MAHADHDIB AL-DAWLA NAṢR MASHĀʿIRĪ is mentioned. In 1284 during the rule of the *Mongol governor Arghūn (1284–91), he was appointed adviser in affairs of the state to the government dīwān. In 1289, when *Saʿd al-Dawla ibn al-Ṣāfi became vizier of the Mongolian Empire, he, in turn, appointed Muhadhdhib al-Dawla Naṣr as commissioner of Babylonia. Muhadhdhib occupied this position until his assassination in 1291. Some scholars believe that he is the same person as the above-mentioned Isaac Mahadhdhib al-Dawla.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Mann, Texts, 1 (1931), 268, 300, 304; Fischel, Islam, 95, 104, 115; idem, in: Tarbiz, 8 (1936/37), 234–5; A. Ben Jacob, Yehudei Bavel (1965), 38–39, 63–64; idem, in: Zion, 15 (1949/50), 59–61.


Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.