Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Zaynabi

A member of the Abbasid dynasty, Abdallah was the descendant of notable personages on both sides of his family. His father Muhammad was a son of Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Ali, who had been a leading figure in the early stages of the Abbasid Revolution before being killed by the last Umayyad caliph Marwan II in 749.^[2] His mother, Zaynab, was the daughter of Sulayman ibn Ali and a senior princess at the Abbasid court, and Abdallah himself was usually known by the names of "al-Zaynabi" or "Abdallah ibn Zaynab."^[3] He was a second cousin of the fourth and fifth Abbasid caliphs al-Hadi (r. 785–786) and Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809).^[4]

During his career Abdallah was appointed to several provincial governorships. Either during the caliphate of al-Hadi or al-Mahdi he was made governor of the Yemen,^[5] and under Harun al-Rashid he was once or twice governor of Mecca^[6] (and possibly Medina).^[7] In 805 he was appointed over Egypt, in which position he remained for approximately a year.^[8]

Abdallah was also known for leading the prayers at the funeral of Malik ibn Anas in 795.^[9]

• Gordon, Matthew S.; Robinson, Chase F.; Rowson, Everett K.; et al., eds. (2018). The Works of Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qubi: An English Translation. Vol. 3. Leiden and Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-35621-4.
• Ibn Abd al-Majid, Taj al-Din 'Abd al-Baqi al-Yamani (1985). Ta'rikh al-Yaman al-Musamma Bahjat al-Zaman fi Ta'rikh al-Yaman (in Arabic). Sana'a: Dar Kalimah.
• Ibn Hazm, Abu Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Sa'id al-Andalusi (1982). Harun, 'Abd al-Salam Muhammad (ed.). Jamharat Ansab al-'Arab (in Arabic) (5th ed.). Cairo: Dar al-Ma'arif.
• Ibn Taghribirdi, Jamal al-Din Abu al-Mahasin Yusuf (1930). Nujum al-zahira fi muluk Misr wa'l-Qahira, Volume II (in Arabic). Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya.
• Khalifah ibn Khayyat (1985). al-Umari, Akram Diya' (ed.). Tarikh Khalifah ibn Khayyat, 3rd ed (in Arabic). Al-Riyadh: Dar Taybah.
• Al-Kindi, Muhammad ibn Yusuf (1912). Guest, Rhuvon (ed.). The Governors and Judges of Egypt (in Arabic). Leyden and London: E. J. Brill.

• Omar, F. (1971). "Ibrahim b. Muhammad". In Lewis, B.; Ménage, V. L.; Pellat, Ch. & Schacht, J. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume III: H–Iram. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 988–89. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3440. OCLC 495469525.
• Rahmatallah, Maleeha (1952). The Women of Baghdad in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries, as Revealed in the History of Baghdad of al-Hatib (Thesis). University of Pennsylvania.
• Yarshater, Ehsan, ed. (1985–2007). The History of al-Ṭabarī (40 vols). SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7249-1.