Ishaq ibn Yahya ibn Mu'adh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ishaq ibn Yahya ibn Mu'adh (Arabic: إسحاق بن يحيى بن معاذ; died 851) was a ninth-century provincial governor for the Abbasid Caliphate, serving as governor of Damascus and Egypt.
Ishaq was the scion of a prominent family from Khurasan; his father Yahya ibn Mu'adh ibn Muslim was a senior official who had been governor of Damascus, Armenia and al-Jazira.[1] Ishaq himself was appointed as resident governor of the district of Damascus during the reign of al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833) by the caliph's brother and successor Abu Ishaq al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842), and remained there through the death of al-Ma'mun in 833.[2] During this period Ishaq was ordered by al-Mu'tasim to carry out the mihnah or inquisition regarding the createdness of the Qur'an, but he dealt leniently with the Damascenes on the matter.[3]
Following the foundation of Samarra in 836, Ishaq received a land allotment along the Grand Avenue in the central city.[4] In 840, al-Mu'tasim appointed him as commander of his guard (haras), and he retained that position for a period after al-Wathiq (r. 842–847) became caliph.[5] In 843–4, al-Wathiq handed over Ahmad ibn Isra'il al-Anbari to Ishaq during a crackdown against the caliphal secretaries, and ordered him to flog Ahmad with ten lashes daily.[6] During al-Wathiq's reign, Ishaq also served as governor of Damascus.[7]
Under al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861), Ishaq again commanded the haras.[8]