[1] He served as a secretary under his father during the latter's vizierate,[1] along with his brother Abd al-Wahid.
Nevertheless, the contemporary historians are unanimous in describing Abdallah and his father as both indolent and incompetent.
[3][4] So haphazard was the governance during this time that the historian Miskawayh relates that seven governors were appointed to the same district within 20 days, and they all met by chance in the same inn on their way to take up their post.
[5] Despite the failure of this first tenure, in June 924 Abdallah became vizier himself, in succession to Ali ibn al-Furat,[1] who was disgraced and executed following the Qarmatian sack of Basra and the destruction of the Hajj caravan during the previous year.
[6] He was unable to deal with the challenges facing the Abbasid government at the time, and was dismissed in November 925, on the insistence of the commander-in-chief Mu'nis al-Muzaffar, who at the time was the virtual regent of the Caliphate.