The Barmakids (Persian: برمکیان Barmakiyân; Arabic: البرامكة al-Barāmikah[1]), also spelled Barmecides, were an influential Iranian[2][3] family from Balkh, where they were originally hereditary Buddhist leaders (in the Nawbahar monastery),[a][5] and subsequently came to great political power under the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad.
नवविहार) or "New Monastery", that was described by the Chinese Buddhist diarist Xuanzang in the seventh century[6][7] which may have led to the Persian and Arabic error of thinking that the term "Nowbahār" was the name of a Zoroastrian fire temple headed by the Barmakids as reported in Islamic sources.
[8] Harold Bailey proposed that the name of the Barmakids may derive from the Sanskrit word प्रमुख Pramukha, meaning “leader,” although the theory is subject of debate.
[14] Abu Hafs 'Umar al-Kirmani's account narrates that the Barmak was brought among a party of shakirriya (thought to be slaves or retainers) and honored by the Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik who increased his status and was impressed by him.
Ibn al-Faqih records that his father had to abandon Islam after converting due to pressure from local magnates as well as people of Tukharistan and was even attacked by Tarkhan Nizak, being killed along with his ten sons.
An influential stratum of officialdom, the Irano-Islamic class of secretaries (kuttab in Arabic, dabiran in Persian), was formed which considered itself as the main support of the state.
During his governorship of Upper Mesopotamia, Khalid, through a mix of firmness and justice, brought the province quickly into order and effectively curbed the unruly Kurds.
[citation needed] The power of the Barmakids in those times is reflected in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights; the vizier Ja'far appears in several stories, as well as a tale that gave rise to the expression "Barmecide feast".
[17] "We know of Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki (d. 805) as a patron of physicians and, specifically, of the translation of Hindu medical works into both Arabic and Persian.
In all likelihood however, his activity took place in the orbit of the caliphal court in Iraq , where at the behest of Hārūn al-Rashīd (786–809), such books were translated into Arabic.
Thus Khurāsān and Transoxiana were effectively bypassed in this transfer of learning from India to Islam, even though, undeniably the Barmakī's cultural outlook owed something to their land of origin, northern khurasan, and Yahya al-Barmakī's interest in medicine may have derived from no longer identifiable family tradition.
However, Harun ar-Rashid is also reported to have given orders to his sahib-al-shurta al-Sindi ibn Shahak of confiscation of Barmakid properties one year before the events, implying it to be planned action.
[19] According to Rit Nosotro, Harun al-Rashīd found his chief pleasure in the society of his sister ʿAbbāsa and Barmakid prince Jafar bin Yahya.
This condition was broken, and when Harun learned that ʿAbbāsa had borne a son, he had Jafar suddenly arrested and beheaded, and the rest of the family, except Yahya's brother Muḥammad, also imprisoned and deprived of their property.
Hitti argues that chiefly because of him, Arab historians regard the Barmakids as the founders of the class designated as 'people of the pen' (ahl al-qalam).