Sa'd ad-Dawla Gohar-Ā'īn (died 1100) was an 11th-century Turkic eunuch mamluk who served as a government official, diplomat, and military commander for the Seljuk Empire.
[1] Medieval authors had differing opinions about him – Ibn al-Jawzi spoke highly of him, praising "his capability, clear view, and leadership of the army" as well as his "piousness, uprightness and justice".
[1] Bundari, on the other hand, spoke negatively of him, calling him "cunning like a dog, something like a beast, a man without penis, a woman without vagina".
[1][2] Later he was in the service of Abu Kalijar's son Malik ar-Rahim when he was imprisoned at Tabarik near Rayy by the Seljuk sultan Tughril.
[1] In Muhammad ibn Ali Rawandi's account, when Alp Arslan was inspecting his troops before the battle, the inspectors had noticed this "very insignificant" mamluk and originally wanted to turn him away, but Gohar-A'in stopped this objection, saying that he may be destined to capture the emperor of Rum.
[3][1] Other historians record a similar series of events, changing the participants to make Nizam al-Mulk the one who initially dismissed the mamluk or Alp Arslan the one to object and insist on keeping him.
[1] In December 1071 or January 1072, Alp Arslan appointed Gohar-A'in shahna, or military governor, of Baghdad - a position he would hold on-and-off for the rest of his life.
[4] Gohar-A'in arrived on 23 July and was granted an audience on Tuesday, 14 August, during which he handed over a letter requesting Fakhr ad-Dawla's removal.
[4] In the meantime, Gohar-A'in's conduct had apparently been scaring some of the citizens of Baghdad – he was having drums played during prayer hours every day, and shouting "there is no choice except to hand me the wazir.
"[1] At one point he apparently entered the Qasr al-Firdaws palace while drunk, shut the gate, and stayed there for a night and a day.
[5] Gohar-A'in also ignored Ibn Jahir and insisted on delivering the letter directly to the caliph himself, which was considered an insult to the vizier's dignity.
[5][1] In the following years, Gohar-A'in took part in several major military campaigns, separated by periods of dealing with public unrest in Baghdad.
[1] In December 1087, Gohar-A'in took part in a second major campaign, this time against Mu'adhdhib ad-Dawla Ahmad, the Arab ruler of the Bata'ih in southern Iraq.
[1] Another riot broke out in February 1088, between people from the Karkh and Basra Gate quarters of Baghdad, and this time sources do explicitly name Gohar-A'in as the one who suppressed it.
[1] When an agent (wakil) of Malik-Shah and Nizam al-Mulk, Abu Sa'd ibn Samaha, was mugged in Baghdad, Gohar-A'in wrote to the Seljuk court complaining about the affair and saying that the caliph's vizier should be responsible for upholding public morals.
[1] After his death, Gohar-A'in's body was brought to Baghdad and buried on the east side of the city, across from the Ribat of Abu Manjib.