Sulayman ibn Wahb
Sulayman ibn Wahb (Arabic: أبو أيوب سليمان بن وهب) died in Baghdad around July or August 885. He was a prominent Abbasid official who served several times as vizier. His family, the Banu Wahb, were Nestorian Christians from Wasit and had provided secretaries to the caliphs since late Umayyad times.
Sulayman began as a secretary to Caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833). Under al-Wathiq (r. 842–847) he aligned with the Turkish military and served as secretary to generals Musa ibn Bugha and Aytakh. Under al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861) he twice served as ʿamil, the supervisor of finances, in Egypt, where he reportedly made a fortune.
He rose to the position of vizier toward the end of al-Muhtadi's reign (869–870) and again in 877–878 under al-Mu'tamid (r. 870–892), alternating with his rival al-Hasan ibn Makhlad al-Jarrah. His failure to fix the empire’s financial crisis led to his permanent dismissal and imprisonment, where he died.
Sulayman founded an administrative dynasty: his son Ubayd Allah, his grandson al-Qasim, and great-grandsons al-Husayn and Muhammad all became viziers. He had two sons, Ayyub and Ubayd Allah. He was also a patron of poets such as Abu Tammam and al-Buhturi.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:23 (CET).