Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Zakariyya ibn Shirzad (died after 946), commonly known as Ibn Shirzad (), was an official of the Abbasid Caliphate, serving various warlords during the Caliphate's dissolution in the 940s, and himself briefly ascending to the supreme office of in 945.
Life
Early career
Ibn Shirzad's early life and career is virtually unknown. He entered service as a scribe at a young age through his father, who was in charge of the fiscal bureau overseeing the former estates of Gharib al-Khal. Ibn Shirzad's brother, Abu'l-Husayn Zakariyya, was employed by their father as his deputy, but Ibn Shirzad preferred to make his own mark, and joined the bureau administering the private estates of the caliph (), where he was taught the scribal trade.
He is first mentioned by the 10th-century historian Miskawayh in 927, as secretary and supervisor of affairs for Gharib's son, Harun, a companion of the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir (). At that time, Ibn Shirzad's brother, Abu'l-Hasan Zakariyya, was a secretary to an aunt of the caliph. Harun lodged a complaint against Ibn Shirzad, aiming to have him thrown in prison and his wealth confiscated; but the examination of the case by the vizier, Ali ibn Isa ibn al-Jarrah, brought about not only Ibn Shirzad's acquittal, but also his entry into government service as Ibn al-Jarrah's secretary.
In this role, he quickly gathered an enormous fortune. As a result, the vizier Muhammad ibn al-Qasim imprisoned him in order to extort his wealth. After promising to pay 20,000 gold dinars to the treasury, Ibn Shirzad was released with the aid of Abu Ya'qub Ishaq ibn Isma'il.
In 933/4 Ibn Shirzad was in charge of the fiscal department responsible for paying the Turkish troops of Baghdad. When Caliph al-Radi () came to the throne, Harun ibn Gharib eyed the post of (commander-in-chief) of the Abbasid army. Al-Radi sent Ibn Shirzad to Harun many times, hoping to dissuade him from this course, until Harun was killed. In 935, Ibn Shirzad became head of the bureau of alms () after the death of the previous incumbent. When Ibn Ra'iq became and de facto ruler of Baghdad in 936, he sent Ibn Shirzad as envoy to the Baridis, a clan that ruled Basra and Ahwaz. Similar missions followed in 938 and in 939.
In June 937, Ibn Shirzad was imprisoned at the orders of Abu Abdallah al-Kufi, the secretary of the commander Bajkam, and not let free before he paid a ransom of 90,000 gold dinars. In 939, Ibn Shirzad mediated the appointment of the head of the Baridi clan, Abu Abdallah al-Baridi, as vizier under Bajkam as . Later in the same year, he served as a peace envoy between the deposed , Ibn Ra'iq, and Bajkam. Bajkam appointed Ibn Shirzad as his own secretary, but he remained in office for about a year before he was arrested. Medieval historians report that his downfall was caused by his persistent attempts to secure a political marriage between Bajkam and a daughter of Abu Abdallah al-Baridi, but it is also likely that his considerable fortune played a role: before he was released, he was forced to pay no less than 150,000 dinars to Bajkam.
In October/November 940, Abu Abdallah al-Kufi confiscated Ibn Shirzad's properties in the name of Bajkam. However, it appears that there was some understanding, or even friendship, between the two men, for Abu Abdallah al-Kufi restored the deeds to these lands to Ibn Shirzad after Bajkam's death. When Bajkam sent men to kill Ibn Shirzad, the latter disguised himself as a woman and sought sanctuary in the household of caliph al-Muqtadir's aunt, where he remained until Bajkam's assassination in April 941. He then entered the service of the Baridis, but fled to Wasit when Yusuf ibn Wajih, the ruler of Oman laid siege to Basra in 943.