Dr Arezou Azad (Oriental Inst, University of Oxford) - The Barmakids: Islam,Multiculturalism + Power

Over the centuries in the Islamic world, the Barmakids have featured in many books and stories for all ages. In these accounts, they feature as “Persian” superheroes who brought civilisation and culture to the Arab caliphal courts of Damascus and Baghdad, until the caliphs brutally extinguished them in the early 800s AD for reasons that still remain shrouded in mystery. The Barmakids pervade popular western culture, too, even if little of their real history (or even family name) remains known today. One example is the conniving vizier “Jafar" in Disney’s rendering of the story of Aladdin from the Arabian Nights. This Jafar is, in fact, the son of the most powerful Barmakid; Yahya Barmaki. The Barmakids are fascinating at another level, too: their ancestors managed one of the richest and most powerful Buddhist temples, monasteries and estates the late antique world had known, in the city of Balkh (northern Afghanistan). How could this family, of all families, rise to such heights in the caliphal administration, and why has their legacy been so enduring? What can we learn about Islamisation and the relationship between people of different faiths in the eastern Islamic lands? These questions will guide Dr Azad’s exploration on the Barmakids, and they serve as useful comparanda when thinking about Islamisation in today’s world.