Abu Sahl Omar Iraqi: Farroukhi’s anonymous Mamdouh, Mahmud’s unknown vizier

Researchers have reported a great deal on the panegyrics composed during the Ghaznavid period and tried to determine the identities of the mamdouhs (praised dignitaries) with the help of the poetry written in that period as well as other sources. However, due to the lack of sources and because of the insufficient attention of some of the researchers, a good many of the problems remain unresolved.In the present article, attempts are made to establish that, firstly the object of praise of three eulogies by Farrokhi of Sistan (nos. 89, 99, 122, Dabir Siyaqi’s edition) is an unknown individual named “Abu Sahl Omar Iraqi”; secondly, this individual, despite his name being absent from all the existing history books, seems to have served as a kind of interim non-official minister without portfolio at the Ghaznavid court. According to scattered evidences coming from old sources, certain possibilities have been put forward as to the time of his acting as a minister and date of death. Based on such possibilities, Abu Sahl held a non-official ministerial job at Sultan Mahmud’s court between 401-404/1010-1013 and died around 404 H.