Hajib or hadjib (, ) was a court official, equivalent to a chamberlain, in the early Muslim world, which evolved to fulfil various functions, often serving as chief ministers or enjoying dictatorial powers. The post appeared under the Umayyad Caliphate, but gained in influence and prestige in the more settled court of the Abbasids, under whom it ranked as one of the senior offices of the state, alongside the vizier. From the early caliphates, the post spread to other areas under Muslim dominion: in al-Andalus the was always superior to the vizier and by the 10th century had come to wield enorm
Hajib or hadjib (, ) was a court official, equivalent to a chamberlain, in the early Muslim world, which evolved to fulfil various functions, often serving as chief ministers or enjoying dictatorial powers. The post appeared under the Umayyad Caliphate, but gained in influence and prestige in the more settled court of the Abbasids, under whom it ranked as one of the senior offices of the state, alongside the vizier. From the early caliphates, the post spread to other areas under Muslim dominion: in al-Andalus the was always superior to the vizier and by the 10th century had come to wield enormous power as a de facto chancellor; in the eastern dynasties, the Samanids, Buyids and Ghaznavids, the title acquired a mainly military role; under the Seljuks, Ilkhanids and Timurids it reverted to its role as a court official; in Fatimid Egypt, the chief , styled ('Master of the Gate') or ('chamberlain of chamberlains, head chamberlain') was also an important official; under the Mamluks, they acquired important judicial duties.
==Origin== The office has its origins in pre-Islamic Arabia, where doorkeeping (ḥijāba, "concealing") was one of the duties of domestic slaves or clients (mawālī, singular mawlā) of an Arab household. Modern scholars have traditionally regarded the office of hajib in a courtly setting as an innovation of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), but in reality it is widely attested in the sources for the pre-Islamic Ghassanid and Lakhmid kings, Muhammad, Sajah, various early Muslim provincial governors and political figures, including all early caliphs and anti-caliphs such as Hasan ibn Ali and Ibn al-Zubayr. However, in Arabic historiography, their existence is often obscured or euphemistically paraphrased, since the office was ill regarded in early Muslim society, with its strong egalitarian tendencies.
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