Hajib

Hajib or hadjib (Arabic: الحاجب, romanized: al-ḥājib, [æl ˈħæːdʒib]) 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 hajib 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 hajib, styled sahib al-bab ('Master of the Gate') or hajib al-hujjab ('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.

Indeed, the formalization of the hajib is part of the consolidation and stratification process of the Muslim society after the early Muslim conquests, when the ruler began to be separated from the ruled, and surrounded by an increasingly elaborate ceremonial, borrowed in large part from Sassanid Persian practic.

Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates

In the Umayyad and early Abbasid periods, up to the early 9th century, most of the occupants of the office were still mawālī. During this time, the hajib still occupied a lower rung in the court hierarchy than the Arab aristocracy or the great ministers of state. His main duties were those of a master of ceremonies, organizing and supervising caliphal audiences, and bringing visitors to the caliph's presence.