ABSTRACT
The significance of the execution was the ending of the period of largely stable government by the Men of the Pen which began in 1028 with the appointment of al-Jarjara’i as Wazir. The appointment of al-Jarjara’i in 1028, on the other hand, had been the culmination of an effort on the part of the servants themselves to bring to an end a previous period of instability provoked in their case by the reigning Caliph. The elder Qazwini, concerned about the payment of the troops in time of famine, was told by the Caliph to confer with al-Jarjara’i and Ibn Badus, the obvious person to consult. Ibn Badus, however, replied that the Treasury had nothing to spare after the expenses of the Caliph had been met. Ibn Badus was a victim of the same jockeying for position that ousted al-Yazuri, while preventing the formation of an effective government by the nominal chief minister.
