Al-Barīdī was the name of a family of bureaucrats, primarily tax farmers, who for almost two decades, from the mid-310s/920s to the mid-330s/940s, participated in power struggles involving the ʿAbbāsid dynasty and its caliphs, leading military figures (amīr al-umarāʾ) , and numerous wazīr s, as well as the Ḥamdānid and Būyid dynasties. The geographical and financial bases of power of the al-Barīdī were al-Ahwāz and, later, Basra. Although they were successful in raising large sums of money and were constantly involved in political