MASHĀʿIRĪ, AL-

MASHĀʿIRĪ, AL-, family in Iraq. The al-Mashāʿirī family members in Babylonia during the 13th century included some distinguished personalities who occupied important positions in the state. They are mentioned by eleazar b. jacob in his poems (see Divan R. Eleazar b. Jacob ha-Bavli, Jerusalem, 1935). They included: ISAAC MUHADHDHIB AL DAWLA IBN AL-MASHĀʿIRĪ and his sons, ELEAZAR, ELIEZER, and OBADIAH (poem 8); and ELEAZAR AMĪN ABU (or IBN) MANṢŪR IBN AL-MASHĀʿIRĪ and his sons, EZEKIEL, YESHU'AH, and ISAAC (poem 185). The nature of their public positions is unknown. In the Arabic chronicle of Ibn al Fūṭī, a Jewish state official named MAHADHDIB AL-DAWLA NAṢR MASHĀʿIRĪ is mentioned. In 1284 during the rule of the mongol governor Arghūn (1284–91), he was appointed adviser in affairs of the state to the government dīwān. In 1289, when Saʿd al-Dawla ibn al-Ṣāfi became vizier of the Mongolian Empire, he, in turn, appointed Muhadhdhib al-Dawla Naṣr as commissioner of Babylonia. Muhadhdhib occupied this position until his assassination in 1291. Some scholars believe that he is the same person as the above-mentioned Isaac Mahadhdhib al-Dawla.   -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mann, Texts, 1 (1931), 268, 300, 304; Fischel, Islam, 95, 104, 115; idem, in: Tarbiz, 8 (1936/37), 234–5; A. Ben Jacob, Yehudei Bavel (1965), 38–39, 63–64; idem, in: Zion, 15 (1949/50), 59–61. (Abraham David)