Historian of the Ghaznavids; author of the Tārīkh-i Yamīnī.
Historians & Chroniclers · Iran & Khurāsān · d. 427/1035–6 or 431/1039–40
Born in Rayy ca. 350/961, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār ʿUtbī traveled to Ḫurāsān as a young man where he eventually came to the service of Amīr Subuktigīn and his son Ismāʿīl. In 389/999 Maḥmūd of Ğaznī sent ʿUtbī on a diplomatic mission to Ğarjistān; subsequently he became Ṣāḥib al-barīd (postmaster) in Kanj Rustāq (the eastern part of Bādghīs). In 413/1022–3 ʿUtbī was dismissed and entered the service of Masʿūd b. Maḥmūd. ʿUtbī is mainly known for his Kitāb-i Yamīnī-- a history of the reign of Ğaznavīd Naṣīr al-Dawlah Sebüktakin, his son Maḥmūd and of the early years of his grandson Masʿūd I. While this is ʿUtbī’s only extant work, according to the Yatīmat al-dahr, ʿUtbī also wrote a book entitled Laṭāʾif al-kuttāb and other works. His traditional death dates are 427/1035–6 or 431/1039–40.