Born in Rayy ca. 350/961, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār ʿUtbī traveled to Ḫurāsan as a young man where he eventually came to the service of Amīr Subuktigīn and his son Ismāʿil. 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 Ğaznavid Naṣir 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.
Kitāb-i Yamīnī
Book of YamīnīExtends to 411/1020-1, translated into Persian from Arabic ca. 602/1205-6.
Kitāb-i Yamīnī is a “turgid Arab history of Amīr Subuktigīn and Sultān Maḥmūd of Ğaznī to 411/1020-1”. It was written in Arabic under the title “al-Yamīnī,” extends to 411/1020-1, translated from Arabic into Persian by Abū al-Šaraf Nāṣiḥ ibn Ẓafar ibn Saʿd al-Munšī al-Jarbāẕaqānī from al-ʿUtbī’s
al-Yamīnī; Storey calls it “Tarjamah- i Yamīnī”.