Abu al-Qasim ibn Abi al-Hasan

Abu al-Qasim was the chief minister and administrative architect of the Zirid Sultanate during the long golden reign of Al-Mu'izz ibn Badis. A man of refined literary taste, he organized the royal library in Mansuriya, financing the acquisition of hundreds of rare manuscripts from Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordoba.

His administration guaranteed generous pensions for professors at the Great Mosque of Kairouan and sponsored young poets, making Kairouan the foremost cultural hub of the western Islamic world prior to the Banu Hilal incursions.