Hasanak was the son of a certain Abbas and was a member of the Mikalid family, an Iranian family which traced its descent back to the
Sogdian king
Divashtich, and to the
Sasanians. Not much is known about Hasanak's early life, except that at a young age, he served as the governor of
Khorasan. He also served as the
rais of his native city,
Nishapur. Later in 1023, Hasanak went to a pilgrimage in
Mecca, and later went to
Fatimid Egypt, where he was treated with honor by the Fatimid caliph
Ali az-Zahir. However, Hasanak's relations with the Fatimids made the Abbasid caliph
al-Qadir distrust him for being a believer of
Shia Islam, which was seen as a heretical faith by the
Sunni Abbasids and other Sunni Muslims. This distrust made al-Qadir urge Mahmud to have Hasanak executed, which, Mahmud, however, declined. One year later, Mahmud appointed Hasanak as his
vizier, thus succeeding the disgraced former vizier
Ahmad Maymandi, who was an enemy of Hasanak. During Hasanak's vizierate, he became a prominent and influential figure. Mahmud later died in 1030, and a civil war shortly ensued between his two sons, the youngest one is the heir
Mohammad Ghaznavi (who shortly had Hasanak changed with
Abu Sahl Hamduwi as
vizier), and the oldest one being
Mas'ud I. Hasanak, along with
Ali ibn Il-Arslan, supported Mohammad, and both expected that they would hold absolute power over the Ghaznavid state, while Mohammad would stay as a
figurehead. However, Ali, including another Ghaznavid statesman, began to become more distant from Hasanak and changed their adherence to Mas'ud I. Hasanak, however, continued to support Mohammad, but Mas'ud I shortly marched towards the Ghaznavid capital of
Ghazni, where he successfully defeated Mohammad and imprisoned the latter. He then had Hasanak imprisoned in
Balkh, while restoring Ahmad Maymandi to the vizier office. Through the efforts of Hasanak's opponent
Abu Sahl Zawzani, Mas'ud had charged Hasanak of infidelity, and had him executed on 14 February 1032. The tribunal and execution are vividly described by
Abu'l-Fazl Bayhaqi in his
Tarikh-i Bayhaqi. ==References==