Abu Qubays ( ar, أبو قبيس also spelled ''Abu Qobeis'', ''Abu Qubais'' or ''Bu Kubais''; also known as Qartal) is a former medieval castle and currently an inhabited village in northwestern
Syria, administratively part of the
Hama Governorate, located northwest of
Hama. It is situated in the
al-Ghab plain, west of the
Orontes River. Nearby localities include
Daliyah
Daliyah ( ar, الدالية) is a Syrian village in the Jableh District
Jableh District ( ar-at, منطقة جبلة, manṭiqat Jablah) is a district of the Latakia Governorate in northwestern Syria. Administrative centre is the city of Jabl ...
21 kilometers to the west,
al-Laqbah
Al-Laqbah ( ar, اللقبة, also spelled al-Laqbeh or Laqbee) is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located west of Hama. It is situated along the edge of the Orontes River valley, on the main road betwee ...
to the south,
Deir Shamil
Deir Shamil ( ar, دير شميل, also spelled Deir el-Shemil) is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located west of Hama. Nearby localities include Nahr al-Bared to the north, Tell Salhab to the north ...
to the southeast,
Tell Salhab
Tal Salhab ( ar, تل سلحب, also spelled Tal Selhab) is a town in the western center of Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. It is situated on the southern edge of the Ghab plain and by the weste ...
to the northeast and
Nahr al-Bared
Nahr al-Bared ( ar, نهر البارد, literally: Cold River) is a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, 16 km from the city of Tripoli. Some 30,000 displaced Palestinians and their descendants live in and around the camp, which ...
further northeast. According to the
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Abu Qubays had a population of 758 in the 2004 census.
[General Census of Population and Housing 2004](_blank)
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly
Alawites
The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isl ...
.
[Douwes, 2000, p. 185.]
History
Medieval era
Abu Qubays was originally built by the Arabs during the
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
era and was further strengthened by the Byzantines in the late 10th century. The castle was round, relatively small and overlooks the
Orontes River.
[Willey, p. 240.] During a second campaign against Muslim-held Syria by Byzantine emperor
Basil II
Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar S ...
, Abu Qubays was burned along with a number of other fortresses in the province of Homs.
Following the Crusader conquest of the coastal
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
in 1099, the
Fatimid
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...
commander
Iftikhar ad-Daula
Iftikhar al-Dawla ( ar, إفتخار الدولة, , pride of the dynasty) was the Fatimid governor of Jerusalem during the siege of 1099. On 15 July, he surrendered Jerusalem to Raymond of Saint-GillesCount of Toulouse (1093–1105) and marqu ...
left his post in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and moved to Abu Qubays of which he became lord, along with the castles of
al-Qadmus
Al-Qadmus ( ar, القدموس, also spelled al-Qadmous or Cadmus) is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located northeast of Tartus and southeast of Baniyas. Nearby localities include Kaff al-Jaa and ...
and
al-Kahf
Al-Kahf ( ar, الكهف, ; The Cave) is the List of chapters in the Quran, 18th chapter (sūrah) of the Quran with 110 verses (āyāt). Regarding the timing and contextual background of the revelation (''asbāb al-nuzūl''), it is an earli ...
. The rulers of Abu Qubays, namely Iftikhar and his family, maintained a high income and social stature similar to the lords from the
Banu Munqidh
The Banu Munqidh ( ar, بنو منقذ, Banū Munqidh), also referred to as the Munqidhites, were an Arab family that ruled an emirate in the Orontes Valley in northern Syria from the mid-11th century until the family's demise in an earthquak ...
family of the
Shaizar
Shaizar or Shayzar ( ar, شيزر; in modern Arabic Saijar; Hellenistic name: Larissa in Syria, Λάρισα εν Συρία in Greek) is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. Nearby lo ...
fortress to the south. The
Isma'ili
Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al- ...
s (known as the
Assassins
An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder.
Assassin may also refer to:
Origin of term
* Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins
Animals and insects
* Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviida ...
) purchased Abu Qubays,
as well as al-Qadmus and al-Kahf,
from the Arab chieftain Sayf al-Mulk Ibn Amrun in the 1130s or 1140s.
The Crusaders referred to it as ''Bokabeis''. The Isma'ilis of Abu Qubays paid a yearly tribute to the
Knights Hospitaller
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...
s of
Margat
Margat, also known as Marqab ( ar, قلعة المرقب, ''Qalaat al-Marqab'', lit=Castle of the Watchtower), is a castle near Baniyas, Syria, which was a Crusader fortress and one of the major strongholds of the Knights Hospitaller. It is lo ...
(Qal'at Marqab in Arabic),
[Lee, p. 137.] a prominent Catholic military order, consisting of 800 gold pieces and a fixed number of bushels of barley and wheat.
[Boulanger, 1966, p. 451.]
Nasih al-Din Khumartekin, a member of the Banu al-Daya nobility and lord of Abu Qubays—which was no longer under Isma'ili control—alerted
Ayyubid sultan
Saladin
Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سهلاحهدین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...
of an assassination attempt against him by the Isma'ilis during the unsuccessful siege against
Zengid
The Zengid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turkic origin, which ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia on behalf of the Seljuk Empire and eventually seized control of Egypt in 1169. In 1174 the Zengid state extended from Tripoli ...
-held
Aleppo on 11 May 1175. Khumartekin, who was in Saladin's camp, was killed by the group of Assassins after questioning them as they approached the camp. Saladin managed to avoid being harmed when they rushed towards him afterward and the attackers were slain by Saladin's guards. In 1176 Sabiq al-Din was allotted Abu Qubays and Shaizar by Saladin after the latter freed him from Zengid imprisonment in Aleppo for opposing the ascension of
al-Salih Isma'il al-Malik as ruler of that city. By 1182, Mankarus, a son of Khumartekin, was lord of Abu Qubays and served as the commander of Saladin's troops in
Hama.
In 1222 the Shia Yemeni lord of
Sinjar
Sinjar ( ar, سنجار, Sinjār; ku, شنگال, translit=Şingal, syr, ܫܝܓܪ, Shingar) is a town in the Sinjar District of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located about five kilometers south of the Sinjar Mountains. Its p ...
,
al-Makzun al-Sinjari
Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf al-Makzūn al-Sinjārī, better known simply as al-Makzun al-Sinjari ( ar, المكزون السنجاري, al-Makzūn al-Sinǧārī) (born 1188 or 1193 — died 1240), was a paramount military, religious and ...
, led a force of roughly 50,000 fighters to support the
Alawites
The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isl ...
of the coastal region against their Kurdish rivals after the latter had killed several Alawites celebrating
Nowruz
Nowruz ( fa, نوروز, ; ), zh, 诺鲁孜节, ug, نەۋروز, ka, ნოვრუზ, ku, Newroz, he, נורוז, kk, Наурыз, ky, Нооруз, mn, Наурыз, ur, نوروز, tg, Наврӯз, tr, Nevruz, tk, Nowruz, ...
in the
Sahyun Fortress. One of the fortresses he captured during the ensuing conquest was Abu Qubays. In 1233
al-Aziz Muhammad
Al-Aziz Muhammad ibn Ghazi ( – 26 November 1236) was the Ayyubid Emir of Aleppo and the son of az-Zahir Ghazi and grandson of Saladin. His mother was Dayfa Khatun, the daughter of Saladin's brother al-Adil.
Al-Aziz was aged just three when ...
, the Ayyubid ruler of Aleppo and successor of
az-Zahir Ghazi
Al-Malik az-Zahir Ghiyath ud-din Ghazi ibn Yusuf ibn Ayyub (commonly known as az-Zahir Ghazi; 1172 – 8 October 1216) was the Ayyubid emir of Aleppo between 1186 and 1216. , ended the semi-autonomous rule of the Banu al-Daya who had since repossessed the fortress, forcing their lord Shihab al-Din ibn al-Daya to relinquish both Abu Qubays and Shaizar after the latter slighted al-Aziz by not adequately abiding a request for supplies. He was allowed to keep his properties Aleppo in return for not putting up resistance to the Ayyubid army. Damascus-born Arab geographer
al-Dimashqi The Arabic '' nisbah'' (attributive title) Al-Dimashqi ( ar, الدمشقي) denotes an origin from Damascus, Syria.
Al-Dimashqi may refer to:
* Al-Dimashqi (geographer): a medieval Arab geographer.
* Abu al-Fadl Ja'far ibn 'Ali al-Dimashqi: 12th- ...
noted in 1300, during
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
rule, that Abu Qubays was one of several fortresses held by the Ismailis and that it was part of the Province of
Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
.
[le Strange, 1890, p. 352.]
Ottoman era
The Levant was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1516 after Sultan
Selim I
Selim I ( ota, سليم الأول; tr, I. Selim; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute ( tr, links=no, Yavuz Sultan Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite las ...
's forces decisively defeated the
Mamluk Sultanate
The Mamluk Sultanate ( ar, سلطنة المماليك, translit=Salṭanat al-Mamālīk), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz (western Arabia) from the mid-13th to early 16t ...
at
Marj Dabiq. After entering Aleppo, Sultan Selim waged a military campaign against the
Alawites, summoning and executing 9,400 Alawite leaders and driving out the Alawite population from the coastal cities of
Latakia and
Jableh
)
, settlement_type = City
, motto =
, image_skyline = Jableh Collage.jpg
, imagesize = 250px
, image_caption = General view of city and port • Roman Amphitheater• A ...
. Unable to subdue the Alawites in the
an-Nusayriyah Mountains
The Coastal Mountain Range ( ar, سلسلة الجبال الساحلية ''Silsilat al-Jibāl as-Sāḥilīyah'') also called Al-Anṣariyyah is a mountain range in northwestern Syria running north–south, parallel to the coastal plain.Federal ...
, their heartland, he dispatched thousands of
Turkic tribes from
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
and
Khurasan to the settle the region, establishing some of them in several of the mountainous area's most strategic fortresses, including in Abu Qubays, which was referred to as ''Qartal''.
Selim's strategy ultimately failed in the long-term as many of these tribes, particularly the Shia Muslim Turks of Khurasan, assimilated with the Alawite population. The Turks who originally resided in Abu Qubays, and who are Alawites in the present day, later became known as "Qaratila," deriving their name from "Qartal."
[Moosa, 1987, p. 275.] In 1785 Abu Qubays's inhabitants were unable to pay their land tax and as a result, sold one-third of their farmland to a
Christian moneylender based in Hama, meeting the amount owed to the state treasury.
Architecture
The castle at Abu Qubays is currently in a ruinous state, but most of its remains strongly indicate the architectural features typical of
Isma'ili fortresses, namely small-sized and irregular masonry. It is circular in shape and consists of an exterior defensive wall with five towers, a small
keep for provisions and residence and numerous subterranean storage chambers. The interior storage area is made up of a number rooms, a vaulted chamber and the ruins of a tower. The castle itself, situated on an eastern slope of the an-Nusayriyah Mountains, is surrounded by olive trees and overlooks the
al-Ghab plain below.
References
Bibliography
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{{Ismaili castles
Archaeological sites in Hama Governorate
Castles in Syria
Populated places in al-Suqaylabiyah District
Castles of the Nizari Ismaili state
Alawite communities in Syria