Ahmad ibn Tughan al-Ujayfi () was the governor of Tarsus,

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

, and the

Abbasid Caliphate 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 ...

's borderlands in

Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...

() for the semi-autonomous

Tulunid dynasty The Tulunids (), were a Mamluk dynasty of Turkic origin who were the first independent dynasty to rule Egypt, as well as much of Syria, since the Ptolemaic dynasty. They were independent from 868, when they broke away from the central authority ...

from 891 to 896.

Life

Ahmad ibn Tughan al-Ujayfi appears for the first time in 891, during the governorship of

Yazaman al-Khadim Yazaman or Yazman, surnamed al-Khadim ("the eunuch") (died 23 October 891) was governor of Tarsus, Mersin, Tarsus for the Abbasids and chief military leader in the Islam, Muslim borderlands with the Byzantine Empire in Cilicia (the ) from 882 to his ...

in Tarsus. In the previous year, Yazaman had acknowledged the suzerainty of the

Tulunid The Tulunids (), were a Mamluk dynasty of Turkic peoples, Turkic origin who were the first independent dynasty to rule Egypt in the Middle Ages, Egypt, as well as much of Bilad al-Sham, Syria, since the Ptolemaic dynasty. They were independent f ...

ruler

Khumarawayh Abu 'l-Jaysh Khumārawayh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn ( ar, أبو الجيش خمارويه بن أحمد بن طولون; 864 – 18 January 896) was a son of the founder of the Tulunid dynasty, Ahmad ibn Tulun. His father, the autonomous ruler ...

against that of 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 ...

central government under the regent

al-Muwaffaq Abu Ahmad Talha ibn Ja'far ( ar, أبو أحمد طلحة بن جعفر}; 29 November 843 – 2 June 891), better known by his as Al-Muwaffaq Billah (), was an Abbasid prince and military leader, who acted as the ''de facto'' regent of the Abba ...

. According to

al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...

, Ahmad arrived at Tarsus on 4 October 891 and took part in the summer expedition (''ṣā’ifa'') against the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

border fortress of Salandu (Selinus/Traianopolis), where Yazaman was mortally wounded, dying on the next day (23 October). According to

Ibn al-Athir Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab or Kurdish historian a ...

, "Ibn Ujayf" (Ahmad) succeeded Yazaman as governor of Tarsus and was confirmed by Khumarawayh, although a certain Ibn Abi Isa, who was also a commander in the expedition against Salandu, may have held the post briefly as an interim governor. Soon after, however, he was replaced as governor of Tarsus by Muhammad ibn Musa al-A'raj. The latter did not remain in the post for long, as he was deposed and seized in August 892 in an uprising of the populace of Tarsus, angry at a Tulunid attempt to imprison the local magnate Raghib and confiscate his property. Khumarawayh was forced to back down, and sent Raghib back to the city, along with Ahmad, who was once more named its governor. They arrived in the city on 7 November 892. S. M. Stern suggests that perhaps the "al-Ujayfi" or "Ibn Ujayf" who appears as governor of Tarsus during this period was a different person from Ahmad ibn Tughan, who may have been the governor of the wider borderlands rather than Tarsus alone. Modern literature however generally considers them to have been the same person. In September 893, Ahmad al-Ujayfi along with Ahmad ibn Abba and

Badr al-Hammami Badr ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Ḥammāmī () also known as Badr al-Kabīr ("Badr the Elder"), was a general who served the Tulunids and later the Abbasids. Life Of Greek origin, Badr was originally a slave of the founder of the Tulunid regime, Ahmad ib ...

led an expedition against the Byzantines, reaching as far as al-Balaqsun (unidentified, possibly

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionians, Ionian and Dorians, Dorian Greeks colonized the west of i ...

n or

Lycia Lycia (Lycian language, Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean ...

Telmessos Telmessos or Telmessus ( Hittite: 𒆪𒉿𒆷𒉺𒀸𒊭 ''Kuwalapašša'', Lycian: 𐊗𐊁𐊍𐊁𐊂𐊁𐊛𐊆 ''Telebehi'', grc, Τελμησσός), also Telmissus ( grc, Τελμισσός), later Anastasiopolis ( grc, Αναστ� ...

). In September 896, he supervised the

prisoner exchange A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conventions Under the Geneva Convent ...

with the Byzantines on the

Lamos River The Limonlu River ( grc, Λάμος ''Lamos''; Latin: ''Lamus''), also known as ''Gökler Deresi'', is a river of ancient Cilicia, now in Mersin Province, Turkey. The river rises at Yüğlük Dağı in the Taurus mountains and flows through deep ...

, which began on 16 September and lasted for twelve days, leading to the ransoming of 2,504 Muslim men, women and children according to al-Tabari, while

al-Mas'udi Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus ...

variously numbers the exchanged prisoners as 2,495 or 3,000. At this time, al-Mas'udi names Ahmad as "commander of the Syrian borderlands and of

". In October, after the exchange was concluded, Ahmad left Tarsus by sea, leaving the Byzantine renegade

Damian of Tarsus Damian of Tarsus (Greek: Δαμιανός ό Ταρσεύς, ; died 924), surnamed Ghulam Yazman (" slave/page of Yazman"), was a Byzantine Greek convert to Islam, governor of Tarsus in 896–897 and one of the main leaders of naval raids against ...

(a former servant of Yazaman) in his place as governor of Tarsus. Later, in March/April 897, he sent Yusuf ibn al-Baghimardi to Tarsus, either to replace or to reinforce Damian.

References

Sources

* * * * {{s-end 9th-century births Tulunid governors Abbasid governors of Tarsus Abbasid people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Year of death unknown