Muflih al-Saji () was a Muslim commander and governor of Adharbayjan (

Iranian Azerbaijan Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan ( fa, آذربایجان, ''Āzarbāijān'' ; az-Arab, آذربایجان, ''Āzerbāyjān'' ), also known as Iranian Azerbaijan, is a historical region in northwestern Iran that borders Iraq, Turkey, the Nakhchivan ...

) from c. 929 to c. 935.

Biography

As his ''

nisba The Arabic word nisba (; also transcribed as ''nisbah'' or ''nisbat'') may refer to: * Nisba, a suffix used to form adjectives in Arabic grammar, or the adjective resulting from this formation **comparatively, in Afro-Asiatic: see Afroasiatic_lang ...

'' indicates, he was a military slave of the Sajid ruler of Adharbayjan, Yusuf ibn Abi'l-Saj. After Yusuf died in 928, he was succeeded briefly as ruler by his nephew, and then by Wasif al-Shirvani in 929 as governor of Adharbayjan for 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 ...

. He in turn was followed, likely in the same year, by Muflih. Muflih is first mentioned by

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 ...

in office in 931, and held the post at least until 935, when the last coins struck in his name appear. After him the province was taken over by the

Khariji The Kharijites (, singular ), also called al-Shurat (), were an Islamic sect which emerged during the First Fitna (656–661). The first Kharijites were supporters of Ali who rebelled against his acceptance of arbitration talks to settle the ...

Daysam ibn Ibrahim, likewise a former officer of Yusuf ibn Abi'l-Saj, in 937/8. In 929, Muflih defeated 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 ...

Domestic of the Schools The office of the Domestic of the Schools ( gr, δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν, domestikos tōn scholōn) was a senior military post of the Byzantine Empire, extant from the 8th century until at least the early 14th century. Originally ...

John Kourkouas John Kourkouas ( gr, Ἰωάννης Κουρκούας, Ioannes Kourkouas, ), also transliterated as Kurkuas or Curcuas, was one of the most important generals of the Byzantine Empire. His success in battles against the Muslim states in the Ea ...

, in battle. The victorious Muflih then pursued the Byzantines into their own territory. In 931, the Byzantines were engaged in southern Armenia, aiding the ruler of

Vaspurakan Vaspurakan (, Western Armenian pronunciation: ''Vasbouragan'') was the eighth province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, which later became an independent kingdom during the Middle Ages, centered on Lake Van. Located in what is now southeaster ...

, Gagik I, who had rallied the local Armenian princes and allied himself with the Byzantines against the local Muslim emirates; the Christian forces raided the

Kaysite The Kaysite dynasty () was a Muslim Arab dynasty that ruled an emirate centered in Manzikert from c. 860 until 964. Their state was the most powerful Arab amirate in Armenia after the collapse of the ''ostikan''ate of Arminiya in the late 9t ...

emirate and razed Khliat and

Berkri Muradiye ( ku, Bêgirî, hy, Բերկրի, translit=Berkri) is a town and district in the Van Province of Turkey. History The tenth-century Byzantine text '' De Administrando Imperio'' mentions "Perkri" belonging to King Ashot I Bagratuni at t ...

to the ground, before marching into

Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the Upland and lowland, uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, ...

and capturing

Samosata Samsat ( ku, Samîsad), formerly Samosata ( grc, Σαμόσατα) is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.Shirvan Shirvan (from fa, شروان, translit=Shirvān; az, Şirvan; Tat: ''Şirvan''), also spelled as Sharvān, Shirwan, Shervan, Sherwan and Šervān, is a historical Iranian region in the eastern Caucasus, known by this name in both pre-Islam ...

and sought refuge with the local autonomous ruler, Abu Tahir Yazid, but the latter handed him over to Daysam to avoid trouble.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{s-end 10th-century Arabs Ghilman Azerbaijan under the Abbasid Caliphate People of the Sajid dynasty Abbasid people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Governors of the Abbasid Caliphate