Abu Salama Mahmud ibn Nasr ibn Salih ar, محمود بن نصر بن صالح المرداسي, Abū Salama Maḥmūd ibn Naṣr ibn Ṣāliḥ, also known by his ''

laqab Arabic language names have historically been based on a long naming system. Many people from the Arabic-speaking and also Muslim countries have not had given/ middle/family names but rather a chain of names. This system remains in use throughout ...

'' (honorific epithet) Rashid al-Dawla, was the

Mirdasid The Mirdasid dynasty ( ar, المرداسيون, al-Mirdāsiyyīn), also called the Banu Mirdas, was an Arab dynasty which ruled an Aleppo-based emirate in northern Syria and the western Jazira ( Upper Mesopotamia) more or less continuously f ...

emir of

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

from 1060 to 1061 and again from 1065 until his death. He was the son of

Shibl al-Dawla Nasr Abu Kamil Nasr ibn Salih ibn Mirdas () (died 22 May 1038), also known by his ''laqab'' (honorific epithet) of Shibl al-Dawla ('Lion cub of the Dynasty'), was the second Mirdasid emir of Aleppo, ruling between 1029/1030 until his death. He was the ...

and the

Numayrid The Numayrids () were an Arab dynasty based in Diyar Mudar (western Upper Mesopotamia). They were emirs (princes) of their namesake tribe, the Banu Numayr. The senior branch of the dynasty, founded by Waththab ibn Sabiq in 990, ruled the Euph ...

princess, Mani'a al-Sayyida al-Alawiyya.

First reign

He rose to power as a young prince when the Kilab tribe entrusted him and his cousin, Mani, to regain possession of Aleppo after it was given to the

Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, 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 ea ...

by his uncle, Thimal. Their first attempt proved unsuccessful; however, in 1060 they succeeded. In 1061, Mahmud's first reign came to an end when Thimal was given Aleppo, in an agreement imposed by the Kilab shaykhs.

Second reign

After Thimal's death in late 1062, Mahmud opposed Thimal's nomination of Atiyya (Thimal's brother) as his successor. Clashes followed between Mahmud and his uncle; Atiyya decided to call 1,000 Turcoman archers from

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...

to aid him—the first free Turks to enter Syria. Mahmud was forced into a truce. After Atiyya's supporters pillaged the Turcoman camp, their chief,

Ibn Khan Hārūn ibn Malik al-Turk, better known as Ibn Khān (died 1070), was the leader of the first recorded group of free Turkmen troops to enter Syria. Previous groups of Turks that had been present in Syria were slave soldiers and pages and their des ...

, decided to serve Mahmud—which proved decisive. After a victory at Marj Dabiq, Mahmud was able to take possession of Aleppo, in August 1065, following a three-month siege. The Kilab principality was then divided between Mahmud and his uncle into western (including Aleppo) and eastern (including

Raqqa Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish languages, Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. T ...

) domains, respectively. In 1070 Mahmud appealed to

Alp Arslan Alp Arslan was the second Sultan of the Seljuk Empire and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty. He greatly expanded the Seljuk territory and consolidated his power, defeating rivals to the south and northwest, and his v ...

, the Seljuk Sultan, to control the Turcomans who were constantly increasing in number and were creating disorder in and around Aleppo. To gain Alp Arslan's support Mahmud abandoned the Shia adhan and pro-Fatimid

khutbah ''Khutbah'' ( ar, خطبة ''khuṭbah'', tr, hutbe) serves as the primary formal occasion for public preaching in the Islamic tradition. Such sermons occur regularly, as prescribed by the teachings of all legal schools. The Islamic traditio ...

and switched his allegiance from

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

Islam and to 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 ...

caliph and Alp Arslan. After pledging allegiance to him, Mahmud was entrusted by Alp Arslan to drive the Fatimids out of central Syria—the first step in Alp Arslan's plan of destroying 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- ...

state. In May 1071 Mahmud conquered

Baalbek Baalbek (; ar, بَعْلَبَكّ, Baʿlabakk, Syriac-Aramaic: ܒܥܠܒܟ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In Greek and Roman ...

. According to

Ibn al-Adim Kamāl al-Dīn Abū ʾl-Ḳāsim ʿUmar ibn Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allāh Ibn al-ʿAdīm (1192–1262; ) was an Arab biographer and historian from Aleppo. He is best known for his work ''Bughyat al-Talab fī Tārīkh Ḥalab'' (; ''Everything Desirable a ...

, a 13th-century Arab biographer and historian, the Byzantine emperor

Romanos IV Diogenes Romanos IV Diogenes (Greek: Ρωμανός Διογένης), Latinized as Romanus IV Diogenes, was a member of the Byzantine military aristocracy who, after his marriage to the widowed empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa, was crowned Byzantine Em ...

blamed the raids of Mahmud into Byzantine territory for his interventions in Muslim territories which eventually led to his defeat and capture in the

Battle of Manzikert The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, theme of Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and th ...

. Al-Adim's account was the first "to attempt an explanation for the Byzantine campaign". Romanos was also presumed to be unhappy about Mahmud's conversion to Sunni Islam and allegiance to the rising power of the Seljuks. Mahmud died in 1075, having appointed his youngest son, Shabib, as his successor. However, his oldest son, Nasr, whose mother was the daughter of the Buyid emir

Jalal al-Dawla Abu Tahir Firuz Khusrau ( fa, ابوطاهر فیروزخسرو), better known by his ''laqab'' of Jalal al-Dawla (993 or 994 – March 1044), was the Buyid amir of Iraq (1027–1044). He was the son of Baha' al-Dawla. Biography In 1012 Jalal A ...

, was recognised as his successor.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahmoud, Rashid al-Dawla Mirdasid emirs of Aleppo Converts to Sunni Islam from Shia Islam 1075 deaths Syrian Sunni Muslims Arab people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Year of birth missing 11th-century Arabs