Abūʾl-Murajjā Sālim ibn al-Mustafād al-Ḥamdānī (died 1034) was the commander of Aleppo's ''

ahdath The ''ahdath'' ( ar, الأحداث, al-aḥdāth) were local militias or irregular police found in Syria in the 10th to 12th centuries. The ''ahdath'' maintained order and protected cities from outside domination. Though some later writers ascri ...

'' (urban militia) during the reigns of 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 ...

emirs

Salih ibn Mirdas Abu Ali Salih ibn Mirdas ( ar, ابو علي صالح بن مرداس, Abū ʿAlī Ṣāliḥ ibn Mirdās), also known by his ''laqab'' (honorific epithet) Asad al-Dawla ('Lion of the State'), was the founder of the Mirdasid dynasty and emir of ...

(r. 1024/25–1029) and Nasr ibn Salih (r. 1029–1038). He was executed by the latter in 1034 for stirring a local Muslim uprising against Aleppo's vassalage to the Christian

Byzantine Empire 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 ...

Life

Salim ibn al-Mustafad was the son of a ''

ghulam Ghulam ( ar, غلام, ) is an Arabic word meaning ''servant'', ''assistant'', ''boy'', or ''youth''. It is used to describe young servants in paradise. It is also used to refer to slave-soldiers in the Abbasid, Ottoman, Safavid and to a lesser ...

'' (slave soldier; pl. ''ghilman'') of

Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī ( ar, علي بن أبو الهيجاء عبد الله بن حمدان بن الحارث التغلبي, 22 June 916 – 9 February 967), more commonly known ...

, the

Hamdanid The Hamdanid dynasty ( ar, الحمدانيون, al-Ḥamdāniyyūn) was a Twelver Shia Arab dynasty of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib Christian tribe of Mesopotamia and Eastern ...

emir of Aleppo in 945–967. Ibn al-Mustafad was a leader of the surviving Hamdanid-era ''ghilman'' when 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 ...

s directly ruled Aleppo in the early 1020s.Amabe 2016, p. 62. Though of foreign origins, Ibn al-Mustafad was assimilated into the Aleppine populace and resided in the al-Zajjajin (glassmakers) quarter where he likely cultivated close relationships with craftsmen, minor traders and laborers.Amabe 2016, p. 66. Ibn al-Mustafad defected to the Bedouin rebel

when the latter besieged Aleppo in 1024. Ibn al-Mustafad rallied the ''ghilman'' and local residents and opened the

Bab Qinnasrin Bab Qinnasrin ( ar, بَاب قِنَّسْرِيْن, Bāb Qinnasrīn), meaning the ''Gate of Qinnasrin'' is one of the gates of the medieval Old City of Aleppo, Old City of Aleppo in northern Syria. In its present form, it dates to 1256. Histo ...

gate to Salih's Kilabi forces on 18 January 1025. In turn, Salih guaranteed the residents' safety and appointed Ibn al-Mustafad as ''ra'is al-balad'' (municipal chief) and ''muqaddam al-ahdath'' (commander of the local militia). The ''

'' consisted of young armed men from Aleppo's lower and middle-class neighborhoods. Salih then entrusted Ibn al-Mustafad and Sulayman ibn Tawq with overseeing the siege of the

Aleppo Citadel The Citadel of Aleppo ( ar, قلعة حلب, Qalʿat Ḥalab) is a large medieval fortified palace in the centre of the old city of Aleppo, northern Syria. It is considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world. Usage ...

where the Fatimid garrison was holed up. The latter surrendered on 30 June and all of Aleppo came under Salih's

emirate. After Salih died, his sons Nasr and Thimal succeeded him, until the former seized complete control of Aleppo in 1030 following the Mirdasid victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Azaz. Ibn al-Mustafad remained in charge of the ''ahdath'', but he opposed Nasr's move to make the Emirate of Aleppo a formal vassal of the Byzantine Empire in 1031. He stirred up the city's poor and middle class Muslims to protest the alliance with Byzantium,Bianquis 1993, p. 117. prompting the Byzantine governor of

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� ...

to demand Nasr execute Ibn al-Mustafad. Accordingly, he was captured and executed in 1034. It is not apparent in contemporary sources if anyone succeeded Ibn al-Mustafad as commander of the ''ahdath''.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{refend 1034 deaths 11th-century executions Mirdasid emirate of Aleppo