Abu'l-Makarim Muslim ibn Qirwash ( ar, أبو المكارم مسلم بن قرواش) also known by the honorific title Sharaf al-Dawla (), was the
Uqaylid
The Uqaylid dynasty () was a Shia Arab dynasty with several lines that ruled in various parts of Al-Jazira, northern Syria and Iraq in the late tenth and eleventh centuries. The main line, centered in Mosul, ruled from 990 to 1096.
History
Rise ...
emir of
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...
and
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
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. He died in June 1085.
History
Muslim's father
Qirwash ibn Baraka, who was known by his honorific title Alam al-Din, was the Arab emir of Mosul who acknowledged the supremacy of the
Seljuks, although he later came into conflict with them and was temporarily expelled from Mosul. He accompanied the Mamluk soldier
Basasiri
Abuʾl-Ḥārith Arslān al-Muẓaffar al-Basāsīrī (died 15 January 1059) was a Turkic peoples, Turkish slave-soldier (''mamlūk'') who rose to become a military commander of the Buwayhid dynasty in Iraq (region), Iraq. When the Buwayhids were ...
when the latter took
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
at the end of 1058, but the Seljuks retook the city in the next year. Qirwash died in 1061, and was followed by his son, Muslim ibn Qirwash.
As Muslim was a
Shiite, he initially recognised the Caliph of Cairo but due to the growing power of the Seljuks accepted an alliance with Alp Arslan around the year 1066. His ties to the Seljuks were strengthened by a marriage to Safiyya, who was an aunt to the later Sultan
Malik-Shah, but he seems to have explored anyways an alliance with 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 ...
.
In 1077, he joined as Malik-Shah's vassal the sultan's brother emir
Tutush I campaign to capture Aleppo during the reign of
Sabiq ibn Mahmud
Abūʾl-Faḍāʾil Sābiq ibn Mahmūd ( ar, سابق أبوالفضائل بن محمود) was the Mirdasid emir of Aleppo from 1076–1080.
Rule
Following the death of Sabiq's older brother, the emir of Aleppo Nasr, the latter's influential ...
of the
Mirdasids
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 fro ...
. However, Muslim was personally fond of Sabiq, opposed a Seljuk takeover of Aleppo, and admonished the
Kilabi chiefs for inviting Turkish foreigners against their kinsman. Moreover, he persuaded the Kilab to defect from Tutush's army and had Waththab and Shabib reconcile with and join their brother Sabiq in Aleppo. Muslim informed Tutush that he was withdrawing from the siege, but before departing he entered Aleppo through Bab al-Iraq where he allowed his troops to sell the residents of Aleppo food and supplies. Tutush maintained the siege and had called for reinforcements from
Malik Shah I before Muslim's withdrawal. On his way back to Mosul, Muslim encountered the 1,000 Seljuk reinforcements at
Sinjar. After failing to persuade them to turn back, he sent Sabiq warnings of their presence. Sabiq sent for help from the Kilabi chief Abu Za'ida Muhammad ibn Za'ida who led a coalition of Arab tribesmen to ambush and rout the Seljuk reinforcements at
Wadi Butnan Dhahab River or Dhahab Valley ( ar, نهر الذهب or وادي الذهب ''Gold River'' or ''Gold Valley''), also in medieval times known as Wadi Butnan ( ar, وادي بطنان, Wadī Buṭnān) or Butnan Habib, is an intermittent river and va ...
, slaying most of them. This prompted Tutush to leave Aleppo.
In 1080, Tutush influenced Sabiq to cede the emirate to Muslim ibn Qirwash, in which its inhabitants had hopes that he could protect them from Seljuk raids. He also took
Harran
Harran (), historically known as Carrhae ( el, Kάρραι, Kárrhai), is a rural town and district of the Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Urfa and 20 kilometers from the border cr ...
from the
Numayrids
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 ...
in the following year. Soon, however, he ran into trouble with the Seljuks himself. He fought against Sultan Malik Shah I's forces and was defeated, but he was pardoned. After
Suleiman ibn Qutalmish had taken over
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 ...
in December 1084, Muslim demanded the tribute the
Philaretos Brachamios used to pay him but Suleiman refused this on grounds of being a Muslim himself.
In June 1085, he was killed fighting the Seljuks of Suleiman ibn Qutalmish after his Turkoman mercenaries deserted him and sided with Suleiman and his Arab forces fled.
Following Sharaf al-Dawla's death, his brother Ibrahim ibn Qirwash, who had previously been imprisoned, was released and declared as his successor. Ibrahim would eventually be succeeded by his nephew, Ali ibn Muslim.
Legacy
Muslim ibn Qirwash was regarded as the last strong Arab prince in northern
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, whose death resulted in the almost entire obliteration of the Arab
Bedouins
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arabs, Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert ...
and the dominance of the
Turcoman nomads.
Tomb
The alleged tomb of Muslim ibn Qirwash was the
Imam Dur Mausoleum
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in
Samarra
Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...
. However, the identity of the entombed is disputed. An inscription on the exterior states that the mausoleum is built in honour of Imam Muhammad al-Durri, an alleged son of the seventh
Shia Imam,
Musa al-Kadhim
Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kazim ( ar, مُوسَىٰ ٱبْن جَعْفَر ٱلْكَاظِم, Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar al-Kāẓim), also known as Abū al-Ḥasan, Abū ʿAbd Allāh or Abū Ibrāhīm, was the seventh Imam in Twelver Shia Islam, after hi ...
.
References
Bibliography
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{{Authority control
1085 deaths
11th-century Arabs
Uqaylid dynasty
Emirs of Mosul
Emirs of Aleppo
Iraqi Shia Muslims