Nasir al-Dawla Abu Muhammad al-Husayn ibn Hamdan () was a descendant of the Hamdanid dynasty who became a general of the

Fatimid Caliphate 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 ...

, ruing Egypt as a ''de facto'' dictator in 1071–1073. Abu Muhammad al-Husayn was a grandson of

Abu Abdallah al-Husayn ibn Nasir al-Dawla Abu Abdallah al-Husayn ibn Nasir al-Dawla was a Hamdanid prince, who along with his brother Ibrahim was the last Hamdanid ruler of Mosul in 989–990. After his defeat at the hand of the Marwanid Kurds and the takeover of Mosul by the Uqaylids, he ...

, a Hamdanid prince who had fled to the

when

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 ...

had been taken over by the Uqaylid dynasty in 990. He served as

governor of Damascus This is a list of rulers of Damascus from ancient times to the present. :''General context: History of Damascus''. Aram Damascus * Rezon I (c. 950 BC) *Tabrimmon *Ben-Hadad I (c. 885 BCE–c. 865 BC) *Hadadezer (c. 865 BC–c. 842 BC) *Hazael (c. ...

from 1041 to 1048, succeeding

Anushtakin al-Dizbari Sharaf al-Maʿālī Abu Manṣūr Anūshtakīn al-Dizbarī (died January 1042) was a Fatimid statesman and general who became the most powerful Fatimid governor of Syria. Under his Damascus-based administration, all of Syria was united under a sing ...

. He played a leading role in the civil war of 1067 to 1073 between the Fatimids'

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

and

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

n troops as the leader of the former. In this struggle, he requested the assistance of the Seljuks and even tried to abolish the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir and restore allegiance to the

Abbasids 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 succeeded in becoming master of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

and reduced al-Mustansir to a powerless puppet, while his Turks plundered the palace and the treasury. His increasingly tyrannical regime led to a split and he was ousted for a time, but was able to regain control of Cairo in 1071/2. His rule was ended with the murder of himself and his family in March/April 1073. The anarchic conditions in the country continued until al-Mustansir called upon the governor of

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, Badr al-Jamali, for aid in late 1073.

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nasir al-Dawla ibn Hamdan 1073 deaths Year of birth unknown Generals of the Fatimid Caliphate Hamdanid dynasty Rebellions against the Fatimid Caliphate Assassinated military personnel Fatimid governors of Damascus 11th-century people from the Fatimid Caliphate 11th-century Arabs