Quṭb al-Dawla Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Jaʾfar ibn Fallāh () () was a

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a 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, Muh ...

commander and governor in the service of Caliph

al-Hakim Hakim may refer to: * Al-Ḥakīm ( Arabic: الحكيم), one of the names of God in Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around th ...

().

Life

Ali was a son of

Ja'far ibn Falah Ja'far ibn Fallah () or ibn Falah was a general in the service of the Fatimid Caliphate. He led the first Fatimid attempt to conquer Syria in 970–971, but his attack on Byzantine-held Antioch was repulsed, and he lost his life in June 971 fighting ...

, a prominent Kutami Berber general. Ali succeeded his brother Sulayman, a general who had served governor of Damascus in the late 10th century, as head of the family. After the death of Sulayman's successor as governor of Damascus, the Berber commander Jaysh ibn al-Samsama, in 1000, Ali became governor. Ali returned to Egypt around 1005 or before. There, he faced a nomadic Arab–Berber army led by the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

leader

Abu Rakwa Abū Rakwa al-Walīd ibn Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik () (died 20 March 1007) was an Umayyad pretender who arrived in Barqa from al-Andalus in 1005 and waged war on the Fatimid Caliphate with the support of the Banu Qurra. After taking the city and d ...

. The latter defeated Ali at

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9. ...

and news of his defeat to Abu Rakwa's nomads caused panic in

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 met ...

. Abu Rakwa skipped Cairo to raid the

Fayyum Faiyum ( ar, الفيوم ' , borrowed from cop, ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ or Ⲫⲓⲱⲙ ' from egy, pꜣ ym "the Sea, Lake") is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum ...

oasis to the south, where he was defeated by a Fatimid army under

al-Fadl ibn Salih Al-Faḍl ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās ( ar, الفضل بن صالح بن علي بن عبد الله العباسي) (740Tabari, Hillenbrand, 1989, p.55.–789) was the Abbasid governor of a number of different pr ...

. Ali most likely is the person credited in an inscription found above the mosque of

Salamiyah A full view of Shmemis (spring 1995) Salamieh ( ar, سلمية ') is a city and district in western Syria, in the Hama Governorate. It is located southeast of Hama, northeast of Homs. The city is nicknamed the "mother of Cairo" because it was ...

in central Syria for erecting a mausoleum for one of the Fatimids' "hidden" imams

Abd Allah Abd Allah ( ar, عبدالله, translit=ʻAbd Allāh), also spelled Abdallah, Abdellah, Abdollah, Abdullah and many others, is an Arabic name meaning "Servant of God". It is built from the Arabic words '' abd'' () and ''Allāh'' (). Although the ...

. Ali had captured Salamiyah for the Fatimids and likely built the mausoleum in 1009. It was later repaired by the local chief

Khalaf ibn Mula'ib Sayf al-Dawla Khalaf ibn Mulāʿib al-Ashhabī al-Kilābī ( ar, سيف الدولة خلف بن ملاعب الأشهبي الكلابي; died 3 February 1106) was semi-independent emir of Homs and Apamea between 1082 and 1090. He was later resto ...

in 1088. In July 1013 the Fatimid caliph

bestowed the title ''Qutb al-Dawla'' (Axis of the State) on Ali and appointed him at the head of a 24,000-strong, Kutami army to rein in the

Jarrahids The Jarrahids () (also known as Banu al-Jarrah) were an Arab dynasty that intermittently ruled Palestine and controlled Transjordan and northern Arabia in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. They were described by historian Marius Canard ...

, a Bedouin tribe which controlled

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 J ...

. Ali entered Palestine's capital

Ramla Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was ...

, and the sons of the Jarrahid chieftain

Mufarrij ibn Daghfal Mufarrij ibn Daghfal ibn al-Jarrah al-Tayyi (), in some sources erroneously called Daghfal ibn Mufarrij, was an emir of the Jarrahid family and leader of the Tayy tribe. Mufarrij was engaged in repeated rebellions against the Fatimid Caliphate, wh ...

, Ali and Mahmud, announced their loyalty to al-Hakim. Mufarrij, meanwhile, was poisoned and killed by his secretary on the order of al-Hakim, who afterward executed the secretary. According to the historian

Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh Nigel Kennedy (born 22 October 1947) is a British medieval historian and academic. He specialises in the history of the early Islamic Middle East, Muslim Iberia and the Crusades. From 1997 to 2007, he was Professor of Middle Eastern Histo ...

, Ali was al-Hakim's "most trusted commander ... the great political survivor of the reign," a period in which several high-ranking commanders and officials were executed by al-Hakim. Ali died shortly before al-Hakim, , in a riding accident. Ali's son Safiyy al-Dawla Muhammad served as the Fatimid governor of Aleppo in 1022–1023.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *{{cite book, last1=Zakkar, first1=Suhayl, title=The Emirate of Aleppo: 1004–1094, date=1971, publisher=Dar al-Amanah, location=Aleppo, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbltAAAAMAAJ 11th-century Berber people Fatimid governors of Damascus Generals of the Fatimid Caliphate Kutama 11th-century Syrian people