Muflih, surnamed al-Aswad ("the Black") and al-Khadim ("the servant"), was the chief court eunuch under the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

caliph

al-Muqtadir Abū’l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Al-Mu'tadid, Aḥmad ibn Al-Muwaffaq, Ṭalḥa ibn Al-Mutawakkil, Jaʿfar ibn al-Mu'tasim, Muḥammad ibn Harun al-Rashid, Hārūn Al-Muqtadir bi'Llāh () (895 – 31 October 932 AD), better known by his regnal name a ...

(). By 922/3 he had risen to a position of great influence at court, and supported the ousting of the

vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

Hamid ibn al-Abbas Hamid ibn al-Abbas was an Abbasid magnate who served as vizier of Caliph al-Muqtadir in 918–923. For most of that period, real power lay in the hands of his deputy, Ali ibn Isa ibn al-Jarrah, while Hamid tended to his tax farming estates at Wasi ...

, whom he disliked, in favour of

Ali ibn al-Furat Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Musa ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Furat (; 855 – 18 July 924) was a senior official of the Abbasid Caliphate who served three times as vizier under Caliph al-Muqtadir. Ali emerged into prominence as an able fiscal admini ...

. He intervened, however, to save Hamid's deputy

Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā ibn Dā'ūd ibn al-Jarrāḥ (Dayr Qunna, 859 – Baghdad, 1 August 946), was an official of the court of the Abbasid Caliphate. Descended from a family with long history of service in the Abbasid government, he rose to power i ...

from the tortures inflicted on him by Ibn al-Furat's son al-Muhassin. In September–October 925 he supervised, along with

Bushra al-Thamali Bashir or Bushra al-Thamali () was an Abbasid military commander and governor (''wali'' or ''amir'') of Tarsus and the borderlands with the Byzantine Empire in Cilicia (). Life Bushra was a retainer (''ghulam'') of the long-time governor of Tarsu ...

, deputy of the governor of the '' Thughur''

Thamal al-Dulafi Thamal al-Dulafi (; ) was an Abbasid military commander and longtime governor (''wali'' or ''amir'') of Tarsus and the borderlands with the Byzantine Empire in Cilicia (). A former Dulafid slave, he commanded several successful raiding expedition ...

, that year's

prisoner exchange A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoner of war, prisoners of war, spy, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, cadaver, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conven ...

with the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

. The exchange, known as ''fidāʾ Mufliḥ'' in the Arab sources, involved the release of almost 4,000 Muslim men and women from captivity. According to al-Suli, Muflih was appointed as governor of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

in 935, during the caliphate of

al-Radi Abu'l-Abbas Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Muqtadir (; 1 January 909 – 23 December 940), usually simply known by his regnal name al-Radi bi'llah (), was the twentieth Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from 934 to his death. He died on 23 Decemb ...

References

Sources

* * * * {{Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit , volume = online Eunuchs from the Abbasid Caliphate Courtiers from the Abbasid Caliphate People of African descent 10th-century African people Abbasid people of the Arab–Byzantine wars 10th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate