Abu'l-Dhawwād Muḥammad ibn al-Musayyab was the first

Emir of Mosul This is a list of the rulers of the Iraqi city of Mosul. Umayyad governors * Muhammad ibn Marwan (ca. 685–705) * Yusuf ibn Yahya ibn al-Hakam (ca. 685–705) * Sa'id ibn Abd al-Malik (ca. 685–705) * Yahya ibn Yahya al-Ghassani (719–720) * ...

from the

Uqaylid dynasty 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 Ri ...

, from –991/2.

Life

Muhammad and the Uqaylid dynasty belonged to the

Banu Uqayl Banu Uqayl ( ar, بنو عُـقَـيـْل) are an ancient Arab tribe that played an important role in the history of eastern Arabia and Iraq. They belonged to the Banu Ka'b branch of the large Banu 'Amir confederation. The Banu 'Amir conf ...

, a northern Arab tribe who were originally clients of 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 ...

emirs 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 ...

. The

Buyids The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Coup ...

captured

and much of

Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has be ...

from the Hamdanids in the late 970s. This development resulted in the strengthening of the position of the Uqayl ruling family, as the Buyid emir

Adud al-Dawla Fannā (Panāh) Khusraw ( fa, پناه خسرو), better known by his laqab of ʿAḍud al-Dawla ( ar, عضد الدولة, "Pillar of the bbasidDynasty") (September 24, 936 – March 26, 983) was an emir of the Buyid dynasty, ruling fro ...

gave them his backing and made them responsible for maintaining discipline among the tribe. In the 980s, Buyid rule was challenged by the Kurdish chieftain Badh ibn Dustak. Left without support from Baghdad, the local Buyid governor turned to the Uqayl and the

Banu Numayr 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 Eu ...

for assistance. This made the Arab tribes even more powerful, and in 989, the Buyid emir

Baha al-Dawla Abu Nasr Firuz Kharshadh ( ar, أبو نصر فيروز خوارشاذ; died December 22, 1012), better known by his ''laqab'' of Baha al-Dawla ( ar, بهاء الدوله, Bahaʾ al-Dawla, Splendour of the State) was the Buyid amir of Iraq (988– ...

sent the Hamdanid brothers

Abu Tahir Ibrahim Abu or ABU may refer to: Places * Abu (volcano), a volcano on the island of Honshū in Japan * Abu, Yamaguchi, a town in Japan * Ahmadu Bello University, a university located in Zaria, Nigeria * Atlantic Baptist University, a Christian university ...

and Abu Abdallah al-Husayn to Mosul, in the hope that their local ties would mobilize opposition against Badh, and keep the Arab tribes reined in. The Hamdanids were indeed received with enthusiasm by the local population, to such a degree that they rose in revolt and expelled the Buyid governor from Mosul. The Uqayl backed the Hamdanids, and received control of the towns of

Jazirat ibn Umar Cizre (; ar, جَزِيْرَة ٱبْن عُمَر, Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar, or ''Madinat al-Jazira'', he, גזירא, Gzira, ku, Cizîr, ''Cizîra Botan'', or ''Cizîre'', syr, ܓܙܪܬܐ ܕܒܪ ܥܘܡܪ, Gāzartā,) is a city in the Cizre Dis ...

Nisibis Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...

, and Balad (north of Mosul), in exchange. Exploiting the turmoil, Badh attacked Mosul in the next year, but was defeated and killed by the numerically inferior Uqayl forces in battle near Balad. A Hamdanid counter-offensive followed in the region of Amida, but failed to score any success. Indeed, al-Husayn was taken prisoner, finding refuge with the

Fatimids 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 ...

after his release, while Ibrahim fled to Uqaylid-held Nisibis, where Muhammad took him and his son Ali prisoner and killed them. At the same time, Muhammad also sidelined his principal Bedouin rival, the leader of the Banu Numayr, and secured control of Mosul and its province. In 991/2, however, the Uqayl were defeated by a Buyid army under

Abu Ja'far al-Hajjaj Abu Ja'far al-Hajjaj ibn Ustadh Hurmuz was a Buyid general and governor. Hajjaj's father had served the Buyid emir Adud al-Dawla as a high official, while his brother Hasan initially served Adud al-Dawla's son Samsam al-Dawla. Hajjaj himself ente ...

, and in a peace concluded in the next year, they had to again recognize Buyid suzerainty. They kept control of districts around Mosul, but the city itself became the seat of al-Hajjaj as Buyid governor and abandon Mosul. Muhammad died in 996, and a succession struggle followed between his brothers,

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...

and al-Muqallad, resulting in a shared authority and weakening the Uqaylid emirate, although during this time, the Buyids were evicted from Mosul altogether.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muqallad ibn Musayyab 10th-century births 996 deaths 10th-century Arabs Uqaylid dynasty Emirs of Mosul