Muhammad ibn Lubb ibn Musa (, k. outskirts of

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

, 898), was a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

who at different times held

and Larida, Mestre, 1998: p. 722, entry: "Muhammad ibn Llop" on the

Upper March The Upper March (; Spanish ''Marca Superior'') was an administrative and military division in northeastern al-Andalus, roughly corresponding to the Ebro valley and adjacent Mediterranean coast, from the 8th century to the early 11th century. It ...

Al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

Family

Muhammad was son of Lubb ibn Musa (and thus grandson of the famous Musa ibn Musa ibn Qasi), from the prominent Muwallad

Banu Qasi clan, of

Visigothic The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

or Hispano-Roman extraction. His mother was ʿAjub al-Balatuyya (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: عَجَب البَلاطيَّة). He had at least six sons, Lubb, Musa, Yusuf, Abd Allah, Yunus and Mutarrif.

Biography

When his father and his uncles rebelled against

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

Muhammad I of Córdoba, Muhammad ibn Lubb supported the emir leading an army that defeated his own uncle, Isma'il ibn Musa. In 882, he had already conquered Zaragoza, where attempted to rule independent of Córdoba

, but faced with constant pressure of the

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

Banu Tujib clan (), he was forced to sell Zaragoza to the emir by 885. Raimon, count of Pallars acted as intermediary in the transfer. After further family disputes, and with the ascendancy of Abd Allah to the throne of Córdoba, Muhammad's pact with the new emir led to his appointment as ''

wali The term ''wali'' is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God".John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); John ...

'' of Larida, contrarily to the pretensions that the ''wali'' of

Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...

, Muhammad al-Tawil. Muhammad ibn Lubb then ceded control of Larida to his son Lubb. In 897, Muhammad conquered Toledo, and in 898 he initiated a new

military campaign A military campaign is large-scale long-duration significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of interrelated military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war. The term derives from th ...

to recover Zaragoza, but he was killed during its siege, surprised by an enemy warrior while he was resting, on October 8. A. Cañada, 1980: p. 68-70 Muhammad was succeeded by his son Lubb, who continued his siege of Zaragoza. His son Yunus briefly controlled Monzón but was unable to hold it against Muhammad al-Tawil. Quarrels among Muhammad ibn Lubb's sons and grandchildren, along with pressure from the Kingdom of Pamplona to the north and the Emirate of Córdoba to the south would lead to the complete dismantling of Banu Qasi power throughout the

Ebro The Ebro (Spanish and Basque ; , , ) is a river of the north and northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain. It rises in Cantabria and flows , almost entirely in an east-southeast direction. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea, forming a de ...

valley.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Authority control Banu Qasi People from the Emirate of Córdoba Generals of the medieval Islamic world History of Catalonia Upper March 9th-century people from al-Andalus