Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Hatim al-Muhallabi () (died late 811 or early 812) was an Abbasid governor of

al-Ahwaz Ahvaz (; ) is a city in the Central District of Ahvaz County, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is home to Persians, Arabs and other groups such as Qashqai and Kurds. Languages spoke ...

(southeastern

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

) for the

Abbasid dynasty The Abbasid dynasty or Abbasids () were an Arab dynasty that ruled the Abbasid Caliphate between 750 and 1258. They were from the Qurayshi Hashimid clan of Banu Abbas, descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The Abbasid Caliphate is divid ...

during the caliphate of

al-Amin Abū Mūsā Muḥammad bin Hārūn al-Amīn (; April 787 – 24/25 September 813), better known by just his laqab of al-Amīn (), was the sixth Abbasid caliph from 809 to 813. Al-Amin succeeded his father, Harun al-Rashid, in 809 and ruled unt ...

. He was killed in the course of the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

between al-Amin and

al-Ma'mun Abū al-ʿAbbās Abd Allāh ibn Hārūn al-Maʾmūn (; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name al-Ma'mun (), was the seventh Abbasid caliph, who reigned from 813 until his death in 833. His leadership was marked by t ...

while defending al-Ahwaz against the army of

Tahir ibn al-Husayn Ṭāhir ibn Ḥusayn (, ''Tahir bin al-Husayn''), also known as Dhul-Yamīnayn (, "the ambidextrous"), and al-Aʿwar (, "the one-eyed"), was a general and governor during the Abbasid Caliphate. Specifically, he served under al-Ma'mun during the ...

Career

Muhammad was a member of the prominent

Muhallabid The Muhallabids () or the Muhallabid dynasty were an Arab family who became prominent in the middle Umayyad Caliphate and reached its greatest eminence during the early Abbasids, when members of the family ruled Basra and Ifriqiya. The founders of ...

family, being a great-great-grandson of the eponymous al-Muhallab. At an unspecified date, he was appointed to the governorship of al-Ahwaz by the caliph al-Amin. When civil war broke out in early 811 between al-Amin, who was centered in

, and his brother al-Ma'mun, who was in

Khurasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West Asia, West and Central Asia that encompasses wes ...

, he remained loyal to al-Amin and defended al-Ahwaz for him. When the war began, the fighting between the two sides did not initially take place near al-Ahwaz, but by the autumn of 811 al-Ma'mun's general Tahir had advanced from Khurasan to the district of

Hulwan Hulwan () was an ancient town on the Zagros Mountains in western Iran, located on the entrance of the Paytak Pass, nowadays identified with the town of Sarpol-e Zahab. History Later Arab tradition, as recorded by al-Tabari, considered the town ...

at the edge of northern Iraq. Soon after this, Muhammad received news that an army was marching from Hulwan to take al-Ahwaz; in response, he gathered his own forces and advanced north to 'Askar Mukram. As the enemy forces approached, however, he grew nervous and decided to return to al-Ahwaz. He therefore turned around and headed back to the city, with Tahir's men following close behind him. As soon as Muhammad arrived at al-Ahwaz, he entered the city and prepared his men for combat. They quickly encountered Tahir's advance forces, who attacked them with stones and arrows. A fierce battle between the two sides followed, and soon many of Muhammad's soldiers began to flee. When Muhammad saw that he was losing the fight, he and several of his freedmen dismounted, hamstrung their horses and charged at Tahir's men, killing many of them. In the midst of the charge, however, Muhammad was hit by a spear and fell; a group of enemy soldiers then rushed him and struck him until he was dead. Tahir therefore won the battle and took al-Ahwaz.Crone, p. 135; al-Tabari, pp. 116-8; al-Ya'qubi, p. 534

Notes

References

* *{{The History of al-Tabari, volume=31 *Al-Ya'qubi, Ahmad ibn Abu Ya'qub. ''Historiae, Vol. 2.'' Ed. M. Th. Houtsma. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1883. Governors of the Abbasid Caliphate 810s deaths Medieval Arabs killed in battle Iraq under the Abbasid Caliphate Muhallabids Year of birth unknown People of the Fourth Fitna 9th-century Arab people