Muzaffar ibn Kaydar () was a ninth-century governor of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

for the

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

Career

Muzaffar was initially appointed to head the security (''

shurta ''Shurṭa'' () is the common Arabic term for police. Its literal meaning is that of a "picked" or elite force. The ''shurṭa'' or police force were established in the early days of the Caliphate, perhaps as early as the caliphate of Uthman (644 ...

h'') of Egypt by his father

Kaydar Nasr ibn 'Abdallah Nasr ibn Abdallah, known as Kaydar (; '' nisbah'' given variously as al-Safadi الصفدي or al-Sughdi الصغدي) was a governor of Egypt for the Abbasid Caliphate, serving there from 832 until his death in 834. Career Kaydar appears to hav ...

, after the latter was made governor of the province in 832. Following the death of Kaydar in the spring of 834, however, Muzaffar assumed the governorship himself. He immediately moved to put down a revolt, led by Yahya ibn al-Wazir al-Jarawi, which had broken out during his father's lifetime, and defeated the rebels in a battle near

Tinnis Tennis or Tinnīs (, ) was a medieval city in Egypt which no longer exists. It was most prosperous from the 9th century to the 11th century until its abandonment. It was located at 31°12′N 32°14′E, on an island in Lake Manzala, southwest ...

. Al-Jarawi was captured and his followers dispersed, putting an end to the uprising. According to the Egyptian chronicler

al-Kindi Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (; ; ; ) was an Arab Muslim polymath active as a philosopher, mathematician, physician, and music theorist Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understandin ...

, Muzaffar was the first governor of Egypt to recite the ''

takbir The ''takbīr'' (, , ) is the name for the Arabic phrase ' (, , ).Wensinck, A.J., "Takbīr", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 09 ...

'' during the

Friday prayers Friday prayer, or congregational prayer (), is the meeting together of Muslims for communal prayer and service at midday every Friday. In Islam, the day itself is called ''Yawm al-Jum'ah'' (shortened to ''Jum'ah''), which translated from Arabic me ...

. His activities regarding the ''

mihna The Mihna () was a period of religious persecution instituted by the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun in 833 in which Sunni scholars were punished, imprisoned, or even killed unless they conformed to Mu'tazilite doctrine. The policy lasted for eighteen y ...

h'', then underway in the provinces of the caliphate, are subject to debate;

Ibn Taghribirdi Jamal al-Din Yusuf bin al-Amir Sayf al-Din Taghribirdi (), or Abū al-Maḥāsin Yūsuf ibn Taghrī-Birdī, or Ibn Taghribirdi (2 February 1411— 5 June 1470; 813–874 Islamic calendar, Hijri) was an Islamic historian born in the 15th century i ...

reported that he tested the ''

ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

'' on the createdness of the Qur'an, but this may be a doublet of events that occurred during his father's governorship. In the summer of 834, the Turkish general

Ashinas Abu Ja'far Ashinas (; died 17 or 19 December 844) was a general of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tasim. One of the earliest and most prominent members of al-Mu'tasim's Turkic guard, he rose to become one of the leading figures of the empire under al- ...

was granted the oversight of Egypt by

al-Mu'tasim Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd (; October 796 – 5 January 842), better known by his laqab, regnal name al-Muʿtaṣim biʾllāh (, ), was the eighth Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid caliph, ruling from 833 until his death in 842. ...

, and his name was mentioned in the prayers throughout the province. Shortly after this, Muzaffar was dismissed as governor by Ashinas and replaced with Musa ibn Abi al-'Abbas.; Following his dismissal, he departed from Egypt, and in 837 he is mentioned as an officer under al-Afshin during the war against Babak al-Khurrami.

Notes

References

* * * * {{s-end 9th-century Iranian people 9th-century Abbasid governors of Egypt Sogdian people