Sayf al-Daula

ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū'l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn Ḥamdūn ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī (, 22 June 916 – 8 February 967), more commonly known simply by his honorific of Sayf al-Dawla (, ), was the founder of the Emirate of Aleppo, encompassing most of northern Syria and parts of the western Jazira.

The most prominent member of the Hamdanid dynasty, Sayf al-Dawla originally served under his elder brother, Nasir al-Dawla, in the latter's attempts to establish his control over the weak Abbasid government in Baghdad during the early 940s CE. After the failure of these endeavours, the ambitious Sayf al-Dawla turned towards Syria, where he confronted the ambitions of the Ikhshidids of Lower Egypt to control the province. After two wars with them, his authority over northern Syria, centred at Aleppo, and the western Jazira, centred at Mayyafariqin, was recognized by the Ikhshidids and the Abbasid caliph. A series of tribal rebellions plagued Sayf al-Dawla's realm until 955, but he overcame them and maintained the allegiance of the most important of the nomadic Bedouins.

Sayf al-Dawla is well known for his role in the Arab–Byzantine wars, facing a resurgent Byzantine Empire that in the early 10th century had begun to advance into the Muslim-controlled territories on its eastern border. In this struggle against a much more numerous and well-resourced enemy, Sayf al-Dawla launched raids deep into Byzantine territory and scored a few successes, for which he was widely celebrated in the Muslim world. The Hamdanid ruler generally held the upper hand until 955. After that, the new Byzantine commander, Nikephoros Phokas, and his lieutenants spearheaded a sustained offensive that broke Hamdanid power. The Byzantines annexed Cilicia, and even occupied Aleppo itself briefly in 962. Sayf al-Dawla's final years were marked by military defeats, his own growing disability as a result of disease, and a decline in his authority that led to revolts by some of his closest lieutenants. He died in early 967, leaving a much weakened realm, which by 969 had lost Antioch and the Syrian littoral to the Byzantines and had become a Byzantine tributary.

Sayf al-Dawla's court at Aleppo was the centre of a vibrant cultural life, and the literary cycle he gathered around him, including the great al-Mutanabbi, helped ensure his fame for posterity. At the same time, his domains suffered under an oppressive taxation regime to sustain the army. The Hamdanid ruler actively promoted Shi'a Islam in his domains, and under his rule, the Bedouin rose in importance, resulting in the establishment of the Mirdasid dynasty in Aleppo in 1024.

Life

Origin and family

Sayf al-Dawla was born on 22 June 916 (17 Dhu al-Hijja 303 AH), although some sources give 914, as Ali ibn Abdallah, the second son of Abdallah Abu'l-Hayja ibn Hamdan (died 929), son of Hamdan ibn Hamdun ibn al-Harith, who gave his name to the Hamdanid dynasty. The Hamdanids were a branch of the Banu Taghlib, an Arab tribe resident in the area of the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) since pre-Islamic times.

The Taghlib had long been prominent in the area of Mosul, and came to control both the city and its environs following the so-called 'Anarchy at Samarra' (861–870), a period during which the Abbasid Caliphate's metropolitan province of Iraq was engulfed in civil wars among the Abbasid elites. With the caliphal government's authority weakened, the provinces saw the rise of local strongmen, autonomous regional dynasties and anti-Abbasid rebels. As Abbasid power revived in the late 9th century, the caliphal government tried to impose firmer control over the province. Hamdan ibn Hamdun was one of the most determined Taghlibi leaders in opposing this. In his effort to fend off the Abbasids, he secured the alliance of the Kurds living in the mountains north of Mosul, which would be of considerable importance in his family's later fortunes. Family members intermarried with Kurds, who were also prominent in the Hamdanid military. Although the Hamdanids are generally regarded by modern historians as being pro-Shi'a, the division between Shi'a and Sunni Islam was not yet solidified, and historian Hugh Kennedy emphasizes that this does not appear to have affected their politics, allying with or fighting against both Shi'a and Sunni polities according to their momentary interests.

Hamdan was defeated by the Abbasids in 895 and imprisoned with his relatives, but his son Husayn ibn Hamdan secured the family's future. He raised troops for the caliph among the Taghlib in exchange for tax remissions, and established a commanding influence in the Jazira by acting as a mediator between the Abbasid authorities and the Arab and Kurdish population. This strong local base allowed the family to survive its often strained relationship with the central Abbasid government in Baghdad during the early 10th century. Husayn was a successful general, distinguishing himself against Kharijite rebels in the Jazira and the Tulunids of Egypt, but was disgraced after supporting the failed usurpation of the throne by the Abbasid prince Ibn al-Mu'tazz in 908. Husayn's younger brother Ibrahim was governor of Diyar Rabi'a (the province around Nasibin) in 919 and after his death in the next year he was succeeded by another brother, Dawud. Ali's father, Abdallah, served as emir (governor) of Mosul in 905/6–913/4, and was repeatedly disgraced and rehabilitated, until re-assuming control of Mosul in 925/6. Enjoying firm relations with the powerful Abbasid commander-in-chief Mu'nis al-Muzaffar, he later played a leading role in the short-lived usurpation of al-Qahir against Caliph al-Muqtadir in 929, and was killed during its suppression.

Despite the coup's failure and his death, Abdallah had been able to consolidate his control over Mosul, becoming the virtual founder of a Hamdanid-ruled emirate there. During his long absences in Baghdad in his final years, Abdallah relegated authority over Mosul to his eldest son, al-Hasan, the future Nasir al-Dawla. After Abdallah's death, al-Hasan's position in Mosul was challenged by his uncles, and it was not until 935 that he was able to secure confirmation by Baghdad of his control over Mosul and the entire Jazira up to the Byzantine frontier.

Early career under Nasir al-Dawla

The young Ali began his career under his brother. In 936, al-Hasan invited Ali to his service, promising him the governorship of Diyar Bakr (the region around Amida) in exchange for his help against Ali ibn Ja'far, the rebellious governor of Mayyafariqin. Ali was successful in preventing Ibn Ja'far from receiving the assistance of his Armenian allies, and also secured control over the northern parts of the neighbouring province of Diyar Mudar after subduing the Bedouin (nomadic) Qaysi tribes of the region around Saruj. From this position, he also launched expeditions to aid the Muslim emirates of the Byzantine frontier zone (the ) against the advancing Byzantines, and intervened in Armenia to reverse growing Byzantine influence (see below).

In the meantime, al-Hasan became involved in the intrigues of the Abbasid court. Since the murder of al-Muqtadir in 932, the Abbasid government had all but collapsed, and in 936 the powerful governor of Wasit, Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, assumed the title of ('commander of commanders') and with it '' de facto'' control of the Abbasid government. Caliph al-Radi was reduced to a figurehead role, and the extensive old civil bureaucracy was drastically reduced both in size and power. Ibn Ra'iq's position was anything but secure, however, and soon a convoluted struggle for control of the office of , and the Caliphate with it, broke out among the local rulers and the Turkic military chiefs, which ended in 946 with the victory of the Buyids.

Al-Hasan initially supported Ibn Ra'iq, but in 942 he had him assassinated and secured for himself the post of , receiving the honorific () of ('Defender of the Dynasty'), by which he is best known to posterity. The Baridis, a local family of Basra, who also desired control over the caliph, continued to resist, and Nasir al-Dawla sent Ali against them. After scoring a victory over Abu'l-Husayn al-Baridi at al-Mada'in, Ali was named governor of Wasit and was awarded the of ('Sword of the Dynasty'), by which he became famous. This double award to the Hamdanid brothers marked the first time that a incorporating the prestigious element was granted to anyone other than the vizier, the Caliphate's chief minister.

The Hamdanids' success proved short-lived. They were politically isolated, and found little support among the Caliphate's most powerful vassals, the Samanids of Transoxiana and Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikshid of Egypt. Consequently, when in 943 a mutiny over pay issues broke out among their troops (mostly composed of Turks, Daylamites, Qarmatians and only a few Arabs), under the leadership of the Turk Tuzun, they were forced to quit Baghdad. Caliph al-Muttaqi appointed Tuzun as , but soon quarrelled with him and fled north to seek Hamdanid protection. Tuzun defeated Nasir al-Dawla and Sayf al-Dawla in the field, and in 944 an agreement was concluded which allowed the Hamdanids to keep the Jazira and even gave them nominal authority over northern Syria (which at the time was not under Hamdanid control), in exchange for a large tribute. Henceforth, Nasir al-Dawla would be tributary to Baghdad, but his continued attempts to control Baghdad led to repeated clashes with the Buyids. In 958/9 Nasir al-Dawla would even be forced to seek refuge in the court of his brother, before Sayf al-Dawla could negotiate his return to Mosul with the Buyid emir Mu'izz al-Dawla.

Establishment of the Emirate of Aleppo

Like other parts of the Abbasid empire, the collapse of Abbasid authority during the 'Anarchy at Samarra' led to a period of rival warlords competing for control of Syria. From 882, the region was ruled by the semi-autonomous Tulunid dynasty of Egypt, and direct Abbasid control was not restored until 903. Soon after, the region became the focal point of a series of Qarmatian revolts, supported by the Bedouin of the Syrian Desert. The Abbasids were able to retain a tenuous control over the province, until the authority of the Abbasid government collapsed in the civil wars of the 920s and 930s, where Nasir al-Dawla played a prominent role.

Syria came under the control of another Egypt-based strongman, Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, in 935/6, but Ibn Ra'iq detached it from Egyptian control in 939/40. In 942, when Nasir al-Dawla replaced the assassinated Ibn Ra'iq, he attempted to impose his own rule over the region, and particularly Ibn Ra'iq's own province of Diyar Mudar. Hamdanid troops took control of the Balikh River valley, but the local magnates were still inclined towards al-Ikhshid, and Hamdanid authority was tenuous. Al-Ikhshid did not intervene directly, but supported Adl al-Bakjami, the governor of Rahba. Al-Bakjami captured Nasibin, where Sayf al-Dawla had left his treasures, but was finally defeated and captured by Sayf al-Dawla's cousin Abu Abdallah al-Husayn ibn Sa'id ibn Hamdan, and executed at Baghdad in May 943. Husayn then proceeded to occupy the entire province, from Diyar Mudar to the . Raqqa was taken by storm, but Aleppo surrendered without a fight in February 944. Al-Muttaqi now sent messages to al-Ikhshid, asking for his support against the warlords who wanted to control him. The Hamdanids confined the caliph at Raqqa, but in summer 944 al-Ikhshid arrived in Syria. Husayn abandoned Aleppo to al-Ikhshid, who then visited the exiled caliph at Raqqa. Al-Muttaqi confirmed al-Ikhshid's control over Syria, but after the caliph refused to relocate himself to Egypt, the Egyptian ruler refused to commit himself to further aid for the caliph against his enemies. Al-Ikhshid returned to Egypt, and al-Muttaqi, powerless and dejected, went back to Baghdad, only to be blinded and deposed by Tuzun.

It was in this context that Sayf al-Dawla turned his attention to Syria. The previous years had seen a series of personal humiliations, with defeats in the field by Tuzun followed by his failure to persuade al-Muttaqi to nominate him as . It was during the latter attempt that he also had one of his rivals, Muhammad ibn Inal al-Turjuman, assassinated. As Thierry Bianquis writes, following the failure of his brother's designs in Iraq, Sayf al-Dawla's turn to Syria was "born of resentment when, having returned to Nasibin, he found himself under-employed and badly paid". Nasir al-Dawla seems to have encouraged his brother to turn to Syria after Husayn's failure there, writing to Sayf al-Dawla that "Syria lies before you, there is no one in this land who can prevent you from taking it". With money and troops provided by his brother, Sayf al-Dawla invaded northern Syria in the wake of al-Ikhshid's departure. He gained the support of the local Bedouin tribe of Banu Kilab, and even the Kilabi governor installed by al-Ikhshid in Aleppo, Abu'l-Fath Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Kilabi, who accompanied the Hamdanid in his unopposed entrance into the city on 29 October 944.

Conflict with al-Ikhshid

Al-Ikhshid reacted, and sent an army north under Abu al-Misk Kafur to confront Sayf al-Dawla, who was then besieging Homs. In the ensuing battle, the Hamdanid scored a crushing victory. Homs then opened its gates, and Sayf al-Dawla set his sights on Damascus. Sayf al-Dawla briefly occupied the city in early 945, but was forced to abandon it in the face of the citizens' hostility. In April 945 al-Ikhshid himself led an army into Syria, although at the same time he also offered terms to Sayf al-Dawla, proposing to accept Hamdanid control over northern Syria and the . Sayf al-Dawla rejected al-Ikhshid's proposals, but was defeated in battle in May/June and forced to retreat to Raqqa. The Egyptian army proceeded to raid the environs of Aleppo. Nevertheless, in October the two sides came to an agreement, broadly on the lines of al-Ikhshid's earlier proposal: the Egyptian ruler acknowledged Hamdanid control over northern Syria, and even consented to sending an annual tribute in exchange for Sayf al-Dawla's renunciation of all claims on Damascus. The pact was sealed by Sayf al-Dawla's marriage to a niece of al-Ikhshid, and Sayf al-Dawla's new domain received the—purely formal—sanction by the caliph, who also re-affirmed his soon thereafter.

The truce with al-Ikhshid lasted until the latter's death in July 946 at Damascus. Sayf al-Dawla immediately marched south, took Damascus, and then proceeded to Palestine. There he was confronted once again by Kafur, who defeated the Hamdanid prince in a battle fought in December near Ramla. Sayf al-Dawla then retreated to Damascus, and from there to Homs. There he gathered his forces, including large Arab tribal contingents of the Uqayl, Kalb, Numayr, and Kilab, and in spring of 947, he attempted to recover Damascus. He was again defeated in battle, and in its aftermath the Ikhshidids even occupied Aleppo in July. Kafur, the ''de facto'' Ikhshidid leader after al-Ikhshid's death, did not press his advantage, but instead began negotiations.

For the Ikhshidids, the maintenance of Aleppo was less important than southern Syria with Damascus, which was Egypt's eastern bulwark. As long as their control over this region was not threatened, the Egyptians were more than willing to allow the existence of a Hamdanid state in the north. Furthermore, the Ikhshidids realized that they would have difficulty in asserting and maintaining control over northern Syria and Cilicia, which were traditionally oriented more towards the Jazira and Iraq. Not only would Egypt, threatened by this time by the Fatimid Caliphate in the west, be spared the cost of maintaining a large army in these distant lands, but the Hamdanid emirate would also fulfill the useful role of a buffer state against incursions both from Iraq and from Byzantium. The agreement of 945 was reiterated, with the difference that the Ikhshidids were no longer obligated to pay tribute for Damascus. The frontier thus established, between Jaziran-influenced northern Syria and the Egyptian-controlled southern part of the country, was to last until the Mamluks seized the entire country in 1260.

Sayf al-Dawla, who returned to Aleppo in autumn, was now master of an extensive realm: the north Syrian provinces (Jund Hims, Jund Qinnasrin and the Jund al-Awasim) in a line running south of Homs to the coast near Tartus, and most of Diyar Bakr and Diyar Mudar in the western Jazira. He also exercised a—mostly nominal—suzerainty over the towns of the Byzantine frontier in Cilicia. Sayf al-Dawla's domain was a "Syro-Mesopotamian state", in the expression of the Orientalist Marius Canard, and extensive enough to require two capitals: alongside Aleppo, which became Sayf al-Dawla's main residence, Mayyafariqin was selected as the capital for the Jaziran provinces. The latter were held ostensibly in charge of his elder brother Nasir al-Dawla, but in reality, the size and political importance of Sayf al-Dawla's emirate allowed him to effectively throw off the tutelage of Nasir al-Dawla. Although Sayf al-Dawla continued to show his elder brother due deference, henceforth, the balance of power between the two would be reversed.

Arab tribal revolts

Aside from his confrontation with the Ikhshidids, Sayf al-Dawla's consolidation over his realm was challenged by the need to maintain good relations with the restive native Arab tribes. Northern Syria at this time was controlled by Arab tribes, who had been resident in the area since the Umayyad period (661–750), and in many cases before that. The region around Homs was settled by the Kalb and the Tayy tribes, and the north, a broad strip of land from the Orontes to beyond the Euphrates, was controlled by the still largely nomadic Qaysi tribes of Uqayl, Numayr, Ka'b and Qushayr, as well as the aforementioned Kilab around Aleppo. Further south, the Tanukh were settled around Maarrat al-Nu'man, and the coasts were settled by the Bahra and Kurds.

Sayf al-Dawla benefitted from the fact that he was an ethnic Arab, unlike most of the contemporary rulers in the Islamic Middle East, who were Turkic or Iranian warlords who had risen from the ranks of the military slaves (). This helped him win support among the Arab tribes, and the Bedouin played a prominent role in his administration. On the other hand, in accordance with the usual late Abbasid practice familiar to Sayf al-Dawla and common across the Muslim states of the Middle East, the Hamdanid state was heavily reliant on and increasingly dominated by its non-Arab, mostly Turkic, . This is most evident in the composition of his army: alongside Arab tribal cavalry, which was often unreliable and driven more by plunder than loyalty or discipline, the Hamdanid armies made heavy use of Daylamites as heavy infantry, Turks as horse archers, and Kurds as light cavalry. These forces were complemented, especially against the Byzantines, by the garrisons of the , among whom were many volunteers () from across the Muslim world.

After winning recognition by the Ikhshidids, Sayf al-Dawla began a series of campaigns of consolidation. His main target was to establish firm control over the Syrian littoral, as well as the routes connecting it to the interior. The operations there included a difficult siege of the fortress of Barzuya in 947–948, which was held by a Kurdish brigand leader, who from there controlled the lower Orontes valley. In central Syria, a Qarmatian-inspired revolt of the Kalb and Tayy erupted in late 949, led by a certain Ibn Hirrat al-Ramad. The rebels enjoyed initial success, even capturing the Hamdanid governor of Homs, but they were quickly crushed. In the north, the attempts of the Hamdanid administrators to keep the Bedouin from interfering with the more settled Arab communities resulted in regular outbreaks of rebellion between 950 and 954, which had to be suppressed by Sayf al-Dawla's army.

Finally, in spring 955 a major rebellion broke out in the region of Qinnasrin and Sabkhat al-Jabbul, which involved all tribes, both Bedouin and sedentary, including the Hamdanids' close allies, the Kilab. Sayf al-Dawla was able to resolve the situation quickly, initiating a ruthless campaign of swift repression that included driving the tribes into the desert to die or capitulate, coupled with diplomacy that played on the divisions among the tribesmen. Thus the Kilab were offered peace and a return to their favoured status, and were given more lands at the expense of the Kalb, who were driven from their abodes along with the Tayy, and fled south to settle in the plains north of Damascus and the Golan Heights, respectively. At the same time, the Numayr were also expelled and encouraged to resettle in the Jazira around Harran. The revolt was suppressed in June, in what Bianquis calls "a desert policing operation perfectly planned and rigorously executed". It was only Sayf al-Dawla's "feelings of solidarity and his sense of Arab honour", according to Bianquis, that prevented the revolt from ending with the "total extermination, through warfare and thirst, of all the tribes".

The suppression of the great tribal revolt marked, in the words of Kennedy, "the high point of Sayf al-Dawla’s success and power", and secured the submission of the Bedouin tribes for the remainder of Sayf al-Dawla's reign. In the same year, Sayf al-Dawla also aided the Kurdish warlord Daysam in capturing parts of Adharbayjan around Salmas. Daysam acknowledged Hamdanid suzerainty, but was evicted within a few months by the Sallarid emir Marzuban ibn Muhammad.

Wars with the Byzantines

Through his assumption of control over the Syrian and Jaziran in 945/6, Sayf al-Dawla emerged as the chief Arab prince facing the Byzantine Empire, and warfare with the Byzantines became his main preoccupation. Indeed, much of Sayf al-Dawla's reputation stems from his unceasing, though ultimately unsuccessful war with the Empire.

By the early 10th century, the Byzantines had gained the upper hand over their eastern Muslim neighbours. The onset of decline in the Abbasid Caliphate after the Anarchy at Samarra was followed by the Battle of Lalakaon in 863, which had broken the power of the border emirate of Malatya and marked the beginning of the gradual Byzantine encroachment on the Arab borderlands. Although the emirate of Tarsus in Cilicia remained strong and Malatya continued to resist Byzantine attacks, over the next half-century the Byzantines overwhelmed the Paulician allies of Malatya and advanced to the Upper Euphrates, occupying the mountains north of the city. Finally, after 927, peace on their Balkan frontier enabled the Byzantines, under John Kourkouas, to turn their forces east and begin a series of campaigns that culminated in the fall and annexation of Malatya in 934, an event which sent shock-waves among the Muslim world. Arsamosata followed in 940, and Qaliqala (Byzantine Theodosiopolis, modern Erzurum) in 949.

The Byzantine advance evoked a great emotional response in the Muslim world, with volunteers, both soldiers and civilians, flocking to participate in the jihad against the Empire. Sayf al-Dawla was also affected by this atmosphere, and became deeply impregnated with the spirit of jihad. The rise of the Hamdanid brothers to power in the frontier provinces and the Jazira is therefore to be regarded against the backdrop of the Byzantine threat, as well as the manifest inability of the Abbasid government to stem the Byzantine offensive. In Kennedy's assessment, "compared with the inaction or indifference of other Muslim rulers, it is not surprising that Sayf al-Dawla's popular reputation remained high; he was the one man who attempted to defend the Faith, the essential hero of the time".

Early campaigns

Sayf al-Dawla entered the fray against the Byzantines in 936, when he led an expedition to the aid of Samosata

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases