al-Malik al-Rahim

Iraq in the 9th to the 11th centuries

Al-Malik ar-Rahim Abu Nasr Chusrau Firuz ibn Marzuban ( Persian الملك الرحيم ابو نصر خسرو فيروز بن مرزبان, DMG al-malik ar-raḥīm Abū Naṣr Ḫurau Fīrūz b. Marzubān , * 1016 ; † in the 11th century ) was the last Buyid ruler in Iraq from October 1048 to December 1055 . He had to give way to the first Seljuk Sultan Toghril-Beg and died in 1058/59 as his prisoner in Rey . The title al-malik ar-rahim , by which he became known and which is found on his coins in the form of shahanshah ar-rahim , means "the merciful king". In addition, Chusrau Firuz used the honorable names Sultan Din Allah , Malik 'Ibad Allah and Adud li- Chalifat Allah .

Assumption of power and inner-Buyid power struggles

Abu Nasr Chusrau Firuz was born in 1016 to Imad ad-Din Abu Kalidschar Marzuban . He had ruled Iraq from 1044 onwards and also held Fars and Kirman. However, Abu Kalidjar had difficulties defending his rule against the Seljuks advancing into western Iran . So he lost Kirman to Qavurd and could not prevent the Kakuyids in Isfahan from subordinating themselves to Toghril-Beg's rule.

Not much was left of the once extensive holdings of the various Buyiden lines around 1050. After the loss of Kirman, Oman and Chuzistan (the Jibal had long been lost), al-Malik ar-Rahim was only left with Iraq and at times Fars.

After Abu Kalidjar's death in 1048, Chusrau Firuz was only able to take power in Iraq, where he resided in Baghdad and installed as vizier Ala ad-Din Abu 'l-Ghana'im Sa'd from the Fasandschas family. Fars fell to his younger brother Abu Mansur Fulad Sutun , without the latter recognizing Chusrau Firuz 'suzerainty as grand emir. As a result, there were repeated exhausting battles.

In 1049, for example, al-Malik al-Rahim sent an army commanded by his loyal brother Abu Sa'd Chusrau Shah towards the Fars, which captured Shiraz and captured Abu Mansur. However, due to growing hostilities between Turks and Dailamites , Abu Sa'd was forced to return to Mesopotamia soon. Abu Mansur then managed to rise again to ruler of Fars and take parts of Khuzistan from al-Malik al-Rahim . Al-Malik al Rahim was able to win back Ahvaz and Askar Mukram , but a little later he had to drive back Arab and Kurdish tribes from here. At about the same time, the Buyid possessions in Oman were lost forever.

In 1051 or 1052, al-Malik al-Rahim again defeated Abu Mansur in Fars. He then installed Abu Sa'd Chusrau Shah as provincial governor. However, Shiraz was lost again to Abu Mansur in 1053 or 1054, who now recognized Toghril-Beg as overlord. Nevertheless, Abu Mansur Fars also lost in 1055 to the leader of the Dailamites, Fuladh, who conquered Shiraz. Fuladh entered into an agreement with al-Malik ar-Rahim, whose supremacy he recognized. Al-Malik ar-Rahim and Abu Sa'd Chusrau Shah did not trust him and now preferred to support Abu Mansur, who won back Shiraz and now also recognized al-Malik ar-Rahim's authority. Meanwhile, Toghril-Beg conquered Khuzistan and Azerbaijan.

The end of the Buyids in Iraq

Toghril-Beg's intention was to end the Buyid rule. On December 17, 1055 he came to Baghdad as a Mecca pilgrim and after his return from Mecca announced that he would fight the Buyids. The Abbasid caliph al-Qa'im , who originally preferred the weak, Shiite Buyids over the strong Seljuks, although the latter were also Sunnis , ultimately declared that Toghril-Beg should be called in the Chutba before al-Malik ar-Rahim, and thus indirectly made the Grand Emir al-Malik ar-Rahim Toghril's vassal. Barely a week had passed when residents of Baghdad complained to al-Malik ar-Rahim about the raiding Seljuq soldiers and told him to chase them out of the city. Toghril then invited al-Malik ar-Rahim to his army camp to discuss the incident. The Buyide agreed and went to the camp. Once there, he was accused of retaliatory measures against the Seljuq forces and was arrested despite the protest of the caliph al-Qa'im. After his ousting, the Buyids ruled only in Fars, but the dynasty soon came to an end when Toghril's vassal Abu Mansur was overthrown in 1062 by Fadluya, the leader of the Shabankara Kurds.

Al-Malik ar-Rahim remained a prisoner of the Seljuks in the Tabarak fortress near Rey until his death in 1058 or 1059.

literature

• Bosworth, CE: Iran under the Buyids . Ed .: Frye, RN The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1975, ISBN 0-521-20093-8 , pp. 250-305 .
• Bowen, Harold: The Last Buwayhids . In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland . No. 2 , April 1929, p. 225-245 .
• Brill, EJ: EJ Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam . 1913-1936, Volume 4, 1993, ISBN 90-04-09790-2 , pp. 1-611 .
• Busse, Heribert: Chalif and Great King - The Buyids in Iraq (945-1055) . Wiesbaden 1969, p. 119-124 .
• Nagel, Tilman: BUYIDS . In: Encyclopaedia Iranica . Vol. IV, Fasc. 6. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London et al. 1990, p. 578-586 .