Maslama

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Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik ( Arabic مسلمة بن عبد الملك, DMG Maslama b. ʿAbd al-Malik ; * 685 ; † 738 in Syria ) was one of the most important Arab generals in the 8th century . He was the son of the caliph Abd al-Malik and grandson of the caliph Marwan I , brother of the caliphs Al-Walid I and Sulaiman, and cousin of the caliph Umar II.

Since his mother was a slave, he could not, unlike his half-brothers, make any claims to the caliphate. As a general, he excelled in the Arab wars against Byzantium , especially the siege of Constantinople (717–718) and in battles against the Khazars .

The main mosque of Derbent , built by the Arabs under Maslama in the 8th century, is considered Russia's oldest mosque

In Byzantine sources it appears for the first time in connection with the battles for Tyana in 707/08, in the year 712 Amaseia and Mistheia. After the failed attack on Constantinople, Maslama, as governor of Basra and Kufa, subjected a rebellion in Persia in 720; in 725/26 he conquered Kaisareia in Cappadocia, and in 730 the Charsianon fort . As the new governor of Armenia, he took up the fight against the invading Khazars in 731 and went over to the counter-offensive.

Maslama mosque

According to a later legend, the construction of the first mosque in Constantinople goes back to an agreement between Maslama and the Byzantine emperor (718). But it is possible that it was not built until around 860. The main mosque he built a few years later in the southern Russian city of Derbent was also named after Maslama.

literature

  • Harry T. Norris: The Sacred Sword of Maslamah b. ʿAbd al-Malik. In: Oriente Moderno, Nuova serie, Anno 89, No. 2 ( Studies on Islamic Legends ) 2009, pp. 389–406

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ralph-Johannes Lilie: Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine period . Part 1, pp. 190f . Berlin and New York 2000
  2. ^ Frederick William Hasluck : Christianity and Islam Under the Sultans. Volume 2, Oxford 1929, Chapter LVII. The Mosques of the Arabs in Constantinople , pp. 717-720
  3. ^ Marius Canard: Les expéditions des Arabes contre Constantinople dans l'histoire et dans la legend. In: Journal Asiatique , 208, 1926, pp. 94-99
personal data
SURNAME Maslama
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Arab general, son of the caliph Abd al-Malik
DATE OF BIRTH 685
DATE OF DEATH 738
Place of death Syria