Bishr al-Afshini

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Bishr al-Afshini was a military commander for the Abbasid Caliphate and the governor ( wali ) of Tarsus from 912/3 until at least 918.

Abbasid Caliphate Third Islamic caliphate

The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib, from whom the dynasty takes its name. They ruled as caliphs for most of the caliphate from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after having overthrown the Umayyad Caliphate in the Abbasid Revolution of 750 CE (132 AH).

Wali Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "helper"; not to be confused with Wāli

Walī is an Arabic word whose literal meanings include "custodian", "protector", "helper", and "friend". In the vernacular, it is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the more literal "friend of God". In the traditional Islamic understanding of saints, the saint is portrayed as someone "marked by [special] divine favor ... [and] holiness", and who is specifically "chosen by God and endowed with exceptional gifts, such as the ability to work miracles". The doctrine of saints was articulated by Islamic scholars very early on in Muslim history, and particular verses of the Quran and certain hadith were interpreted by early Muslim thinkers as "documentary evidence" of the existence of saints. Graves of saints around the Muslim world became centers of pilgrimage — especially after 1200 CE — for masses of Muslims seeking their barakah (blessing).

Contents

Life

According to al-Tabari, he was a eunuch and originally a servant of Muhammad ibn Abi'l-Saj, who was also nicknamed "Afshin". [1] [2] He first appears in summer 906, during a ceremony in which he was bestowed a robe of honour by Caliph al-Muktafi. [3] A little later, in October 906, during the Qarmatian assault on Kufa, he is mentioned as one of the officers of the central caliphal army sent to the city's aid, but were routed before the city by the Qarmatian rebels. [4]

Al-Tabari Faqih and historian and interpreter of the Quran

AbūJaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī was an influential Persian scholar, historian and exegete of the Qur'an from Amol, Tabaristan, who composed all his works in Arabic. Today, he is best known for his expertise in Qur'anic exegesis, Islamic jurisprudence and world history, but he has been described as "an impressively prolific polymath. He wrote on such subjects as poetry, lexicography, grammar, ethics, mathematics, and medicine."

Eunuch castrated male human

The term eunuch generally refers to a man who has been castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences. In Latin, the words eunuchus, spado, and castratus were used to denote eunuchs.

Muhammad ibn Abi'l-Saj, also known as Muhammad al-Afshin, an Iranian appointed general of al-Mu'tadid, was the first Sajid amir of Azerbaijan, from 889 or 890 until his death. He was the son of Abi'l-Saj Devdad.

In the year 912/3 he was appointed as governor of Tarsus and the Cilician borderlands ( thughur ) with the Byzantine Empire, succeeding Rustam ibn Baradu. [2] In summer 914 he received the assistance of an army of 2,000 horsemen sent from Baghdad under Abu Umayr Adi ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Baqi for one of the customary summer raids (ṣā’ifa) into Byzantine territory, but the two commanders were unable to carry out the raid, instead postponing it until winter. In his report to the Caliph after the raid, Bishr claimed that he had captured no less than 150 Byzantine commanders and some 2,000 captives in all. [2] [5]

Cilicia ancient region of Anatolia

In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor and existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia during the late Byzantine Empire. Extending inland from the southeastern coast of modern Turkey, Cilicia is due north and northeast of the island of Cyprus and corresponds to the modern region of Çukurova in Turkey.

Byzantine Empire Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. Both the terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" are historiographical exonyms; its citizens continued to refer to their empire simply as the Roman Empire, or Romania (Ῥωμανία), and to themselves as "Romans".

Rustam ibn Baradu or Rustum ibn Bardu, surnamed al-Farghani, was a military commander for the Abbasid Caliphate and the governor (wali) of Tarsus from August 905 to 912/3.

In autumn 917 he oversaw, along with the Abbasid commander-in-chief Mu'nis al-Muzaffar, a prisoner exchange with the Byzantines at the Lamos River. [2] In 918, he launched another raid into Byzantine territory, capturing a few forts and taking booty. [2]

Abū'l-Ḥasan Mu'nis, also commonly known by the surnames al-Muẓaffar and al-Khadim, was the commander-in-chief of the Abbasid army from 908 to his death in 933 CE, and virtual dictator and king-maker of the Caliphate from 928 on.

During the course of the Arab–Byzantine wars, exchanges of prisoners of war became a regular feature of the relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate. The exchanges began in the late 8th century and continued until the late 10th century. Most of them took place at the Lamos River in Cilicia, on the border between the two powers.

He may also be identified with Bishr al-Khadim ("the Eunuch") who was named governor of Damascus and Aleppo in 933 and was killed in the same year by Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid. [1]

Damascus City in Syria

Damascus is the capital of the Syrian Arab Republic; it is also the country's largest city, following the decline in population of Aleppo due to the battle for the city. It is colloquially known in Syria as ash-Sham and titled the City of Jasmine. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural center of the Levant and the Arab world. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 as of 2009.

Aleppo City in Aleppo Governorate, Syria

Aleppo is a city in Syria, serving as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 4.6 million in 2010, Aleppo was the largest Syrian city before the Syrian Civil War; however, now Aleppo is probably the second-largest city in Syria after the capital Damascus.

Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ṭughj ibn Juff ibn Yiltakīn ibn Fūrān ibn Fūrī ibn Khāqān, better known by the title al-Ikhshīd after 939, was an Abbasid commander and governor who became the autonomous ruler of Egypt and parts of Syria from 935 until his death in 946. He was the founder of the Sunni Ikhshidid dynasty, which ruled the region until the Fatimid conquest of 969.

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References

  1. 1 2 Rosenthal 1985, pp. 163–164 (note 788).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 PmbZ, Bišr al-Afšīnī (#21166).
  3. ↑ Rosenthal 1985, p. 170.
  4. ↑ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 162ff..
  5. ↑ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 204, 206.

Sources

Franz Rosenthal was the Louis M. Rabinowitz professor of Semitic languages at Yale from 1956 to 1967 and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Arabic, scholar of Arabic literature and Islam at Yale from 1967 to 1985.

Ehsan Yarshater Iranian academic

Ehsan Yarshater was an Iranian historian and linguist who specialized in iranology. He was the founder and director of The Center for Iranian Studies, and Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Columbia University.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

Preceded by
Rustam ibn Baradu 		Governor of Tarsus
912/3 – after 918 		Unknown
Title next held by
Thamal al-Dulafi
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