Jarrahids
| Banu al-Jarrah | |
|---|---|
Jabal Tayy | |
| Dissolution | Mid-11th/Early 12th centuries |
| Cadet branches | Al Fadl |
| Historical Arab states and dynasties |
|---|
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The Jarrahids (
The Jarrahids first emerged in the Muslim sources as allies of the Qarmatians, and grew prominent under their chieftain Mufarrij ibn Daghfal ibn al-Jarrah. In 973, the latter secured the governorship of Palestine, with Ramla at its center, from the Fatimid Caliphate in reward for military services. Mufarrij lost favor with the Fatimids, who drove the Jarrahids out of Palestine when they plundered Ramla in 981. Afterward, the Jarrahids raided Mecca-bound Hajj pilgrim caravans and vacillated between the Fatimids, Byzantines and individual Muslim rulers in Syria. By 1011–12, the Jarrahids controlled all of interior Palestine up to Tiberias and defied the Fatimids by declaring their own caliph, al-Hasan ibn Ja'far, at Ramla. The Fatimid caliph al-Hakim then paid Mufarrij to end the rebellion, but not long after dispatched an expedition against the Jarrahids in which they were driven from Palestine.
Mufarrij died in 1013 and was succeeded by his son
Territory
The Jarrahids intermittently held territory in
History
Beginnings
The Jarrahids (Banu al-Jarrah) were the ruling clan of the
Reign of Muffarij
Daghfal's son,
In 979, the Fatimid general Fadl ibn Salih offered the Hamdanid emir Abu Taghlib control of Ramla in place of the Jarrahids; by doing this, Fadl sought to stifle a brewing alliance between the main regional Arab powers at the time, the Jarrahids, Hamdanids and Uqaylids.[10] Abu Taghlib and his Uqaylid allies attacked Ramla in August, but were defeated and captured on 29 August by the Jarrahids, who by then regained Fadl's support.[9] The latter requested Mufarrij hand over Abu Taghlib to Caliph al-Aziz, but fearing Abu Taghlib could be potentially used by the Fatimids against him, Mufarrij killed him and sent his head to the caliph instead.[2][9] Mufarrij's execution of Abu Taghlib spelled the official end of the Hamdanids of Mosul.[9]
Fadl soon after turned against Mufarrij, but was recalled to Cairo by Caliph al-Aziz, essentially leaving the Jarrahids as the virtual rulers of Palestine.
In later years, Mufarrij had his sons Ali, Hassan and Mahmud, aid the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim in his military campaigns.[2] According to historian Marius Canard, "an opportunity occurred for Mufarrij to play a part of genuine political significance" in 1012 when the disgraced Fatimid vizier, Abu'l Qasim al-Husayn, took refuge with Mufarrij's son Hassan.[2] Historian Hugh Kennedy asserts that this represented the "high point in the fortunes of the Jarrahid leaders".[11] At that point, the Jarrahids controlled the entire interior of Palestine from the boundary with Egypt up to Tiberias.[11] Under Hassan and Abu'l Qasim's initiative, the Jarrahids attacked and captured Yarukh, al-Hakim's appointee to the governorship of Damascus, in the vicinity of Gaza while he was on his way to Damascus.[2] They concurrently occupied Ramla, and soon after Hassan had Yarukh killed.[2] They further challenged al-Hakim's authority by proclaiming al-Hasan ibn Ja'far, the Sharif of Mecca, as caliph in Ramla.[2] Al-Hakim bribed the Jarrahids to end their revolt, and afterward al-Hasan returned to Mecca, while Abu'l Qasim fled to Iraq.[11] The Jarrahids continued to dominate Palestine and sought to entrench their rule by appealing for support among the local Christians.[2] To that end, Mufarrij contributed to the restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which al-Hakim destroyed in prior years.[2]
Reign of Hassan
Al-Hakim switched his approach to the Jarrahids from diplomacy to punitive military force in August 1013.[12] Ali and Mahmud surrendered to the advancing Fatimid army, while al-Hakim had Mufarrij poisoned to death.[1] Hassan, whose ambition was to rule Palestine, fled but later gained a pardon from al-Hakim, who restored to him Mufarrij's iqtaʿat in Palestine.[1] Afterward, Hassan assisted al-Hakim in his expeditions against Aleppo.[1]
In 1019,
In 1023, the Fatimids installed
The Tayy, Kalb and Kilab renewed their alliance in 1024/25, but their appeal for support from the Byzantines was rebuffed by Emperor
The Jarrahids and the Byzantines struck an alliance in 1030.
The Byzantines and Fatimids entered into peace negotiations in 1032 and Hassan was present in the discussions in Constantinople.[1] The Byzantines stipulated the restoration of Jarrahid governorship in Palestine under Fatimid suzerainty as a condition for peace, but az-Zahir refused.[1] The Fatimids' rejection of this condition contributed to the collapse of the peace talks.[16] The following year, the Jarrahids offered their loyalty to al-Dizbari in exchange for their former iqtaʿat in Palestine, but the attempt failed.[16] The Fatimids and Byzantines ultimately concluded a ten-year peace treaty, without consideration of the Jarrahids' interests, in 1035.[17] Afterward, Hassan and his son Allaf are mentioned on occasion, such as their assistance in the Byzantine defense of Edessa from the Marwanids and Numayrids in 1035/36.[1] In 1038, the Jarrahids participated in al-Dizbari's conquest of Mirdasid-held Aleppo.[18] As a result, Hassan was forced into confinement in Constantinople until 1040 as a means to prevent his tribe, with its unstable allegiances, from potentially attacking Antioch.[18] The last mention of Hassan is in 1041, by which point the Jarrahids had been permitted by the Fatimids to re-enter Palestine.[1][18] Hassan's rule at the time was opposed by the Fatimid governor of Damascus.[1]
Later chieftains
The Jarrahids were mentioned in the sources in 1065/66, when Hassan's nephews Hazim ibn Ali and Humayd ibn Mahmud likely backed Abd al-Sharif ibn Abi'l Jann in his attempt to wrest control of Damascus from the troops of Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali.[1] Afterward, the nephews were captured and jailed in Cairo. Their release was requested by the Fatimid general and descendant of the Hamdanids, Nasir al-Dawla ibn Hamdan, in 1066/67.[1] Hazim had sons named Badr and Rabi'a.[19] According to Syrian historian Mustafa A. Hiyari, information on Rabi'a in the medieval sources is confused, though he most likely was an emir of Bedouin auxiliaries for the Burid ruler of Damascus, Toghtekin (r. 1103–1128).[19] Nothing more about him is mentioned in the sources, but the military activities of his sons, Mira and Fadl, are noted.[19] His other sons were Daghfal, Thabit and Faraj.[19]
Fadl is described in the 13th-century chronicle of
Canard describes the Jarrahids as a "turbulent family who were not without significance as pawns on the chess-board of Syria in the 10th–11th centuries, whom the Fatimids alternately attacked and wooed, whom the Byzantines succeeded in using, but who seem to have created for themselves, in their own best interests, a rule of duplicity, treason and pillage".[1]
Descendants
Fadl ibn Rabi'ah was the progenitor of the
List of chieftains
| Name | Reign | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Daghfal ibn al-Jarrah | 971–mid-970s | First Jarrahid to be noted in medieval sources. |
| Mufarrij ibn Daghfal | 977–1013 | Son of Daghfal. Governed Palestine on behalf of the Fatimids, whom he often rebelled against and reconciled with. |
| Hassan ibn Mufarrij | 1013–1041(?) | Son of Mufarrij. Governed Palestine on behalf of Fatimids and later became an ally of the Byzantines. |
| Hazim ibn Ali and Humayd ibn Mahmud | circa 1065–1067 | Nephews of Hassan. Little is known of them other than their rebellion against the Fatimids. |
| Rabi'ah ibn Hazim | early 12th century. | Nothing is known of his activities. |
| Fadl ibn Rabi'ah | circa 1107 | Son of Rabi'ah. Progenitor of the Al Fadl dynasty which dominated the Bedouin of Syria until the 18th century |
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Canard 1965, p. 484.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Canard 1965, p. 483.
- ^ a b c d e f Gil 1997, p. 358.
- ^ Cappel 1994, p. 124.
- ISBN 90-5702-322-9.
- ^ a b c d e Canard 1965, p. 482.
- ^ Abu Izzedin, p. 50.
- ^ Gil 1997, p. 351.
- ^ a b c d e Gil 1997, p. 355.
- ^ Gil 1997, pp. 354–355.
- ^ a b c Kennedy 2004, p. 286.
- ^ Canard 1965, pp. 483–484.
- ^ a b c Bakhit, Muhammad Adnan (1993). "Muhanna, Banu". In Bosworth, C. E.; et al. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Islam, Volume 7 (2nd ed.). Leiden: Brill. pp. 461–462.
- ^ Lev 2003, p. 47.
- ^ a b c d Lev 2003, pp. 48–49.
- ^ a b c d Cappel 1994, p. 125.
- ^ Cappel 1994, pp. 125–126.
- ^ a b c Cappel 1994, p. 126.
- ^ a b c d e Hiyari 1975, p. 513.
- ^ ISBN 9780754669500.
- ^ Hiyari 1975, pp. 513–514.
- ^ Hiyari 1975, p. 515.
- ^ Hiyari 1975, pp. 512–513
- ^ a b Hiyari 1975, pp. 516–517.
- ISBN 9780866853224.
Bibliography
- OCLC 495469475.
- Cappel, Andrew J. (1994). "The Byzantine Response to the 'Arab (10th–11th Centuries)". In Dyck, Andrew Roy; Takács, Sarolta A. (eds.). Presence of Byzantium: Studies Presented to Milton V. Anastos in Honor of his Eighty-Fifth Birthday. A. Hakkert. ISBN 9789025610722.
- ISBN 978-0-582-40525-7.
- ISBN 0-521-59984-9.
- Hiyari, Mustafa A. (1975). "The Origins and Development of the Amīrate of the Arabs during the Seventh/Thirteenth and Eighth/Fourteenth Centuries". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 38 (3): 509–524. S2CID 178868071.
- Lev, Yaacov (2003). "Turks in the Political and Military Life of Eleventh-Century Egypt and Syria". In Hidemitsu, Kuroki (ed.). The Influence ff Human Mobility In Muslim Societies. Kegan Paul. ISBN 0710308027.
- ISBN 9780882060132.