Muhammad ibn al-Musayyab

Muhammad and the Uqaylid dynasty belonged to the Banu Uqayl, a northern Arab tribe who were originally clients of the Hamdanid emirs of Mosul.[1] The Buyids captured Mosul and much of Upper Mesopotamia from the Hamdanids in the late 970s.[2] This development resulted in the strengthening of the position of the Uqayl ruling family, as the Buyid emir Adud al-Dawla gave them his backing and made them responsible for maintaining discipline among the tribe.[3]

In the 980s, Buyid rule was challenged by the Kurdish chieftain Badh ibn Dustak.[2] Left without support from Baghdad, the local Buyid governor turned to the Uqayl and the Banu Numayr for assistance.[4] This made the Arab tribes even more powerful, and in 989, the Buyid emir Baha al-Dawla sent the Hamdanid brothers Abu Tahir Ibrahim and Abu Abdallah al-Husayn to Mosul, in the hope that their local ties would mobilize opposition against Badh, and keep the Arab tribes reined in.[2][5]

The Hamdanids were indeed received with enthusiasm by the local population, to such a degree that they rose in revolt and expelled the Buyid governor from Mosul.[6] The Uqayl backed the Hamdanids, and received control of the towns of Jazirat ibn Umar, Nisibis, and Balad (north of Mosul), in exchange.[6][7] Exploiting the turmoil, Badh attacked Mosul in the next year, but was defeated and killed by the numerically inferior Uqayl forces in battle near Balad.[6] A Hamdanid counter-offensive followed in the region of Amida, but failed to score any success. Indeed, al-Husayn was taken prisoner, finding refuge with the Fatimids after his release, while Ibrahim fled to Uqaylid-held Nisibis, where Muhammad took him and his son Ali prisoner and killed them.[6][8] At the same time, Muhammad also sidelined his principal Bedouin rival, the leader of the Banu Numayr, and secured control of Mosul and its province.[9]

In 991/2, however, the Uqayl were defeated by a Buyid army under Abu Ja'far al-Hajjaj, and in a peace concluded in the next year, they had to again recognize Buyid suzerainty. They kept control of districts around Mosul, but the city itself became the seat of al-Hajjaj as Buyid governor and abandon Mosul.[10][9]

Muhammad died in 996, and a succession struggle followed between his brothers, Ali and al-Muqallad, resulting in a shared authority and weakening the Uqaylid emirate, although during this time, the Buyids were evicted from Mosul altogether.[11][12]

• Bosworth, C. E. (2000). "ʿUḳaylids". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume X: T–U (2nd ed.). Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 786–787. ISBN 978-90-04-11211-7.
• Busse, Heribert (2004) [1969]. Chalif und Grosskönig - Die Buyiden im Irak (945-1055) [Caliph and Great King - The Buyids in Iraq (945-1055)] (in German). Würzburg: Ergon Verlag. ISBN 3-89913-005-7.
• Kennedy, Hugh (2004). The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century (Second ed.). Harlow: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-40525-7.