Abu Sulaym Faraj al-Khadim al-Turki
Abu Sulaym Faraj al-Khadim al-Turki,[1] sometimes erroneously called Faraj ibn Sulaym,[2] was an Abbasid court eunuch and official.
Abu Sulaym Faraj al-Khadim al-Turki | |
|---|---|
| Rebuild of the city of Tarsus. | |
| In office 787 – 788 | |
| Monarch | Harun al-Rashid |
| Supervised the Prisoner exchange | |
| In office 805 | |
| Monarch | Harun al-Rashid |
| Personal details | |
| Died | Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate |
| Occupation | Abbasid Courtier and Court eunuch |
| Known for | Supervised the prisoner exchange with the Byzantines |
In 787, Caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809) established a new province encompassing the borderlands (Thughūr) with the Byzantine Empire in Cilicia and Upper Mesopotamia. As part of this, he sent Faraj to rebuild and repopulate the city of Tarsus.[3] Faraj first sent 3,000 Khurasanis to the city, followed by a thousand each from the Syrian districts of al-Massisa and Antioch. The troops arrived in June 788 and encamped outside the city until the reconstruction of its walls, and the erection of a mosque, were completed.[4][5] Furthermore, he supervised the very first prisoner exchange with the Byzantines recorded by al-Mas'udi for Harun's reign, in 805, on the Lamos River.[6] Faraj evidently played an important role in the Byzantine frontier, as he is attested as the collector of the tithe in the area during the last years of Harun al-Rashid, and is recorded as having restored the "palace of Sayhan" in the area, and as the owner of a house in Antioch.[7]
He is mentioned in 819, as accompanying the captured anti-caliph, Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, into the presence of Caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833).[8]
References
- Ayalon 1999, p. 252.
- Ayalon 1999, p. 296.
- Bosworth 1989, p. 99.
- Ayalon 1999, p. 110.
- Bosworth 1992, pp. 271–273.
- Ayalon 1999, pp. 115–116, 118.
- Ayalon 1999, p. 111.
- Bosworth 1987, p. 148.
Sources
- Ayalon, David (1999). Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans: A Study in Power Relationships. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, The Hebrew University. ISBN 978-9-6549-3017-8.
- Bosworth, C. E., ed. (1987). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXXII: The Reunification of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate: The Caliphate of al-Maʾmūn, A.D. 813–33/A.H. 198–213. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-058-8.
- Bosworth, C. E., ed. (1989). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXX: The ʿAbbāsid Caliphate in Equilibrium: The Caliphates of Mūsā al-Hādī and Hārūn al-Rashīd, A.D. 785–809/A.H. 169–192. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-564-4.
- Bosworth, C. E. (1992). "The City of Tarsus and the Arab-Byzantine Frontiers in Early and Middle ʿAbbāsid Times". Oriens. 33: 268–286. doi:10.1163/1877837292X00105. ISSN 0078-6527. JSTOR 1580607.