Sharaf al-Maʿālī Abu Manṣūr Anūshtakīn al-Dizbarī (died January 1042) was a Fatimid statesman and general who became the most powerful Fatimid governor of Syria. Under his Damascus-based administration, all of Syria was united under a single Fatimid authority. Near-contemporary historians, including Ibn al-Qalanisi of Damascus and Ibn al-Adim of Aleppo, noted Anushtakin's wealth, just rule and fair treatment of the population, with whom he was popular.
An ethnic Turk, Anushtakin was enslaved in his homeland of Transoxiana and sold in Damascus in 1009 to Dizbar ibn Awnim, a Daylamite Fatimid officer. After working as a guard for Dizbar's properties, Anushtakin became a ghulam (slave soldier) in Caliph al-Hakim's court in Cairo, and in 1014/15, was made an officer. Between 1017 and 1023, Anushtakin grew wealthy, gained local renown, and developed a deep understanding of Syrian affairs during his governorship of Ba'albek and Caesarea. Afterward, he was assigned to Ramla as military governor of Palestine and confronted the powerful Jarrahids, a leading family of the Banu Tayy bedouins that often menaced Palestine's inhabitants. He was dealt with significant battlefield defeats and was recalled and imprisoned in Cairo in 1026, but was soon after freed. Two years later, vizier Ali al-Jarjara'i dispatched him with an army against the Tayy and Kilab tribes in Syria, whom Anushtakin routed near Lake Tiberias in 1029.
Anushtakin consolidated his authority over Syria by forming alliances with the local nobility, particularly Rafi ibn Abi'l Layl of the Kalb tribe, reining in Bedouin depredations, reconciling with the Jarrahids and acquiring numerous ghilman. In the mid-1030s, tensions developed between Anushtakin and al-Jarjara'i because the latter feared Anushtakin's growing political ambition. Al-Jarjara'i stoked conflict between Anushtakin and the Mirdasid emir of Aleppo, Shibl al-Dawla Nasr, which ended when Anushtakin defeated and killed Nasr in 1037. The following year, Anushtakin captured Aleppo with little resistance, marking the first and last time all of Syria was ruled by a single Fatimid governor. Anushtakin's rule in Damascus came to an end after an army mutiny engineered by al-Jarjara'i forced him to flee for the Aleppo citadel; he died there amid accusations of betraying Caliph al-Mustansir. Fifteen years later, the latter honored Anushtakin by relocating his grave to Jerusalem.
Sources The most comprehensive contemporary biography of Anushtakin was written by the Damascene historian, Ibn al-Qalanisi (d. 1160). According to modern historian Yaacov Lev, the "richness of details" Ibn al-Qalanisi provided about Anushtakin was "unusual" at the time for biographies on military slaves.Lev 2003, p. 55. Ibn al-Adim (1193–1262) was a major source for information regarding Anushtakin's governorship of Aleppo, while al-Maqrizi (1364–1442) documented several stories about Anushtakin's career in Cairo. Lev maintains that all three of the aforementioned medieval historians stressed Anushtakin's "just rule and fair treatment of the population in the towns he ruled as governor".
Biography
Origins and military slavery Anushtakin was an ethnic Turk born in Khuttal, a mountainous principality in Transoxiana; from there, he was captured and sold into slavery in Kashgar.Kennedy 2004, p. 289.Lev 1991, p. 85. He escaped to Bukhara, but was again captured and enslaved. He was then taken to the Abbasid capital of Baghdad. Afterward, he was moved to Fatimid-held Damascus in 1009/10, where he was purchased and employed by Dizbiri ibn Awnim (also known as Dizbar), a Fatimid officer of Daylamite descent who had previously served the Hamdanids. Anushtakin acquired the nisba (surname) "al-Dizbari" from his master; his Turkish given name, "Anajtekin", which means "adult-prince", was commonly transcribed in Arabic as "Anushtakin" or "Anashtajin".Salibi 1977, p. 100. For the next three years, Anushtakin successfully protected Dizbiri's properties as his steward.Zakkar 1971, p. 129.
In 1012, Dizbiri conceded to Anushtakin's wish to serve Caliph al-Hakim (r. 996–1021) in Cairo, where he became a ghulam (slave soldier; pl. ghilman) in the hujra (training barracks).Lev 2003, p. 45. He demonstrated martial talents during his training. There are scant details about Anushtakin's time in the hujra, though it is known that he was dismissive of his younger and less experienced colleagues whom he insulted with mocking nicknames. He completed his training relatively quickly by 1014/15, after which he was manumitted from enslavement.Lev 2003, pp. 58–59.
Early career Anushtakin acquired a position in the Fatimid court and caught the attention of al-Hakim, who made him an army officer. After serving a year in al-Hakim's court, Anushtakin was posted in Damascus in the retinue of a Fatimid general. He resided in the home of a certain Hayyus in the Zuqaq-Attaf quarter where he became friends with Hayyus's son and poet, Muhammad ibn Hayyus; the latter later dedicated several panegyrics to Anushtakin. While in the city, Anushtakin tracked down and met Dizbiri to pay respect to his old master.
Though contemporary sources do not indicate when Anushtakin learned Arabic and converted to Islam, Lev presumes it occurred during his time in Damascus.Lev 2003, pp. 44–45. It is not clear which tradition of Islam Anushtakin followed.Lev 2003, p. 54. However, al-Maqrizi indicated that Anushtakin subscribed to Isma'ili Shia Islam, the religion of the Fatimid state, but toward the end of his life, he deviated from the Isma'ili madhab (school of thought), which was rarely practiced in Damascus, possibly to Sunni Islam. Lev doubts that Anushtakin ever deviated from the state religion,Lev 2003, pp. 54–55. and asserts that in any case, Anushtakin firmly forsook his pagan past for a Muslim frame of reference.Lev 2003, p. 56.
Anushtakin's stay in Damascus was cut short when he was recalled to Cairo. By 1017, he was made wali (governor) of Ba'albek.Zakkar 1971, p. 131. He held the post for roughly four years, during which he developed a positive reputation among the inhabitants. It was in Ba'albek that Anushtakin acquired his own ghilman, and through them, he gained the significant wealth and knowledge of regional affairs that proved critical to his future political career in Syria, according to historian Suhayl Zakkar. At this time, he also came under the patronage of the Fatimids' Armenian governor of Aleppo, Fatik Aziz ad-Dawla.
Governor of Palestine After his service in Ba'albek, Anushtakin was briefly made walī of Caesarea (Qaysariya), a port city in northern Palestine, which contemporary sources stated he governed well.Gil 1997, p. 388. He was promoted again in 1023 to mutawalī ḥarb (military governor) of Jund Filastin (province of Palestine).Lev 2003, pp. 45–46. That same year, he issued an order forbidding anyone from harming the Franciscan friars of Jerusalem.
At the time of Anushtakin's appointment, inland Palestine was dominated by the Jarrahids, the ruling clan of the Bedouin tribe of Tayy, who often plundered the region's settlements. In August 1024, Anushtakin confronted the Jarrahids,Lev 2003, p. 48. "whose strength he grossly miscalculated", according to Lev.Lev 2003, p. 49. He sent troops to collect the taxes of Bayt Jibrin, the iqtaʿ (fief) of the Jarrahid and Tayy chieftain, Hassan ibn Mufarrij, but the Jarrahids killed the collectors. Anushtakin retaliated by imprisoning two of Hassan's senior aides in Ascalon and gained permission from Caliph az-Zahir (1021–1036) to attack Hassan while the latter was incapacitated by illness. Anushtakin proceeded to lead an expedition in the mountains around Nablus to apprehend Hassan. However, the latter had since recovered and with 3,000 of his horsemen, repulsed Anushtakin, who retreated to Ramla, the capital of Palestine.
The Jarrahids retaliated against Anushtakin by besieging him Ramla and plundering and massacring the inhabitants of Tiberias. Anushtakin's position was boosted with the defection of Hassan's brother, Thabit, to his camp, but this was short-lived as Thabit betrayed Anushtakin, and the Tayy, Kalb and Kilab Bedouin confederations formed an alliance against him.Gil 1997, p. 389. The Fatimids, meanwhile, could not fulfill Anushtakin's request for 2,000 cavalry and infantry reinforcements, and during the cover of night, he fled Ramla for Caesarea with ten of his ghilman.Lev 2003, pp. 48–49. Hassan subsequently freed his aides, sacked Ramla and installed his own governor in the city. His significant defeats notwithstanding, on 26 November,Gil 1997, p. 390. Anushtakin was named amir al-umara (commander of commanders), the first person to be accorded the title by the Fatimids. Desperate to regain some ground from the Jarrahids, Anushtakin moved to recapture Ramla, which he briefly held before being driven back to Ascalon.Lev 2003, pp. 49–50. He then gained the backing of the governor of Jerusalem, Mubarak al-Dawla Fath, and the governor of Tiberias, and led a foray against a Tayy encampment, killing its inhabitants.Lev 2003, p. 50. Nothing is known about the immediate aftermath of Anushtakin's offensives, but in 1026, Hassan persuaded the vizier, al-Hasan al-Rudhbari, to recall Anushtakin to Cairo.
Governor of Syria Anushtakin was arrested in Ascalon, then imprisoned in Cairo. His dismissal left the Bedouin alliance in virtual control of Syria.Lev 2003, p. 51. Anushtakin was ultimately released upon the intervention of Sa'id al-Su'ada, a senior eunuch of az-Zahir. Despite his distance from events, Anushtakin remained privy to developments in Palestine and Syria. Al-Rudhbari was replaced as vizier by Ali al-Jarjara'i in December 1027/January 1028 and in November 1028, he assigned Anushtakin to lead a military expedition against the Tayy in Palestine;Lev 2003, p. 52. by then, the Kalb had defected to az-Zahir, weakening the Bedouin alliance and giving the Fatimids an opportunity to reassert their authority in Syria.
At the head of 7,000 infantry, cavalry and Bedouin auxiliaries, Anushtakin marched, in succession, to Ramla and Jerusalem, gathering further troops in the process. The Bedouin alliance mobilized with Hassan leading the Tayy and Salih ibn Mirdas, the Mirdasid emir of Aleppo, commanding the Kilab. In May 1029, Anushtakin and the chieftain of the Kalb, Rafi ibn Abi-Layyal, routed the Tayy and Kilab at the Battle of al-Uqhuwana near Lake Tiberias. The battle ended when Salih was slain, after which many of his comrades were killed as they fled south into the Hejaz.Rustow 2008, p. 191. Anushtakin's victory paved the way for the Fatimid reconquest of Syria, with Salih's governors fleeing the coastal fortress of Sidon and the inland fortresses of Baalbek, Homs and Hisn Akkar between Damascus and the Mirdasid capital in Aleppo. Anushtakin, meanwhile, acquired Salih's Turkish ghilman and set up headquarters in Damascus. Afterward, Anushtakin "solidified his position as the most powerful Fatimid governor of Syria", according to Lev.
Though based in Damascus, Anushtakin remained in charge of affairs in Palestine.Gil 1997, p. 398. He consolidated his alliance with the Kalb by marrying Rafi's daughter in 1035.Zakkar 1971, p. 124. The Kalb and Tayy reconciled by 1030 and in the following year both tribes, then allied with the Byzantines, moved their encampments near Byzantine-held Antioch. Anushtakin launched assaults against the Tayy at Qastun, Inab and al-Arwaj. During Fatimid-Byzantine peace negotiations, in 1033, the Tayy attempted to negotiate a separate peace with Anushtakin to retrieve their iqtaʿat in Palestine. Within a few years, Anushtakin gained the Tayy's backing through an alliance with Hassan's son Allan. Anushtakin also drew support from a faction of the Kilab, the tribe to which the Mirdasids belonged.
Conquest of Aleppo