Azjur al-Turki
Azjur al-Turki (Arabic: أزجور التركي) or Arkhuz ibn Ulugh Tarkhan al-Turki (أرخوز بن أولوغ طرخان التركي) was a Turkic military officer in the service of the Abbasid Caliphate. He was briefly the governor of Egypt in 868, and was the last individual to hold that office prior to the Tulunid takeover of Egypt that same year.
Career
According to the fifteenth century chronicler Ibn Taghribirdi, Azjur/Arkhuz was born in Baghdad to Ulugh Tarkhan, a Turkic man of likely high status, as evidenced by the use of the title tarkhan. Azjur himself eventually became one of the senior amirs of the Abbasid state,[1] and in 867 he was appointed as chief of security (shurtah) of Egypt by the governor Muzahim ibn Khaqan.[2]
During Muzahim's governorship, Azjur assisted in quelling the revolt of Jabir ibn al-Walid, and fought a battle against him in the area of Giza in June 867. He soon made himself unpopular, however, when he introduced a number of new ritual practices in place of those traditionally used in Egypt. Muzahim eventually dismissed him from the shurtah in November 867, but Azjur remained an influential figure, and after Muzahim's death in January 868 he was again appointed as the head of security for Muzahim's son and successor Ahmad.[3]
In April 868, Azjur himself became governor of Egypt following the death of Ahmad. During his administration he sent the rebel Jabir, who had been imprisoned in al-Fustat by Muzahim, to Iraq, and also defeated an 'Alid rebellion that broke out in Upper Egypt. He remained governor until August or September 868, after which he was replaced by Ahmad ibn Tulun.[4] Ibn Taghribirdi claims that he then returned to Iraq, where he was received by the caliph and became one of his officers (quwwad);[5] al-Kindi, on the other hand, reports that he left Egypt to go on the Hajj.[6]
Notes
- ^ Gordon 2001, p. 158; Ibn Taghribirdi 1930, p. 341
- ^ Al-Kindi 1912, p. 208.
- ^ Al-Kindi 1912, pp. 209–11; Kennedy 1998, p. 85
- ^ Al-Kindi 1912, pp. 210, 211–12.
- ^ Ibn Taghribirdi 1930, p. 342.
- ^ Al-Kindi 1912, p. 212.
References
- Gordon, Matthew S. (2001). The Breaking of a Thousand Swords: A History of the Turkish Military of Samarra (A.H. 200–275/815–889 C.E.). Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-4795-2.
- Ibn Taghribirdi, Jamal al-Din Abu al-Mahasin Yusuf (1930). Nujum al-zahira fi muluk Misr wa'l-Qahira, Volume II. Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya.
- Kennedy, Hugh (1998). "Egypt as a province in the Islamic caliphate, 641-868". In Petry, Carl F. (ed.). Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume One: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–85. ISBN 0-521-47137-0.
- Al-Kindi, Muhammad ibn Yusuf (1912). Guest, Rhuvon (ed.). The Governors and Judges of Egypt (in Arabic). Leyden and London: E. J. Brill.
Preceded by | Governor of Egypt 868 | Succeeded by |
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- Salih ibn Ali ibn Abdallah ibn al-Abbas (Second Term)
- Abu Awn Abd al-Malik ibn Yazid (Second Term)
- Musa ibn Ka'b al-Tamimi
- Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath al-Khuza'i
- Humayd ibn Qahtaba
- Yazid ibn Hatim al-Muhallabi
- Abdallah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj al-Tujibi
- Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj al-Tujibi
- Musa ibn Ali ibn Rabah al-Lakhmi
- Isa ibn Luqman al-Jumahi
- Wadih al-Maskin
- Mansur ibn Yazid ibn Mansur
- Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Harashi
- Salim ibn Sawada al-Tamimi
- Ibrahim ibn Salih ibn Abdallah ibn al-Abbas
- Musa ibn Mus'ab al-Khath'ami
- Ali ibn Sulayman al-Abbasi
- Musa ibn Isa ibn Musa al-Abbasi
- Maslama ibn Yahya al-Bajali
- Muhammad ibn Zuhayr al-Azdi
- Dawud ibn Yazid ibn Hatim al-Muhallabi
- Musa ibn Isa ibn Musa al-Abbasi (Second Term)
- Ibrahim ibn Salih ibn Abdallah ibn al-Abbas
- Abdallah ibn al-Musayyab ibn Zuhayr al-Dabbi
- Ishaq ibn Sulayman
- Harthama ibn A'yan
- Abd al-Malik ibn Salih
- Abdallah ibn al-Musayyab ibn Zuhayr al-Dabbi (Second Term)
- Ubaydallah ibn al-Mahdi al-Abbasi
- Musa ibn Isa ibn Musa al-Abbasi (Third Term)
- Ubaydallah ibn al-Mahdi al-Abbasi (Second Term)
- Isma'il ibn Salih ibn Ali al-Abbasi
- Isma'il ibn Isa al-Abbasi
- Al-Layth ibn al-Fadl
- Ahmad ibn Ismail ibn Ali ibn Abdallah al-Abbasi
- Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Abbasi
- Al-Husayn ibn Jamil
- Malik ibn Dalham al-Kalbi
- Abbad ibn Muhammad ibn Hayyan
- Al-Muttalib ibn Abdallah al-Khuza'i
- Al-Abbas ibn Musa ibn Isa al-Abbasi
- Al-Muttalib ibn Abdallah al-Khuza'i (Second Term)
- Al-Sari ibn al-Hakam
- Sulayman ibn Ghalib ibn Jibril al-Bajali
- Al-Sari ibn al-Hakam (Second Term)
- Abu Nasr ibn al-Sari
- Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Mazyad
- Ubaydallah ibn al-Sari
- Abdallah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani
- Isa ibn Yazid al-Juludi
- Umayr ibn al-Walid
- Isa ibn Yazid al-Juludi (Second Term)
- Abdawayh ibn Jabalah
- Isa ibn Mansur al-Rafi'i
- Al-Ma'mun (Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate)
Al-Musta'in
- Muzahim ibn Khaqan
- Ahmad ibn Muzahim ibn Khaqan
- Azjur al-Turki