Salih was the founder of the Mirdasid dynasty and emir of Aleppo from 1025 until his death in May 1029. At its peak, his emirate encompassed much of the western Jazira, northern Syria and several central Syrian towns. He was killed in battle near Lake Tiberias in 1029, succeeded by his sons Nasr and Thimal.
About Salih ibn Mirdas in brief
Salih was the founder of the Mirdasid dynasty and emir of Aleppo from 1025 until his death in May 1029. At its peak, his emirate encompassed much of the western Jazira, northern Syria and several central Syrian towns. Salih launched his career in 1008, when he seized the Euphrates river fortress of al-Rahba. He later formed an alliance with the Banu Kalb and Banu Tayy tribes and supported their struggle against the Fatimids of Egypt. He was killed in battle near Lake Tiberias in 1029, succeeded by his sons Nasr and Thimal. The year of Salih’s birth is not known. His father was from a princely clan of the Kilab, specifically from the Rabi’a ibn Ka’b line of the Abd Allah ibn Abu Bakr branch. His mother, Rabab al-Zawqaliyya, belonged to the princely Kilabi clan of Zawqal, which inhabited the environs of Aleppo. He had at least three brothers, only one of whom, Kamil, is named in sources, and at least four sons, Nasr, Thimal, Atiyya and the youngest whose name is not know. The Kilab first migrated to Syria from central Arabia during the 7th-century Muslim conquest. They soon became a pillar of the Qaysi tribal faction and established their strongholds in the JZira and the steppes around Aleppo. Like most Aleppine Muslims in the 10th–11th centuries, the Kilabs embraced Twelver Shia Islam.
The first Salih mentioned in relation to the power struggle between Aleppo and Hamdanid rulers, between 945 and 945, is in the battle between Hamdan and Zakkar, which took place between 1008 and 1002. In 932–933, another wave of Kilab tribesmen moved to Aleppo as soldiers of an invading Qarmatian army; according to historian Suhaylat al-Khalil, the new arrivals “paved the way to the rise of the new Mird asid dynasty”. By then, the kilab had established itself as the dominant tribal force in northern Syria, and played a significant role in all of the uprisings and internecine fighting involving the Hamdanine rulers of Aleppo, 945-945. The town of Qinnasrin was strategically situated at the crossroads between the Jazir and the Steppes of Syria, which thenceforth became their diyār. It is not clear how strongly the tribesmen identified with their faith, Salih’s kunya, \”Abū ʿAlī\”, honored Ali ibn Abi Talib, a central figure in Shia tradition. Militarily, he relied on the banu Kilab while entrusting fiscal administration to his local Christian vizier, policing to the aḥdāth under Salim ibn Mustafad, and judicial matters to a Shia Muslim qāḍī.
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This page is based on the article Salih ibn Mirdas published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 23, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
