Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās (Arabic:صالح بن علي بن عبد الله بن العباس) (711–769) was a member of theBanu Abbas who served as general and governor in Syria and Egypt.
Salih and his brotherAbd Allah were among the van of theAbbasid forces which overthrew theUmayyads in 750. The brothers besieged and took theCaliphate's capital,Damascus, and then pursued the last Umayyad caliph,Marwan II, toEgypt where he was captured and killed.[1][2]
Salih was named as the first Abbasid governor of Egypt on 9 August 750. He kept the post for less than a year, being named governor of theJund Filastin (Palestine) in March 751. In this capacity, he sent Sa'id ibn Abdallah in the firstraiding expedition of the Abbasid era againstByzantineAnatolia.[1] On 8 October, 753 he was appointed again as governor of Egypt, a post he held until 21 February 755.[1] At the death of the Caliphal-Saffah, Salih's nephew, in 754, Salih's brother Abd Allah launched a revolt inSyria against the new Caliphal-Mansur, claiming to have been named by the dying Saffah as his successor. Salih refused to join his brother's revolt and even led troops into Syria to help suppress it. He clashed with and defeated Abd Allah's governor of Palestine, al-Hakam ibn Da'ban, while Abd Allah was defeated byAbu Muslim and forced to submit to Mansur.[3]
Despite Abd Allah's rebellion, Salih and his family were established as the paramount Abbasid potentates in Syria, a position they held for the next half-century, as Salih's sonsal-Fadl,Ibrahim andAbd al-Malik all held governorships in Syria and Egypt.[1][4] Salih also appropriated most of the Umayyad dynasty's extensive properties in the area for himself. In addition, he played an important role in the strengthening of the Abbasid-Byzantine frontier, thethughur, re-occupying and rebuilding the former Byzantine cities ofMelitene (Malatya),Germanikeia (Mar'ash) andMopsuestia (al-Massisa). He died in Syria in 769.[1]
