| Mujāhid al-ʿĀmirī | |
|---|---|
| Emir of Taifa of Dénia | |
| Reign | Taifa of Dénia:1009 – 436 AH (1044/1045CE) |
| Predecessor | Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo Caliphate of Córdoba |
| Successor | 'Ali Iqbal ad-Dawla |
| Emir of Taifa of Valencia | |
| Reign | Taifa of Valencia: 410 AH (1019/1020CE) – 411 AH (1020/1021CE) |
| Predecessor | Labib al-Saqlabi |
| Successor | Abd al-Aziz al-Mansur |
| Died | 436 AH (1044/1045CE) |
| Religion | Islam |
Abu ʾl-Jaysh Mujāhid ibn ʿAbd Allāhal-ʿĀmirī, surnamedal-Muwaffaḳ (diedAD 1044/5 [AH 436]), was theruler of Dénia and the Balearic Islands from late 1014 (earlyAH 405) until his death. With the exception of his early and disastrousinvasion of Sardinia, his reign was mostly peaceful. His court became a centre of scholarship and literary production and he himself wrote a book about poetry (now lost).[1]
Mujāhid was aṣaḳlabī, a slave ofSlavic origin. Hispatronymic, Ibn ʿAbd Allāh, does not refer to his actual father.[1] His mother was a captured Christian.[2] He was purchased and converted to Islam by theḥājibal-Manṣūr, who also had him educated. He may have served as governor of Dénia under al-Manṣūr's sons after 1002. After the death of al-Manṣūr's second son,Sanchuelo, in March 1009, he took control of Dénia. Within a few years he had set up his own rival puppet caliph,al-Muʿayṭī.[1]
In 1015 (AH 406), Mujāhid launched an expedition to conquer the island ofSardinia in the name of the caliph al-Muʿayṭī. He landed with 120 ships and occupied the southern coastal plain, but was defeated byPisan and Genoese forces from Italy. The following year he returned with a large force of cavalry, defeated the army of thejudge of Cagliari and fortified the conquered area. He even sent a force to attackLuni on the Italian coast. The German chroniclerThietmar of Merseburg wrote that he sent a sack of chestnuts to the pope to illustrate the number of Muslim soldiers he would unleash on Christendom, but thatBenedict VIII sent back a sack of millet representing the number of Christian soldiers that would meet them.[2]
In May 1016, the Italians returned to Sardinia. Mujāhid, facing mutiny among his men, fled by sea. His fleet was devastated in a storm and the remaining ships were picked off by the Pisan and Genoese fleets. His mother and his son and eventual successorʿAlī were captured, but Mujāhid made it back to Dénia.[2] ʿAlī remained a prisoner for many years.[1]
During Mujāhid's absence in Sardinia and probably informed of his difficulties, al-Muʿayṭī tried to seize actual authority in Dénia for himself. Following his return, Mujāhid sent the caliph into exile in Africa.[1]
Mujāhid's rule in Dénia following the dismissal of al-Muʿayṭī is not well recorded. Unusually, few coins of his survive and none in his name that can be dated to between the yearsAH 407 (1016–17) and 434 (1042–43).[1] Only the years 406 (1015–16) and 435 (1043–44) at the beginning and end of his reign are attested in the surviving dated coinage. He minteddirhams at a mint named "Elota" that remains unidentified.[3]
InAH 410 (1019–20), Mujāhid became co-ruler of thetaifa of Valencia alongsideLabīb al-Fatā al-Ṣaqlabī. This arrangement only lasted untilAH 411 (1020–21), when Labīb was forced to leave Valencia and return toTortosa. Soon after this, Mujāhid was replaced byʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī ʿĀmir as the ruler of Valencia.[4]
In 1033,Abu ʾl-Ḳāsim, the ruler ofSeville, put forward an impostor claiming he was the caliphHishām II, who had actually died in 1013. Mujāhid accepted the nominal authority of the fake Hishām II, probably as part of a series of marital alliances with theAbbadid dynasty ruling Seville.[1]
The peace of his reign was broken only towards the end of his life, when he temporarily occupiedMurcia and also became preoccupied by a dispute with his younger son, Ḥasan. He was succeeded by ʿAlī, who continued to make the court of Dénia a centre of culture.[1]
Mujāhid was a patron of theological and literary studies, especially ofqirāʾāt (recitation). His interest in this last practice may have stemmed from his name, since one of the most influential students ofqirāʾāt wasIbn Mujāhid (died 936).[1]
Ibn Gharsiya andIbn Burd al-Aṣghar are known to have composed works at Mujāhid's court. Ibn Gharsiya's famousrisāla (treatise) on theshuʿūbiyya (non-Arab nations), criticising Arab ascendancy in Spain and praising non-Arabs, like Berbers and Slavs, was written there. Ibn Burd dedicated hisRisālat al-Sayf wa ʾl-ḳalam to Mujāhid and is known to have composed other works at Dénia and elsewhere under Mujāhid's patronage. The polymathIbn Ḥazm and the juristIbn ʿAbd al-Barr are also known spent time at his court.[1]
Mujāhid himself wrote a now lost work onʿarūḍ (Arabic metre).[1]
| Preceded by | Emir of Denia 1009–1018 | Succeeded by 'Ali Iqbal ad-Dawla |
| Preceded by | Emir of Valencia 1019–1021 | Succeeded by |
