Bishr ibn Dawud al-Muhallabi

Bishr ibn Dawud al-Muhallabi (Arabic: بشر بن داود المهلبي‎) was a governor of al-Sind for the Abbasid dynasty, serving during the caliphate of al-Ma'mun.^[1]

Career

A member of the Muhallabid family, Bishr was the son of Dawud ibn Yazid, who had served as the governor of al-Sind since the caliphate of al-Rashid. After Yazid died in 820 or 821, Bishr succeeded his father and took over the government of al-Sind. Al-Ma'mun agreed to recognize him as governor, on the condition that Bishr send a million dirhams in tribute to him on an annual basis.^[2]

In spite of this agreement, however, Bishr soon decided to rebel against the caliph,^[3] and stopped forwarding any money to Baghdad. In response, al-Ma'mun placed an army under the command of Hajib ibn Salih in 826 and instructed him to reassert caliphal control over al-Sind. Bishr, however, defeated Hajib and forced him to retreat from the province.^[4] Following this, al-Ma'mun invested Ghassan ibn 'Abbad with the governorship of al-Sind and sent him to defeat Bishr.^[5] This time, Bishr decided to surrender and requested that Ghassan give him a guarantee of safe conduct. This was granted, and Bishr returned with Ghassan to Iraq in 831.^[6]

Notes

1. Crone, p. 360
2. Al-Tabari, p. 106
3. Al-Baladhuri, p. 231; al-Ya'qubi, pp. 557-8
4. Al-Tabari, p. 176
5. Al-Tabari, pp. 179-80
6. Al-Tabari, p. 189

References

• Al-Baladhuri, Ahmad ibn Jabir. The Origins of the Islamic State, Part II. Trans. Francis Clark Murgotten. New York: Columbia University, 1924.
• Crone, Patricia. "Muhallabids." The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Volume VII. New Ed. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993. ISBN 90-04-09419-9
• Al-Tabari, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir. The History of al-Tabari, Volume XXXII: The Reunification of the 'Abbasid Caliphate. Trans. Clifford Edmund Bosworth. Ed. Ehsan Yar-Shater. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1987. ISBN 0-88706-058-7
• Al-Ya'qubi, Ahmad ibn Abu Ya'qub. Historiae, Vol. 2. Ed. M. Th. Houtsma. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1883.