Muflih (eunuch)
Muflih, surnamed al-Aswad ("the Black") and al-Khadim ("the Eunuch"),[1] was the chief court eunuch under the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932).
By 922/3 he had risen to a position of great influence at court, and supported the ousting of the vizier Hamid ibn al-Abbas, whom he disliked, in favour of Ali ibn al-Furat. He intervened, however, to save Hamid's deputy Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah from the tortures inflicted on him by Ibn al-Furat's son al-Muhassin.[2]
In September–October 925 he supervised, along with Bushra al-Thamali, deputy of the governor of the Thughur Thamal al-Dulafi, that year's prisoner exchange with the Byzantine Empire. The exchange, known as fidāʾ Mufliḥ in the Arab sources, involved the release of almost 4,000 Muslim men and women from captivity.[3][4]
According to al-Suli, Muflih was appointed as governor of Jerusalem in 935, during the caliphate of al-Radi.[5]
References
- ↑ Ayalon 1999, p. 297.
- ↑ Bowen 1928, pp. 197ff., 218.
- ↑ PmbZ, Mufliḥ (#25434).
- ↑ Ayalon 1999, p. 117.
- ↑ Gil 1997, p. 315.
Sources
- Ayalon, David (1999). Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans: A Study in Power Relationships. Hebrew University Magnes Press.
- Bowen, Harold (1928). The Life and Times of ʿAlí Ibn ʿÍsà: The Good Vizier. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Lilie, Ralph-Johannes; Ludwig, Claudia; Zielke, Beate; Pratsch, Thomas, eds. (2013). Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Nach Vorarbeiten F. Winkelmanns erstellt (in German). De Gruyter.
- Gil, Moshe (1997). A History of Palestine, 634–1099. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-59984-9.