FAŻLŪYA, Amir ABU’L-ʿABBĀS FAŻL

 

FAŻLŪYA, Amir ABU’L-ʿABBĀS FAŻL, known also as Neẓām-al-Dīn Fażl-Allāh, chief of the Šabānkāra Kurds in Fārs during the 5th/11th century. He was the son of ʿAlī b. Ḥasan b. Ayyūb of the Rāmānī clan of the Šabānkāra and the founder of the line of Šabānkāra rulers in Fārs, which lasted intermittently from 421/1030 to 756/1355. The Šabānkāras inhabited the mountain region of Kohgīlūya and enjoyed a considerable degree of autonomy (Camb. Hist. Iran V, p. 78).

Fażlūya was sent by his father to Mohaḏḏeb-al-Dawla Abū Manṣūr Fasavī, known as Ṣāḥeb-e ʿĀdel, the vizier of the Buyid Abū Kālījār ʿEmād-al-Dīn Marzbān (q.v.), requesting that his son be appointed to a political position. Fażlūya rose in the vizier’s service and eventually received the title sepahsālār. Subsequently, however, Abū Kālījār decided to take over the Šabānkāra territories, which alienated Fażlūya.

In 445/1053 Qara Arslān Qāvord, the Saljuq ruler of Kermān, set out to conquer Fārs. Amir Fażlūya appealed to Alp Arslān (q.v.), promising to pay an annual tribute of twenty-seven million dirhams in return for retaining control of Fārs. Alp Arslān accepted the offer and left the government of Fārs to him (Tārīḵ-e Waṣṣāf, p. 422; Āyatī, p. 252). By 1447/1055 Fażlūya had brought all Fārs under his control and ruled it from his capital Gošnābād (Jošnābād), a town situated norteast of Fasā; he also spent time in Dārābgerd and Shiraz.

In 440/1049 Abū Kālījār was succeeded in Fārs by Abū Manṣūr Fūlād Sotūn, who, at his mother’s instigation, had the vizier murdered. The relations between the new Buyid ruler and Amir Fażlūya deteriorated and eventually led to the Šabānkāra revolt in 448/1057. Fūlād Sotūn was defeated and imprisoned in the fortress Pahan Dez, while his mother was left to suffocate in a hot bath (Ebn al-Balḵī, pp. 166, 172; Šabānkāraʾī, pp. 94-95).

Next Amir Fażlūya decided to take advantage of Alp Arslān’s preoccupation with conquests elsewhere and stopped sending his regular tribute. He proclaimed himself an independent ruler and took up position in the fortress of Ḵᵛorša near Jahrom. This rebellion, however, did not succeed. After sixteen days of battle, Alp Arslān’s vizier Neẓām-al-Molk seized the fortress. Amir Fażlūya sued for peace, offering a substantial reparation. He was forgiven and reinstated in his position (Ebn al-Balḵī, pp. 133, 166).

In 464/1072 Amir Fażlūya refused to pay his dues again, and Neẓām-al-Molk was dispatched to quell his rebellion. The vizier attempted to resolve the conflict peacefully, but Amir Fażlūya once again took refuge in a fortress. After a brief siege, the defenders, suffering from lack of water, surrendered. Amir Fażlūya attempted to flee, but was captured, put in chains, and sent before Alp Arslān, who forgave him one more time (Ebn al-Aṯīr, X, pp. 71-72). According to Ebn al-Balḵī (p. 166), Fażlūya was held in the fortress of Eṣṭaḵr but was captured and killed when he tried to take it over. His skin was stuffed with straw and hung in public view.

After Fażlūya’s death in 470/1078, the Saljuq sultan Malekšāh gained full control of Fārs and appointed Tūrāns¡āh, Qāvord’s son, as its governor. However, the successors of Amir Fażlūya were able to exploit the rivalry among the Saljuq princes and to re-establish their rule. The Šabānkāra amirs were finally defeated in 756/1355 by the Mozaffarids.

 

Bibliography (for cited works not given in detail, see "Short References”):

ʿA.-M. Āyatī, Taḥrīr-e Tārīḵ-e Waṣṣāf, Tehran, 1346 Š./1967, pp. 85, 251-53.

Abū Solaymān Dāwūd b. Moḥammad Banākatī, Rawżat uli’l-albāb fī maʿrefat al-tawārīḵ wa’l-ansāb, also known as Tārīḵ-e Banākatī, ed. J. Šeʿār, Tehran, 1348 Š./1969, p. 223.

M. A. Ḏakī, Ḵolāṣayakī tārīḵī Kord o Kordestān (A short history of the Kurds and Kurdestan), 2 vols., Baghdad, 1355/1937 (in Kurdish).

ʿA. Eqbāl, Tārīḵ-e mofaṣṣal-e Īrān…I: Az ḥamla-ye Čengīz tā taškīl-e dawlat-e Tīmūrī, repr., 1342 Š./1963, pp. 381-82.

Ḥamd-Allāh Mostawfī Qazvīnī, Tārīḵ-e gozīda, ed. ʿA.-Ḥ. Navaʾī, Tehran, 1362 Š./1983.

Moʿīn-al-Dīn Naṭanzī, Montaḵab al-tawārīḵ, ed. J. Aubin, Tehran 1336 Š./1957.

Ḡ.-R. Rašīd Yāsamī, Kord wa peyvastagī-e nežādī wa tārīḵī-e ū, Tehran, 136 Š./1937.

Moḥammad b. ʿAlī Šabānkāraʾī, Majmaʿ al-ansāb, ed. M. H. Moḥaddeṯ, Tehran, 1363 Š./1984.

Spuler, Mongolen2, pp. 146-47.

(ʿAbd-Allāh Mardūḵ)

Originally Published: December 15, 1999

Last Updated: January 24, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. IX, Fasc. 5, pp. 467-468