GhÃÂlib ibn ÿAbd al-RaḥmÃÂn al-NÃÂá¹£irë (c. 900 â 10 July 981), called al-á¹¢iqlabë, was a military commander in the ÿUmayyad caliphate of Córdoba, serving the caliphs ÿAbd al-RaḥmÃÂn III al-NÃÂá¹£ir, al-Ḥakam II and HishÃÂm II on both land and sea. For his military prowess, he was granted the honorific Dhu þl-Sayfayn (Lord of the Two Swords).
GhÃÂlib's rise coincides with the retirement of ÿAbd al-RaḥmÃÂn III from active military command following his defeat at the Battle of Simancas in 939. In the 940s, GhÃÂlib consolidated ÿUmayyad control over Toledo and Medinaceli. In the 950s, he led a series of razzias into Christian territory to the north, bringing back booty and prisoners. In 955, he led a punitive naval expedition against the FÃÂá¹Âimid Caliphate.
Under al-Ḥakam II, who withdrew into the palace, GhÃÂlib became the public face of the caliphate. His departure on campaign and his return to Córdoba were celebrated with pomp and he was regarded by contemporaries as a hero. He continued to lead campaigns north into Christian territory throughout the 960s and 970s. He also led the defence against the Vikings in 971âÂÂ72. His most important feat, however, was to bring the Idrësid dynasty in North Africa back under ÿUmayyad control in 973.
In his final year, GhÃÂlib became embroiled in a civil war with his own son-in-law, Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir (Almanzor). Forced to ally with his former Christian enemies, GhÃÂlib was defeated and killed in a pitched battle. His death marks the culmination of the rise of Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir to a position of supremacy within the caliphate.
GhÃÂlib was originally a á¹¢iqlabë, a slave of eastern European, probably Slavic, origin from a Christian family. He was owned, and later freed, by ÿAbd al-RaḥmÃÂn III, becoming a mawlà(freedman) and, as per custom, taking his former owner's name as his patronymic surname, becoming ibn ÿAbd al-RaḥmÃÂn al-NÃÂá¹£irë.
Although many slaves destined for the palace or for provincial administration were castrated, GhÃÂlib was not.
In 946, GhÃÂlib was placed in charge of the Middle March. In this capacity, according to al-Maqqarë, a late source, he rebuilt the castle of Medinaceli (Madënat SÃÂlim) and used it as a base to harass the Christian kingdom of León. In 953, he attacked the Leonese county of Castile, bringing back many prisoners and much booty, but the border remained unchanged.
In 954, a Sicilian fleet under the orders of the FÃÂá¹Âimid caliph al-Muÿizz sacked the ÿUmayyad city of AlmerÃÂa. The next year (955), GhÃÂlib led a punitive naval raid on the coast of FÃÂá¹Âimid Ifrëqiya (Africa). This expedition failed, but in 956 a second expedition with seventy ships captured and razed Marsàal-Kharaz and plundered Ṭabarqa and Sà «sa.
In 960, ÿAbd al-RaḥmÃÂn III restored the deposed Sancho I to the Leonese throne in exchange for ten border fortresses. This condition had not been fulfilled when the caliph died in October 961. Sancho's rival, Ordoño IV, had fled to the Count Fernán González of Castile, who, in obedience to the treaty between his sovereign, now Sancho, and the caliphate, sent him as a prisoner to GhÃÂlib at Medinaceli, who passed him along to Córdoba. There he was interviewed by the new caliph, al-Ḥakam II, in April 962 and agreed to uphold Sancho's deal if the caliph would restore him to the throne. Before this new agreement could be put into effect, Sancho I renewed his promise to hand over the ten fortresses. Following the death of Ordoño IV shortly after, Sancho reneged. He then allied with the Kingdom of Navarre and the County of Barcelona to attack the caliphate. Al-Ḥakam II then personally led an army to the border in the summer of 963, seizing the fortresses of Gormaz and Atienza while GhÃÂlib and Yaḥyàibn Muḥammad al-Tujëbë, the governor of Zaragoza, led a two-pronged attack on Navarre. GhÃÂlib captured Calahorra from the Navarrese and al-Tujëbë defeated their king, GarcÃÂa Sánchez I, in battle.
By 971, GhÃÂlib held the rank of vizier (wazër). On 3 July that year, he was summoned by the Caliph al-Ḥakam and put in charge of mounting a campaign by land and sea against a Viking fleet that had appeared off the Atlantic coast. After making preparations, GhÃÂlib departed on 12 July through the Madënat al-Zahrà(Eastern Gate) in an elaborate ceremony. He was apparently too late. An Leonese embassy arrived from Astorga with news that the Vikings had gone up the river Duero as far as Santaver (Shantabarëya), although they had left empty-handed. GhÃÂlib's fleet did not sail from AlmerÃÂa until the end of RamadÃÂn, around 25 July. The fleet failed to make contact with the Vikings and returned to port a month later. A triumph was staged for GhÃÂlib nonetheless. He was escorted into Córdoba with banners all the way to the Alcázar, and a panegyric was composed in his honour. He did not, however, command the response to the Vikings the following year.
In 972, GhÃÂlib was promoted to the new rank of al-qÃÂþid al-aÿlà(supreme commander). In 974, diplomas of authority (sijilÃÂt) were issued to the lords of the Middle March upon GhÃÂlib's request. In them, GhÃÂlib is described as the zaÿëm (boss) of the marcher lords. He was thus at the peak of his power and influence when in 973 he was sent to Africa to bring the Idrësids back under ÿUmayyad control. They had defected under pressure to the FÃÂá¹Âimids in 958. He returned to Córdoba in triumph with the deposed Idrësid leader, al-Ḥasan ibn Gannà «n, as his captive in September 974. The Idrësid ruler was forced to swear allegiance to the ÿUmayyads and to the MÃÂlikë madhab (as opposed to the Shiism of the FÃÂá¹Âimids).
In 975, GhÃÂlib led an expedition against the alliance of León and Navarre. He won two major victories, defeating the allied force under Ramiro III of León that was besieging Gormaz on 28 June and then defeating Count GarcÃÂa Fernández of Castile south of the Duero, near Langa, on 8 July. After these victories he was given two gilded swords and the honorific Dhu þl-Sayfayn (Lord of the Two Swords), a title which had also been granted by the ÿAbbÃÂsid regent al-Muwaffaq in Baghdad to his general IsḥÃÂq ibn KundÃÂj in 883. Only al-Ḥakam himself, his son HishÃÂm and his first minister, Jaÿfar ibn ÿUthmÃÂn al-Muṣḥafi, were present at the ceremony where GhÃÂlib received the honour. Establishing his headquarters at Medinaceli, GhÃÂlib brought Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir, the future ruler of Córdoba, into his employ as his intendant general and was followed by many others drawn by word of his latest honour.
After the accession of HishÃÂm II in October 976, GhÃÂlib took command of the military forces of the capital and Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir followed him there. In 978, the latter married GhÃÂlib's daughter, AsmÃÂþ. In the capital, Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir plotted with al-Muṣḥafi, to overthrow the palace á¹¢aqÃÂliba, and then plotted with GhÃÂlib to overthrow al-Muṣḥafi. Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir rewarded his father-in-law's cooperation by procuring for him the honorific dhu þl-wizÃÂratayn ("he of the two vizierates") from the young HishÃÂm II. This title placed GhÃÂlib in a position of preeminence over all the other viziers at court.
Son-in-law and father-in-law soon had a falling-out over Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir's restricting the caliph's sphere of activity to religious ceremonies. In 980, GhÃÂlib requested a meeting with Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir at his castle of Medinaceli. According to the Arabic chroniclers, during the meeting GhÃÂlib in anger struck his son-in-law with his sword, injuring him.
With the conflict now in the open, Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir seized Medinaceli at the head of a large Berber army. In order to recover his fiefdom, GhÃÂlib allied with Castile and the Kingdom of Viguera and fought a series of victorious engagements with his son-in-law's forces before the latter forced him into a pitched battle. Although his own army contained Christian mercenaries, Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir declared a jihÃÂd against GhÃÂlib because of his Christian allies. The battle of Torrevicente took place on 10 July 981. The king of Viguera, Ramiro Garcés, who was the king of Navarre's brother, was killed in action. GhÃÂlib himself died when his horse stumbled and his chest was pierced on his saddlebow. He was about eighty years old. It was for this victory over his last internal rival that Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir was given the honorific al-Maná¹£à «r bi-LlÃÂh (Victorious by God) by which is most commonly known.
By order of Ibn Abë ÿÃÂmir, GhÃÂlib's body was skinned and his skin stuffed and exhibited on a crucifix in Córdoba. His head is given different but equally grisly treatments by different chroniclers.