Fakhr al-Mulk SaêÂÂ¥d al-Dawla Abà « Maná¹£à «r SÃÂrtakën al-QawwÃÂsë ( 1080âÂÂ1101) was a governor and military commander of the Fatimid Caliphate. He was killed in action during the war with the Franks.
According to Ibn al-Athër, he was a mamlà «k (slave soldier) of Badr al-JamÃÂlë. The name al-QawwÃÂsë means "the archer". Ibn al-QalÃÂnisë calls him an emir. In 1080, he was the governor of Qà «á¹£ when the recently abdicated King Solomon of Makuria came to Aswan intending to visit the church of Saint Onuphrius at al-Wadi. Al-QawwÃÂsë had him arrested and brought to Cairo, where he was received hospitably by Badr. This story is recounted by al-Maqrëzë and by the contemporary History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, although only the latter names the governor. Solomon died and was buried in Cairo in 1081.
That year (1081), al-QawwÃÂsë constructed a minaret in Esna. It is the only part of the mosque that Badr had renovated in 1077 that still stands. In the dedicatory inscription, he calls himself al-Juyà «shë to highlight his patronâÂÂclient relationship with Badr, the amër al-juyà «sh (commander-in-chief). The inscription includes the first use of the term miþdhana (place of the adhÃÂn prayer) in Egyptian epigraphy.
There is confusion regarding al-QawwÃÂsë's role as the Egyptian commander at the first battle of Ramla in 1101. The Arabic sources do not agree on his nisba (surname), his fate or the result of the battle. In the account of Ibn Muyassar, al-QawwÃÂsë held the Egyptian centre and was killed in action. The Egyptians subsequently routed the Franks. According to al-Maqrëzë, his name was in fact al-ṬawÃÂshë and he survived the battle. Ibn al-QalÃÂnisë, who calls him al-QawÃÂmisë or al-ÿAawwÃÂsë, places him at Ascalon between JuneâÂÂJuly and SeptemberâÂÂOctober 1101, waiting for the Frankish advance. He claims that he died a martyr when his horse stumbled and threw him during the subsequent battle. The name al-QawÃÂmisë, meaning "the disastrous", is probably a piece of "gallows humour" and not an actual name. Ibn al-Athër, who calls the commander al-ṬawÃÂshë, makes the battle an Egyptian defeat, attributing it to al-ṬawÃÂshë's fall from his horse, after which the Franks captured his tent. He adds the detail that al-ṬawÃÂshë was warned by astrologers not to ride a horse until he arrived in Beirut, to which he had been appointed governor. The name al-ṬawÃÂshë could mean "the eunuch" or the "first class cavalryman". As a military term, á¹ÂawÃÂshë belongs to a later period and its use by the chroniclers is probably an error for al-QawwÃÂsë.
The account of Ibn Muyassar is not consistent, since it claims that al-QawwÃÂsë attacked the Franks in May 1102 and then took part in the capture of Ramla in June 1103, although he had supposedly died in 1101. Ibn al-Athër likewise places al-QawwÃÂsë's defeat in 1103.