Thabit ibn Nasr ibn Malik al-Khuza'i (Arabic: ثابت بن نصر الخزاعي) (died 813/14) was an Abbasid general and governor of the Cilician frontier zone (al-thughur al-Sha'miya) with the Byzantine Empire in 808–813.
Thabit was a native of Khurasan,[1] and the grandson of Malik ibn al-Haytham al-Khuza'i, an early Abbasid follower and military leader.[2] He was appointed as governor of the Syrian thughur (essentially comprising Cilicia, with Tarsus as its capital) in the last year of the reign of Harun al-Rashid (808/9).[3][4] He organized a prisoner exchange with the Byzantines at Podandos in 808,[5][6] but also led a series of raiding expeditions (sawa'if) against them.[3] In one of these however, in August 812, he suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Leo the Armenian, losing 2,000 men.[6]
From ca. 810, with the outbreak of a civil war between al-Amin and his brother al-Ma'mun, Thabit, like many other provincial governors and magnates, was able to assume virtually independent control of his province.[3][7] He died or was killed shortly after the final victory of Ma'mun in 813,[3] according to some accounts poisoned by his cousin Nasr ibn Hamza ibn Malik.[8]
References
- ^ Cobb (2001), p. 93
- ^ Crone (1980), p. 181
- ^ a b c d Crone (1980), p. 182
- ^ Bonner (1996), p. 95
- ^ Bonner (1996), p. 97
- ^ a b PmbZ, Ṯābit ibn Naṣr al-Ḳuzā'ī (#7224)
- ^ Cobb (2001), pp. 93–94
- ^ Crone (1980), p. 183
Sources
Unknown Title last held by Abu'l-Fawaris
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Governor of Tarsus 808–813
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Unknown Title next held by Ahmad ibn Sa'id ibn Salm ibn Qutayba al-Bahili
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