ABU KALIJAR AL-MARZUBAN IBN SULTAN AD-DAWLAH

also called Muhyi'ad-din born , May/June 1009, Basra, Iraq died October 1048, Khannab, near Kerman, Iran ruler of the Buyid dynasty from 1024, who for a brief spell reunited the Buyid territories in Iraq and Iran. When his father, Sultan ad-Dawlah, died in December 1023/January 1024, Abu Kalijar's succession to the sultan's Iranian possessions of Fars and Khuzistan was challenged by his uncle Abu al-Fawaris, the ruler of Kerman, to the west. By 1028 Abu Kalijar was victorious and added Kerman to his domains. In the meantime (1027) he had attacked the Iraqi lands of another uncle, Jalal ad-Dawlah, and had precipitated a civil war between the Iraqi and the Iranian branches of the Buyid family that lasted until 1037, when the two made peace. With the death of Jalal ad-Dawlah in March 1044, Abu Kalijar was recognized as the Buyid ruler in Iraq. In the face of the growing challenge of the Seljuq Turks, Abu Kalijar fortified his capital Shiraz, in Fars (1044), and three years later entered into a marriage alliance with the Seljuq ruler Toghrl Beg. In 1048, however, Toghrl broke the alliance and attacked. Abu Kalijar died leading a force against the Seljuqs, who by 1062 completed their occupation of Buyid territories.