'UQAYLID DYNASTY

Muslim Arab dynasty whose various branches ruled Mosul (c. 9921096) and Takrit (1036c. 1057), in what is now Iraq. The 'Uqaylids, descendants of the famous Bedouin tribe of 'Amir ibn Sa'sa'ah, established themselves in Jazirat ibn 'Umar, Nisibin (modern Nusaybin, Tur.), and Balad (northern Iraq) at the end of the 10th century. Abu adh-Dhawwud Muhammad (reigned c. 990996), the first 'Uqaylid, was drawn into the struggle between the Hamdanids and Marwanids for possession of Mosul and eventually succeeded the Hamdanids as emir of Mosul, though remaining nominally subject to the Buyids of Baghdad. The reign of Qirwash ibn al-Muqallad (100150), who assumed the emirate after many years of bitter family feuding, was troubled by the threat of Oguz tribesmen invading his dominions from western Iran and southern Iraq, forcing him into defensive alliances with the Mazyadids, another Muslim Arab dynasty in al-Hillah, central Iraq. Muslim ibn Quraysh (reigned 106185), however, was able to bring the 'Uqaylid dynasty to the height of its power. By allying himself with the Seljuq sultans Alp-Arslan and Malik-Shah, Muslim annexed part of northern Syria and thus established 'Uqaylid rule over an area reaching from Aleppo to Baghdad. 'Uqaylid fortunes declined, however, when Muslim switched allegiance to his coreligionists, the Shi'ite Fatimids of Egypt. Seljuq armies invaded Mosul and routed Muslim, who was subsequently killed in battle with Seljuq forces. The 'Uqaylids were allowed to remain in Mosul as Seljuq governors but were finally subjugated by the Seljuq sultan Tutush in 1096. Another 'Uqaylid line had been installed in Takrit, on the Tigris River, sometime before 1036. The governorship remained in their hands until they submitted to the Seljuq sultan Toghrl Beg, who in 1055 took Baghdad and displaced the Buyids as overlord of Iraq.