Al-Muqallad ibn al-Musayyab

His attempts to create a centralized state failed, however, as he had to share power with his older brother Ali, and respect the tribal customs of the Uqayl tribe.

[1][2] His brother Muhammad began the rise of the Uqaylids to power by exploiting the Kurdish raids into Upper Mesopotamia, and the weakness of the last Hamdanid rulers of Mosul that forced them to turn to the Uqayl for military assistance.

In the process, he seized several towns in Upper Mesopotamia, culminating in the capture of Mosul itself in c. 990, which he then ruled as the nominal vassal of the Buyid emirs of Iraq.

[4][6] While al-Muqallad remained in charge of Mosul and began recruiting a military force composed of Turks and Daylamites, Ali lived as a traditional bedouin chieftain among the Uqayl tribesmen.

[5] However, the clash was avoided through the intercession of their sister, Rahila, who "in a very traditional gesture, had threatened to shame herself in front of the whole tribe" unless they came to terms, as Kennedy writes.

[7] Al-Muqallad himself devoted most of his attention to his interests in Iraq, where he quickly managed to take over control of Anbar and Tikrit, as well as the settlement of al-Sindiya, located almost at the gates of Baghdad.

[8] At the same time, by virtue of his expansion into Iraq came into conflict with another Arab tribe, the Banu Asad, under Ali ibn Mazyad, who raided the Uqaylid territories.

[11][10] Due to the loose tribal structure of the Uqaylid regime, his power base quickly crumbled, allowing the Buyids to recover.