Qirwash was the oldest son of al-Muqallad ibn al-Musayyab, the Emir of Mosul, who was assassinated in 1001, while plotting to seize Baghdad from the Buyids.
[1][2] During his brief reign (996–1001), al-Muqallad had managed to take over a number of towns in Iraq, including Anbar and Tikrit, and other settlements almost to the gates of Baghdad.
[4] As a result, al-Muqallad's unexpected death threw the loose tribal confederation into turmoil, as Qirwash and his uncle, al-Hasan, both claimed the tribe's leadership.
[7] The Buyid commander al-Hajjaj ibn Ustadh Hurmuz then called upon the Khafaja and the Kurdish Annazids for assistance, and this time scored a major victory at Baziqiya.
[9] Even worse, al-Hajjaj's politically astute brother, al-Hasan, was appointed governor of Iraq, and soon adopted a divide and rule approach that left the Uqaylids isolated: the Banu Asad were conciliated and their leader, Ali ibn Mazyad, given the position Qirwash had held, while the Khafaja likely received back control of Kufa.
[14] It was this complex political situation that drove Qirwash to switch his allegiance from the Sunni al-Qadir, a puppet of the Buyids, to the Shi'a Fatimid caliph of Cairo, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.
The Buyids mobilized money and men against him under al-Hasan ibn Ustadh Hurmuz, and even before the gifts sent from Cairo arrived, Qirwash had returned to the Abbasid allegiance.
[18] Faced with opposition to his rule by powerful local warlords and the Bedouin tribes, he allied with Qirwash, taking his sister (or daughter) Jibara as wife.
This further destabilized the political situation in Iraq, as various Arab and Kurdish groups felt free to pursue their own aims against their local rivals.
[26] In 1024, the Buyid vizier, Abu'l-Qasim al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Maghribi, fled Baghdad and entered Qirwash's service, but was expelled in 1026 on the insistence of the Abbasid caliph, al-Qadir.
[29] In the contest between Jalal al-Dawla and Abu Kalijar, Qirwash initially supported the latter, even launching an abortive attack on Baghdad in 1029/30.
[32] When Jalal al-Dawla established himself in Baghdad, however, Qirwash accommodated himself to the new situation and during the 1030s supported the Buyid emir politically and militarily.
The latter bribed Jalal al-Dawla with a large sum into attacking the Uqaylid emir's possessions, Sindiya and Anbar, forcing Qirwash to back down and recognize the loss of Tikrit.
On 21 April 1044, Qirwash, leading the Uqaylids and allied with Dubays, inflicted a heavy defeat on the Turks at Ra's al-Ayil, driving them back to Adharbayjan.