Thamal al-Dulafi

917/8–932) was an Abbasid military commander and longtime governor (wali or amir) of Tarsus and the borderlands with the Byzantine Empire in Cilicia (al-thughur al-Shamiya).

A former Dulafid slave, he commanded several successful raiding expeditions, mostly by sea, against the Byzantines, but also against the Fatimids in Egypt and against the Qarmatians in Iraq.

Thamal was a eunuch, and, as his nisba of "al-Dulafi" indicates, began his career as a slave (ghulam) of the autonomous Dulafid dynasty of Jibal,[1] which was suppressed by the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tadid in 896.

The fleet entered the city's harbour and after a fight drove out its Fatimid garrison, while the populace was evacuated to Rosetta as a precaution.

The campaign was hampered by the weather—his horses reportedly sank in snow up to the breast—but Thamal defeated a Byzantine force, killing 600 and capturing 3,000 soldiers and taking much booty.

[1][3] Immediately after his return to Tarsus in July/August, he left for the main summer expedition, which reached as far as Amorium, which was abandoned by its garrison and plundered by the Muslims.