{{Short description|Occasional Kurdish ruler of Adharbayjan between 938–955}} [[Image:Daysam coin.jpg|thumb|[[Gold dinar]] minted under the name of Daysam at [[Barda, Azerbaijan|Bardha‘a]]]] '''Daysam ibn Ibrahim''' (or '''Daysam''') or sometimes called '''Daysam ibn Ibrahim al-Kurdi''' (d. c. 957) was a [[Kurds|Kurdish]] commander who occasionally ruled [[Adharbayjan]] between 938 and 955 during the power struggle that ensured after the fall of the [[Sajid dynasty]].
==Life== [[File:Adharbayjan Ninth Century.svg|thumb|250px|Map of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Adharbayjan]]]] Daysam was a [[Kharijite]], born to a Kurdish mother and an [[Arab]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vladimir |first1=Minorsky |title=Studies in Caucasian History: I. New Light on the Shaddadids of Ganja II. The Shaddadids of Ani III. Prehistory of Saladin |page=113}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=DAYSAM |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daysam/ |access-date=2025-06-10 |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |language=en-US |quote=Daysam is described as the son of a Kurdish mother and an Arab father who had been a partisan of the Kharijite Hārūn Wāzeqī at Mosul during the caliphate of al-Moʿtażed (279-89/892-902).}}</ref> or Kurdish{{sfn|Madelung|1975|p=232}} father, who rose to prominence while serving the [[Sajid dynasty|Sajid]] ruler [[Yusuf ibn Abi'l-Saj]].{{sfn|Bosworth|1994|pp=172–173}} With Kurdish support he managed to take over Adharbayjan by 938. His position in Adharbayjan was soon threatened by Lashkari ibn Mardi, a [[Gilan|Gilite]] formerly in the service of the [[Ziyarids]]. Lashkari's Gilite and [[Daylamite]] army expelled Daysam from Adharbayjan, but he was able to recover the province with the help of the [[Ziyarid]] [[Vushmgir]].{{sfn|Bosworth|1994|pp=172–173}} In 941 or 942 Daysam's vizier, Abu'l-Qasim Ja'far ibn 'Ali, fled due to an intrigue against him to the [[Sallarids]] of Tarum. There he convinced [[Marzuban ibn Muhammad]] ({{reign|941/2|957}}) to take Adharbayjan from Daysam. Daysam met Marzuban's army on the field by his Daylamite mercenaries (whom he had hired to counterbalance the power of his unruly Kurdish troops) defected to the Sallarid and he was forced to flee to the court of the [[Artsruni|Ardzrunid]] [[king of Vaspurakan]].{{sfn|Madelung|1975|p=232}} Ja'far ibn 'Ali became Marzuban's vizier after he conquered Adharbayjan, but soon feared for his position. He went to [[Tabriz]] and invited Daysam to return to the province. When he arrived at the city he gained the support of the Kurds. His army was defeated by Marzuban's, however, and the Sallarid besieged him in Tabriz. At this point Ja'far abandoned Daysam again, but Daysam managed to escape from Tabriz and enter [[Ardabil]]. Marzuban was not far behind and he laid siege to Ardabil. Eventually Daysam's new vizier, who had been bribed by the Sallarids, convinced Daysam to surrender. Daysam was treated with leniency by Marzuban, who gave him his castle in Tarum after he requested it.{{sfn|Madelung|1975|p=233}}
In 949 Marzuban was captured by the [[Buyids]], who sent an army under [[Abu Mansur Muhammad]] to conquer Adharbayjan. Marzuban's brother [[Wahsudan ibn Muhammad]] sent Daysam to Adharbayjan to protect Sallarid interests there. Abu Mansur Muhammad's approach forced Daysam to retreat to [[Arran (Caucasus)|Arran]], but after Abu Mansur Muhammad suffered a setback he retreated, allowing Daysam to take control of the province. Marzuban escaped from the Buyids in 953 and sought to regain his territory. Daysam was defeated by a Sallarid army near Ardabil, and the Daylamite leaders deserted from his side. He fled to [[Armenia]], where he was given aid by the Christians. A year later, however, he was expelled from Armenia; he made his way to [[Baghdad]], where the Buyid [[Mu'izz al-Dawla]] received him with honor.{{sfn|Madelung|1975|p=234}}
After the Buyids made peace with the Sallarids, Daysam realized that he could not count on them for help in regaining Adharbayjan. He therefore left them for the [[Hamdanids]]; with the aid of [[Sayf al-Dawla]] of [[Aleppo]] he occupied [[Salmas]] in 955/956 as a Hamdanid vassal. Marzuban expelled from there,{{Clarify|reason=was Marzuban expelled? or Marzuban expelled Daysam from there?|date=April 2024}} and Daysam again found refuge with the Ardzrunids of Vaspurakan. The Ardzunid king, however, facing threats from Marzuban, seized Daysam and handed him over to the Sallarid. Daysam was blinded and imprisoned. He was killed by some of Marzuban's supporters after the latter's death in 957.{{sfn|Madelung|1975|p=235}}
== References == {{reflist|2}}
==Sources== * {{Encyclopædia Iranica | volume = 7 | fascicle = 2 | title = Daysam | last = Bosworth | first = C. Edmund | authorlink = Clifford Edmund Bosworth | url = https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daysam | pages = 172–173 }} * {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=4|last=Madelung|first=Wilferd|authorlink= Wilferd Madelung|chapter=Minor dynasties of northern Iran|pages=198–250|chapter-page=198}} * {{cite book | last=Minorsky | first=Vladimir | author-link = Vladimir Minorsky | title = A History of Sharvān and Darband in the 10th-11th Centuries | year=1958 | publisher=W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd. | location=Cambridge }}
==Further reading== * {{cite journal |last1=Vardanyan |first1=Aram |title=On the coinage of Daysam ibn Ibrahïm in Adharbayjān and Armenia in the 10th century AD |journal=Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society |date=2008 |volume=197 |pages=11–19 |url=https://www.orientalnumismaticsociety.org/archive/ONS_197.pdf}}
{{s-start}} {{s-bef|before=[[Muflih al-Saji]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Ruler of [[Adharbayjan]]|years=938–942}} {{s-aft|after=[[Marzuban ibn Muhammad ]]}} {{s-end}}
[[Category:10th-century military personnel]] [[Category:Kurdish rulers]] [[Category:Azerbaijan under the Abbasid Caliphate]] [[Category:10th century in Iran]] [[Category:Kharijites]] [[Category:People under the Sajid dynasty]] [[Category:10th-century Kurdish people]]