page_title: Ishaq ibn Kundaj
section_title: Wars with the Tulunids and Ibn Abu'l-Saj
hierarchical_section_title: Ishaq ibn Kundaj / Life / Wars with the Tulunids and Ibn Abu'l-Saj
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the Abbasid Caliphate at the end of the reign of al-Mu'tamid in 891-892. Dark green denotes provinces under the effective control of the central government; light green denotes provinces under the control of autonomous governors or rebels. The core Abbasid territories include Shahrazur, Darabadh, al-Samaghan, Hulwan, Masabadhan, Mihrijanqadhaq, the Euphrates districts, and Qarqisiyya (al-Tabari v. 37, p. 98; Bianquis p. 96). Map originally created as an .SVG file in Inkscape and converted to .PNG for size reasons. Background topography taken from DEMIS Mapserver, which are public domain. Works Cited: Baloch, N.A., and A.Q. Rafiqi. "The regions of Sind, Baluchistan, Multan and Kashmir: the historical, social and economic setting." History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century. Barthold, W. Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion. Trans. V. Minorskey. Taipei: Southern Materials Center, 1988. Bianquis, Thierry. "Autonomous Egypt from ibn Tulun to Kafur, 868-969." The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 1: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517. Ed Carl F. Petry. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998. 0-521-47137-0 Bosworh, C.E. "The City of Tarsus and the Arab-Byzantine Frontiers in Early and Middle 'Abbasid Times." Oriens, Vol. 33, 1992, pp. 268-286. -------The History of the Saffarids of Sistan and the Maliks of Nimruz (247/861 to 949/1542-3). Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 1994. ISBN&#160;1-56859-015-6 Bregel, Yuri. An Historical Atlas of Central Asia. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003. ISBN&#160;90-04-12321-0 Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. I-. London, 1982-. The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Ed. 12 vols. with supplement and indices. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1960-2005. (for most of the localities on the map) "Europe in the Year 900." Euratlas. Accessed 3 December 2017. Frye, Richard N. The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4: The Period from the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975. ISBN&#160;978-0-521-20093-6 (text and maps) Hamdani, Abbas. "History of Surt." Excavations at Surt (Medinat al-Sultan) between 1977 and 1981. Ed. Elizabeth Savage. London: Department of Antiquities, 2002. Kennedy, Hugh, ed. An Historical Atlas of Islam. Boston: Brill Academic, 2002. ISBN&#160;90-04-12235-4 Le Strange, Guy. The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate: Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia, from the Moslem conquest to the time of Timur. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1905. "Maps." Armenica. Accessed 3 December 2017. Al-Muqaddasi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad. The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions. Trans. Basil Collins. Reading: Garner Publishing Limited, 2001. ISBN&#160;1-85964-136-9 Al-Tabari, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir. The History of al-Tabari, Volume XXXVII: The 'Abbasid Recovery. Trans. Philip M. Fields. Ed. Ehsan Yar-Shater. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1985. ISBN&#160;0-88706-054-4 -------The History of al-Tabari, Volume XXXVIII: The Return of the Caliphate to Baghdad. Trans. Franz Rosenthal. Ed. Ehsan Yar-Shater. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1985. ISBN&#160;0-87395-876-4 Ter-Ghewondyan, Aram. The Arab Emirates in Bagratid Armenia. Trans. Nina G. Garsoïan. Lisbon: Livraria Bertrand, 1976.
context_page_description: Ishaq ibn Kundaj or Kundajiq, was a Turkic military leader who played a prominent role in the turbulent politics of the Abbasid Caliphate in the late 9th century. Initially active in lower Iraq in the early 870s, he came to be appointed governor of Mosul in the Jazira in 879/80. He ruled Mosul and much of the Jazira almost continuously until his death in 891, despite becoming involved in constant quarrels with local chieftains, as well as in the Abbasid government's rivalry with the Tulunids of Egypt. On his death he was succeeded by his son, Muhammad, but in 892 the Abbasid government under Caliph al-Mu'tadid re-asserted its authority in the region, and Muhammad went to serve in the caliphal court.
context_section_description: Ibn Tulun's death in 884 seemed to present an opportunity to capture some of his territories in Syria from his inexperienced son and heir, Khumarawayh. Ibn Kundaj allied himself with the Abbasid general Ibn Abu'l-Saj, and received authorization and some troops from al-Muwaffaq. Ibn Kundaj clashed with the Tulunid governor of Raqqa in April 884, and soon after, the Tulunid governor of Damascus defected, bringing with him Antioch, Aleppo and Hims. Khumarawayh responded by sending troops to Syria, who soon succeeded in recovering the lost cities, before both sides settled into winter quarters. In the spring, al-Muwaffaq's son, Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad (the future Caliph al-Mu'tadid), arrived to take control. Ahmad and Ibn Kundaj defeated the Tulunids, who were driven back to Palestine, but Ahmad quarrelled with Ibn Kundaj and Ibn Abu'l-Saj, who departed with their troops, and at the Battle of the Mills on 6 April Khumarawayh's general Sa'd al-Aysar routed the Abbasid army. This signalled the end of the alliance between Ibn Kundaj and Ibn Abu'l-Saj: the latter now turned to Khumarawayh, and persuaded him to invade the Jazira. With Egyptian aid, Ibn Abu'l-Saj crossed the Euphrates, defeated Ibn Kundaj's forces in a number of battles in 886–887, and forced him to recognize Tulunid control. The entire Jazira now became a Tulunid province, a fact recognized by the Abbasid government in a treaty in the December 886 that confirmed Khumarawayh in his old and new possessions. 
  Ibn Kundaj remained as governor of Mosul under Tulunid authority. In 887/8 he tried to rebel but was defeated. Although he re-acknowledged Tulunid suzerainty, he was now stripped of Mosul in favour of Ibn Abu'l-Saj. Ibn Kundaj now concentrated his attentions on defeating his rival, and soon managed to secure the favour and support of Khumarawayh: in 888–889, it was Ibn Kundaj who, at the head of a Tulunid army, defeated and ousted Ibn Abu'l-Saj, who fled to al-Muwaffaq. Ibn Kundaj now returned to his old post at Mosul, which he kept until his death in 891. He was succeeded by his son, Muhammad. The latter soon lost Mosul and the rest of his domains in the Jazira to the resurgent Abbasids under al-Mu'tadid.  After a brief stay in the Tulunid court, he entered Abbasid service and rose to become a distinguished general in the caliphal army.
caption: Map of the fragmented Abbasid empire, with areas still under direct control of the Abbasid central government (dark green) and under autonomous rulers (light green) adhering to nominal Abbasid suzerainty, c. 892
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