Husayn ibn Hamdan ibn Hamdun ibn al-Harith al-Taghlibi () was an early member of the Hamdanid family, who distinguished himself as a general for the Abbasid Caliphate and played a major role in the Hamdanids' rise to power among the Arab tribes in the Jazira.
Husayn entered caliphal service in 895, and through his co-operation with the caliphal government, he established himself and his family as the leader of the Arabs and Kurds of the Jazira, leading his troops to successful campaigns against the Qarmatians, Dulafids and Tulunids over the next few years. As one of the most distinguished generals of the Abbasid Caliphate, he rose in power and influence until 908, when he was one of the leading conspirators in the abortive coup against Caliph al-Muqtadir. Although the coup failed and Husayn was forced to flee the capital, he soon secured a pardon and served as governor in Jibal, where he again distinguished himself in military operations in south-central Iran. In ca. 911, he was appointed governor in Mosul, where he remained until rising in revolt in 914/5, for reasons that are unclear. Defeated and captured in 916, he was imprisoned in Baghdad, where he was executed in 918. Through his influence, the family rose to high offices, beginning a long period during which Mosul and the entire Jazira were ruled by the Hamdanids. His nephews, Nasir al-Dawla and Sayf al-Dawla, went on to establish autonomous emirates in Mosul and Aleppo respectively.
Biography
Origin and early career
Husayn was a son of the Hamdanid family's patriarch, Hamdan ibn Hamdun. His family belonged to the Banu Taghlib tribe, established in the Jazira since before the Muslim conquests. In a pattern repeated across the Abbasid Caliphate, the Taghlibi leaders took advantage of the collapse of central caliphal authority during the decade-long Anarchy at Samarra (861–870) to assert increasing control over their particular area, centred on Mosul. Hamdan established himself among the leading tribal leaders during this time, and led the resistance against caliphal attempts to restore direct control, even allying with the Kharijite rebels in the 880s. Finally, in 895 Caliph al-Mu'tadid launched a determined attack to recover the Jazira. Hamdan fled before the Caliph's advance and was captured after a long pursuit and thrown in prison.
Husayn, however, who had been entrusted with the fortress of Ardumusht on the left bank of the Tigris, chose to surrender it instead, and offered his services to the Caliph. He managed to capture the Kharijite leader Harun al-Shari, thereby bringing an end to the Kharijite revolt in the Jazira. In exchange he secured not only a pardon for his father, but also the lifting of a tribute that the Taghlib had been forced to pay, and the right to form a regiment of 500 Taghlibi cavalry at government expense. This was a major success, laying the groundwork for his own and his family's ascent to power. In the words of the Islamic scholar Hugh N. Kennedy, to the caliph he offered a group of experienced warriors under his own skilled and loyal leadership; to the Taghlib, and other people in the Jazira, he offered the prospect of salaries and booty; and to his own family military command and the opportunity of acquiring wealth in government services. It was in fact not as an independent tribal leader, but rather as an intermediary between government and the Arabs and Kurds of the Jazira that al-Husayn made the family fortune.
In Abbasid service
Husayn led his Taghlibi regiment with distinction over the next few years. He fought against the Dulafid Bakr ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Dulaf in the Jibal in 896. After 903 he played a decisive role in the campaigns of Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Katib against the Qarmatians of the Syrian desert, where his experienced cavalry was crucial in countering the highly mobile Qarmatians. In 903 he participated in Muhammad's major victory over the Qarmatian leader al-Husayn ibn Zikrawayh, better known by his laqab of "Sahib al-Shama", near Hama. The Qarmatian leaders fled to the desert, but were soon captured, and brought in triumph to Baghdad. Husayn then participated as commander of the vanguard in Muhammad's 904–905 campaign that ended the Tulunid dynasty and restored Syria and Egypt to direct caliphal control. Muhammad ibn Sulayman reportedly offered him the governorship of Egypt, but Husayn refused, preferring to return to Baghdad with the enormous booty he had collected.