Muhallabids

Historical Arab states and dynasties

Rashidun	632–661
Umayyads	661–750
Abbasids	750–1258
Fatimids	909–1171

Mashriq dynasties

Tulunids	868–905
Hamdanids	890–1004
Ikhshidids	935–969
Uqaylids	990–1096
Zengids	1127–1250
Ayyubids	1171–1246
Bahri Mamluks	1250–1382
Burji Mamluks	1382–1517

Maghrib dynasties

Muhallabids	771–793
Rustamids	776–909
Idrisids	788–985
Aghlabids	800–909
Almoravids	1073–1147
Almohads	1147–1269
Hafsids	1229–1574
Marinids	1258–1420
Wattasids	1420–1547
Saadis	1554–1659
Alaouites	1660–present

The Muhallabids (Ar. al-Muhaliba) were an Arab family who became prominent in the middle Umayyad Caliphate and reached its greatest eminence during the early Abbasids, when members of the family ruled Basra and Ifriqiya.

The founders of the family's fortunes were al-Muhallab ibn Abi Suffrah (c. 632 – 702) and his son Yazid ibn al-Muhallab (672–720), governor of Khurasan and Iraq, who led an unsuccessful anti-Umayyad rebellion in Basra in 720. Despite his defeat and death, the family remained influential in their power base of Basra, and at the time of the Abbasid Revolution they rose up in their support. Despite the support of some Muhallabids to the abortive Alid revolt of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, the new Abbasid regime rewarded their support with governorships at Basra ad the Ahwaz, but most prominently in Ifriqiya, where the family ruled in uninterrupted succession from 768 to 795. Ifriqiya under their rule enjoyed a period of prosperity, above all agriculture was reinvigorated by the expansion of irrigation systems. The Muhallabids of Ifriqiya enjoyed a great deal of autonomy and were able to maintain Arab rule in the face of revolts by the Berbers. They were unable however to prevent the formation of the kingdoms of the Idrisids in Morocco and the Rustamids in central Algeria.

The family fell from power during and after the Fourth Fitna, when the traditional Arab families began to be increasingly sidelined by Caliph al-Ma'mun's Turkish and Iranian generals. One of the few members of the family who rose to prominence after that was Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Muhallabi, the capable vizier of the 10th-century Buyid emir Mu'izz al-Dawla.

Arabs and Muslims dynasty

List of Sunni Muslim dynasties

Sources

Crone, P. (1993). "Muhallabids". The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume VII: Mif–Naz. Leiden and New York: BRILL. pp. 358–360. ISBN 90-04-09419-9.