Qirwash ibn al-Muqallad (), also known by the honorific Muʿtamid al-Dawla (), was the third Uqaylid emir of Mosul, and ruler of other towns in Iraq, from 1001 to 1050. An ambitious ruler, like the other petty rulers of the region he was engaged in a constant struggle of shifting alliances and enmities to keep and extend his domains. This involved his nominal overlords the Buyid emirs of Baghdad, other Bedouin tribes, local warlords and administrators, and even members of his own tribe and family who begrudged his position. In 1010, Qirwash even briefly defected from the Abbasid allegiance and recognized the Fatimid Caliphate in Cairo instead. He was eventually defeated, imprisoned and deposed by his brother, Baraka, and died on 27 October 1052.
Life
Clashes with the Buyids
Qirwash was the oldest son of al-Muqallad ibn al-Musayyab, the Emir of Mosul, who was assassinated in 1001, while plotting to seize Baghdad from the Buyids. During his brief reign (996–1001), al-Muqallad had managed to take over a number of towns in Iraq, including Anbar and Tikrit, and other settlements almost to the gates of Baghdad.
The Uqaylid institutions were tribal, depending on the Bedouin for military support rather than a salaried, standing army. As a result, al-Muqallad's unexpected death threw the loose tribal confederation into turmoil, as Qirwash and his uncle, al-Hasan, both claimed the tribe's leadership. The two were soon forced to come to a compromise, however, and make common cause against the claims of another tribesman, Qarrad ibn Ladid. As a result, the revenue of Mosul was split between them, while Qirwash inherited his father's rule over Kufa. There he had to force out the Khafaja tribe that had taken control of the city, and drive them into the Syrian Desert.
In 1002, Qirwash allied with the Banu Asad tribe against the Buyids, and moved to capture al-Mada'in. The Buyid army moved against the allies, but was defeated near Kufa on 22 July 1002. The Buyid commander al-Hajjaj ibn Ustadh Hurmuz then called upon the Khafaja and the Kurdish Annazids for assistance, and this time scored a major victory at Baziqiya. The Uqaylid–Asadid alliance broke, and the two armies were defeated again separately. The women of the Khafaja were able to loot the Uqayl camp in the aftermath, a major humiliation according to traditional Bedouin mores. Even worse, al-Hajjaj's politically astute brother, al-Hasan, was appointed governor of Iraq, and soon adopted a divide and rule approach that left the Uqaylids isolated: the Banu Asad were conciliated and their leader, Ali ibn Mazyad, given the position Qirwash had held, while the Khafaja likely received back control of Kufa.
The revival of Buyid fortunes left Qirwash trying to reassert control over the towns his father had claimed in Iraq. The most the Uqaylids could achieve during the next years were raids and kidnappings. The situation changed when the Khafaja joined the uprising of Abu'l-Abbas ibn Wasil in Basra. To counter them, in 1005/6 the Buyids again assigned Kufa to Qirwash, and awarded him the title (). At the same time, the death of the last of Qirwash's uncles in 1006/7, left him the undisputed leader of his tribe. His campaign against Kufa in 1006/7 failed, and the Buyids were forced to a rapprochement with Ibn Mazyad, but Qirwash was still able to extend his influence in Iraq. In 1008/9, the Uqaylids even seized Rahba from its pro-Fatimid governor, the Khafaji leader Abu Ali ibn Thimal.
Brief defection to the Fatimids
It was this complex political situation that drove Qirwash to switch his allegiance from the Sunni Abbasid caliph al-Qadir, a puppet of the Buyids, to the Shi'a Fatimid caliph of Cairo, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. On 18 August 1010, Qirwash had the Friday sermon read in the name of al-Hakim in Mosul, followed on 14 October by Anbar, and on 21 October in Anbar and al-Mada'in.
Whether meant as a genuine shift in allegiance, or merely as an assertion of his independence, this move backfired. The Buyids mobilized money and men against him under al-Hasan ibn Ustadh Hurmuz, and even before the gifts sent from Cairo arrived, Qirwash had returned to the Abbasid allegiance. The whole affair left his position in Iraq severely weakened. At the same time, this episode resulted in the proclamation of al-Qadir's anti-Fatimid Baghdad Manifesto.