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R?fi? ibn Ab??l-Layl ibn ?Ulayy?n al-Kalb?
(
Arabic
:
???? ?? ??? ???? ?? ????? ??????
) (
fl.
1028?1038
), also known by his
laqab
(honorific epithet)
?Izz al-Dawla
(
Arabic
:
????????
), was the emir of the
Kalb
tribe of
Syria
in the mid-11th century.
Life
[
edit
]
Rafi succeeded his uncle,
Sinan ibn Ulayyan
, as emir of the
Kalb
after the latter's death in 1028. Sinan had entered the Kalb into an alliance against the
Fatimid Caliphate
with two other
Bedouin
tribal confederations, the
Tayy
under
Hassan ibn Mufarrij
and the
Kilab
under
Salih ibn Mirdas
. However, under Rafi, the Kalb defected to the Fatimids.
This occurred after Rafi' declared his loyalty to Caliph
az-Zahir
(
r.
1021?1036
) in return for control of Sinan's
iqta?at
(fiefs).
When the Fatimids dispatched
Anushtakin al-Dizbari
to confront the Tayy and Kilab, Rafi and the Kalb fought alongside him at the decisive
Battle of al-Uqhuwana
near
Lake Tiberias
. After the battle, during which Salih was slain, Rafi' identified his body and that of his son, decapitated them and sent their heads to Anushtakin.
The Kalb under Rafi later participated in Anushtakin's campaign against Salih's successor,
Shibl al-Dawla Nasr
, in 1038, which ended in Nasr's slaying and the Fatimids' recapture of Aleppo.
Druze tradition
[
edit
]
Rafi is considered a hero in the
Druze
tradition for fighting Salih ibn Mirdas and using his wealth to protect and support the Druze in Syria. The Druze missionary Baha al-Din praised Rafi for protecting the oppressed in an
epistle
to Arab tribal chiefs in 1031.
He later became considered a saintly figure of the Druze.
References
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Abu-Izzeddin, Nejla M. (1993).
The Druzes: A New Study of Their History, Faith, and Society
. Leiden and Boston: E. J. Brill.
ISBN
90-04-09705-8
.
- Gil, Moshe
(1997) [1983].
A History of Palestine, 634?1099
. Translated by Ethel Broido. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
0-521-59984-9
.
- Cappel, Andrew J. (1994). "The Byzantine Response to the 'Arab (10th?11th Centuries)". In Dyck, Andrew Roy; Takacs, Sarolta A. (eds.).
Presence of Byzantium: Studies Presented to Milton V. Anastos in Honor of His Eighty-fifth Birthday
. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert. pp. 113?.
ISBN
90-256-0619-9
.
- Lev, Yaacov (2003).
"Turks in the Political and Military Life of Eleventh-Century Egypt and Syria"
. In Hidemitsu, Kuroki (ed.).
The Influence of Human Mobility in Muslim Societies
. Kegan Paul.
ISBN
0710308027
.
- Swayd, Sami (2006).
The A to Z of the Druzes
. Scarecrow Press. p. 85.
ISBN
9780810868366
.