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The Strife between the Turkmens and the Kurds

الفتنة بين التركمان والأكراد

c. 1185 CE · 581 AH

In 581 AH a strife broke out between the Turkmens and the Kurds in al-Jazira, Mosul, Diyar Bakr, Khilat, al-Sham, Shahrazur and Azerbaijan. Countless people were killed, it lasted several years, the roads were cut, property was plundered and blood was shed. Its cause: a Turkmen woman was married, and her wedding procession passed a fortress of the Kurdish Zawzan; her people asked for a wedding feast and were refused, and the lord of the fortress killed the groom. The strife then flared, the two sides turned on one another and the evil grew, until Mujahid al-Din Qaymaz gathered the leaders of both groups, reconciled them, and gave them robes and money, and it ended 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
Region
Levant & Iraq · Anatolia
Review
Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

In time

1170118011901200 c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks

Civil wars and revolts

Overview

Ibn al-Athir says that in 581 AH a strife broke out between the Turkmen and the Kurds in al-Jazira, Mosul, Diyar Bakr, Khilat, Syria, Shahrazur and Azerbaijan. It lasted several years, many people were killed in it, and the roads were cut. 2

The cause and the end

He relates that a Turkmen woman married, and the wedding passed by a fortress of the Kurdish Zuzan, whose people asked for a feast and were refused; the lord of the fortress killed the bridegroom. The strife broke out. 2

It ended when Mujahid al-Din Qaymaz gathered the leaders of the two groups, made peace between them, and gave them robes of honour and money. 2

People and things also explored

Abu Muslim Enters Marw and His Partisans Fall upon Mudar· The Akhlat fitna and massacre (604 AH)· Ali declines to keep Muawiya in office· Letters between Ali and Muawiya after the Camel· Ali moves the capital to Kufa· Ali refuses to lead prayer while the caliph is besieged· The breach of the Granada terms and the revolt of the Alpujarras· Amr ibn Ma'dikarib's apostasy after the Prophet's death

Sources

  1. al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir , p. 136
  2. al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir , p.136
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The Strife between the Turkmens and the Kurds”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/turkmen-kurd-fitna-581/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Abu Muslim Enters Marw and His Partisans Fall upon Mudar

In 130 Abu Muslim entered the wall of Marw and took up residence in the governor's house on Thursday, 9 Jumada I. The cause was that Sulayman ibn Kathir objected to Ali ibn al-Kirmani's reconciliation with Nasr ibn Sayyar: 'Are you not ashamed to make peace with Nasr, when he killed your men and your companions only yesterday?' Ali ibn al-Kirmani was seized by anger, reversed his position, and the truce among the Arabs broke. Nasr ibn Sayyar sent to Abu Muslim asking him to join Mudar, and Rabi'a and Qahtan sent the same request. Abu Muslim ordered that envoys of both sides come before him to choose between them, and told the Shi'a to choose Rabi'a and Qahtan, since authority lay with Mudar, who were Marwan's agents and the killers of Yahya ibn Zayd. When his letter was read to the seventy assembled, Mazid ibn Shaqiq al-Sulami stood and said: 'Mudar are the killers of the Family of the Prophet and helpers of the Umayyads and partisans of Marwan al-Ja'di; our blood is on their necks and our wealth in their hands, and Nasr ibn Sayyar, Marwan's governor in Khurasan, has the khutba given for him from his pulpit and calls him amir al-mu'minin; we are innocent of that before God.' The seventy agreed with him; he rose, and humiliation and dejection came upon Mudar, while Ali ibn al-Kirmani and his companions returned glad and victorious. Abu Muslim had stayed at Alin for twenty-nine days, then moved on to al-Makhwan, stayed three months at Khunda, and then entered the wall of Marw.