Aziz al-Dawla

Aziz al-Dawla (d. 1022) was the first Fatimid governor of Aleppo, serving from c. 1016 to his death. An ethnic Armenian, Aziz al-Dawla started his political career as a trusted ghulam (slave soldier) of Manjutakin, the Fatimid governor of Damascus under Caliph al-Hakim (r. 996–1021). The latter appointed Aziz al-Dawla governor of Aleppo, which prospered during his rule.

By 1020, Aziz al-Dawla was acting independently of al-Hakim, asserting his sovereignty by issuing his own coins and having his name pronounced in the khutba (Friday prayer sermon). When al-Hakim sent an army to suppress Aziz al-Dawla, the latter appealed for Byzantine support but canceled the appeal when al-Hakim mysteriously disappeared in early 1021. Afterward, the Fatimid court attempted to reconcile with Aziz al-Dawla, who nonetheless moved to secure his rule by building a well-fortified palace at the foot of the Aleppo citadel. In July 1022, Aziz al-Dawla was murdered in his sleep by one of his trusted ghulams in a plot devised by another of his ghulams, Abu'l-Najm Badr, with probable backing from al-Hakim's practical successor, Sitt al-Mulk. Badr succeeded Aziz al-Dawla as governor but was arrested three months later.