Abd al-Malik ibn Salih

Abd al-Malik ibn Salih ibn Ali (Ἀβιμελέχ, Abimelech, in Greek sources; 750–812 CE) was a member of the Abbasid dynasty who served as general and governor in Syria and Egypt. He distinguished himself in several raids against the Byzantine Empire, but his great influence and authority in Syria caused Caliph Harun al-Rashid to imprison him in 803. Released in 809, he was dispatched in 812 by Caliph al-Amin to gather troops against his brother al-Ma'mun in the ongoing civil war between the two brothers, but died of an illness.

Abd al-Malik's family were among the most powerful clans during the early Abbasid era. They played an important role in the final overthrow of the Umayyads in Syria, which thereafter became their particular power base. He was the nephew of Abdallah ibn Ali, the first Abbasid governor of Syria, and a son of Salih ibn Ali the first Abbasid governor of Egypt and successor of Abdallah in Syria after the latter staged a failed uprising in 754. Abd al-Malik's elder brothers al-Fadl ibn Salih and Ibrahim ibn Salih also served as governors in Syria and Egypt. From his father's side, he was a cousin of Caliphs al-Saffah (r. 750–754) and al-Mansur (r. 754–775). His mother was one of the concubines of the last Umayyad Caliph, Marwan II (r. 744–750). After Marwan's death, she was bought by Salih. Some sources alleged that she was already pregnant at the time, which would mean that Abd al-Malik was a son of Marwan II.

Under Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809), Abd al-Malik held his first major commands: from c. 789 to 793, he was governor of the strategically critical jund Qinnasrin and of the newly created jund of al-'Awasim, which comprised the Caliphate's borderlands with the Byzantine Empire. From this position, he led expeditions into Byzantine Asia Minor in 790/791 and possibly also in 792/793, when his son Abd ar-Rahman captured the fortress of Thebasa.

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