Al-Basasiri

Abuʾl-Ḥārith Arslān al-Muẓaffar al-Basāsīrī (died 15 January 1059) was a Turkoman slave-soldier (mamlūk) who rose to become a military commander of the Buwayhid dynasty in Iraq. When the Buwayhids were ousted by the Seljuks in 1055, he transferred his allegiance to the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt, in whose name he conquered Baghdad, which he ruled for almost a year.

==Early years== The name al-Basāsīrī (or al-Fasāsīrī, al-Fasāwī) is a nisba derived from his first owner's place of origin, Basā (Fasā) in the province of Fars. Abuʾl-Ḥārith is a kunya, while his ism (given name) was the Turkish Arslān. He became a freedman (mawlā) of the Buwayhid emir Baha al-Dawla (). His military career, however, can be traced only from the reign of Baha's son, Jalal al-Dawla ().