Lu'lu' al-Kabir

Lu'lu'
Emir of Aleppo
Reign	January 1002–1008/9
Predecessor	Sa'id al-Dawla
Successor	Mansur ibn Lu'lu'
Died	1008/9 Aleppo, Syria
Full name Abu Muhammad Lu'lu' al-Kabir al-Jarrahi al-Sayfi
Dynasty	Hamdanid (by daughter's marriage)
Father	Sa'd al-Dawla

Full name
Abu Muhammad Lu'lu' al-Kabir al-Jarrahi al-Sayfi

Abu Muhammad Lu'lu', surnamed al-Kabir ("the Elder") and al-Jarrahi al-Sayfi ("[servant] of the Jarrahids and Sayf al-Dawla"), was a military slave (ghulam) of the Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo. Under the rule of Sa'd al-Dawla, he rose to become the emirate's chamberlain, and on Sa'd al-Dawla's death in 991 he was appointed guardian of his son and successor, Sa'id al-Dawla. The able Lu'lu' soon became the de facto ruler of the emirate, securing his position by marrying his daughter to the young emir. His perseverance and aid from the Byzantine emperor Basil II preserved Aleppo from repeated Fatimid attempts to conquer it. Upon Sa'id al-Dawla's death in 1002—possibly poisoned by Lu'lu'—he became the ruler of the emirate, disinheriting Sa'id al-Dawla's sons. He ruled with wisdom until his death in 1008/9. He was succeeded by his son, Mansur, who managed to retain the throne until deposed in 1015/16.

Although not recorded in any historical source, his nisbas of "al-Jarrahi al-Sayfi" suggest that Lu'lu' was initially a servant of the Jarrahids of Palestine, before coming to serve the Hamdanid ruler of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla (r. 945–967), under whom he is attested in an expedition against Mopsuestia in 965. His name, meaning "pearl", was typical of the pet-names often given to the slave-soldiers and servants (ghilman, sing. ghulam) in the contemporary Muslim world. According to historian Fukozo Amabe, Lu'lu' actually seems to have been a mawla (protege) of a certain ghulam of Sayf al-Dawla named Hajraj. Moreover, Amabe asserts that historian Marius Canard's identification of Hajraj with the Jarrahids "seems to be a mistake".

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