Salih ibn Wasif

Salih ibn Wasif (Arabic: صالح بن وصيف‎‎) (died January 29, 870) was a Turkish officer in the service of the Abbasid Caliphate. The son of Wasif, a central figure during the Anarchy at Samarra, Salih briefly seized power in the capital Samarra and deposed the caliph al-Mu'tazz in 869, but he was later defeated by the general Musa ibn Bugha and killed in the following year.

Salih was the son of Wasif al-Turki, a Turkish general who had risen to prominence during the caliphate of al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842). Together with his ally, the fellow Turk Bugha al-Sharabi, Wasif had been involved in the assassination of al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861). During the chaotic period that followed al-Mutawakkil's death (the Anarchy at Samarra, 861–870), Wasif and Bugha were among the principal figures in the events that transpired. They held a strong degree of influence over the central government and were responsible for the downfall of several caliphs and other prominent figures.

Prior to the death of Wasif in 868, Salih appears to have primarily served under his father, although references to him before 867 are few. According to al-Tabari, he played an indirect role in the assassination of the caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861), when he was one of five sons sent by Wasif to aid the conspirators. In 865, he followed Wasif, Bugha al-Sharabi and al-Musta'in (r. 862–866) in their flight from Samarra to Baghdad, and toward the end of the civil war in 865–866 between al-Musta'in and al-Mu'tazz (r. 866–869), he was put in charge of the Shammasiyyah Gate on the eastern side of the city.

...
Wikipedia