Thalaba ibn Salama al-Amili

Tha'laba ibn Salama al-Amili (?–750?) was an Arab military commander in Jordan, North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, and briefly ruler of al-Andalus from August 742 to May 743.

Thalaba ibn Salama went to North Africa with the 'Syrian' expedition of 741, led by Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi and his nephew Balj ibn Bishr al-Qushayri, to crush the Great Berber Revolt in the Maghreb. Thalaba was the commander of the Jordan jund and, by explicit credentials of Caliph Hisham, was designated as second successor, should tragedy befall Kulthum or his first successor, Balj.

The Syrian army was defeated and Kulthum killed by the Berber rebels at the Battle of Bagdoura in October 741. Balj ibn Bishr took what remained of the Syrian regiments (junds), some 10,000 men, to Ceuta. After protracted negotiations with the Andalusian governor Abd al-Malik ibn Qatan al-Fihri, Syrian forces were ferried over to al-Andalus in early 742.

After defeating the Berber rebel armies in al-Andalus in the Spring of 742, relations between the Andalusian governor and the Syrian commanders quickly broke down. The Syrian leader Balj ibn Bishr deposed and executed the old governor and declared himself the new ruler of al-Andalus.

But rallied by the sons of the late governor, the Andalusí Arabs (now calling themselves baladiyun or baladis) took up arms against the Syrian junds (which they called the shamiyun). Although the Syrians crushed the Andalusians at the Battle of Aqua Portora outside of Cordoba in August, 742, their commander Balj ibn Bishr died the next day from battlefield wounds. As his lieutenant and designated successor, Thalaba ibn Salama al-Amili was immediately acclaimed by the Syrian troops as their head, and consequently governor of al-Andalus.

Thalaba ibn Salama was of 'Yemenite' tribal stock, like most Andalusian Arabs, rather than the usual 'Qaysid' stock of the Syrians.

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