ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ḎU’L-QADAR, early 9th/15th century ruler of Maṛʿaš and Albestān in the kingdom of Little Armenia, east of the Taurus mountains. His daughter was married to the Āq Qoyunlū Sultan Morād, and he gave asylum to the latter when he was a fugitive from the Safavids in 909/1503. After the death of Sultan Alvand Āq Qoyunlū in 910/1504, the province of Dīār Bakr was occupied by the Āq Qoyunlū, Amir Beg II Mawṣellū; ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla at once began making incursions and seized possession of some forts. At the beginning of 913/May, 1507, Shah Esmāʿīl led a force of 20,000 men against ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla, who retreated to Albestān and subsequently to Mt. Dornā; but his army was defeated near Albestān. After the annexation of Dīār Bakr by the Safavids, ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla carried on the struggle against them by sending a number of armies against the Safavid governor Moḥammad Khan Ostāǰlū, four of his sons being killed in a series of battles. Some years later, ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla unwisely plundered stores gathered by the Ottomans for their campaign in Iran and butchered the guards. In 921/1515 the Ottomans dispatched a punitive expedition against him under Senān Pāšā; ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla was killed near Maṛʿaš and his head sent to Sultan Selim, who subsequently presented it to the Mamluk Sultan Ašraf Qānṣūḥ Ḡawrī. Thus ended the rule of the Ḏu’l-Qadars (Turkish: Dulgadirs) in Albestān and Maṛʿaš.
Bibliography:
G. Sarwar, History of Shāh Ismāʿīl Ṣafawī, Aligarh, 1939, pp. 52-54, pp. 83-84.
R. M. Savory, “The Consolidation of Safawid Power in Persia,” Der Islam 41, 1965, pp. 75-76.
J. M. Woods, The Aqquyunlu, Minneapolis, 1976, pp. 175-78, 180.
(R. M. Savory)
Originally Published: December 15, 1984
Last Updated: July 29, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 7, pp. 771-772
R. M. Savory, “ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ḎUʾL-QADAR,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/7, pp. 771-772; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ala-al-dawla-dul-qadar-early-9th-15th-century-ruler-of-maras-and-albestan-in-the-kingdom-of-little-armenia-east-of- (accessed on 15 May 2014).
