Ma'n dynasty

Ma'n dynasty بَنُو مَعْن (Banū Maʿn)
Flag of the Ma'nid dynasty
Country	The Chouf in Mount Lebanon, part of the: Burid Emirate/Kingdom of Jerusalem (1120–1154) Zengid Emirate/Kingdom of Jerusalem (1154–1187) Ayyubid Sultanate (1187–1260) Mamluk Sultanate (1260–1517) Ottoman Empire (1517–1697)
Founded	1120 (as cited by local tradition) Late 15th century (as attested historically)
Founder	Ma'n (as cited by local tradition) Fakhr al-Din ibn al-Hajj Yunus (d. 1506; first historically attested)
Final ruler	Ahmed ibn Mulhim ibn Yunus fl. 1658–1697
Members	Fakhr al-Din (II) ibn Qurqumaz (fl. 1591–1633) Mulhim ibn Yunus (fl. 1633–1658
Dissolution	1697

Historical Arab states and dynasties
Ancient Arab states Kingdom of Qedar 800 BC–300 BC Kingdom of Lihyan 600 BC–100 BC Nabataean Kingdom 400 BC–106 AD Kingdom of Osroene 132 BC–244 AD Emesene Dynasty 64 BC–300s AD Kingdom of Hatra 100s–241 AD Tanukhids 196–1100 AD Ghassanids 220–638 AD Salihids 300s–500s AD Lakhmids 300s–602 AD Kingdom of Kinda 450 AD–550 AD
Arab empires and caliphates Rashidun 632–661 Umayyads 661–750 Abbasids 750–1258 Fatimids 909–1171
Eastern dynasties Emirate of Armenia 654–884 Emirate of Tbilisi 736–1122 Emirate of Crete 824–961 Dulafids 840–897 Habbarids 854–1011 Kaysites 860–964 Shirvanshah 861–1538 Alavids 864–928 Hashimids 869–1075 Hamdanids 890–1004 Rawadids 955–1071 Mazyadids 961–1150 Jarrahids 970–1107 Uqaylids 990–1096 Numayrids 990–1081 Mirdasids 1024–1080 Munqidhites 1025–1157 Ma'nids 1517–1697 Turabays 1480–1677 Harfushs 1517–1865 Shihabs 1697–1842
Western dynasties and caliphates Salihids 710–1019 Fihrid Emirate 745-757 Umayyad state of Córdoba 756–1031 Muhallabids 771–793 Idrisids 788–974 Aghlabids 800–909 Sulaymanids 814–922 Muslim Sicily 831–1091 Kanzids 1004–1412 Bakrids 1012–1051 Tujibids 1013–1039 Amirids 1020–1086 Abbadids 1023–1091 Yahsubids 1023–1062 Hammudids 1026–1057 Muzaynids 1027–1063 Jawharids 1031–1091 Hudids 1039–1110 Sumadihids 1041–1091 Tahirids 1049–1078 Nasrids 1230–1492 Saadids 1554–1659 Senussids 1837–1969
Arabian Peninsula Imamate of Oman 751–1970 Ziyadids 819–1138 Yufirids 847–997 Ukhaidhirds 865–1066 Rassids 897–1962 Qarmatians 899–1077 Wajihids 926–965 Sharifate of Mecca 968–1925 Sulayhids 1047–1138 Sulaymanids 1063–1174 Uyunids 1076–1253 Zurayids 1083–1174 Nabhanids 1154–1624 Mahdids 1159–1174 Rasulids 1229–1454 Usfurids 1253–1320 Jarwanids 1305–1487 Kathirids 1395–1967 Tahirids 1454–1526 Jabrids 1463–1521 Qasimids 1597–1872 Ya'arubids 1624–1742 Upper Yafa 1800–1967 Muscat and Oman 1820–1970 Rashidids 1836–1921 Qu'aitids 1858–1967 Emirate of Beihan 1903–1967 Idrisids 1906–1934 Mutawakkilite Kingdom 1926–1970
East Africa Makhzumi dynasty (Shewa) 896–1279 Nabahani dynasty (Pate Island) 1203–1894 Mahdali dynasty (Kilwa) 1277–1495 Mazrui dynasty (Mombasa) 1746–1828 Sultanate of Zanzibar 1856–1964 Nabahani dynasty (Wituland) 1858–1895 Tippu Tip's State 1860–1887
Current monarchies 'Alawis (Morocco) 1631–present Al Qasimi (Ras al Khaymah) 1727–present Al Qasimi (Sharjah) 1727–present Al Saud (Saudi Arabia) 1744–present Al Said (Oman) 1749–present Al Sabah (Kuwait) 1752–present Al Nahyan (Abu Dhabi) 1761–present Al Mualla (Umm al-Quwain) 1775–present Al Khalifa (Bahrain) 1783–present Al Nuaimi (Ajman) 1810–present Al Maktoum (Dubai) 1833–present Al Thani (Qatar) 1868–present Al Sharqi (Fujairah) 1900–present Hashemites (Jordan) 1921–present
v t e

The Ma'n dynasty (Arabic: ٱلْأُسْرَةُ ٱلْمَعْنِيَّةُ, romanized: Banū Maʿn, alternatively spelled Ma'an), also known as the Ma'nids; (Arabic: ٱلْمَعْنِيُّونَ), were a family of Druze chiefs of Arab stock based in the rugged Chouf area of southern Mount Lebanon who were politically prominent in the 15th–17th centuries. Traditional Lebanese histories date the family's arrival in the Chouf to the 12th century, when they were held to have struggled against the Crusader lords of Beirut and of Sidon alongside their Druze allies, the Tanukh Buhturids. They may have been part of a wider movement by the Muslim rulers of Damascus to settle militarized Arab tribesmen in Mount Lebanon as a buffer against the Crusader strongholds along the Levantine coast. Fakhr al-Din I (d. 1506), the first member of the family whose historicity is certain, was the "emir of the Chouf", according to contemporary sources and, despite the non-use of mosques by the Druze, founded the Fakhreddine Mosque in the family's stronghold of Deir al-Qamar.

Two years following the advent of Ottoman rule in the Syrian region in 1516, three chiefs of the Ma'n dynasty were imprisoned for rebellion by the Damascus Eyalet governor Janbirdi al-Ghazali, but released by Sultan Selim I. The Ma'ns and their Druze coreligionists in the Chouf were continually targeted in punitive campaigns by the Ottomans related to their evasion and defiance of government tax collectors and their stockpiling of illegal firearms, which were often superior to those of the government troops. The particularly destructive 1585 Ottoman expedition against the Druze prompted the Ma'nid emir Qurqumaz ibn Yunis to go into hiding in the neighboring Kisrawan, where he died the following year.

His son, Fakhr al-Din II, emerged c. 1590 as the local chief and tax farmer of the Chouf and, in contrast to his Ma'nid predecessors, cultivated close ties with the authorities in Damascus and the imperial capital, Constantinople. In 1593, he was appointed the governor of the Sidon-Beirut Sanjak, spanning southern Mount Lebanon and the coastal towns of Beirut and Sidon, and in 1602 was additionally appointed to the Safed Sanjak, spanning the Jabal Amil, Galilee, and port of Acre. By 1613, he had amassed considerable power but lost his imperial patron, while his illicit takeover of strategic forts, hiring of outlawed musketeers, and government knowledge of his alliance with their Tuscan enemies prompted a major campaign against the Ma'ns. The dynasty lost its territories and forts and Fakhr al-Din escaped to Italy. Within two years, his brother Yunus and son Ali restored Ma'nid power in Sidon-Beirut and Safed, which was consolidated when Fakhr al-Din returned to lead the dynasty in 1618. After a few years, he defeated his major rival Yusuf Sayfa of Tripoli and extended Ma'nid dominion and tax farming rights to predominantly Maronite, northern Mount Lebanon. By 1630 he controlled much of Tripoli Eyalet and was poised against Damascus. The imperial government destroyed Ma'nid power in a second expedition in 1633, killing most of the dynasty's members and capturing and executing Fakhr al-Din in 1635.

A surviving son of Yunus, Mulhim Ma'n defeated the family's government-backed Druze rival, Ali Alam al-Din, in 1636 and regained the iltizam of the Druze Mountain in 1642. His sons Ahmad and Qurqumaz succeeded him as paramount emirs of the Druze in 1658, but were challenged by the Alam al-Dins and other Ottoman-backed Druze from the start. Qurqumaz was killed by the Ottomans in 1662. Ahmad defeated the Alam al-Dins in 1667 and assumed the iltizam of the Druze Mountain and neighboring, Maronite-populated Kisrawan. He maintained control of the region despite government dismissals and campaigns against him throughout the 1690s for backing Shia rebels. Ma'nid rule came to an end when Ahmad died without male progeny in 1697. The Druze chiefs selected Bashir Shihab, whose mother was Mulhim's daughter, to succeed Ahmad. He held the iltizam of Druze Mountain and Kisrawan until his death in 1706, after which Haydar Shihab, whose mother was a daughter of Ahmad, took his place. His descendants from the Shihab dynasty continued to hold the iltizam until the expulsion of Bashir II in 1841. The emirate and iltizam of the Ma'ns and Shihabs over much of Mount Lebanon is viewed by historians as an early precursor to present-day Lebanon.