Abu Taghlib

Uddat al-Dawla Abu Taghlib Fadl Allah al-Ghadanfar al-Hamdani (Arabic: عدة الدولة أبو تغلب فضل الله الغضنفر الحمداني, romanized: ʿUddat al-Dawla ʿAbū Taghlib Faḍl Allāh al-Ghaḍanfar al-Ḥamdanī), usually known simply by his kunya as Abu Taghlib, was the third Hamdanid ruler of the Emirate of Mosul, encompassing most of the Jazira.

His reign was troubled, being marked by conflicts with some of his brothers, antagonism with the various branches of the Buyids for influence in Baghdad, attacks by the Byzantine Empire under John I Tzimiskes, and his involvement in the rebellion of the Byzantine general Bardas Skleros. His relations with the Buyid emir of Iraq, Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiyar, alternated between friendly and confrontational, but the two later concluded an alliance, especially as Bakhtiyar faced challenges to his own rule. In 978, the Jazira was occupied by the Buyids of Shiraz under Bakhtiyar's cousin Adud al-Dawla, and Abu Taghlib fled to the Fatimid-controlled parts of Syria. There he tried to secure the governorship of Damascus, and became involved in local rivalries which resulted in his defeat in battle and execution on 29 August 979.