Abu'l-Najm Badr

Wafiyy al-Dawla wa-Aminahā Abūʾl-Najm Badr, also known as Badr al-Kabīr, was the ghulām (slave soldier) who assassinated the Fatimid governor of Aleppo, Aziz al-Dawla, and replaced him as governor for three months in 1022. The assassination was apparently a conspiracy between Badr and the Fatimid court under Sitt al-Mulk. Badr was ultimately forced to relinquish his post and arrested shortly thereafter.

Life Badr was either of Turkish or Armenian origins. He was originally a ghulām (slave soldier; pl. ghilmān) of the Fatimid governor of Damascus, Manjutakin, until being acquired by Aziz al-Dawla Fatik; the latter was also a former Armenian ghulām of Manjutakin. According to historian Suhayl Zakkar, the secret letters to Badr may have been delivered by Fatimid envoys from Cairo carrying gifts to Aziz al-Dawla, which allowed them access to Badr. In this intoxicated state, Aziz al-Dawla went to bed, and Tuzun, who typically attended to Aziz al-Dawla, took the latter's sword and struck off his head. Badr was sent correspondence from Cairo via Ali ibn Ahmad al-Dayf of Afamiya to reassure him of the Caliphate's goodwill toward him. Nonetheless, in the meeting between Badr and al-Dayf, the former was persuade to relinquish the governorship, which he had officially held for ninety-six days. Badr's replacement, the Kutami officer, Safiyy al-Dawla, arrived in Aleppo on 10 October. According to Zakkar, after Badr gave up his post, "he was arrested and shortly after met his fate".