Ibrahim Pasha Qataraghasi

Ibrahim Pasha Qatarağasi (nisba also spelled Qattar Aghasi or Qataraghasi) was an Ottoman statesman who served as wali (governor) of the Aleppo, Damascus, Diyarbekir and Tripoli eyalets (provinces) in the early 19th century.

Early career Most likely of Turkish origin, there is scarce information about Ibrahim Pasha's early life. However, in the 1770s and 1780s, he served as a trusted retainer of Muhammad Taha (Mehmed Effeni Tahazade), the naqib al-ashraf (head of the order of Muhammad's descendants) of Aleppo. Muhammad Taha served the office for 25 years (in 1747–1767 and 1782–1786), and was able to unify the city's ashraf into a political and military force that confronted Aleppo's powerful Janissary faction. Taha tasked Ibrahim Pasha (then known as "Ibrahim Agha") with collecting taxes in Aleppo's rural hinterland (Taha owned several tax farms in this area), enabling him to accumulate significant wealth. He then besieged Jazzar Pasha's headquarters in Acre, where an officer named Isma'il Pasha barricaded himself as governor of the city in defiance of the Porte. Ibrahim Pasha could not continue the siege himself because he had to begin a tax collection tour in the Syrian districts to fund the upcoming Hajj caravan. Instead, he entrusted the siege to Jazzar Pasha's senior mamluk, Sulayman Pasha, who was subsequently appointed wali of Sidon and ultimately defeated Isma'il Pasha. As wali of Damascus, Ibrahim Pasha was also amir al-hajj (commander of the Hajj caravan) and led the caravan to Mecca in January 1805. He then served assignments as wali of Tripoli Eyalet and Diyarbekir Eyalet,