Tāj al-DawlaAlp Arslān ibnRiḍwān, nicknamed al-Akhras, was the Seljuksultan of Aleppo from AD 1113 until his death in 1114. According to Ibn al-Athīr, he was not actually mute but had only a speech impediment and a stammer. He was the son of the Sultan Riḍwān by a daughter of Yağısıyan, governor of Antioch. Alp Arslān was only sixteen years old when he succeeded his father as sultan of Aleppo on 10 December 1113. As a result, according to Ibn al-Athīr, he "had only the semblance of authority as sultan, while" his atabegLuʾluʾ al-Yaya "had the reality". After coming to power, he ordered the death of his full brother Malikshāh and his paternal half-brother Mubārakshah in imitation of his father, who had also ordered the death of his brothers upon coming to power. While Luʾluʾ had control over the army, the aḥdāth remained loyal to Alp Arslān and under his control. At the suggestion of Sāʿid ibn Badīʿ, raʾīs of the aḥdāth, Alp Arslān persecuted the NizārīBāṭiniyya, executing their leader, Abū Ṭāhir al-Sāʾigh, and confiscating the properties of the rest. In this way he drove many Nizārīs over to the Christian Principality of Antioch. He later turned on Ibn Badīʿ, confiscating his property and exiling him to the ʿUqaylid emirate of Qalʿat Jaʿbar. He replaced him as raʾīs of the aḥdāth by a foreigner, Ibrāhīm al-Furātī. Because of his military weakness, Alp Arslān was forced to pay tribute to Antioch. In March 1114, Alp Arslān turned to Ṭughtegin of Damascus for protection against Antioch, against the Nizārīs and against his atabeg, Luʾluʾ. Ṭughtegin sent forces to Aleppo, but they found the official toleration of the Shia unacceptable and left before the end of the year. Roger of Salerno, regent of Antioch, forced the resumption of tribute. With Ṭughtegin's forces gone, the atabeg, in league with Shams al-Khawāṣṣ Yārūqtāsh, the lord of Rafanīya, whom Ṭughtegin had deposed, had the mamlūks murder Alp Arslān in the citadel. Luʾluʾ then placed Alp Arslān's six-year-old brother, Sulṭān Shāh, on the throne.
