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{{about||the Lakhmid king|Qabus ibn al-Mundhir|the sultan of Oman|Qaboos bin Said}}
{{Infobox monarch
| name         = Qabus
| title        = [[Emir]] of the [[Ziyarid dynasty]]
| image        = Coin of Qabus, minted in Jurjan (Gorgan).jpg
| caption      = Coin of Qabus minted in Jurjan
| reign        = 977–981 (first reign)<br>997–1012 (second reign)
| predecessor  = [[Bisutun]]
| successor    = [[Manuchihr]]
| issue        = [[Manuchihr]]<br/>Iskandar
| royal house  = [[Ziyarid dynasty|Ziyarid]]
| father       = [[Vushmgir]]
| birth_date   = 10th century
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = 1012
| death_place  = [[Gorgan]]
| religion     = [[Islam]]
}}
'''Qabus ibn Wushmagir''' (full name: ''Abol-Hasan Qābūs ibn Wušmagīr ibn Ziyar Sams al-maʿālī'', {{lang|fa|ابوالحسن قابوس بن وشمگیر بن زیار, شمس‌المعالی}}; (died 1012) (r. 977–981; 997–1012) was the [[Ziyarid]] ruler of [[Gurgan]] and [[Tabaristan]] in [[medieval Iran]]. His father was [[Vushmgir]] and his mother was a daughter of the [[Bavandi]] [[Ispahbad]] [[Sharwin II]].

==Struggle for power==
Upon Vushmgir's death in 967, his eldest son [[Bisutun]] marched to the capital Gurgan to take control of the Ziyarid state. A [[Samanid]] army that had arrived shortly before Vushmgir's death for a joint campaign against the [[Buyids]], however, threw its support behind Qabus. When Bisutun gained the assistance of the Buyid [[Rukn al-Dawla]] the Samanid army left for [[Greater Khorasan|Khurasan]]. Qabus found a new ally in [[al-Hasan ibn al-Fairuzan]], who ruled in [[Semnan (city)|Semnan]], but Bisutun occupied both Gurgan and Semnan, forcing Qabus to give up his claims as his father's successor.

==Reign==
Bisutun's death in 977 provided Qabus with another opportunity to take control of the Ziyarids. Bisutun's governor of Tabaristan, the [[Gilan|Gilite]] Dubaj ibn Bani, supported the deceased ruler's young son, and could rely on Samanid support. Qabus gained the loyalty of the Ziyarid army, however, and received assistance from the Buyid [['Adud al-Dawla]]. Taking Gurgan from Dubaj, he captured Bisutun's son in Semnan. In 978 or 979 the [[caliph]] [[al-Ta'i]] granted Qabus the title ''Shams al-Ma'ali''.<ref name="iranicaonline.org">[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ziyarids ''ZIYARIDS'', C. Edmund Bosworth, '''Encyclopaedia Iranica''']</ref>

In 980 Qabus offered refuge to the Buyid ruler of [[Ray, Iran|Ray]], [[Fakhr al-Dawla]], who had recently fought a losing war with 'Adud al-Dawla. The latter offered the Ziyarid money and territory in exchange for the surrender of Fakhr al-Dawla, but Qabus refused. 'Adud then invaded and conquered Tabaristan; in 981 'Adud's brother [[Mu'ayyad al-Dawla]] took Gurgan. Qabus and Fakhr al-Dawla were forced to flee to Samanid Khurasan. The Samanids sent a force to take back the provinces, but were unsuccessful.
[[File:Gonbad-e Qabus.JPG|thumb|Tomb of Qabus in [[Gonbad-e Qabus]]]]
In 984 Fakhr al-Dawla was able to recover his territories in Ray. Upon the advice of his vizier, however, he refused to return control of Gurgan and Tabaristan to Qabus. Qabus was forced to live in exile until 997, when Fakhr al-Dawla died and was succeeded by his young son [[Majd al-Dawla]]. Supporters of the Ziyarid gained control of Tabaristan and from there conquered Gurgan. Qabus returned there in 998. A few later Buyid attempts to expel him again failed.

Although he formally recognized the caliph as his sovereign, Qabus ruled effectively as an independent ruler for the rest of his reign. He opened up relations with [[Mahmud of Ghazna]], setting the stage for the eventual [[Ghaznavid]] takeover of the Ziyarids, while the Buyids did not undertake any more campaigns against him. Internal troubles, however, soon cost Qabus his position. His heavy-handed approach with officials in the army eventually caused a conspiracy to be formed against him.

The army leaders failed to capture him in his castle outside Gurgan, but they took control of the capital and invited Qabus's son [[Manuchihr]], the governor of [[Tabaristan]], to take over. Manuchihr feared that he would lose the succession if he refused and joined the conspirators.<ref>{{harvnb|Chaliand|1994|p=430}}</ref> He chased Qabus to [[Bistam]], where the latter eventually agreed to abdicate. The conspirators then sent Qabus to a castle in [[Gorgan]]. While on the way to the castle, Qabus asked one of the rebels, named Abdallah, who was behind the conspiracy. Abdallah responded by naming five generals, and also said that he was one of the men who played an important role in the conspiracy. He then blamed Qabus' cruelty as the reason for his downfall. Qabus agreed, and told Abdallah that he should have ordered the execution of Abdallah and the other perpetrators before the conspiracy began.<ref>{{harvnb|Chaliand|1994|p=431}}</ref> Qabus then arrived to the castle where he could spend the rest of his life in devotion. The conspirators, however, still considered him to be a threat and had him frozen to death in 1012. 

The tower of [[Gonbad-e Qabus (tower)|Gonbad Kavous]] was built for him as his tomb, and he is the subject of the [[Qabus nama]], a major work of Persian literature from the eleventh century, which was written by his grandson [[Keikavus (Ziyarid)|Keikavus]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[[Richard Frye]]'s ''Notes on the Renaissance of the 10th and 11th Centuries in Eastern Iran'', Central Asiatic Journal I (1955) 137-143.
*{{cite encyclopedia | last = Chaliand | first  = Gerard | title = The Art of War in World History: From Antiquity to the Nuclear Age | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aXuxw070d-wC&q=falak+%22al+ma+ali%22 | year = 1994 | isbn = 9780520079649 | access-date = 25 January 2014 }}
* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=4}}

{{s-start}}
{{Succession box
| before=[[Bisutun]]
| title=Ziyarid ruler
| years=977&ndash;1012
| after=[[Manuchihr]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Ziyarid Rulers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shams Al-Moali Abol-Hasan Ghaboos Ibn Wushmgir}}
[[Category:Ziyarid dynasty]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:1012 deaths]]
[[Category:10th-century monarchs in Asia]]
[[Category:10th-century Iranian people]]
[[Category:11th-century Iranian people]]