, Abu ’l-Muẓaffar ʿImād al-Dīn b. Ḳasīm al-Dawla Aḳsunḳur b. Il-Turg̲h̲ān, Turkmen commander, governor of ʿIrāḳ, later ruler of al-Mawṣil and Aleppo (521-41/1127-46) and founder of the Zangid dynasty, d. 541/1146.

Early youth. Born in Aleppo in 480/1087-8, he was the last surviving son of the Sald̲j̲ūḳ commander Aḳsunḳur [q.v.], who became governor of Aleppo 480-7/1087-94. After his father’s death in 487/1094, Zangī was raised at the court of the governors of al-Mawṣil [q.v.] and distinguished himself in the internal warfare of rival Sald̲j̲ūḳ princes and the wars ag…