Balj ibn Bishr al-Qushayri

Balj ibn Bishr al-Qushayri was an Umayyad military commander in the Maghreb and al-Andalus (Iberia), and briefly became the ruler of al-Andalus in 742 until his death in August of the same year. Balj was a member of the Banu Qushayr, a branch of the Hawazin tribe, and was the nephew of Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi, who had been appointed governor of Ifriqiya by the Umayyad caliph Hisham. In 741 Balj was cavalry lieutenant under his uncle's command on a military campaign against a Berber Revolt in North Africa. Kulthum headed an army of 30,000 Arab troops from regiments (junds) from Damascus, Jordan, Qinnasrin, Homs, Palestine and Egypt.