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Amid al-Mulk Abu Nasr al-Kunduri (; 1024 – 29 November 1064), commonly known as al-Kunduri (کندری; also spelled Kunduri), was a Persians; bureaucrat, who served as the vizier of the first Seljuk Empire Sultan Tughril () and his nephew Alp Arslan ().
Kunduri was born in Kundur. He was recruited into the Seljuk bureaucracy as a secretary, at the suggestion of his teacher, Imam al-Muwaffaq al-Nishapuri. A natural schemer, Kunduri sought to exploit the power and influence over the Seljuk sultan.
Kunduri's first scheme was during his early vizierate when Tughril had tasked him to arrange a marriage between Tughril and a princess from the family of the Khwarazmshah. Instead, Kunduri arranged the marriage for himself. Kunduri subsequently went to Tughril, where he absolved himself by shaving off his beard and castrating himself. While Tughril was preparing a march towards Mosul to fight the local contender al-Basasiri in 1057, Kunduri plotted to install the son of Tughril's wife Altun Jan Khatun, Anushirwan, on the throne. However, the conspirators, including Altun Jan Khatun, quickly dissociated themselves from the conspiracy. Nevertheless, Kunduri was kept as vizier.
Kunduri's third scheme was against the Abbasid caliph al-Qa'im (), whom he successfully convinced to accept a marriage between his daughter and Tughril. After the death of Tughril in 1063, Kunduri attempted to install his infant nephew Sulayman (a son of Chaghri Beg) on the throne. It was, however, Chaghri Beg's more competent and elder son Alp Arslan, who ruled Khurasan, that ultimately ascended the throne. Kunduri was initially kept as vizier, but at the instigation of his peer Nizam al-Mulk, Alp Arslan had Kunduri imprisoned on 31 December 1063, and executed the following year, on 29 November 1064. Kunduri was succeeded by Nizam al-Mulk.
Kunduri sought to exploit the power and influence over the sultan. During his early vizierate, Kunduri was tasked by Tughril to arrange a marriage between Tughril and a princess from the family of the Khwarazmshah. Instead, he arranged the marriage for himself. Kunduri subsequently went to Tughril, where he absolved himself by shaving off his beard and castrating himself. While Tughril was preparing a march towards Mosul to fight the local contender al-Basasiri in 1057, Kunduri plotted to install the son of Tughril's wife Altun Jan Khatun, Anushirwan, on the throne. Seeing that he only had 2,000 soldiers at his departure, Tughril reprimanded Kunduri; "Why did you not inform me so that I could wait until all the men were assembled?"
During the subsequent rebellion of Tughril's half-brother Ibrahim Inal, the sultan requested the aid of Kunduri. Altun Jan initially wanted to help, but was persuaded by Kunduri that their soldiers would desert to Inal and only bolster his forces, in return further weakening Altun Jan and Tughril's army. Kunduri once again attempted to place Anushirwan on the throne, now with the support of Altun Jan, the Abbasid caliph al-Qa'im (), as well as the merchants and the leading officials of Baghdad. This plot was opposed by two of Tughril's generals, Umar and Inanjil, who rejected Anushirwan. When Kunduri requested al-Qa'im to announce Anushirwan as sultan, he told him to postpone the plot and secure the city against al-Basasiri. Altun Jan also had a change of heart and instead rejoined Tughril. The following details regarding the plot are unclear. Kunduri and Anushirwan continued to serve under Tughril, fighting alongside him against al-Basasiri, who was killed by a clerk of Kunduri.
Kunduri was a key figure in the negotiations with the reluctant caliph al-Qa'im to arrange a marriage between his daughter and Tughril. According to the Arab scholar Ibn al-Jawzi (died 1201), Kunduri had incited Tughril with this idea to counterbalance the marriage already arranged between Tughril's niece Arslan Khatun and al-Qa'im. Tughril became somewhat obsessed with the idea of marrying an Abbasid princess, perhaps with the aspiration that one of his descendants one day might rule as caliph. Although Kunduri and al-Qa'im seemingly had a friendly relationship, they soon fell out due to the actions of the former. Between May and June 1061, Kunduri and al-Qa'im were in prolonged and resentful negotiations regarding the marriage, with Kunduri at some point even threatening to seize the iqta' (estates) of the caliph. Between February and March 1062, Kunduri finally convinced al-Qa'im to agree, in exchange for lucrative payment, and on the condition that his daughter was not to leave the caliphal palace. Kunduri ignored the latter term as the caliph's daughter was transported to Tughril's residence in Baghdad. Regardless, the marriage was only nominal and ended abruptly after six months and twenty-three days due to Tughril's death on 4 September 1063.
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