The Samanid Empire was a Sunni Iranian empire from 819 to 999. The empire was centred in
Khorasan and Transoxiana; at its greatest extent encompassing modern-day Afghanistan,
large parts of Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and parts of Kazakhstan
and Pakistan.
Four brothers—Nuh, Ahmad, Yahya, and Ilyas—founded the Samanid state. Each of them ruled territory
under Abbasid suzerainty. In 892, Ismail Samani united the Samanid state under one ruler,
thus effectively putting an end to the feudal system used by the Samanids. It was also under
him that the Samanids became independent of Abbasid authority.
The Samanid Empire is part of the Iranian Intermezzo, which saw the creation of a Persianate
culture and identity that brought Iranian speech and traditions into the fold of the
Islamic world. This later contributed to the formation of the Turko-Persian culture.
The Samanids promoted the arts, giving rise to the advancement of science and literature,
and thus attracted scholars such as Rudaki, Ferdowsi, and Avicenna. While under Samanid
control, Bukhara was a rival to Baghdad in its glory. Scholars note that the Samanids
revived Persian language and culture more than the Buyids and the Saffarids while continuing
to patronize Arabic for sciences as well as the religious studies. They considered themselves
to be descendants of the Sasanian Empire. In a famous edict, Samanid authorities declared
that "here, in this region, the language is Persian, and the kings of this realm are Persian
kings." History
Origins The Samandi dynasty was founded by Saman Khuda,
an 8th-century noble whose descendants, the House of Saman, later became rulers of Persis
region, that is the Samanid Empire. He was a Dehqan from the village of Saman in Balkh
province, in present-day northern Afghanistan. The earliest appearance of the Samanid family
appears to be in Greater Khorasan rather than Transoxiana. In some sources, the Samanids
claimed to be descended from the House of Mihran of Bahram Chobin. It has been claimed
that the House of Saman belonged to the Oghuz Turks. Originally a Zoroastrian, Saman Khuda
converted to Islam during the governorship of Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri in Khorasan,
and named his oldest son as Asad in the governor's honour. In 819, the governor of Greater Khorasan,
Ghassan ibn Abbad, rewarded the four sons of Al-Qasri for their aid against the rebel
Rafi ibn al-Layth. Nuh ibn Asad received Samarkand; Ahmad ibn Asad received Farghana; Yahya ibn
Asad received Tashkent, and Ilyas ibn Asad received Herat.
Rise The Samanid dynasty in Herat
Ilyas died in 856, and his son Ibrahim ibn Ilyas became his successor. The Tahirid governor
of Khorasan, Muhammad ibn Tahir, subsequently appointed him as the commander of his army,
and sent him on an expedition against the Saffarid ruler Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar
in Sistan. After facing defeat in battle near Pushang in 857, he fled to Nishapur, only
to be captured by Ya'qub al-Saffar and sent to Sistan as a hostage.
The Samanid dynasty in Transoxiana In 839/40, Nuh seized Isfijab from the nomadic
pagan Turks living in the steppe. Consequently, he had a wall constructed around the city
to protect it from their attacks. He died in 841/2—his two brothers Yahya and Ahmad,
were then appointed as the joint rulers of the city by the Tahirid governor of Khorasan.
After Yahya died in 855, Ahmad took control over Châch, thus becoming the ruler of most
of Transoxiana. He died in 864/5; his son Nasr I received Farghana and Samarkand, while
his other son Ya'qub received Châch . Meanwhile, the Tahirids' authority had significantly
weakened after suffering several defeats to Saffarid ruler Ya'qub al-Saffar. Hence, causing
the Tahirids to lose their grip over the Samanids, who became more or less independent. Nasr
I, used this opportunity to strengthen his authority by sending his brother Ismail to
Bukhara, which was in an unstable condition after suffering from raids by the Afrighid
dynasty of Khwarazm. When Ismail reached the city, he was warmly received by its inhabitants,
who saw him as one who could restore order.
After not so long, disagreement over where to distribute tax money caused a conflict
between the brothers. Ismail was eventually victorious in the dynastic struggle and took
control of the Samanid state. However, Nasr had been the one who had been invested with
Transoxiana, and the Abbasid caliphs continued to recognize him as the rightful ruler. Because
of this, Ismail continued to recognize his brother as well, but Nasr was completely powerless,
a situation that would continue until his death in August 892.
Final unification and height of power A few months later, Ya'qub al-Saffar also
died and was succeeded by his brother Amr ibn al-Layth, who saw himself as the heir
of the Tahirids, thus claiming Transoxiana, Khorasan and other parts of Iran for himself.
He thereafter forced the Abbasid caliph to recognize him as the ruler of those territories.
In the spring of 900, he clashed with Ismail near Balkh, but was defeated and taken to
captivity. Ismail thereafter sent him to Baghdad, where he was executed. Ismail was thereafter
recognized as the ruler of all of Khorasan and Transoxiana by the caliph. Furthermore,
he also received the investiture over Tabaristan, Ray and Isfahan. It was also during this period
that the Afrighid dynasty was forced into submission.
Before his major victory against the Saffarids, he had made various expeditions in Transoxiana;
in 892, he put an end to the Principality of Ushrusana by seizing all of its lands.
During the same period, he put an end to the Bukhar Khudas in Bukhara. In 893, he invaded
the territories of the Karluk Turks, taking Talas and converting the Nestorian church
there into a mosque.
In 900, Ismail sent an army under Muhammad ibn Harun al-Sarakhsi against Muhammad ibn
Zayd, the Zaydi ruler of Tabaristan and Gorgan. The invasion was successful; Muhammad ibn
Zayd was killed and Tabaristan was conquered by the Samanids. However, Muhammad ibn Harun
shortly revolted, forcing Ismail himself to invade the region the following year. Muhammad
ibn Harun thereafter fled to Daylam, while Ismail reconquered Tabaristan and Gorgan.
In 901, Amr Saffari was defeated at the battle of Balkh by the Samanids, which reduced the
Saffarid dynasty to a minor tributary in Sistan. It was during this period that the Samanids
were at their height of power, ruling as far as Qazvin in the west and Peshawar in the
east.
Ismail is known in history as a competent general and a strong ruler; many stories about
him are written in Arabic and Persian sources. Furthermore, because of his campaigns in the
north, his empire was so safe from enemy incursions that the defences of Bukhara and Samarkand
went unused. However, this later had consequences; at the end of the dynasty, the walls—earlier
strong, but now falling apart—were greatly missed by the Samanids, who were constantly
under attack by the Karakhanids and other enemies.
Ismail died in November 907, and was succeeded by his son Ahmad Samani .
Intermediate period Not long after his accession, Ahmad invaded
Sistan; by 911, Sistan was under complete Samanid control, and Ahmad's cousin Abu Salih
Mansur was appointed as its governor. Meanwhile, an Alid named Hasan al-Utrush was slowly re-establishing
Zaydi over Tabaristan. In 913, Ahmad sent an army under Muhammad ibn Sa'luk to deal
with him. Although the Samanid army was much larger, Hasan managed to emerge victorious.
Ahmad, before he could plan another expedition to Tabaristan, was the following year murdered
by some of his slaves in a tent near Bukhara. During his reign, Ahmad is also said to have
replaced the language of the court from Persian to Arabic, which made him unpopular among
his subjects, and forced him to change it back to Persian. After Ahmad's death, his
eight-year-old son Nasr II succeeded him. Due to Nasr's youth, his prime minister Abu
'Abd-Allah al-Jaihani took care over most of the state affairs. Jaihani was not only
an experienced administrator, but also a prominent geographer and greatly educated man. Almost
right after Nasr II had ascended the throne, several revolts erupted, the most dangerous
one being under his paternal grand-uncle, Ishaq ibn Ahmad, who seized Samarkand and
began minting coins there, while his son Abu Salih Mansur seized Nishapur and several cities
in Khorasan. Ishaq was eventually defeated and captured, while Abu Salih Mansur died
of natural causes in 915. Some time later Nasr II once again had to deal with rebels;
in 919, the governor of Khorasan, Husayn ibn Ali Marvarrudhi, rebelled against Samanid
authority. Nasr responded by sending an army under Ahmad ibn Sahl to suppress the rebellion,
which the latter managed to accomplish. After a few weeks, however, Ahmad shortly rebelled
himself at Nishapur, made incursions into Gorgan, and then fortified himself in Merv
to avoid a Samanid counter-attack. Nevertheless, the Samanid general Hamuya ibn Ali managed
to lure Ahmad out of Merv, and defeated him in a battle at Marw al-Rudh; he was captured
and imprisoned in Bukhara, where he remained until his death in 920.
In the west, Nasr II clashed several times with Daylamite and Gilite rulers; In 921,
the Zaydids under the Gilite ruler Lili ibn al-Nu'man invaded Khorasan, but were defeated
by the Simjurid general Simjur al-Dawati. Later in 930, a Dailamite military leader,
Makan ibn Kaki, seized Tabaristan and Gurgan, and even took possession of Nishapur in western
Khorasan. He was, however, forced to withdraw back to Tabaristan one year later, due to
the threat that Samanids posed. Makan then returned to Tabaristan, where he was defeated
by the Ziyarid ruler Mardavij, who managed to conquer the region. In 935, Nasr II re-established
Samanid control in Gurgan and made Mardavij's successor Vushmgir his vassal. However, in
939 he declared independence, but was defeated the following year at Iskhabad.
In 943 several Samanid army officers, angry at Nasr's support of Isma'ili missionaries,
formed a conspiracy to murder him. Nasr's son Nuh I, however, learned of the conspiracy.
He went to a banquet designed to organize the plot and had the head of their leader
cut off. To appease the other officers, he promised to stop the Isma'ili missionaries
from continuing their activities. He then convinced his father to abdicate, who died
of tuberculosis after a few months.
Right when Nuh I ascended the throne, a revolt erupted in Khwarazm, which he managed to suppress.
Later in 945, he had to deal with the Muhtajid ruler Abu 'Ali Chaghani, who refused to relinquish
his post as governor of Khorasan to Ibrahim ibn Simjur. Abu 'Ali Chaghani then rebelled,
and was joined by several prominent figures such as Abu Mansur Muhammad, whom he appointed
as his commander-in-chief. In 947, he installed Nuh's uncle Ibrahim ibn Ahmad as amir in Bukhara.
Abu 'Ali Chaghani then returned to his domains in Chaghaniyan. Ibrahim, however, was unpopular
with the people of Bukhara, and Nuh soon retaliated by retaking the city and blinding Ibrahim
and two brothers.
When Abu Ali Chaghani received the news of the re-capture of Bukhara, he once again marched
towards it, but was defeated by an army sent by Nuh and withdrew back to Chaghaniyan. After
some time, he left the region and tried to obtain support from other Samanid vassals.
Meanwhile, Nuh had Chaghaniyan ravaged and its capital sacked. Another battle shortly
ensued between Abu 'Ali Chaghani and a Samanid army in Tukharistan, which resulted in a Samanid
victory. Fortunately for Abu Ali Chaghani, he managed to secure the support of other
Samanid vassals, such as the rulers of Khuttal, and the Kumiji mountain people, but in the
end made peace with Nuh, who allowed him to keep Chaghaniyan in return for sending his
son Abu'l Muzaffar Abdallah as hostage to Bukhara.
Alp Tigin, nominal vassal of the Samanids, conquered Ghazna in 962 from the Lawik dynasty.
The fifth of these commanders was Sebüktigin, who governed Ḡazna for twenty years till
387 AH/997 CE with the title of al-ḥājeb al-ajall . He would later be the founder of
an independent dynasty based in Ghazna, following the decline of the Samanid Empire in the 990s.
Decline and fall The power of the Samanids began to crumble
in the latter half of the 10th century. In 962, one the ghulams, Alp Tigin, commander
of the army in Khorasan, seized Ghazna and established himself there. His successors,
however, including Sebük Tigin, continued to rule as Samanid "governors". With the weakened
Samanids facing rising challenges from the Karakhanids for control of Transoxiana, Sebük
later took control of all the provinces south of the Oxus and established the Ghaznavid
Empire.
In 992, a Karakhanid, Harun Bughra Khan, grandson of the paramount tribal chief of the Karluk
confederation Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan, captured Bukhara, the Samanid capital. Harun died shortly
afterwards, however, and the Samanids returned to Bukhara. In 999, Nasr b. Ali, a nephew
of Harun, returned and took possession of Bukhara, meeting little resistance. The Samanid
domains were split up between the Ghaznavids, who gained Khorasan and Afghanistan, and the
Karakhanids, who received Transoxiana; the Oxus River thus became the boundary between
the two rival empires.
Isma'il Muntasir's attempt to resurrect the Samanid state
Isma'il Muntasir was the youngest son of Nuh II—he was imprisoned by the Karakhanids
after their conquest of Bukhara in 999. Some time later, Isma'il managed to escape to Khwarazm,
where he gained support. Driving the Karakhanids out of Bukhara, he then moved on to and captured
Samarkand. The approach of the Karakhanid army, however, forced Isma'il to give up all
of his possessions, following which he travelled to Khorasan, where he captured Nishapur. Mahmud's
army, however, made its way to the region, and Isma'il decided it necessary to flee again.
In 1003 Isma'il came back to Transoxiana, where he requested and received assistance
from the Oghuz Turks of the Zarafshan valley. They defeated the Karakhanids in several battles,
even when Nasr Khan was involved. For various reasons, however, Isma'il came to feel that
he could not rely on the Oghuz to restore him, so he went back to Khorasan. He tried
to gain Mahmud's support for a campaign to restore the Samanid state, but failed. Some
time afterwards, he returned to the Zarafshan valley, where he gained the support of the
Oghuz and others. A Karakhanid army was defeated in May 1004, but subsequently the Oghuz deserted
Isma'il during another battle, and his army fell apart.
Fleeing to Khorasan yet again, Isma'il attempted to reenter Transoxiana in the end of 1004.
The Karakhanids stopped this and Isma'il was nearly killed. Following this, he sought the
hospitality of an Arab tribe near Merv. Their chief, however, killed Isma'il in 1005. His
death marked the defeat of the last attempt to restore the Samanid state. Descendants
of the Samanid family continued to live in Transoxiana where they were well regarded,
but their power was relatively broken.
Iranian intermezzo Along with several other states, the Samanid
Empire was part of the Iranian Intermezzo, or "Persian renaissance". This period has
been described as having a key importance in the formation of the Islamic civilization,
both politically and culturally. In political terms, it saw an effective break up of the
Abbasid power and the rise of several successor states such as the Samanids and Buyids while
in cultural terms, it witnessed the rise of new Persian as an administrative and literary
language.