Samanids

Samani
سامانیان
←
 819–999 →
 
→
The Samani Empire.
Capital Balkh, Bukhara
Language(s) Persian(Religious decree)[1]
Religion Sunni Islam
Government Emirate
Emir
 - 819-855 Yahya ibn Asad
 - 999 'Abd al-Malik II
Historical era Medieval
 - Established 819
 - Disestablished 999
Area
 - 928 est. 2,850,000 km2 (1,100,391 sq mi)
History of Greater Iran
until the rise of modern nation-states
Pre-modern

The Samani dynasty (Persian: سامانیان Sāmāniyān), also known as the Samanid Empire, or simply Samanids (819–999)[2] was a Persian state[3] and empire[4] in Central Asia and Greater Iran, named after its founder Saman Khuda, who converted to Sunni Islam[5] despite being from Zoroastrian theocratic nobility. It was a native Persian dynasty in Greater Iran and Central Asia after the collapse of the Sassanid Persian empire caused by the Arab conquest.

Contents

Domination

The Samanids were a Persian state that reigned for 180 years, encompassing a territory which included Khorasan (including Kabul),[6] Ray, Transoxiania, Tabaristan, Kerman, Gorgan, and west of these provinces up to Isfahan. At the peak of their power, the Samanids controlled territory extending as far south as the Sulaiman Mountains in Pakistan, Ghazni and Kandahar.[7] The Samanids were descendants of Bahram Chobin,[8][9] and thus descended from the House of Mihrān, one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran. In governing their territory, the Samanids modeled their state organization after the Abbasids, mirroring the caliph's court and organization.[10] They were rewarded for supporting the Abbasids in Transoxania and Khorasan, and with their established capitals located in Bukhara, Balkh, Samarkand, and Herat, they carved their kingdom after defeating the Saffarids.[8]

With their roots stemming from the city of Balkh (then, part of Greater Khorasan)[11][12][13] the Samanids promoted the arts, giving rise to the advancement of science and literature, and thus attracted scholars such as Rudaki and Avicenna. While under Samanid control, Bukhara was a rival to Baghdad in its glory.[5] Scholars note that the Samanids revived Persian more than the Buyids and the Saffarids, while continuing to patronize Arabic to a significant degree.[5] Nevertheless, 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."[5] During the Samanid period the Tajik nation was formed in Central Asia. The Samanid Empire is considered as the first Tajik state, also earlier perso-Iranian dynasties arose from the regions Tajiks inhabit till today (Tahirid, Saffarid, Farighunid etc.)

History

The Samanid Empire was the first native Persian dynasty to arise after the Muslim Arab conquest. The four grandsons of the dynasty's founder, Saman Khuda, had been rewarded with provinces for their faithful service to the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun: Nuh obtained Samarkand; Ahmad, Fergana; Yahya, Shash; and Elyas, Herat. Ahmad's son Nasr became governor of Transoxania in 875, but it was his brother and successor, Ismail Samani who overthrew the Saffarids and the Zaydites of Tabaristan, thus establishing a semiautonomous rule over Transoxania and Khorasan, with Bukhara as his capital. In 893, Ismail invaded and defeated the Karluk Turks, taking Talas and converting the Nestorian church there into a mosque.[14][15] Ismail's son, Ahmad, sent two military excursions(911 & 912-913) into Sistan to re-establish Samanid control over the Caspian provinces.[16]

The Samanids defeat the Saffarids and Zaydids

Samanid rule in Bukhara was not formally recognized by the caliph until the early 900s when the Saffarid ruler 'Amr-i Laith had asked the caliph for the investiture of Transoxiana. The caliph, Al-Mu'tadid however sent the Samanid amir, Ismail Samani, a letter urging him to fight Amr-i Laith and the Saffarids whom the caliph considered usurpers. According to the letter, the caliph stated that he prayed for Ismail who the caliph considered as the rightful ruler of Khorasan.[17] The letter had a profound effect on Ismail, as he was determined to oppose the Saffarids.

The two sides fought in Balkh, (now modern-day Afghanistan), during the spring of 900. During the battle, Ismail was significantly outnumbered as he came out with 20,000 horsemen against Amr's 70,000 strong cavalry.[18] Ismail's horsemen were ill-equipped with most having wooden stirrups while some had no shields or lances. Amr-i Laith's cavalry on the other hand, were fully equipped with weapons and armor. Despite fierce fighting, Amr was captured as some of his troops switched sides and joined Ismail.[19]

Isma'il thereafter sent an army to Tabaristan in accordance with the caliph's directive.[20] The area at that time was then controlled by the Zaydids. The Samanid army defeated the Zaydid ruler and the Samanids gained control of the region.

Cultural and religious efforts

The Samanids revived Persian culture by patronizing Rudaki,[21] Bal'ami and Daqiqi.[22] They also determinedly propagated Sunni Islam. However, the Samanids repressed Ismaili Shiism[23] but were more tolerant of Twelver Shiism.[5] Islamic architecture and Islamo-Persian culture was spread deep into the heart of Central Asia by the Samanids. Following the first complete translation of the Qur'an into Persian, during the 9th century, populations under the Samanid empire began accepting Islam in significant numbers.[24]

Through zealous missionary work as many as 30,000 tents of Turks came to profess Islam and later under the Ghaznavids more than 55,000 under the Hanafi school of thought.[5] The mass conversion of the Turks to Islam eventually led to a growing influence of the Ghaznavids, who would later rule the region.

Agriculture and trading were the economic basis of Samanid State. The Samanids were heavily involved in trading - even with Europe, as thousands of Samanid coins that have been found in the Baltic and Scandinavian countries testify.[25]

Another lasting contribution of the Samanids to the history of Islamic art is the pottery known as Samanid Epigraphic Ware: plates, bowls, and pitchers fired in a white slip and decorated only with calligraphy, often elegantly and rhythmically written. The Arabic phrases used in this calligraphy are generally more or less generic well wishes, or Islamic admonitions to good table manners.

Decline

In 999, the Kara-Khanid leader Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan, grandson of the paramount tribal chief of the Karluk confederation, occupied Bukhara, the Samanid capital. The Samanid domains were split up between the Ghaznavids, who gained Khorasan and Afghanistan, and the Karakhanids, who received Transoxania; the Oxus River thus became the boundary between the two rival empires. During this period the Kara-Khanids converted to Islam.

Legacy

In commending the Samanids, the epic Persian poet Ferdowsi says of them:

کجا آن بزرگان ساسانیان
ز بهرامیان تا به سامانیان

"Where have all the great Sassanids gone?
From the Bahrāmids to the Samanids what has come upon?"

According to a Bukharian historian writing in 943 stated that Ismail Samani:

"was indeed worthy and right for padishahship. He was intelligent, just, compassionate person, one possessing reason and prescience...he conducted affairs with justice and good ethics. Whoever tyrannized people he would punish...In affairs of state he was always impartial."[26]

The celebrated scholar Nizam al-Mulk, in his famous work, Siyasatnama, stated that Ismail Samani:

"was extremely just, and his good qualities were many. He had pure faith in God (to Him be power and glory) and he was generous to the poor - to name only one of his notable virtues.[27]

The Somoni currency of Tajikistan is named after the Samanids. A notable airline based in Dushanbe is also named Somon Air. Also, the highest mountain in Tajikistan and in the former Soviet Union is named after Ismail Samani. The mountain was formerly known as "Stalin Peak" and "Communism Peak" but was subsequently changed to the Ismoil Somoni Peak.

Samanid Amirs

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Elton L. Daniel, History of Iran, (Greenwood Press, 2001), 74.
  2. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, Online Edition, 2007, Samani Dynasty, LINK
  3. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam (article by Clifford Edmund Bosworth) writes: SAMANIDS, a Persian dynasty which ruled in Transoxania and then in Khurasan also, at first as subordinate governors of the Tahirids [q. v. ] and then later autonomous, virtually independent rulers (204-395/819-1005)
  4. ^
    • A historical atlas of Uzbekistan, By Aisha Khan, Published by The Rosen Publishing Group, 2003, ISBN 0823938689, 9780823938681, pg. 23;
    • The Cambridge History of Iran, By Richard Nelson Frye, William Bayne Fisher, John Andrew Boyle, Published by Cambridge University Press, 1975, ISBN 0521200938, 9780521200936, pg. 164;
    • The New Encyclopædia Britannica, By Encyclopædia Britannica Publishers, Inc. Staff, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc, Published by Encyclopædia Britannica, 1987, ISBN 0852294433, 9780852294437, pg. 891;
    • The monumental inscriptions from early Islamic Iran and Transoxiana, By Sheila Blair, Published by BRILL, 1992, ISBN 9004093672, 9789004093676, pg. 27.
  5. ^ a b c d e f The History of Iran By Elton L. Daniel, pg. 74
  6. ^ Tabaḳāt-i-nāsiri: a general history of the Muhammadan dynastics of Asia, pg.31, By Minhāj Sirāj Jūzjānī
  7. ^ The historical,social and economic setting By M. S. Asimov, pg.79
  8. ^ a b Iran and America: Re-Kind[l]ing a Love Lost By Badi Badiozamani, Ghazal Badiozamani, pg. 123
  9. ^ History of Bukhara by Narshakhi, Chapter XXIV, Pg 79
  10. ^ The Monumental Inscriptions from Early Islamic Iran and Transoxiana By Sheila S. Blair, pg. 27
  11. ^ Iranica, "ASAD B. SĀMĀNḴODĀ, ancestor of the Samanid dynasty"
  12. ^ Britannica, "The Samanids", Their eponym was Sāmān-Khodā, a landlord in the district of Balkh and, according to the dynasty’s claims, a descendant of Bahrām Chūbīn, the Sāsānian general.[1] or [2]
  13. ^ Kamoliddin, Shamsiddin S. "To the Question of the Origin of the Samanids", Transoxiana: Journal Libre de Estudios Orientales, [3]
  14. ^ Renee Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes:A History of Central Asia, Transl. Naomi Walford, (Rutgers University Press, 1991), 142.
  15. ^ Samanids, C.E.Bosworth, The Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. VIII, Ed. C.E.Bosworth, E.van Donzel, W.P.Heinrichs and G.Lecomte, (E.J.Brill, 1995), 1026.
  16. ^ Samanids, C.E.Bosworth, 1027.
  17. ^ The book of government, or, Rules for kings: the Siyar al-Muluk, or, Siyasat-nama of Nizam al-Mulk, Niẓām al-Mulk, Hubert Darke, pg.18-19
  18. ^ History of Islam (Vol 3) By Akbar Shah Najeebabadi, pg. 330
  19. ^ Ibn Khallikan's biographical dictionary By Ibn Khallikān, pg.329
  20. ^ Tabaḳāt-i-nāsiri: a general history of the Muhammadan dynastics of Asia, pg.32, By Minhāj Sirāj Jūzjānī
  21. ^ Mihragan, J.Calmard, Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol.VII, Ed. C.E.Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P.Heinrichs and C.Pellat, (Brill, 1993), 18.
  22. ^ C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids:994-1040, (Edinburgh University Press, 1963), 131.
  23. ^ An Ismaili Heresiography: The "Bab Al-Shaytan" from Abu Tammam's Kitab Al ... By Wilferd Madelung, Paul Ernest Walker, pg. 5
  24. ^ Michael Dillon, Xinjiang: China's Muslim far Northwest, (RoutledgeCurzon, 2004), 11.
  25. ^ History of Bukhara, By Narshakhi trans. Richard N. Frye, pg. 143
  26. ^ The modern Uzbeks: from the fourteenth century to the present : a cultural history, by Edward Allworth, pg. 19
  27. ^ The book of government, or, Rules for kings: the Siyar al-Muluk, or, Siyasat-nama of Nizam al-Mulk, Niẓām al-Mulk, Hubert Darke, pg. 14

Bibliography