Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Jayhānī ( fa, ابو عبدالله محمد بن احمد جیهانی), or Abu Abdallah Jayhani (; also spelled al-Gayhani, Jaihani), was the
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
vizier
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...
of the
Samanid Empire
The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in ...
from 914 to 922. His lost geographical work (which was preserved in later authors' books) is an important source of 9th-century history of
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
and
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...
. His son and grandson also served as viziers.
Life
Most details of the life of Jayhani are unknown. He was the son of Ahmad Jayhani, and had a brother named Ubaydallah Jayhani. Spelling patterns in his works suggests that
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
was his native language.
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known for ...
also recorded that Jayhani frequently used the Persian expression ''"bedāw andarūn"'' ("rush in").
Al-Muqaddasi noted that Jayhani studied philosophy, astronomy and geometry. Furthermore, he also stated that Jayhani would assemble together foreigners and ask them about the lands and the routes to get to different territories. Jayhani was a secret adherent to
Manichaeism
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
, according to
Ibn al-Nadim
Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Nadīm ( ar, ابو الفرج محمد بن إسحاق النديم), also ibn Abī Ya'qūb Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Warrāq, and commonly known by the ''nasab'' (patronymic) Ibn al-Nadīm ...
.
During his early career, Jayhani was a student of
Abu Zayd al-Balkhi
Abu Zayd Ahmed ibn Sahl Balkhi ( fa, ابو زید احمد بن سهل بلخی) was a Persian Muslim polymath: a geographer, mathematician, physician, psychologist and scientist. Born in 850 CE in Shamistiyan, in the province of Balkh, G ...
, and used to give him female slaves as gifts, but later left him, due to his ''Kitab al-Qarabin wa'l-dhaba'ih'' (Book on Sacrifices and Offerings), which Jayhani disapproved. Jayhani was made guardian of
Nasr II
Nasr ibn Ahmad or Nasr II ( fa, نصر دوم), nicknamed "the Fortunate", was the ruler (''amir'') of Transoxiana and Khurasan as the head of the Samanid dynasty from 914 to 943. His reign marked the high point of the Samanid dynasty's fortunes. ...
in 913. A year later, his 8-year-old ward became the ruler (''
emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...
'') of the
Samanid Empire
The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in ...
and Jayhani was appointed
vizier
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...
.
Due to Nasr's youth, Jayhani undertook the regency of the empire. Almost immediately a series of revolts broke out within the state, the most serious being the one led by his great-uncle Ishaq ibn Ahmad. Ishaq's sons took part in the rebellion; one son,
Abu Salih Mansur, took control of
Nishapur and several other cities in
Khorasan. Eventually, Ishaq was captured, while Abu Salih Mansur died in Nishapur. Nasr's ascension also brought instability to the peripheries of the Samanid state. The
Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
managed to recover
Sistan
Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan ( ...
for the last time, while
Ray and
Tabaristan
Tabaristan or Tabarestan ( fa, طبرستان, Ṭabarestān, or mzn, تبرستون, Tabarestun, ultimately from Middle Persian: , ''Tapur(i)stān''), was the name applied to a mountainous region located on the Caspian coast of northern Iran. ...
were taken by the
Alid Hasan al-Utrush
Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Ashraf ibn ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn (Medina, c. 844 – Amul, January/February 917), better known as al-Ḥasan al-Uṭrūsh ( ar, الحسن الأطروش, , Hasan th ...
. Despite being unable to recover the provinces, the Samanids employed numerous local
Daylamite
The Daylamites or Dailamites (Middle Persian: ''Daylamīgān''; fa, دیلمیان ''Deylamiyān'') were an Iranian people inhabiting the Daylam—the mountainous regions of northern Iran on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea, now comprisin ...
and
Gilite leaders and remained active in the struggles there.
After the largest mosque of
Bukhara was destroyed, Jayhani financed the erection of a
minaret, according to
Narshakhi
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Jafar Narshakhi (or Narshaki) (ca. 899–959), a Sogdian scholar from the village of Narshak in the Bukhara oasis is the first known historian in Central Asia. His unique ''History of Bukhara'' (''Tarikh-i Bukhara'') was writ ...
.
Ahmad ibn Fadlan
Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāšid ibn Ḥammād, ( ar, أحمد بن فضلان بن العباس بن راشد بن حماد; ) commonly known as Ahmad ibn Fadlan, was a 10th-century Muslim traveler, famous for his account of hi ...
, who met him in 921, recorded that the people referred to him as "the elder bulwark", evidencing that Jayhani was still regarded as a most influential figure in Nasr II's court. A year later, however,
Abu'l-Fadl al-Bal'ami Abu'l-Fadl al-Bal'ami, also known as Bal'ami the Elder (died November 14, 940), was a Samanid statesman from the al-Bal'ami family, who served as the ''vizier'' of Nasr II from 922 to 938.
Biography
Bal'ami is first mentioned as serving under the ...
succeeded him as vizier. Jayhani died in 925. His son,
Abu Ali Jayhani
Abu or ABU may refer to:
Places
* Abu (volcano), a volcano on the island of Honshū in Japan
* Abu, Yamaguchi, a town in Japan
* Ahmadu Bello University, a university located in Zaria, Nigeria
* Atlantic Baptist University, a Christian university ...
, was vizier of the Samanid Empire from 938 to 941. Abu Ali's son,
Abu Abdallah Ahmad, held the same office between 974 and 976.
Works
Ibn al-Nadim, who confused Abu Abdallah Jayhani with his grandson, attributed four books to Abu Abdallah. Yaqut al-Hamawi, who used al-Nadim's work as a source for his own work, even caused additional confusion by blending the three consecutive generations of the Jayhani family. According to historian István Zimonyi, the four books "point to an author experienced in politics, as every book is connected with state affairs".
''The Book of Routes and Kingdoms''
Jayhani "assembled around himself some foreigners and questioned them about the countries and their revenues, the condition of roads thither, the elevation of the stars above the horizons there and the length of the meridian shadows cast by the sun", according to al-Muqaddasi.
Other works
See also
*
Geography and cartography in medieval Islam
Medieval Islamic geography and cartography refer to the study of geography and cartography in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age (variously dated between the 8th century and 16th century). Muslim scholars made advances to the map-maki ...
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Abdallah Jayhani
Samanid viziers
10th-century Iranian politicians
9th-century births
925 deaths
Year of birth unknown