Abu Bakr Muhammad (died 941) was the first

Muhtajid The Al-i Muhtaj () or Muhtajids (also known as the Chaghanids) was an Iranian or Iranicized Arab ruling family of the small principality of Chaghaniyan. They ruled during the 10th and early 11th centuries. Early history The origin of the Muhtajids ...

ruler of

Chaghaniyan Chaghaniyan (Middle Persian: ''Chagīnīgān''; fa, چغانیان ''Chaghāniyān''), known as al-Saghaniyan in Arabic sources, was a medieval region and principality located on the right bank of the Oxus River, to the south of Samarkand. Histo ...

(until 939) and governor of

Samanid 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 Kho ...

Khurasan Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plate ...

(933–939). He was the son of Muzaffar ibn Muhtaj.

Origins

The origin of the Muhtajids is unknown. The name has been given by modern historians after their presumed forebear Muhtaj ( ar, محتاج ''Muḥtāj''). They may have been descended from the Chaghan Khudahs, who ruled Chaghaniyan during the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. Another possibility is that their ancestors were

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

who migrated to the region and were Iranicized. In any case, by the early 10th century Chaghaniyan had become a vassal to the

Samanids People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownershi ...

Bukhara Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...

Biography

Abu Bakr Muhammad was the first ruler fully attested in sources. Under the Samanids, he was the governor of

Ferghana Fergana ( uz, Fargʻona/Фарғона, ), or Ferghana, is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 420 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km west of Andijan, and less than 20 km fr ...

. When in 929 the Samanid amir

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. ...

was temporarily expelled from power by his brothers, Muhammad remained loyal to him. As a result, when Nasr managed to regained power, he rewarded Muhammad with the governorship of

Balkh ), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001 , pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_relief=yes , pushpin_label_position=bottom , pushpin_mapsize=300 , pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...

, and then in 933 made him governor of

. During his time as governor of Khurasan, Muhammad battled various

Dailamite 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 comprising ...

bands in northern Iran. In 939 he fell ill and was replaced in his post by his son

Abu 'Ali Chaghani Abu Ali Ahmad Chaghani ( fa, ابوعلی احمد چغانی; died 955) was the Muhtajid ruler of Chaghaniyan (939–955) and governor of Samanid Khurasan (939–945, 952–953). He was the son of Abu Bakr Muhammad. In 939, Muhammad became ill ...

. Abu Bakr Muhammad died in 941.

Sources

*Bosworth, C. E. "Al-e Mohtaj." ''Encyclopedia Iranica.'' 22 September 2006. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Bakr Muhammad 941 deaths Year of birth unknown 10th-century monarchs in Asia 10th-century Iranian people Monarchs of Chaghaniyan Samanid generals Samanid governors of Khorasan