Amr ibn al-Layth or Amr-i Laith Saffari ( fa, عمرو لیث صفاری) was the second ruler of the
Saffarid dynasty
The Saffarid dynasty ( fa, صفاریان, safaryan) was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian origin that ruled over parts of Persia, Greater Khorasan, and eastern Makran from 861 to 1003. One of the first indigenous Persian dynasties to eme ...
of
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
from 879 to 901. He was the son of a
whitesmith A whitesmith is a metalworker who does finishing work on iron and steel such as filing, lathing, burnishing or polishing.
The term also refers to a person who works with "white" or light-coloured metals, and is sometimes used as a synonym for tinsmi ...
and the younger brother of the dynasty's founder,
Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar
, title = Amir of the Saffarid dynasty
, image = مجسمه یعقوب لیث در زابل.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Statue of Ya'qub in Zabol, Iran
, reign = 861–879
, coronation =
, predece ...
.
Biography
Said to have started as a mule-driver and a mason, he later fought alongside his older brother and in 875 became governor of
Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safē ...
. When Ya'qub died in
Fars in 879, Amr managed to become the successor of the Saffarid throne over his brother Ali ibn al-Layth, who was the preferred choice of both Ya'qub and the army.
In 884, the
Bavandid ruler
Rustam I
Rustam I ( fa, رستم), was the ninth ruler of the Bavand dynasty from 867 to 896. He was the successor and son (or grandson) of Qarin I.
Biography
Like his father, Rustam opposed the Zaydi rulers of Tabaristan, and in 879, revolted against t ...
, after being repelled from
Mazandaran by the
Zaydi
Zaydism (''h'') is a unique branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali‘s unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. In contrast to other Shia Muslims of Twelver Shi'ism and Isma'ilism, Zaydis, ...
ruler
Muhammad ibn Zayd
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Zayd ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismaʿīl ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Zayd (died 3 October 900), also known as ''al-Dāʿī al-Ṣaghīr'' ("the Younger Missionary"), was an Alid who succeeded his brother, Hasan ("the Elder Missi ...
, arrived to the court of Amr, and requested his aid to reclaim the Bavand throne. With the aid of Amr, Rustam was allowed to return to his domains in Mazandaran.
The Caliph
al-Mu'tadid
Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Ṭalḥa al-Muwaffaq ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد بن طلحة الموفق), 853/4 or 860/1 – 5 April 902, better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaḍid bi-llāh ( ar, المعتضد بالله, link=no, ...
(r. 892–902) was forced to acknowledge the reality of the Saffarids' domination in the East, and reached a ''
modus vivendi'' with them, perhaps hoping, according to
Hugh N. Kennedy
Hugh Nigel Kennedy (born 22 October 1947) is a British medieval historian and academic. He specialises in the history of the early Islamic Middle East, Muslim Iberia and the Crusades. From 1997 to 2007, he was Professor of Middle Eastern Histor ...
, to harness them in a partnership analogous to that which the
Tahirids
The Tahirid dynasty ( fa, طاهریان, Tâheriyân, ) was a culturally Arabized Sunni Muslim dynasty of Persian dehqan origin, that ruled as governors of Khorasan from 821 to 873 as well as serving as military and security commanders in A ...
had enjoyed in previous decades. Consequently, the Saffarids were recognized in their possession of
Khurasan and eastern Persia as well as Fars, while the Abbasids were to exercise direct control over
Jibal
Jibāl ( ar, جبال), also al-Jabal ( ar, الجبل), was the name given by the Arabs to a region and province located in western Iran, under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates.
Its name means "the Mountains", being the plural of ''jabal'' (" ...
,
Ray and
Isfahan.
The Abbasid–Saffarid partnership in Iran was most clearly expressed against the intrepid general
Rafi ibn Harthama
Rāfi‘ ibn Harthama () (died 896) was a mercenary soldier who in the turmoils of the late 9th century became ruler of Khurasan from 882 to 892.
Biography
Rafi was originally in the service of the Tahirids,Bosworth (1995), p. 385 which contro ...
, who had made his base in Ray and posed a threat to both caliphal and Saffarid interests in the region.
Al-Mu'tadid
Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Ṭalḥa al-Muwaffaq ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد بن طلحة الموفق), 853/4 or 860/1 – 5 April 902, better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaḍid bi-llāh ( ar, المعتضد بالله, link=no, ...
sent the
Dulafid
The Dulafid or Dolafid dynasty () was an Arab dynasty that served as governors of Jibal for the Abbasid caliphs in the 9th century. During the weakening of the authority of the caliphs after 861, their rule in Jibal became increasingly independe ...
Ahmad ibn Abd al-Aziz to seize Ray from Rafi, who fled and made common cause with the Zaydis of Tabaristan in an effort to conquer Khurasan from the Saffarids. With Amr mobilizing anti-Alid sentiment against him and the expected assistance from the Zaydis failing to materialize, Rafi was defeated and killed in
Khwarazm
Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...
in 896. Amr, at the pinnacle of his power, sent the defeated rebel's head to Baghdad. In 897 Ray too was handed over to the Saffarids by the Abbasids, who could not manage to hold the city against
Zaydi
Zaydism (''h'') is a unique branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali‘s unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. In contrast to other Shia Muslims of Twelver Shi'ism and Isma'ilism, Zaydis, ...
invasions.
Death
The partnership finally collapsed after al-Mu'tadid named Amr ibn al-Layth governor of
Transoxiana
Transoxiana or Transoxania (Land beyond the Oxus) is the Latin name for a region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to modern-day eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...
in 898, which was ruled by his rivals, the
Samanids People
Samanid
Samanid
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 orig ...
. Al-Mu'tadid encouraged Amr to confront the Samanids, but in the event, Amr was crushingly defeated and taken prisoner in 900. The Samanid ruler,
Isma'il ibn Ahmad
Abū Ibrāhīm Ismā'īl ibn-i Aḥmad-i Sāmāni ( fa, ابو ابراهیم اسماعیل بن احمد سامانی; May 849 – 24 November 907), better known simply as Ismail-i Samani (), and also known as Isma'il ibn-i Ahmad (), was the Sa ...
, sent him in chains to Baghdad, where he was executed in 902, after al-Mu'tadid's death. Al-Mu'tadid in turn conferred Amr's titles to Isma'il ibn Ahmad, but the Saffarid remnant under
Tahir proved sufficiently resilient to thwart the caliphal attempts at regaining Fars and
Kirman Kerman is the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran.
Kerman or Kirman may also refer to:
Places
*Kirman (Sasanian province), province of the Sasanian Empire
* Kerman Province, province of Iran
** Kerman County
*Kerman, California
People
* Jo ...
for several more years. It was not until 910 that the Abbasids managed to regain the coveted Fars province.
According to the contemporary historian
al-Tabari, at his deathbed, al-Mu'tadid had ordered one of his servants, Safi al-Hurami, to execute Amr. Safi, however, did not do it. When the new Caliph,
al-Muktafi
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن أحمد; 877/78 – 13 August 908), better known by his regnal name al-Muktafī bi-llāh ( ar, المكتفي بالله, , Content with God Alone), was the Caliph of the Ab ...
, entered Baghdad, he asked 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 ...
,
al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah
Abu'l-Husayn al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah () was a senior official of the Abbasid Caliphate who served as vizier from April 901 until his own death in October 904.
Hailing from the Banu Wahb, a family of Nestorian Christian origin that had served in ...
, of Amr's whereabouts, and was overjoyed to hear that he was still alive, as the Saffarid had been generous and kind to him in the past. Fearing that the Caliph might release him, on the same day or soon after (20 or 22 April 902), the vizier sent one of his agents secretly to kill him.
References
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{{Saffarid Rulers
902 deaths
9th-century Iranian people
10th-century Iranian people
9th-century rulers in Asia
10th-century rulers in Asia
Rulers of the Saffarid dynasty
Year of birth unknown
Executed heads of state
10th-century executions by the Abbasid Caliphate
Saffarid generals