The Farighunids were an

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

dynasty that ruled

Guzgan Guzgan ( fa, گوزگان, also known as Gozgan, Guzganan or Quzghan, in Arabic Juzjan or Juzjanan) was a historical region and early medieval principality in what is now northern Afghanistan. Etymology The area was known as "Guzgan" or in the ...

(modern-day northern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

) in the late 9th, 10th and early 11th centuries. They were ultimately deposed by the ruler of the

Ghaznavid Empire The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate society, Persianate, Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic peoples, Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, ...

, Sultan Mahmud ().

Background

According to the unknown author of the '' Hudud al-'Alam'', the Farighunid family descended from the legendary Iranian king Afridun/Faridun. The English historian

Clifford Edmund Bosworth Clifford Edmund Bosworth Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (29 December 1928 – 28 February 2015) was an English historian and Orientalism, Orientalist, specialising in Arabic studies, Arabic and Iranian studies. Life Bosworth was born on 29 ...

suggests that the Farighunids had ancestral ties with the

Afrighids The Afrighids ( Khwarazmian: ''ʾfryḡ'') were a native Khwarezmian IranianClifford Edmund Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual, Columbia University, 1996. dynasty who ruled over the ancient kingdom of Kh ...

, the ruling dynasty of

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 ...

. This is possibly supported by the fact that some chronicles refer to the Afrighids as the "Al Farighun of Kath".

History

The first Farighunid amir mentioned is

Ahmad ibn Farighun Ahmad ibn Farighun (died 10th-century) was the first Farighunid ruler of Guzgan (9th-century–10th-century). He was the son of a certain Farighun. He is the first Farighunid ruler fully attested in sources. During the campaigns of the Saffarid ...

. Ahmad, together with the

Banijurids The Banijurids or Abu Dawudids were a short-lived Iranian dynasty that ruled Tukharistan and parts of the Hindu Kush. They were vassals of the Samanids People Samanid Samanid Samanid The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also kn ...

, was compelled to recognize the

Saffarid The Saffarid dynasty ( fa, صفاریان, safaryan) was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian origin that ruled over parts of Persia, Greater Khorasan, and eastern Makran from 861 to 1003. One of the first indigenous Persians, ...

Amr ibn al-Layth Amr ibn al-Layth or Amr-i Laith Saffari ( fa, عمرو لیث صفاری) was the second ruler of the Saffarid dynasty of Iran from 879 to 901. He was the son of a whitesmith and the younger brother of the dynasty's founder, Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al- ...

as his suzerain. Only a short time afterwards, Amr ibn al-Layth was defeated and captured by 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 ...

; Ahmad transferred his allegiance to them around this time. Later Ahmad married his daughter to his Samanid sovereign

Nuh II Nuh II ( fa, نوح, died 22 July 997)''Tabaqat-i Nasiri'' by Minhaj-i-Siraj, pg. 107, Lahore Sangmil Publications 2004 was amir of the Samanids (976–997). He was the son and successor of Mansur I. Beginning and Middle of Reign Having ascended ...

. The Farighunids would remain Samanid vassals until the end of the 10th century. Ahmad was succeeded by his son

Abu'l Haret Muhammad Abu'l Haret Muhammad ( fa, ابوالحارث محمد; died c. 982) was the second Farighunid ruler of Guzgan from an unknown date during the 10th century to 982. He was the son and successor of Ahmad ibn Farighun. Abu'l Haret's father died at an ...

, whose reign marked the apex Farighunid authority and influence. The chiefs of the neighbouring regions of

Gharchistan Gharchistan or Gharjistan also known as Gharj Al-Shar was a medieval region on the north bank of the Murghab River, lying to the east of Herat and north of Hari River. It corresponds roughly to the modern Badghis Province of Afghanistan A ...

and

Ghur Ghōr (Dari: ), also spelled Ghowr or Ghur, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in the western Hindu Kush in central Afghanistan, towards the northwest. The province contains eleven districts, encompassing hundreds ...

acknowledged his overlordship. Abu'l Haret died probably some time after 982, and his son

Abu'l Haret Ahmad Abu'l Haret Ahmad (died ca. 1000) was the third Farighunid ruler of Guzgan from 982 to 1000. He was the son and successor of Abu'l Haret Muhammad. Biography In 982, Abu'l Haret's father died, leaving him a kingdom at its height. In 990, Abu'l-Har ...

was drawn into the conflicts that took place within the Samanid amirate during its decline. He was ordered by his suzerain Nuh II to attack the rebel Fa'iq Khassa, but was defeated by him. The Farighunids developed marriage alliances with the

Ghaznavids The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...

; Abu'l Haret's daughter had married

Mahmud Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''. Siam Mahmud *Mahmood (singer) (born 199 ...

, while Mahmud's sister had married Abu'l Haret's son

Abu'l-Nasr Muhammad Abu'l-Nasr Muhammad (died ca. 1010) was the last Farighunid ruler of Guzgan from 1000 to 1010. He was the son and successor of Abu'l Haret Ahmad. Biography Abu'l-Nasr Muhammad is first mentioned during the late 990s, when his father made an allia ...

. Abu'l Haret assisted

Sabuktigin Abu Mansur Nasir al-Din Sabuktigin ( fa, ابو منصور سبکتگین) ( 942 – August 997), also spelled as Sabuktagin, Sabuktakin, Sebüktegin and Sebük Tigin, was the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 367 A.H/977 A.D to 38 ...

's forces at

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 Safēd ...

against Fa'iq and the

Simjurids The Simjurids were a Turkic family that served the Samanid emirs of Bukhara in the 10th century. They played an influential role in the history of eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan during that time, and by the second half of the 10th century t ...

, a battle in which the Ghaznavids and Farighunids were victorious. The Ghaznavids soon afterwards supplanted the Samanids in

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 ...

, and the Farighunids become Ghaznavid vassals. Abu'l Haret died in c. 1000 and Abu'l-Nasr Muhammad succeeded him. Abu'l-Nasr enjoyed the confidence of Mahmud of Ghazna; in 1008 he fought in the center of the Ghaznavid line against the

Karakhanids The Kara-Khanid Khanate (; ), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (), was a Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia in the 9th through the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek ...

near Carkhiyan and in the following year escorted Mahmud during his campaign in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He also married off a daughter to Mahmud's son

Muhammad of Ghazni Muhammad of Ghazni ( fa, محمد غزنوی) (b. 998 – d. 1041) was ''sultan'' of the Ghaznavid Empire briefly in 1030, and then later from 1040 to 1041. He ascended the throne upon the death of his father Mahmud in 1030. He was the younger of ...

. When Abu'l-Nasr died in around 1010, Muhammad took over the rule of Guzgan, even though Abu'l-Nasr had left a son, Hasan. This marked the end of Farighunid rule.

Cultural significance

The Farighunids had a significant impact of many prominent individuals in the arts and sciences at the time. Two great poets,

Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadani Badi' al-Zamān al-Hamadāni or al-Hamadhāni ( ar, بديع الزمان الهمذاني التغلبي‎; 969–1007) was a medieval Arab man of letters born in Hamadan, Iran. He is best known for his work the ''Maqamat Badi' az-Zaman al-Ha ...

and Abu al-Fath al-Busti, addressed poems to them, and the author of the ''Hudud al-'Alam'', the first geographical treatise to be written in

New Persian New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thre ...

, dedicated the work to Abu'l Haret Muhammad in 982/3. The Farighunids may also have had connections with the encyclopedist

Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khwarizmi Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAbbās Abū Bakr al-Khwārazmī, better simply known as Abu Bakr al-Khwarazmi was a 10th-century Iranian peoples, Iranian poet and secretary, who throughout his long career served in the court of the Hamdanids, Samanids, Saffari ...

and another encyclopedist named

Sha'ya ibn Farighun Shaʿyā ibn Farīghūn ( ar, شعيا بن فريغون) was a Muslim writer active in the Emirate of Čaghāniyān in the 10th century. He wrote a short but comprehensive encyclopaedia in Arabic entitled ''Jawāmiʿ al-ʿulūm'' ("Connections of ...

, who wrote the ''Jawame' al-'ulum'' for the

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 ...

amir

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 ...

Geography

The historical region of Guzgan bordered

Tukharistan Bactria (; Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient region in Central Asia in Amu Darya's middle stream, stretching north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Gissar range, covering the northern part of Afghanistan, southwe ...

to the east; to the south, it bordered Ghur; to the west it bordered Gharchistan and

Marw Merv ( tk, Merw, ', مرو; fa, مرو, ''Marv''), also known as the Merve Oasis, formerly known as Alexandria ( grc-gre, Ἀλεξάνδρεια), Antiochia in Margiana ( grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν τῇ Μαργιανῇ) and ...

; to the north, the

Oxus River The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

served as its boundary. The capital of the Farighunids was Yahudiyya, while Anbar—the largest city in Guzgan—served as the seat of the Farighunid amirs. Kundarm and Qurzuman were other major hubs of Guzgan.

List of Farighunid amirs

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Rulers of the Ancient Central Asia Iranian dynasties