The Tahirid dynasty ( fa, طاهریان, Tâheriyân, ) was a culturally Arabized
Sunni Muslim
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...
dynasty of
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 ...
dehqan
The ''dehqân'' ( fa, دهقان) or ''dehgân'' ( fa, دهگان), were a class of land-owning magnates during the Sasanian and early Islamic period, found throughout Iranian-speaking lands. The ''deqhans'' started to gradually fade away under t ...
origin, that ruled as governors of
Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
from 821 to 873 as well as serving as military and security commanders in
Abbasid
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 ...
Baghdad until 891. The dynasty was founded by
Tahir ibn Husayn, a leading general in the service of the
Abbasid
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 ...
caliph
al-Ma'mun
Abu al-Abbas Abdallah ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو العباس عبد الله بن هارون الرشيد, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hārūn ar-Rashīd; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name Al-Ma'mu ...
. For his support of al-Ma'mun in the
Fourth Fitna
The Fourth Fitna or Great Abbasid Civil War resulted from the conflict between the brothers al-Amin and al-Ma'mun over the succession to the throne of the Abbasid Caliphate. Their father, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, had named al-Amin as the first suc ...
, he was granted the governance of
Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
. The Tahirids initially made their capital in
Merv
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 ...
but later moved to
Nishapur
Nishapur or officially Romanized as Neyshabur ( fa, ;Or also "نیشاپور" which is closer to its original and historic meaning though it is less commonly used by modern native Persian speakers. In Persian poetry, the name of this city is wr ...
. The Tahirids, however, were not an independent dynasty—according to Hugh Kennedy: "The Tahirids are sometimes considered as the first independent Iranian dynasty, but such a view is misleading. The arrangement was effectively a partnership between the Abbasids and the Tahirids." Indeed, the Tahirids were loyal to the Abbasid caliphs and in return enjoyed considerable autonomy; they were in effect viceroys representing Abbasid rule in Persia. The tax revenue from Khorasan sent to the caliphal treasury in Baghdad was perhaps larger than those collected previously.
Rulers of Khurasan
Rise
The founder of the Tahirid dynasty was
Tahir ibn Husayn, a Sunni
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 ...
of
dehqan
The ''dehqân'' ( fa, دهقان) or ''dehgân'' ( fa, دهگان), were a class of land-owning magnates during the Sasanian and early Islamic period, found throughout Iranian-speaking lands. The ''deqhans'' started to gradually fade away under t ...
origin, who had played a major military role in the
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
between the rival caliphs
al-Amin and
al-Ma'mun
Abu al-Abbas Abdallah ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو العباس عبد الله بن هارون الرشيد, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hārūn ar-Rashīd; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name Al-Ma'mu ...
. He and his ancestors had previously been awarded minor governorships in eastern Khorasan for their service to the Abbasids. In 821, Tahir was made governor of
Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
, but he died soon afterwards. The caliph then appointed Tahir's son, Talha, governor of Khorasan. Talha was unsuccessful in removing the Kharijites from Sistan, and following the death of the Kharijite leader, Hamza b. Adarak(d.828), the Tahirids occupied Zarang but never succeeded in collecting taxes in the surrounding countryside.
Tahir's other son, Abdullah, was instated as the
wali of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and the
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...
, and when Talha died in 828 he was given the governorship of
Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
. Abdullah is considered one of the greatest of the Tahirid rulers, as his reign witnessed a flourishing of agriculture in his native land of Khorasan, popularity in the eastern lands of the Abbasid caliphate and expanding influence due to his experience with the western parts of the caliphate. A noted poet, he sympathized with all things Arabic.
The replacement of the
Pahlavi script with the
Arabic script
The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and the ...
in order to write the
Persian language
Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...
was done by the Tahirids in 9th century
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 ...
.
Fall
Abdullah died in 844 and was succeeded by his son
Tahir II.
Not much is known of Tahir's rule, but the administrative dependency of
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 (N ...
was lost to rebels during his governorship. Tahirid rule began to seriously deteriorate after Tahir's son
Muhammad ibn Tahir became governor, due to his carelessness with the affairs of the state and lack of experience with politics. Oppressive policies in
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. ...
, another dependency of Khorasan, resulted in the people of that province revolting and declaring their allegiance to the independent
Zaydi ruler
Hasan ibn Zayd
Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn Zayd ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismaʿīl ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Zayd ( ar, الحسن بن زيد بن محمد; died 6 January 884), also known as ''al-Dāʿī al-Kabīr'' ( ar, الداعي الكبير, "the Great/Elder Mis ...
in 864. In Khorasan itself, Muhammad's rule continued to grow increasingly weak, and in 873 he was finally overthrown by the
Saffarid dynasty
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, ...
, who annexed Khorasan to their own empire in eastern
Persia
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 ...
.
Governors of Baghdad
Besides their hold over Khorasan, the Tahirids also served as the military governors (''
ashab al-shurta'') of Baghdad, beginning with Tahir's appointment to that position in 820. After he left for Khorasan, the governorship of Baghdad was given to a member of a collateral branch of the family,
Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, who controlled the city for over twenty-five years. During Ishaq's term as governor, he was responsible for implementing the
Mihna
The Mihna ( ar, محنة خلق القرآن, ''Miḥnat k͟halaq al-Qurʾān'' "ordeal egardingthe createdness of the Qur'an") refers to the period of religious persecution instituted by the 'Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun in 833 CE in which reli ...
(inquisition) in Baghdad. His administration also witnessed the departure of the caliphs from Baghdad, as they made the recently constructed city of
Samarra
Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...
their new capital. When Ishaq died in 849 he was succeeded first by two of his sons, and then in 851 by Tahir's grandson
Muhammad ibn Abdallah.
Abdallah played a major role in the events of the "
Anarchy at Samarra" in the 860s, giving refuge to the caliph
al-Musta'in and commanding the defense of Baghdad when it was
besieged by the forces of the rival caliph
al-Mu'tazz in 865. The following year, he forced al-Musta'in to abdicate and recognized al-Mu'tazz as caliph, and in exchange was allowed to retain his control over Baghdad. Violent riots plagued Baghdad during the last years of Abdallah's life, and conditions in the city remained tumultuous after he died and was succeeded by his brothers, first
Ubaydallah and then
Sulayman
Sulayman (Arabic: سُلِيمَان ''sulaymān'') is an Arabic name of the Biblical king and Islamic prophet Solomon meaning "man of peace", derived from the Hebrew name Shlomo.
The name Sulayman is a diminutive of the name Salman (سَلْ ...
. Eventually order was restored in Baghdad, and the Tahirids continued to serve as governors of the city for another two decades. In 891, however,
Badr al-Mu'tadidi was put in charge of the security of Baghdad in place of the Tahirids, and the family soon lost their prominence within the caliphate after that.
Language and culture
The historian
Clifford Edmund Bosworth explains that the Tahirids were highly Arabized in culture and outlook, and eager to be accepted in the Caliphal world where cultivation of things Arabic gave social and cultural prestige. Due to this, the Tahirids were not part of the renaissance of
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 ...
language and culture. He adds that the Persian language was at least tolerated in the entourage of the Tahirids, whereas the
Saffarids played a leading part in the renaissance of
Persian literature
Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
. Centuries later, both
'Aufi and
Daulatshah wrote the Tahirids were hostile to Persian literature. 'Abd-Allah b. Tahir ordered the Persian ''Vamiq-u Adhra'' and other Persian and
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...
works destroyed, according to Daulatshah.
However, according to the historian Shivan Mahendrarajah, in reference to the dynasties of the
Iranian Intermezzo
The term Iranian Intermezzo, or Persian Renaissance, represents a period in history which saw the rise of various native Iranian Muslim dynasties in the Iranian Plateau after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Iran and the fall of Sasanian Empire ...
of which the Tahirids are considered part:
Within this context, Mahendrarajah adds that the Tahirids were specifically responsible for initiating the process by which Persian became written in the
Perso-Arabic script
The Persian alphabet ( fa, الفبای فارسی, Alefbâye Fârsi) is a writing system that is a version of the Arabic script used for the Persian language spoken in Iran ( Western Persian) and Afghanistan (Dari Persian) since the 7th cent ...
, referring to this as "an ingenious Iranian adaption that allowed them to retain the heritage and charm of the Persian language".
The Tahirids claimed descent from
Rustam, the mythological Iranian hero.
Members of the Tahirid dynasty
Family tree
Bold denotes a Tahirid that served as governor of Khorasan; italics denotes an individual who served as governor of Baghdad.
See also
*
Iranian Intermezzo
The term Iranian Intermezzo, or Persian Renaissance, represents a period in history which saw the rise of various native Iranian Muslim dynasties in the Iranian Plateau after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Iran and the fall of Sasanian Empire ...
*
List of Muslims
This article is a list of lists of Muslims in various professions and fields.
Academics
* List of modern-day Muslim scholars of Islam
* List of Muslim historians
* List of Muslim philosophers
* List of Muslim scientists
** List of Muslim astron ...
*
List of Sunni Muslim dynasties
The following is a list of Sunni Muslim dynasties.
Asia
Middle East Arabian Peninsula
* Banu Wajih (926–965)
*Sharif of Mecca (967–1925)
* Al Uyuniyun (1076–1253)
*Sulaymanids (1063–1174)
*Mahdids (1159–1174)
*Kathiri (Hadhramaut) ( ...
Notes
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tahirid Dynasty
821 establishments
States and territories established in the 820s
States and territories disestablished in the 870s