Sunpadh ( fa, سندپاد; also spelled Sunpad and Sunbadh) was 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 ...

nobleman from the

House of Karen House of Karen (Middle Persian: ''Kārēn'', Parthian: ''𐭊𐭓𐭍𐭉 Kārēn,'' fa, کارن ''Kārin'' or ''Kāren''), also known as Karen-Pahlav (''Kārēn-Pahlaw'') was one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran during the rule of Parthian ...

, who incited an uprising against 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 ...

in the 8th century.

Background

Sunpadh was a

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 ...

nobleman, who was a native of a village called Ahan in Nishapur, Khorasan. He most likely belonged to the ancient

, formerly one of the seven great houses of the pre-Islamic

Parthian Parthian may be: Historical * A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran * Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) * Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language * Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...

and

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

eras. Khorasan had originally been a fief of the Karenids, but the family lost control of the province at the battle of Nishapur during the Arab conquest of Iran, thus forcing many Karenid nobles to withdraw to Tabaristan, where a branch of the family, the

Qarinvand dynasty The Qarinvand dynasty (also spelled Karenvand and Qarenvand), or simply the Karenids, was an Iranian dynasty that ruled in parts of Tabaristan ( Mazandaran) in what is now northern Iran from the 550s until the 11th-century. They considered themsel ...

, had managed to withstand the Arab incursions.

Revolt

Following the betrayal and subsequent death of the Iranian general Abu Muslim by 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 A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

al-Mansur Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ar, أبو جعفر عبد الله بن محمد المنصور‎; 95 AH – 158 AH/714 CE – 6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Manṣūr (المنصور) w ...

(r. 754-775) in 755, the enraged Sunpadh revolted. He captured the cities of Nishapur, Qumis, and Ray, and was called ''"Firuz

ispahbadh ''Spāhbed'' (also spelled ''spahbod'' and ''spahbad'') is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" used chiefly in the Sasanian Empire. Originally there was a single ''spāhbed'', called the , who functioned as the generalissimo of the Sasan ...

"'' ("the victorious ''ispahbadh''"). At Ray, he seized the treasuries of Abu Muslim. Most of his supporters were from

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'' (" ...

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. ...

—the

Dabuyid The Dabuyid or Gaubarid Dynasty was a Zoroastrian Iranian dynasty that started in the first half of the seventh century as an independent group of rulers, reigning over Tabaristan and parts of western Khorasan. Dabuyid rule over Tabaristan and Kh ...

ruler,

Khurshid Khorshīd or Khorshēd ( , meaning ''the Sun'' or the "Radiant Sun"), also spelled as ''Khurshed'' and ''Khurshid'', is a Persian given name. In the modern day as well as historical Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan, but also in Iraqi Kurdistan, Egypt, ...

(r. 740–760), supported the anti-Abbasid rebellion of Sunpadh, and was in return given a part of Abu Muslim's treasure. According to Nizam al-Mulk,

Ibn al-Athir Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab or Kurdish historian a ...

, and

Mirkhvand Muhammad ibn Khvandshah ibn Mahmud, more commonly known as Mirkhvand ( fa, میرخواند, also transliterated as Mirkhwand; 1433/34 – 1498), was a Persian historian active during the reign of the Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Bayqara (). He ...

, Sunpadh swore to march on

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...

and destroy the Kaaba. However, according to

Patricia Crone Patricia Crone (March 28, 1945July 11, 2015) was a Danish historian specializing in early Islamic history. Crone was a member of the Revisionist school of Islamic studies and questioned the historicity of the Islamic traditions about the beginni ...

, this is unlikely, who says "the idea that he should have rushed off in anger from Nishapur in order singlehandedly to bring down the caliphate and Islam is absurd." Other sources state that Sunpadh declared himself as a prophet, and disagreed on Abu Muslim's death, claiming to be his mediator. Sunpadh allegedly further preached that "Abu Muslim has not died, and when Mansur meant to slay him, he chanted God's great name, turned into a white dove and flew away. Now he is standing with

Mahdi The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad w ...

and

Mazdak Mazdak ( fa, مزدک, Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭦𐭣𐭪, also Mazdak the Younger; died c. 524 or 528) was a Zoroastrian ''mobad'' (priest), Iranian reformer, prophet and religious reformer who gained influence during the reign of the Sasanian empe ...

in a castle of copper and they shall emerge by and by." This, however, is a misrepresentation of Sunpadh, whose intention by revolting, was most likely to remove the Muslims from power. A force of 10,000 Abbasid troops under Jahwar ibn Marrar al-Ijli was shortly sent towards Sunpadh—they clashed between

Hamadan Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') (Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in Ham ...

and Ray, where Sunpadh was defeated and routed. According to the historian

Ibn Isfandiyar Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan ibn Isfandiyar ( fa, بهاءالدین محمد بن حسن بن اسفندیار), commonly known as Ibn Isfandiyar (), was a 13th-century Iranian historian from Tabaristan, who wrote a history of his native provinc ...

, countless of Abu Muslim's and Sunpadh's supporters were killed in the defeat that their bones were still noticeable in 912. Sunpadh then fled to Tabaristan, but was killed there by one of Khurshid's cousins, ostensibly because he had failed to show the man proper respect. It is possible, however, that the murder was instigated by Khurshid, in the hope of acquiring the remainder of Abu Muslim's treasure.

References

Sources

* * * * {{cite encyclopedia , article = Kārin, last = Pourshariati , first = Parvaneh , url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/karin , encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica , year = 2017 People from Nishapur 8th-century Iranian people Rebels from the Abbasid Caliphate Iranian rebels House of Karen 755 deaths Iranian Zoroastrians Persia under the Abbasid Caliphate