Zahir al-Din Karawi was the leader of the

Sarbadars The Sarbadars (from fa, سربدار ''sarbadār'', "head on gallows"; also known as Sarbedaran ) were a mixture of religious dervishes and secular rulers that came to rule over part of western Khurasan in the midst of the disintegration of t ...

Sabzewar Sabzevar ( fa, سبزوار ), previously known as Beyhagh (also spelled "Beihagh"; fa, بيهق), is a city and capital of Sabzevar County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, approximately west of the provincial capital Mashhad, in northeastern I ...

from 1356 to 1359.

Reign

Zahir al-Din was the nephew of

Yahya Karawi Yahya Karawi (died 1355/56) was the leader of the Sarbadars of Sabzewar from around 1353 until his death. Reign Yahya, an aristocrat, came to power after the assassination of Khwaja Shams al-Din 'Ali in around 1351. He had been informed beforeha ...

. After his uncle's murder in 1355 or 1356, the partisans of

Wajih ad-Din Mas'ud Wajih ad-Din Mas'ud (died 1344) was the leader of the Sarbadars of Sabzewar from 1338-1343 until his death. Under his rule, the Sarbadar state developed its characteristic dual nature as both a secular and radical Shi'i state. Early Reign Mas'ud ...

attempted to take control of the government and install Mas'ud's son Lutf Allah as head of state. They were, however, dispersed by

Haidar Qassib Haydar ( ar, حيدر), also spelt Hajdar, Hayder, Heidar, Haider, Heydar, and other variants, is an Arabic male given name, also used as a surname, meaning " lion". In Islamic tradition, the name is primarily associated with Ali ibn Abi T ...

, who then declared Zahir al-Din as ruler. In the meantime, some of Lutf Allah's supporters had escaped from Sabzewar. Lutf Allah's

atabeg Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince. The first instance of the title's use was wit ...

Nasr Allah soon rebelled in

Esfarayen Esfarayen ( fa, اسفراین, also Romanized as Esfarāyen; formerly, Meyanābād, Mīānābād, and Mīyānābād) is a city and capital of Esfarayen County, North Khorasan Province in Iran. At the 2011 census its population was 60,372 persons ...

. Haidar Qassib encouraged Zahir al-Din to move against the rebels but his advice was ignored. He then deposed Zahir al-Din and took control of Sabzewar himself.

References

*Roemer, H. R. "The Jalayirids, Muzaffarids and Sarbadars." ''

The Cambridge History of Iran ''The Cambridge History of Iran'' is a multi-volume survey of Iranian history published in the United Kingdom by Cambridge University Press. The seven volumes cover "the history and historical geography of the land which is present-day Iran, as we ...

Volume 6: The Timurid and Safavid Periods.'' Edited by Peter Jackson. New York:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 1986. *Smith, Jr., John Masson. ''The History of the Sarbadar Dynasty 1336–1381 A.D. and Its Sources''. The Hague: Mouton, 1970. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zahir al-Din Karawi Sarbadars 14th-century Iranian people Iranian royalty