Abu Ali Ahmad Chaghani (; died 955) was the
Muhtajid ruler of
Chaghaniyan (939–955) and governor of
Samanid
The Samanid Empire () was a Persianate society, Persianate Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, ruled by a dynasty of Iranian peoples, Iranian ''dehqan'' origin. The empire was centred in Greater Khorasan, Khorasan and Transoxiana, at its greatest ...
Khurasan
KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West Asia, West and Central Asia that encompasses wes ...
(939–945, 952–953). He was the son of
Abu Bakr Muhammad
Abu Bakr Muhammad (died 941) was the first Muhtajids, Muhtajid ruler of Chaghaniyan (until 939) and governor of Samanid Greater Khorasan, Khurasan (933–939). He was the son of Muzaffar ibn Muhtaj.
Origins
The origin of the Muhtajids is u ...
.
In 939, Muhammad became ill and Abu Ali was assigned to succeed him in his posts. As governor of Khurasan he undertook several campaigns in northern
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
, conquering
Gurgan and territory as far west as
Ray from the
Ziyarids, forcing the Ziyarids to acknowledge Samanid authority, and killing the
Dailamite adventurer
Makan ibn Kaki. After he departed for Khurasan the
Buyid
The Buyid dynasty or Buyid Empire was a Zaydi and later Twelver Shi'a dynasty of Daylamite origin. Founded by Imad al-Dawla, they mainly ruled over central and southern Iran and Iraq from 934 to 1062. Coupled with the rise of other Iranian dyna ...
Rukn al-Dawla
Hasan (died September 976), better known by his ''laqab'' as Rukn al-Dawla ( Persian: رکنالدوله دیلمی), was the first Buyid amir of northern and central Iran (c. 935–976). He was the son of Buya.
Struggle for power
Hasan was ...
seized Ray. In 945 Abu Ali returned and expelled the Buyids from Ray, but they returned a year later.

That same year, 945, the Samanid amir
Nuh I
Nuh ibn Nasr, or Nuh I (926-954), was the Amir of the Samanids in 943–954. He was the son of Nasr II. It is rumoured that he married a Chinese princess.Richard N. Frye, ''Bukhara, the Medieval Achievement'', (University of Oklahoma Press, 19 ...
dismissed Abu Ali from the governorship of Khurasan after hearing complaints of the latter's harsh rule, and sought to replace him with a Turk, the
Simjurid Ibrahim ibn Simjur. Abu Ali refused to accept his dismissal and rebelled. He was joined by several prominent Iranian figures including
Abu Mansur Muhammad
Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Razzaq ibn 'Abdallah ibn Farrukh, also simply known as Abu Mansur Muhammad and Ibn 'Abd al-Razzaq, was an Iranian peoples, Iranian aristocrat who served the Samanids for most of his career, and briefly served as gove ...
, whom he appointed as the commander of Khurasan. Abu Ali also convinced a Samanid, Nuh's uncle
Ibrahim ibn Ahmad, to join him. Abu Ali installed Ibrahim as amir in
Bukhara
Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...
when he took the city in 947. Abu Ali, having secured his position, returned to Chaghaniyan. Ibrahim, however, was unpopular with the people of Bukhara, and Nuh soon retaliated by retaking the city and blinding Ibrahim and two brothers.
When the news of the re-capture of Bukhara reached Abu Ali, he once again marched towards Bukhara, but was defeated by an army sent by Nuh and withdrew back to Chaghaniyan. After some time, he left the region and tried to obtain support from other Samanid vassals. Meanwhile, Nuh had Chaghaniyan ravaged and its capital sacked. A further battle between Abu Ali and a Samanid army in
Tukharistan resulted in a Samanid victory. Fortunately for Abu Ali, he managed to secure the support of other Samanid vassals, such as the rulers of
Khuttal, and the Kumiji mountain people, and in the end made peace with Nuh, who allowed him to keep Chaghaniyan in return for sending his son Abu'l-Muzaffar Abdallah as hostage to Bukhara.
Some time later, Abu Ali was sent on an expedition to quell a rebellion near Chaghaniyan led by a self-proclaimed prophet known as Mahdi. Abu Ali managed to successfully defeat and capture Madhi and then had his head sent to Bukhara. In c. 951/2, Abu Ali's son Abu'l-Muzaffar Abdallah died in an accident, and his body was sent to Chaghaniyan where he was buried.
In 952 following the death of the governor of Khurasan,
Mansur ibn Qara-Tegin (Ibrahim ibn Simjur had died in 948), Abu Ali was reinstated by Nuh as governor of the province. At the insistence of the Ziyarids he began a war with the Buyid Rukn al-Dawla, but was unable to take Ray and instead made peace with the Buyids. This action upset Nuh, who again removed him from the governorship. Abu Ali fled to the Buyids and received an investiture diploma for Khurasan from the
Caliph
A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
and was even reinforced by an army under
Lashkarwarz, but was unable to enforce his claim or even return to Chaghaniyan.
In 955 he and one of his sons died of the plague in Ray. Their bodies were brought to Chaghaniyan where they were buried. A Muhtajid prince,
Abu'l Muzaffar ibn Muhammad, probably the grandson of Abu Ali, was then appointed as the new ruler of Chaghaniyan. However, according to some other sources, Abu Ali was succeeded by his relative
Abu'l-Hasan Taher.
Abu Ali was a patron of learning.
Sha'ya ibn Farighun, possibly a relative, wrote his pioneering ''Compendium of the Sciences'' for him.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Ali Chaghani
955 deaths
Year of birth unknown
10th-century Iranian people
Samanid generals
Samanid governors of Khorasan
Monarchs of Chaghaniyan
Rebellions against the Samanid Empire
10th-century monarchs in Asia