Tahirids
The Tahirids were a Persian dynasty in Khorasan and Transoxania from 821 to 873, whose rise and name can be traced back to Tāhir ibn al-Husain, a general of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun .
Family origin
Tahir's grandfather Mus'ab b. Ruzaiq had been the secretary of a propagandist for the Abbasid uprising and was promoted to governor of Pushang in eastern Khorasan for his services. Mus'ab's son al-Husain and his grandson Tahir succeeded him in this office. According to sources, they were ethnic Persians, but they also belonged to the retinue of an Arab tribe, the Chuza'a. Later attempts were made to revalue the origin of the Tahirids, on the one hand through alleged connections to Rostam , on the other hand to the Quraish and the Persian rulers.
Tahir's rise and death
When the Abbasid Empire was divided between Hārūn ar-Raschīd's sons al-Amin (caliph in Iraq), al-Ma'mun (governor in Khorasan) and al-Qasim (commander on the Byzantine border), Tahir came to the Service to al-Ma'mun and proved to be an energetic and well-informed commander in the civil war. When Harthama took Baghdad b. A'yan and Tahir are said to have murdered the latter's soldiers, the caliph al-Amin (813). Despite or perhaps because of his successes, he was only governor of Jazira (based in Raqqa on the Euphrates ) and of Syria , where he had to defeat one of al-Amin's supporters. As compensation, there were additional posts and income in Iraq (e.g. police commander in Baghdad 820), which made up about a fifth of the later total Tahirid income.
It was not until 821 that Tahir became governor of all areas east of Iraq in view of the threat of mutinies in the important province of Khorasan. The caliph had his previous chief advisor al-Fadl ibn Sahl arrested and tried to counter an expected reaction from Sahl's clan and supporters by appointing a local governor. As soon as he was in office, the name of the caliph was left out in the Chutba and on the coins, which indicates Tahir's aspirations for independence. Shortly afterwards he died in Merw in 822 .
It is likely that Tahir was poisoned, possibly on the orders of the vizier Ahmad b. Abi Chalid , who had proposed him for these offices. In any case, Al-Ma'mun did not hesitate to install or leave Tahir's sons Talha and Abdullah and other family members in their offices. Possibly he had no precise knowledge of the situation, and in view of a large number of current revolts (in Syria, Egypt, Sistan and especially from Babak in Azerbaijan ), he could not do without the support of the family, especially since they were also different from the unrest in Sistan looked threatened. However, he sent his vizier Ahmad b. Abi Chalid to restore his authority in some provinces (Uschrusana, Ferghana or Transoxania in general, Kirman ) and collect 3 million dirhams in cash and another 2 million dirhams in gifts from Talha.
Tahir's sons and successors
Neither Talha († 828) nor his brothers and successors Ali (he officiated in 828-30 as a representative of Abdullah) and Abdullah († 844 in Nishapur) ever showed a lack of respect for the Abbasids . On the other hand, Abdullah was careful enough never to visit the court of the caliph al-Mu'tasim in person, as he was not favorably disposed towards him despite the mutual respect. He made Nishapur his residence, which quickly became a thriving center of Persian culture. From an economic point of view, he tried to determine the exact amount of the agricultural tax (Kharaj, in kind) and published a "book on the canals", a code of irrigation law.
Abdullah sent his son Tahir (II.) With an army to the Ogusen steppe and tried to strengthen the position of the Samanid family in Transoxania in the interests of Islamization of this region . Another reason for influencing Transoxania were economic interests (e.g. control of the trade in Turkish slaves), which overlapped with those of the caliph.
Despite their de facto independence, the Tahirids remained commanders of the garrison in Baghdad and took part in the caliph's campaigns. B. under Abdullah 825/6 against Alexandria in Egypt , where a privateer band from Muslim Spain had established itself. Abdullah also "helped" the Abbasids to put down the rebellion of Ispahbadh Mazyar ibn Qarin in Tabaristan , who had refused to pay his tribute to the caliph over the Tahirids (839). He promoted art and education and had numerous buildings built in Nishapur.
After his death in 844 (and the brief hesitation of the caliph al-Wathiq ), Abdullah's successor was his son Tahir II. Little is known specifically about his reign. Apparently, however, the dissolution of the empire began with a few revolts in the peripheral areas (e.g. Salih b. Al-Nadr in Sistan , al-Hasan b. Zaid in Tabaristan ). In addition, there were intrigues among several Tahirids over the succession in Baghdad (including Central Arabia ) and Fars , which ended with Muhammad b. Abdullah (the brother of Tahir II, † 867) 851 took over all offices. In 865/6 he unsuccessfully defended the caliph al-Musta'in against a coup in Baghdad.
The fall through the saffarids
After Tahir II's death in 862, his son Muhammad came to the throne. He was young, unpopular, and not yet firmly in control of government. Since 867 large parts of the empire were lost to Yaqub as-Saffar (861–879). Yaqub expelled the Tahirid governor from Herat (Husain b. Abdallah b. Tahir II), beat the commander-in-chief Ibrahim b. Ilyas Samani (ie a Samanid) near Pushang and was thereupon unceremoniously appointed governor of Sistan , Kabul , Kirman and Fars , ie the areas already occupied by Yaqub. Eventually Yaqub provoked a new war, occupied Nishapur in 873 and captured Muhammad, ultimately overthrowing the Tahirids. Most of the empire fell to the Saffarids and the previous governors in various cities, the Samanids . Only the posts and income in Iraq were held by the family until the early 10th century.
Muhammad escaped captivity after Yaqub's defeat at Dair al-Aquh (876) and died in the service of the caliph in 890, where he was even formally reinstated as governor of Khorasan by caliph al-Mu'tamid in 876 and 885 . In practice he made no move to take power, only his brother Husain caused unrest in Khorasan until 880/1, especially in Merw and (occasionally) Nishapur. In addition, in the 880s, Rafi b. Harthama in the name of Muhammad in Khorasan.
See also
literature
- Tahirids . In: Ehsan Yarshater (Ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica (English, including references)
- Clifford Edmund Bosworth: Chapter "The Ṭāhirids and the Ṣaffārids" in: The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4 - The Period from the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs , ed. By RN Frye, Cambridge 1975
- Masudul Hasan: History of Islam . Adam Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi 2007, ISBN 978-81-7435-019-0 .
Remarks
- ↑ Talha often fought against the Kharijite Hamza b. Adharak († 828), leader of a movement with a social, political and religious background that radiated from Sistan to the urban centers of Khorasan. It withstood all efforts to suppress it for over thirty years.
- ↑ World history in ten volumes, Volume 3, Red. NA Sidorowa u. a., Berlin 1963, p. 127