Saman Khuda
Saman Khuda (also Saman Khoda, Saman-khudat; Persian: سامانخدا، سامانخدات) was an 8th-century nobleman and the eponymous ancestor of the Samanid dynasty. He was a dehqan (landlord) from the village of Saman in Balkh province in present-day northern Afghanistan.[1]
Origins
[edit]His origins are disputed, with Iranian or Sogdian[2] roots suggested. The Samanids themselves later claimed Saman was a fourth- or fifth-generation descendant of the famed Sassanian general Bahram Chobin,[3][4] of the ancient House of Mihran.[5] It has also been suggested that he was of Hephthalite princely background.[6] The name Saman Khuda is usually interpreted as meaning 'landlord (dehqan) of the town of Saman'.[7]
In the early 8th century, he came to Merv, seat of the Caliphal governor of Khorasan, Asad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Qasri (ruled 723-727). Saman was originally a Zoroastrian.[8] However, he was impressed by the piety of al-Qasri and converted to Islam.[9][full citation needed] He named his son Asad, allegedly in the governor's honour.[7] He was also influenced by the teachings of the scholar Abu Hanifa.[citation needed]
Caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833) subsequently appointed Asad's four sons – Saman Khuda's grandsons – as governors of Samarkand, Ferghana, Shash and Ustrushana, and Herat in recognition of their role in the suppression of a revolt.[3] This marked the beginning of the Samanid dynasty. Saman Khuda's great-grandson Isma'il ibn Ahmad (849–907) became Amir of Transoxiana and Khorasan, founding the Samanid Empire.
Family tree
[edit] |
| Bahram Gushnasp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mardansina | Unknown | Bahram Chobin | Gorduya | Gordiya | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Noshrad | Mihran Bahram-i Chubin | Shapur | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Siyavakhsh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Toghmath | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jotman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saman Khuda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
[edit]- ↑ Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1996). The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual (Enlarged and updated ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. p. 170. ISBN 0-231-10714-5.
- ↑ Bosworth, C. E. (1963). The Ghaznavids: Their Empire in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran, 994–1040. Edinburgh University Press. p. 27. OCLC 3601436.
- 1 2 Kamoliddin, Shamsiddin (July 2005). "To the Question of the Origin of the Samanids". Transoxiana. 10. ISSN 1666-7050.
- ↑ Narshakhi (1954). The History of Bukhara. Translated by Richard N. Frye. Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of America. p. 59.
- ↑ Frye, R. N. (2000) [First published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 1975]. The Golden Age of Persia (Paperback ed.). London: Phoenix Press. p. 200. ISBN 1-84212-011-5.
- ↑ Herzig, Edmund; Stewart, Sarah Rosemary Anne (2012). Early Islamic Iran. The Idea of Iran. London: I.B. Tauris. pp. 5–6. ISBN 978-1-78076-061-2.
- 1 2 Daniel, Elton L. (2020). "Khorasan vi. History in the Taherid and Samanid Periods". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. XVI: Kashan–Kešaʾi Dialect (Online ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation. pp. 631–641. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
- ↑ Dhalla, M. N. (1938). History of Zoroastrianism. New York: Oxford University Press. Part 6, Chapter XLIII.
- ↑ Mohammad Taher, Encyclopaedic Survey of Islamic Culture, p. 84
Sources
[edit]- Frye, R.N. (1975). "The Sāmānids". In Frye, R.N. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 136–161. ISBN 0-521-20093-8.
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