Episode 75: Masters of Khurasan

We have been focused exclusively on the capital province of Iraq ever since the outbreak of anarchy. While we had good reasons to keep a close eye on developments there, Khurasan can no longer be ignored. Not only had it always been a vital part of the Abbasid realm, but the relationship between the Arabs and their neighbors to the East practically defined Arab power. The collapse of imperial authority had consequences in Nisapur, and when the Tahirids faltered kharijites stood ready to pounce.

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Glossary

• Tahir ibn Husain: al Ma’mun’s great general won his family supreme control of the East by unexpectedly triumphing over the caliphate’s much larger army. His defeat of Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan and subsequent leadership in the great fitna earned his side victory in the civil conflict. He stayed in Iraq while al Ma’mun was in Khurasan, but they switched places in 820, when Tahir returned to Merv and governed Khurasan on the caliphate’s behalf.
• Talha ibn Tahir: this son of Talha’s accompanied him back East and took over command as soon as his father passed away. His reign was marked with conflict against Khurasan’s many kharijite and insurgent movements. Over the course of six years he cleared them out of most areas, but he died fighting against some in Sistan. 
• Abdallah ibn Tahir: Abdallah assumed control after his brother’s death. He’d spent the years between his father’s return East and his appointment to the same role commanding the caliph’s armies in Syria and Egypt. Not only was his pacification of those provinces instrumental in regaining control over them for al Ma’mun, but the Abbasids would have struggled to hold onto their capital without him as well. His governorship over the East was even more impressive: he conquered Sistan, kept the various parts of greater Khurasan in check, and triumphed over Tabaristan. He governed until his death in 845.
• Tahir ibn Abdallah: we’re told al Watheq didn’t want to empower Tahir at first and expressed a preference for his uncle. It was only after his uncles all made it clear that they wouldn’t dream of impeding their nephew’s ascension that he agreed to recognize Tahir. He lacked his father’s military vigilance and Sistan was lost on his watch. He ruled throughout al Mutawakkil’s reign and died shortly after its end, during the time of the puppet caliph, al Musta’in. 
• Mohammad ibn Tahir: al Musta’in wanted to appoint a different Tahirid as governor but once again found that the caliph’s opinion didn’t really have any weight here. Mohammad was a teenager when he came to power in 862, and we don’t really have many details about his ineffective reign. He ruled until Ya’qub al Saffar unseated him in 873. He was taken captive and marched by Ya’qub’s armies as a prisoner all the way to Iraq, where Talha’s forces freed him after their victory. Although he was officially the recognized governor of Khurasan, he could never find a way to actually press his claim back East. He remained in Iraq afterwards and competed with his uncle Ubaydullah for the post of governor of Baghdad for a while.
• Ya’qub ibn Laith il Saffar: the coppersmith who created the first united kharijite state. His martial prowess managed to win him dominion over greater Khurasan, and there was nothing Samarra could do about it. Even though he was defeated at Dayr al ‘Aqool, his success against the caliphate was the death knell of Arab power in the East. 
• ‘Amr ibn Laith: Ya’qub’s brother and successor had a different challenge: to hold the lands Ya’qub had conquered. He was pragmatic in seeking a truce with the Abbasids at first, and then again in negotiating with them for recognition. The Saffarids and Abbasids would have worked together pretty well if it wasn’t for Faris. I think the caliphate could have lived with a new power in Khurasan but considered Faris too close to home for someone else to control it. The province was the cause of several conflicts between the two.
• Khujistani: an ex-captain of the Tahirids, he managed to unite several supporters and retake Nisapur shortly after Ya’qub’s army left. It goes to show how little thought Ya’qub gave to such matters, all he cared about was beating others in battle, not what happened afterwards. Khujistani was assassinated by one of his own servants, leading to chaos in his camp.
• Rafi’ ibn Harthama: Khujistani’s lieutenant eventually emerged with more or less the same coalition his superior had commanded, ex-military officers and local sympathizers. His band were very loyal to his person, enabling him to shift alliances at his convenience. This adventurer proved to be more than a king-maker in the East, sometimes he himself was King.
• Al Mu’tamid: the caliph doesn’t really show up much in this episode. He is sometimes credited with making these various foreign-policy decisions, but it is difficult to believe that he’d be allowed to go against his brother’s designs. It’s safest to assume that al Mu’tamid didn’t really have much to do with administration.
• Talha ibn il Mutawakkil: the true power behind the throne only trusted his close band of commanders, men like Musa ibn Bugha, Amajor, and Muflih. He never felt comfortable with the Saffarids, and his victory over them at Dayr’ al ‘Aqool is probably his most heroic deed in Arab memory, despite the fact that he eclipsed it a few years later against the Zanj rebels. By the way, he’s mostly known as al Muwaffaq – the one granted victory or success by God – a title he assumed shortly after his brother came to power. 
• Ahmad ibn Talha: Talha’s son defended Samarra while his father beat the Saffarids back outside Baghdad. He doesn’t really show up otherwise today, but keep your eye on him, this kid’s going places.
• Abul Saj: the leader of the Ushrusaniya defected to Ya’qub’s side when he invaded Iraq in 875. He led the Saffarid to Baghdad, led his army in the showdown, and survived the defeat. It seems like he soured on the caliphate in the early 70’s after he lost his son in war. His other sons remained in the caliph’s service, and they would go on to found the short-lived Sajid dynasty in distant Azerbaijan. 
• Zaydis: the rulers of Tabaristan had all been converted to Shi’ism by Hasan ibn Zayd, though the preaching seems to have gone the other way. They were the ones who approached him, asking his band to join them in rebellion against the caliphate in 862. From his home in Rayy they led a movement that established an independent state all the way to Tabaristan. 

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