Abu Mansur Nasir al-Din Sabuktigin, also spelled as Sabuktagin, Sabuktakin, Sebüktegin and Sebük Tigin, was the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 367 A.H/977 A.D to 387 A.H/997A.D. In Turkic the name means beloved prince.
Mahmud of Ghazni was the first independent ruler of the Turkic dynasty of Ghaznavids, ruling from 999 to 1030. At the time of his death, his kingdom had been transformed into an extensive military empire, which extended from northwestern Iran proper to the Punjab in the Indian subcontinent, Khwarazm in Transoxiana, and Makran.
The Samanid Empire was a Sunni Iranian empire from 819 to 999. The empire was centred in Khorasan and Transoxiana; at its greatest extent encompassing modern-day Afghanistan, large parts of Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, parts of Kazakhstan and Pakistan.
Nuh II was amir of the Samanids (976–997). He was the son and successor of Mansur I.
Abu'l-Harith Mansur II was Amir of the Samanids (997–999). He was the son of Nuh II.
Abu Salih Mansur, better known as Mansur I (منصور) was amir of the Samanids from 961 to 976. The son of Nuh I, his reign was characterized by weak rule and perpetual financial troubles. Mansur was the notably the first Samanid ruler to the use title of King of Kings (shahanshah), most likely as a response to his rival, the Buyid ruler Rukn al-Dawla, who likewise used the title.
Alp-Tegin, was a Turkic slave commander of the Samanid Empire, who would later become the semi-independent governor of Ghazna from 962 until his death in 963.
Abu Ahmad Wali 'l-Dawla Khalaf ibn Ahmad was the Saffarid amir of Sistan from 963 until 1002. Although he was renowned in the eastern Islamic world as a scholar, his reign was characterized by violence and instability, and Saffarid rule over Sistan came to an end with his deposition.
Muhammad of Ghazni was sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire briefly in 1030, and then later from 1040 to 1041. He ascended the throne upon the death of his father Mahmud in 1030. He was the younger of a set of twins; this circumstance resulted in civil strife. His reign lasted five months before he was overthrown by his twin Ma'sud I, after which he was blinded and imprisoned. Nine years later he was reinstated for a year before being slain by his nephew Maw'dud. According to Ferishta, his reign lasted only 50 days before he was blinded and imprisoned on the order of Ma'sud I. A year later he was executed by his nephew Maw'dud after losing a battle in Nangrahar.
The Al-i Muhtaj or Muhtajids was an Iranian or Iranicized Arab ruling family of the small principality of Chaghaniyan. They ruled during the 10th and early 11th centuries.
The Farighunids were an Iranian dynasty that ruled Guzgan in the late 9th, 10th and early 11th centuries.
The Tarikh i Yamini, or Kitab i Yamini, written in Arabic in an embellished, flowery rhetorical rhymed prose, is a history of the reigns of Sebuktigin and Mahmud up to 1020. Written by the historian Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Jabbaru-l 'Utbi, He was a member of the family of 'Utba, which held important offices under the Sámánís, and he himself was Secretary to Sultan Mahmud, so that he enjoyed excellent opportunities of becoming fully acquainted with the operations of that conqueror. His work comprises the whole of the reign of Nasiru-d din Subuktigin, and part of that of Mahmud, down to the year 410 Hijra. The Tarikh Yamini also contains information chronicling Sultan Mahmud's expeditions as well as the end of the Samanid Amirs of Sistan. Al-Utbi, being Mahmud's secretary, did not accompany the sultan, therefore his topography is deficient and his writing style consists of an explicit orthodox nature. He also states that he intentionally suppressed many events, unnatural or strange that he found skeptical, that did not fit the objectives he had set down in the preface.
The Milakid family, also known as the Mikalis, was a prominent Iranian aristocratic family of Khorasan from the 9th century to the 11th century. They were descended from the pre-Islamic nobility of Samarkand.
Abu Nasr Muhammad was the ruler of Gharchistan from an unknown date to the 990s. He was from an Iranian princely family which ruled Gharchistan, and bore the title of Shar. Although the family had already ruled the region before Abu Nasr Muhammad, he is the first known member of the family. His father was named Asad, and may have ruled before him.
Ahmad ibn Farighun was the first Farighunid ruler of Guzgan (9th-century–10th-century). He was the son of a certain Farighun.
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 aristocrat who served the Samanids during the most of career, and briefly served as governor of Azerbaijan under the Buyids.
Abu'l-Husain Abd-Allah ibn Ahmad Utbi, better known as Abu'l-Husain Utbi, was an Iranian statesman from the Utbi family, who served as the vizier of the Samanid ruler Nuh II from 977 to 982.
Abu'l Haret Muhammad was the second Farighunid ruler of Guzgan from an unknown date during the 10th century to 982. He was the son and successor of Ahmad ibn Farighun.
Abu'l-Nasr Muhammad was the last Farighunid ruler of Guzgan from 1000 to 1010. He was the son and successor of Abu'l Haret Ahmad.
Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn Fadl ibn Ahmad Isfaraini, better simply known as Abu'l-Hasan Isfaraini, was a Persian vizier of the Ghaznavid Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni from 998 to 1010.