Ahmad ibn Sahl ibn Hashim (died 920) was an Iranian aristocrat who served the Saffarids and later the Samanids. Kamgar (Gardizi, 332 AH) or Kamkar (Ibn al-Athir, 260 AH) were an Iranian family in the first centuries AH and one of the renowned aristocrat in the Khorasan region (c. 309-31 AH). This family name originates from Kamgar (Gardizi, 332 AH), a Marvi landlord and land-owning magnate, and one of the sons of Yazdgerd III, the last Sassanid king (632-651 AD). Some members of this family held positions in the administration system of Taherians (255-259 AH), Saffarians (247-339 AH) and Samanids (261-395 AH). A prominent figure of this family was Ahmad ibn Sahl ibn Hashim (d. 307 AH). His father and brothers were also secretaries and astronomers. Aside from their political-military role, this family played a crucial role in the preservation of science and Iranian culture by patronizing authors and scientists.
Numerous poets and authors, including Ferdowsi and Suzani Sarmarqandi, have made references to this family in their works. For instance, in Suzani's poem titled "Malik al-Dahaqin," he writes:
مهتر بسی بود، نه همه چون تو کامران/ گل ها بسی بود، نه همه همچو کامگار
در باغ مهتری چون گل کامگار باش/ تا نیکخواه بوی برد، بدسگال خار
It appears that Suzani refers to someone named Kamgar, who is the son of Yazdegerd III. Mohammadi et al. (2013), in his interpretation of the Book of Kings (Shahnameh), believes that Suzani is alluding to a specific event that was well-known to his contemporaries. Similarly, Abu Rayhan Biruni cites an example of Ahmad ibn Sahl, indicating that he was a well-known figure among the people of his time.
Ferdowsi, in the story of Rostam and Shaghad, mentions a wise elder named Azadsarv, who accompanied Ahmad ibn Sahl in Marv and was a descendant of Sam Nariman:
یکی پیر بود نامش آزاد سرو/ که با احمد سهل بودی به مرو
The chronicles compiled by Azadsarv on Rostam were among the first, or possibly the first, collections of Iran's national stories in Persian, which eventually reached Ferdowsi. This demonstrates that during this period, there was a significant emphasis on the Persian language and Iran's cultural history, with Ahmad ibn Sahl being a notable patron of these efforts. Based on available sources, with his death, the power of this family declined, and there is no information about the fate of this family after Abu'l-Qasim ibn Hafs. Some members of the Kamgar family, like those of the Sassanian period who were interested in astronomy, were astronomers. This expertise, given the limited means of transferring knowledge in that era and the largely exclusive and intra-family nature of certain sciences, suggests the possibility that this family was connected to the Sasanians. Given that his ministers, such as Azadsarv, Abu'l-Qasim Ka'bi, and Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, were all renowned scholars, it is evident that this family valued sciences and was a supporter and companion of scholars.
Ahmad belonged to a dehqan family of Merv known as the Kamgar (Gardizi, 332 AH) family, which claimed descent from the last Sasanian king, Yazdegerd III. Ahmad was the son of a certain Sahl, and had three unnamed brothers, who were later killed during a local struggle in Merv between Iranians and Arabs. Ahmad, in order to avenge his three brothers, revolted against his overlord, the Saffarid ruler Amr ibn al-Layth (r. 879–901), but was defeated and taken prisoner in Sistan. [1] However, he managed to escape and then returned to Merv, where he captured the local governor Abu Ja'far Ghuri and proclaimed his adherence to Samanid ruler Isma'il ibn Ahmad (r. 892-907). [2] He shortly went to the Samanid court at Bukhara and quickly achieved prominence under Isma'il.
In 900 (or 901), Ismail defeated and captured Amr at Balkh, and shortly conquered his territories in Khurasan, which Ahmad also played a role in. In ca. 902, Ahmad was appointed as the governor of the newly conquered province of Tabaristan. He later served as the commander of the army in Ray and also as leader of the personal guards of the Samanid prince who governed the city, Abu Salih Mansur. [3] During the reign of Isma'il's successor, Ahmad Samani (r. 907-914), Ahmad was sent in 910-11 along with other prominent Samanid officers to conquer Sistan.
During the reign of Ahmad's successor, Nasr II (r. 914-943), Ahmad was sent in 919 to suppress the rebellion of the governor of Khurasan, Husayn ibn Ali Marvarrudhi, which he managed to accomplish. [2] [4] Husayn was captured during the battle and was sent to Bukhara. After a few weeks, however, after being lied to by Nasr, who had been promising him a certain thing, Ahmad shortly rebelled at Nishapur, made incursions into the Samanid city of Gorgan, and managed to repel its governor Karategin. [5] He then fortified himself in Merv to avoid a Samanid counter-attack. Nevertheless, the Samanid general Hamuya ibn Ali managed to lure Ahmad out of Merv and defeated him in a battle at Marw al-Rudh. Ahmad was captured during the battle and imprisoned in Bukhara, where he remained until his death in 920.
The Samanid Empire was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, ruled by a dynasty of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Khorasan and Transoxiana, at its greatest extent encompassing northeastern Iran and Central Asia, from 819 to 999.
Abu Mansur Daqiqi, better simply known as Daqiqi (دقیقی), was one of the most prominent Persian poets of the Samanid era. He was the first to undertake the creation of the national epic of Iran, the Shahnameh, but was killed in 977 after only completing 1,000 verses. His work was continued by his contemporary Ferdowsi, who would later become celebrated as the most influential figure in Persian literature.
Ya'qūb-i Layth-i Saffār, was a coppersmith and the founder of the Saffarid dynasty of Sistan, with its capital at Zaranj. Under his military leadership, he conquered much of the eastern portions of Greater Iran consisting of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan as well as portions of western Pakistan and a small part of Iraq. He was succeeded by his brother, Amr-i Layth Saffār.
Nasr I was amir of the Samanids from 865 to 892. He was the son and successor of Ahmad ibn Asad.
Ahmad ibn Ismail was amir of the Samanids (907–914). He was the son of Ismail Samani. He was known as the "Martyred Amir".
Abū Ibrāhīm Ismā'īl ibn-i Aḥmad-i Sāmāni, better known simply as Ismail-i Samani, and also known as Isma'il ibn-i Ahmad, was the Samanid amir of Transoxiana (892–907) and Khorasan (900–907). His reign saw the emergence of the Samanids as a powerful force. He was the son of Ahmad ibn-i Asad and a descendant of Saman Khuda, the eponymous ancestor of the Samanid dynasty who renounced Zoroastrianism and embraced Islam.
Nasr ibn Ahmad or Nasr II, nicknamed "the Fortunate", was the ruler (amir) of Transoxiana and Khurasan as the head of the Samanid dynasty from 914 to 943. His reign marked the high point of the Samanid dynasty's fortunes. He was the son of Ahmad ibn Isma’il.
Abu Hafs ‘Amr ibn Ya'qub ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Amr was the Saffarid amir of Sistan for slightly over a year (912–913). He was the son of Ya'qub, the brother of Tahir ibn Muhammad ibn Amr.
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Abu Ali Ahmad Chaghani was the Muhtajid ruler of Chaghaniyan (939–955) and governor of Samanid Khurasan. He was the son of Abu Bakr Muhammad.
Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Tahir ibn 'Abdallah was the last Tahirid governor of Khurasan, from 862 until 873. He was the governor during the period of Extreme instability in Abbasid Caliphate and Civil war of 865–866. His career spanned under four caliphs al-Musta'in, al-Mu'tazz, al-Muhtadi and al-Mu'tamid. He was later appointed as governor of Baghdad by caliph al-Mu'tamid from 885 to 889.
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Jafar Narshakhi, a Sogdian scholar from the village of Narshak in the Bukhara oasis is the first known historian in Central Asia. His unique History of Bukhara was written in Arabic and presented to the Samanid emperor Nuh I either in 943 or 944. The book provides important information on Bukhara that cannot be found in other contemporary sources. Nothing is known about Narshakhi except his authorship of this one book.
Abu Salih Mansur was a Samanid prince, who served as governor during the reign of his uncle Isma'il ibn Ahmad, his cousin Ahmad Samani, and Nasr II.
Abuʾl-Ḥasan al-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn Ḥasan Maymandī was a Persian vizier of the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni and the latter's son Mas'ud I of Ghazni.
Abu'l-Fadl al-Bal'ami, also known as Bal'ami the Elder, was a Samanid statesman from the al-Bal'ami family, who served as the vizier of Nasr II from 922 to 938.
Ahmad ibn Farighun was the first Farighunid ruler of Guzgan (9th-century–10th-century). He was the son of a certain Farighun.
Mansur ibn Qara-Tegin, commonly known after his father as Ibn Qaratakin was a Turkic military officer of the Samanids in the mid-10th century.
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Abu'l-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bazdawi al-Nasafi was an early 10th-century Isma'ili missionary and theologian. In c. 937 he succeeded in converting the Samanid emir, Nasr II, to Isma'ilism, and ushered in a period of Isma'ili dominance at the Samanid court that lasted until Nasr's death. In the subsequent persecution of the Isma'ilis, launched by Nuh I, al-Nasafi himself fell victim. As a theologian, he is generally credited with being among those who introduced Neoplatonic concepts into Isma'ili theology. His doctrines dominated indigenous Isma'ilism in the Iranian lands in the 9th–10th centuries, but were denounced as antinomian by Isma'ili theologians aligned with the Fatimid Caliphate.