View source for Tahirid dynasty

{{Short description|821–873 Sunni Persian dynasty of Khorasan; Abbasid vassals}}
{{about||the homonymous dynasty of Yemen|Tahirid Sultanate|the Andalusi dynasty|Taifa of Murcia}}
{{Infobox Former Country
| native_name            = {{Lang|fa|طاهریان}}<br/>''Tâheriyân''
| conventional_long_name = Tahirid Dynasty
| common_name            = Tahirids
| region                 = 
| era                    = Medieval
| status                 = De jure governorate of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]]{{sfn|Hovannisian|Sabagh|1998|p=96}}
| status_text            = 
| empire                 = 
| government_type        = [[Caliphate|Caliphal governoral emirate]]
| year_start             = 821
| year_end               = 873
| event_start            = 
| date_start             = 
| event_end              = 
| date_end               = 
| p1                     = Abbasid Caliphate
| s1                     = Saffarid Empire
| s2                     = Alid dynasties of northern Iran
| image_flag             = 
| flag                   = 
| flag_type              = 
| image_coat             = 
| symbol_type            = 
| coa_size               = 280
| image_map              = Tahirid Dynasty 821 - 873 (AD).png
| image_map_caption      = Provinces governed by the Tahirids
| capital                = [[Merv]], later [[Nishapur]]
| common_languages       = [[New Persian#Early New Persian|Early New Persian]] ({{small|court, informal}}){{sfn|Canfield|1991|p=6}}{{sfn|Peacock|2007|p=35}}<br />[[Arabic]] ({{small|literature/poetry/science}}){{sfn|Blair|2003|p=340}}
| religion               = [[Sunni Islam]]
| currency               = 
| leader1                = [[Tahir ibn Husayn]]
| leader2                = 
| year_leader1           = 821
| year_leader2           = 
| title_leader           = [[Emir]]
| stat_year1             = 800 est.{{sfn|Taagepera|1997|p=496}}
| stat_area1             = 1000000
}}
{{History of Iran}}
The '''Tahirid dynasty''' ({{langx|fa|طاهریان|Tâheriyân}}, {{IPA|fa|t̪ɒːheɾiˈjɒːn|pron}}) was an [[Arabization|Arabized]] [[Sunni Muslim]] dynasty of [[Persians|Persian]] [[dehqan]] origin that ruled as governors of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] from 821 to 873 as well as serving as military and security commanders in [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid Baghdad]] until 891. The dynasty was founded by [[Tahir ibn Husayn]], a leading general in the service of the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] caliph [[al-Ma'mun]]. For his support of al-Ma'mun in the [[Fourth Fitna]], he was granted the governance of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]].

The Tahirids, however, were not an independent dynasty—according to Hugh Kennedy: "The Tahirids are sometimes considered as the first independent Iranian dynasty, but such a view is misleading. The arrangement was effectively a partnership between the Abbasids and the Tahirids." Indeed, the Tahirids were loyal to the Abbasid caliphs and in return enjoyed considerable autonomy; they were in effect viceroys representing Abbasid rule in Persia.{{sfn|Kennedy|2016|p=139}}{{sfn|Esposito|2000|p=38}} The tax revenue from Khorasan sent to the caliphal treasury in Baghdad was perhaps larger than those collected previously.{{sfn|Kennedy|2016|p=139}}

==Rulers of Khurasan==
===Rise===
The founder of the Tahirid dynasty was [[Tahir ibn Husayn]], a Sunni [[Persian people|Persian]] of [[dehqan]] origin,{{sfn|Bosworth|1975|p=90-91}}{{sfn|Daftary|2003|p=57}} who had played a major military role in the [[Fourth Fitna|civil war]] between the rival caliphs [[al-Amin]] and [[al-Ma'mun]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane |first=S. Frederick |last=Starr |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2015 |isbn=9781400848805 |page=195}}</ref> He and his ancestors had previously been awarded minor governorships in eastern Khorasan for their service to the Abbasids.{{sfn|Bosworth|1975|p=90-91}} In 821, Tahir was made governor of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]], but he died soon afterwards.{{efn|"The Taherids of Iraq. As the events of the late Taherid period demonstrate, the Taherids in Iraq were just about as powerful and important, even if less well known, than their Khorasani relatives. They regularly held positions as military commanders, heads of the security forces (ṣāheb al-šorṭa) for eastern and western Baghdad, and chief tax collectors or administrators (e.g., ʿāmel and moʿāwen) for the Sawād of Kufa."{{sfn|Daniel|2000}}}}{{sfn|Daniel|2000}} The caliph then appointed Tahir's son, Talha,  governor of Khorasan.{{sfn|Bosworth|2000|p=104-105}} Talha was unsuccessful in removing the Kharijites from Sistan,{{sfn|Baumer|2018|p=20}} and following the death of the Kharijite leader, Hamza b. Adarak (d.828),{{sfn|Bosworth|2012}} the Tahirids occupied Zarang but never succeeded in collecting taxes in the surrounding countryside.{{sfn|Bosworth|1995|p=795}}

Tahir's other son, Abdullah, was instated as the [[Wali (administrative title)|wali]] of [[Egypt]] and the [[Arabian Peninsula]], and when Talha died in 828 he was given the governorship of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]]. Abdullah is considered one of the greatest of the Tahirid rulers,{{sfn|Bosworth|2000|p=104-105}} as his reign witnessed a flourishing of agriculture in his native land of Khorasan, popularity in the eastern lands of the Abbasid caliphate and expanding influence due to his experience with the western parts of the caliphate. A noted poet, he sympathized with all things Arabic.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title='Abd Allāh b. Țāhir |first=E. |last=Marin |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |pages=53 |publisher=E.J. Brill |volume=I |editor-first1=H. A. R. |editor-last1=Gibb |editor-first2=J. H. |editor-last2=Kramers |editor-first3=E. |editor-last3=Lévi-Provençal |editor-first4=J. |editor-last4=Schacht |year=1986 |isbn=9004081143}}</ref>

The replacement of the [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi script]] with the [[Perso-Arabic script|Arabic script]] in order to write the [[Persian language]] was done by the Tahirids in 9th century [[Greater Khorasan|Khurasan]].{{sfn|Lapidus|2012|p=256}}

===Fall===
[[File:Tahirid Khurasan ca 836 AD.svg|thumb|left|Map of Tahirid Khurasan]]
Abdullah died in 844 and was succeeded by his son [[Tahir II of Khorasan|Tahir II]].{{sfn|Bosworth|1975|pp=100-101}} Not much is known of Tahir's rule, but the administrative dependency of [[Sistan]] was lost to rebels during his governorship. Tahirid rule began to seriously deteriorate after Tahir's son [[Muhammad of Khorasan|Muhammad ibn Tahir]] became governor, due to his carelessness with the affairs of the state and lack of experience with politics. Oppressive policies in [[Tabaristan]], another dependency of Khorasan, resulted in the people of that province revolting and declaring their allegiance to the independent [[Alavids|Zaydi]] ruler [[Al-Hasan ibn Zayd al-Da'i|Hasan ibn Zayd]] in 864.{{sfn|Bosworth|2000|p=104-105}} In Khorasan itself, Muhammad's rule continued to grow increasingly weak, and in 873 he was finally overthrown by the [[Saffarid dynasty]], who annexed Khorasan to their own empire in eastern [[Persia]].

==Governors of Baghdad==
[[File:Talha ibn Tahir.jpg|thumb|Coinage of [[Talha ibn Tahir]], with [[Sasanian]]-type bust. Dated AH 209 (AD 824).]]
Besides their hold over Khorasan, the Tahirids also served as the military governors (''[[shurta|ashab al-shurta]]'') of Baghdad, beginning with Tahir's appointment to that position in 820. After he left for Khorasan, the governorship of Baghdad was given to a member of a collateral branch of the family, [[Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Mus'abi|Ishaq ibn Ibrahim]], who controlled the city for over twenty-five years.{{sfn|Bosworth|1996|p=168-169}} During Ishaq's term as governor, he was responsible for implementing the [[Mihna]] (inquisition) in Baghdad.{{sfn|Turner|2006|p=402}} His administration also witnessed the departure of the caliphs from Baghdad, as they made the recently constructed city of [[Abbasid Samarra|Samarra]] their new capital.{{sfn|Gordon|2001|p=47}} When Ishaq died in 849 he was succeeded first by two of his sons, and then in 851 by Tahir's grandson [[Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir|Muhammad ibn Abdallah]].{{sfn|Bosworth|1996|p=168-169}}

Abdallah played a major role in the events of the "[[Anarchy at Samarra]]" in the 860s, giving refuge to the caliph [[al-Musta'in]] and commanding the defense of Baghdad when it was [[Caliphal Civil War (865-866)|besieged by the forces]] of the rival caliph [[al-Mu'tazz]] in 865. The following year, he forced al-Musta'in to abdicate and recognized al-Mu'tazz as caliph, and in exchange was allowed to retain his control over Baghdad.{{sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=135-139}} Violent riots plagued Baghdad during the last years of Abdallah's life, and conditions in the city remained tumultuous after he died and was succeeded by his brothers, first [[Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir|Ubaydallah]] and then [[Sulayman ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir|Sulayman]].{{sfn|Yar-Shater|2007|p=124}} Eventually order was restored in Baghdad, and the Tahirids continued to serve as governors of the city for another two decades. In 891, however, [[Badr al-Mu'tadidi]] was put in charge of the security of Baghdad in place of the Tahirids,{{sfn|Bosworth|1996|p=168-169}} and the family soon lost their prominence within the caliphate after that.{{sfn|Bosworth|2000|p=104-105}}

==Language and culture==
{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center
 | width = 230
 | image1 = Sasanian art in Hermitage by Darafsh S-4.jpg
 | image2 = Sasanian art in Hermitage by Darafsh S-3.jpg
 | footer = Early 9th century [[Sasanian]]-style silver plates from Merv.
}}
The historian [[Clifford Edmund Bosworth]] explains that while the Tahirids were Persians, they were also highly Arabized in culture,<ref>{{harvnb|Bosworth|1975|pp=90–135}}: "The Tāhirids were culturally highly Arabicized, but they were nevertheless Persians."</ref> and eager to be accepted in the caliphal world, where cultivation of things Arabic gave social and cultural prestige.{{sfn|Bosworth|1969|p=106}} Due to this, the Tahirids were not part of the renaissance of Early New Persian language and culture.{{sfn|Bosworth|1969|p=106}} He adds that the Persian language was at least tolerated in the entourage of the Tahirids, whereas the [[Saffarids]] played a leading part in the renaissance of [[Persian literature]].{{sfn|Bosworth|1969|p=106}}

Centuries later, both [[Muhammad Aufi|'Aufi]] and [[Dawlatshah Samarqandi|Daulatshah]] wrote the Tahirids were hostile to Persian literature.{{sfn|Bosworth|1975|p=105}} 'Abd-Allah b. Tahir ordered the Persian novel ''Vamiq-u Adhra'' "The Ardent Lover and the Virgin" (based on a Hellenistic novel<ref>{{cite book | last=Utas | first=B. | last2=Hägg | first2=T. | title=The Virgin and her Lover: Fragments of an Ancient Greek Novel and a Persian Epic Poem | publisher=Brill | series=Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures | year=2004 | isbn=978-90-474-0258-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Sk7EAAAQBAJ | access-date=2023-10-09 | page=}}</ref>) and other Persian and [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] works destroyed, according to Daulatshah.{{sfn|Bosworth|1975|p=105}}

However, according to the historian Shivan Mahendrarajah, in reference to the dynasties of the [[Iranian Intermezzo]] of which the Tahirids are considered part:{{sfn|Mahendrarajah|2019|page=161}}{{blockquote|Persian (the language) and Iranian (the identity) were reasserting themselves. Iranians were adapting Arab-Islamic cultural tenets through a process of 'take the best, leave the rest'.}}
Within this context, Mahendrarajah adds that the Tahirids were specifically responsible for initiating the process by which Persian became written in the [[Perso-Arabic script]], referring to this as "an ingenious Iranian adaption that allowed them to retain the heritage and charm of the Persian language".{{sfn|Mahendrarajah|2019|page=161}}

The Tahirids claimed descent from [[Rostam|Rustam]], the mythological Iranian hero.{{sfn|Spuler|2015|pages=344-345}}

The art historian [[Sheila Blair]] explains that the Tahirids may well have added Persian inscriptions to their (now non-extant) buildings.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blair |first1=Sheila S. |author1-link=Sheila Blair |title=Islamic Inscriptions |date=1998 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |pages=23–24}}</ref>

==Members of the Tahirid dynasty==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Governor{{sfn|Bosworth|1996|p=168–169}} || Term
|-bgcolor="#C0C0C0"
|align="center"|'''Governors of Khurasan''' ||
|-
|[[Tahir ibn Husayn]] || 821–822
|-
|[[Talha ibn Tahir]] || 822–828
|-
|[[Abdallah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani]] || 828–845
|-
|[[Tahir ibn Abdallah|Tahir (II) ibn Abdallah]] || 845–862
|-
|[[Muhammad ibn Tahir|Muhammad ibn Tahir (II)]] || 862–873
|-bgcolor="#C0C0C0"
|align="center"|'''Governors of Baghdad''' ||
|-
| Tahir ibn Husayn || 820–822
|-
| [[Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Mus'abi]] || 822–850
|-
| [[Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim]] || 850–851
|-
| [[Abdallah ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim]] || align="center"| 851
|-
| [[Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir]] || 851–867
|-
| [[Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir]] || 867–869
|-
| [[Sulayman ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir]] || 869–879
|-
| Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah (again) || 879–885
|-
| Muhammad ibn Tahir (II) || 885–890
|- 
|Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah (again) || 890–891
|}

==Family tree==
{{History of Afghanistan}}
{{History of Iran}}
{{History of Turkmenistan}}
{{History of Greater Iran}}
Bold denotes a Tahirid who served as governor of Khorasan; italics denotes an individual who served as governor of Baghdad.{{sfn|Kraemer|1989|p=xxviii}}

{{tree chart/start}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | MOS | | | | | | | | | | | |MOS=Mos'eb}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | HUS | | | | | | | | | | | |HUS=Husayn}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | |,|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|^|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| | | | |}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | TAH | | | | | | | | | | | | | | IBR | | | |TAH='''''[[Tahir ibn Husayn|Tahir I]]'''''<br>821–822 |IBR=Ibrahim}}
{{tree chart| |,|-|-|-|-|^|-|-|-|-|.| | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | |}}
{{tree chart| TAL | | | | | | | | ABD | | | | | | | | | ISH | | | |TAL='''[[Talha of Khorasan|Talha]]'''<br>822–828 |ABD='''[[Abdallah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani|Abdallah]]'''<br>828–845|ISH=''[[Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Mus'abi|Ishaq]]''}}
{{tree chart| | | | |,|-|-|-|v|-|-|^|v|-|-|-|.| | | |,|-|^|-|.| | |}}
{{tree chart| | | | TAH | | MUH | | UBA | | SUL | | MU2 | | AB2 | |TAH='''[[Tahir II of Khorasan|Tahir II]]'''<br>845–862|MUH=''[[Muhammad ibn 'Abdallah ibn Tahir|Muhammad]]''|UBA=''[['Ubaydallah ibn 'Abdallah ibn Tahir|Ubaydallah]]''|SUL=''[[Sulayman ibn 'Abdallah ibn Tahir|Sulayman]]'' |MU2=''[[Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim|Muhammad]]''|AB2=''[['Abdallah ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim|Abdullah]]''}}
{{tree chart| | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{tree chart| | | | MUH | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |MUH='''''[[Muhammad of Khorasan|Muhammad]]'''''<br>862–872}}
{{tree chart/end}}

==See also==
*[[Iranian Intermezzo]]
*[[List of Muslims]]
*[[List of Sunni Muslim dynasties]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|3}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |chapter=Language situation and scripts: Arabic |first=S. |last=Blair |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |volume=IV |editor-first1=C.E. |editor-last1=Bosworth |editor-first2=M.S. |editor-last2=Asimov |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=2003 }}
*{{cite journal |title=The Ṭāhirids and Persian Literature |first=C. E. |last=Bosworth |journal=Iran |volume=7 |pages=103–106 |year=1969 |doi=10.2307/4299615 |jstor=4299615 }}
*{{The Cambridge History of Iran | volume = 4 | last = Bosworth | first = C.E. | authorlink = Clifford Edmund Bosworth | chapter = The Ṭāhirids and Ṣaffārids | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hvx9jq_2L3EC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA90 | pages=90–135 }}
*{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The Encyclopaedia of Islam |first=C.E. |last=Bosworth |volume=VIII:NED-SAM |title=Saffarids |publisher=Brill |year=1995 |pages=795–798 }}
*{{cite book |last=Bosworth |first=C. E. |title=The New Islamic Dynasties |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1996 }}
*{{EI2 | volume=10 |title=Tahirids |first=C.E.  |last=Bosworth}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica |title=Ḥamza b. Ādarak |first=C.E. |last=Bosworth |year=2012 }}
*{{cite book |chapter=Introduction: the Turko-Persian tradition |first=Robert L. |last=Canfield |title=Turko-Persia in Historical Perspective |editor-first=Robert L. |editor-last=Canfield |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1991 }}
*{{cite book |chapter=Sectarian and national movements in Iran, Khurasan and Transoxanial during Umayyad in early Abbasid times |first=F. |last=Daftary |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |editor-first1=M.S. |editor-last1=Asimov |editor-first2=C.E. |editor-last2=Bosworth |volume=IV: Part I |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass  |year=2003 |pages=41–60 |isbn=92-3-103467-7 }}
*{{Encyclopaedia Iranica |volume=online|first=Elton L. |last=Daniel |title=Taherids |year=2000|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/taherid-dynasty }}
*{{cite book|first=John L. |last=Esposito|title=The Oxford History of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9HUDXkJIE3EC&pg=PA39|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199880416}}
*{{Gordon-The Breaking of a Thousand Swords}}
*{{cite book |title=The Persian Presence in the Islamic World |editor-first1=Richard G. |editor-last1=Hovannisian |editor-first2=Georges |editor-last2=Sabagh |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998  }}
*{{Kennedy-The Armies of the Caliphs}}
*{{The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates|edition=Third}}
*{{The History of al-Tabari | volume=34}}
*{{cite book|first=Ira M. |last=Lapidus|title=Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qcPZ1k65pqkC&pg=PA256|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521514415}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mahendrarajah |first1=Shivan |editor1-last=Babaie |editor1-first=Sussan |editor1-link=Sussan Babaie |title=Iran After the Mongols |date=2019 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1788315289 |chapter=The Iranian interlude: From Mongol decline to Timur's invasion}}
* {{cite book | last = Peacock | first = A. C. S. | author-link = A. C. S. Peacock | title = Mediaeval Islamic Historiography and Political Legitimacy: Balʿamī's Tārīkhnāma | location = London and New York | publisher = Routledge | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-415-40025-1}}
*{{cite book |last1=Spuler |first1=Bertold |editor1-last=Hoyland |editor1-first=Robert G. |editor2-last=Goldbloom |editor2-first=Gwendolin |editor3-last=Walburg |editor3-first=Berenike |title=Iran in the Early Islamic Period: Politics, Culture, Administration and Public Life between the Arab and the Seljuk Conquests, 633-1055 |date=2015 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-27751-9}}
*{{Cite journal|last=Taagepera|first=Rein|author-link=Rein Taagepera|year=1997|title=Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia|journal=International Studies Quarterly|volume=41|issue=3|pages=475–504|doi=10.1111/0020-8833.00053|jstor=2600793|url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/3cn68807|url-access=subscription}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |last=Turner |first=John P. |title=Ishaq ibn Ibrahim |encyclopedia=Medieval Islamic Civilization |volume=1 |editor-first=Josef W. |editor-last=Meri |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 }}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Yar-Shater |editor-first=Ehsan |year=2007 |title=The History of al-Tabari |publisher=State University of New York Press }}
*{{cite book |chapter=Iranian-Muslim dynasties in Southwest Central Asia |title=The History of Central Asia |first=Christoph |last=Baumer  |volume=3 |publisher=I.B. Tauris  |year=2018  }}20

{{Tahirid dynasty}}
{{Iranian Intermezzo}}
{{Iran topics}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tahirid Dynasty}}
[[Category:Tahirid dynasty| ]]
[[Category:821 establishments]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 820s]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 870s]]