Saman Khuda

{{Short description|8th-century Iranian founder of the Samanid dynasty}}

Saman Khuda (Saman Khoda, Saman-khudat; {{langx|fa|سامان‌خدا، سامان‌خدات}}) was an 8th-century Iranian noble whose descendants (the House of Saman) later became rulers of Khurasan (the Samanid Empire). He was a Dehqan from the village of Saman in Balkh province in present-day northern Afghanistan.[https://books.google.com/books?id=mKpz_2CkoWEC&pg=PA162 Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual p. 162] 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.[http://www.avesta.org/dhalla/history6.htm Dhalla, M. N. History of Zoroastrianism (1938) Part 6, Chapter XLIII] However, he was so impressed with the piety of Asad ibn 'Abd-Allah al-Qasri, that he converted to Islam.Mohammad Taher, Encyclopaedic Survey of Islamic Culture, p. 84 He named his son Asad, allegedly in the governor's honor. He was also influenced by the teachings of the scholar Abu Hanifa.

Caliph al-Mamun (786-833) 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.[http://www.transoxiana.org/0110/kamoliddin_bahram_chobin.html Shamsiddin Kamoliddin, "To the Question of the Origin of the Samanids", Transoxiana 10 (July 2005)]. This began the House of Saman; Saman Khuda's great-grandson Isma'il ibn Ahmad (849-907) became Amir of Transoxiana and Khorasan.

Saman was a 4th or 5th generation descendant of Bahram Chobin,Narshaki (trans. R. N. Frye), History of Bukhara, p. 79 a noble of the ancient House of Mihran, who played an important role in the history of the later Sassanian Empire.R. N. Frye, The Golden Age of Persia, London: Butler & Tanner Ltd., 1996, p. 200.

Family tree

{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | BAG | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |BAG=Bahram Gushnasp}}

{{Tree chart| | |,|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|^|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | | |}}

{{Tree chart| | MAR | | UNK | | | | | | | BAC | | GUY | | GOI | | | | | | | | |BAC=Bahram Chobin |GOI=Gordiya |GUY=Gorduya |UNK=Unknown |MAR=Mardansina}}

{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | NOS | | | | | | MEH | | SHA | | | | | | | | |SHA=Shapur |MEH=Mihran Bahram-i Chubin |NOS=Noshrad }}

{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | SIA | | | | | |SIA=Siyavakhsh}}

{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | TOG | | | | | | | | | | | | | |TOG=Toghmath}}

{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}

{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | JOT | | | | | | | | | | | | | |JOT=Jotman}}

{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | SAM | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |SAM=Saman Khuda}}

References

Sources

{{cite book | last = Frye | first = R.N. | chapter = The Sāmānids | title = The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs | year = 1975 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location=Cambridge | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hvx9jq_2L3EC&pg=PA136 | editor-first = R.N. | editor-last = Frye | isbn = 0-521-20093-8| pages=136–161}}

Category:Samanids

Category:Converts to Islam from Zoroastrianism

Category:8th-century monarchs in Asia

Category:People from Balkh Province

Category:People from Balkh

Category:Year of death unknown

Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:8th-century Iranian people

Category:Dehqans