Statue of Ismail Samani on Freedom Square. Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Wikipedia: Abū Ibrāhīm Ismā'īl ibn Aḥmad (Persian: ابو ابراهیم اسماعیل بن احمد سامانی; May 849 – 24 November 907), better known simply as Ismail Samani (اسماعیل سامانی), and also known as Isma'il ibn Ahmad (اسماعیل بن احمد), 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 Asad and a descendant of Saman Khuda, the eponymous ancestor of the Samanid dynasty who renounced Zoroastrianism and embraced Islam. Although the Samanids were Persian speakers of Iranian stock, their original language and origin is uncertain. They were native to Balkh, which suggests that they came from a Bactrian background. The family itself claimed to be the descendants of the Parthian Mihran family, one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran during the pre-Islamic Sasanian era. However, this was possibly a mere attempt to enhance their lineage. They may have been originally of Hephthalite descent, due to one of their coins resembling that of the same style of the Hephthalites, instead of the Sasanians. Regardless, the Samanid royal family both spoke and advocated Persian, and also used many pre-Islamic bureaucratic titles, probably part of their aim to spread the belief that their rule was a continuum of the Sasanian was born in Farghana in 849—he was the son of Ahmad ibn Asad, and had a brother named Nasr I, who ascended the Samanid throne in 864/5. During Nasr's reign, Ismail was sent to take control of Bukhara, which had been devastated by looting on the part of forces from Khwarezm. The citizens of the city welcomed Ismail, seeing him as someone who could bring stability. Soon afterwards, a disagreement over where tax money should be distributed caused a falling out between Nasr and Ismail. A struggle ensued, in which Ismail proved victorious. Although he took effective control of the state, he did not formally overthrow his brother, instead remaining in Bukhara. He
Size: 4912px × 7360px
Location: Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Photo credit: © Bert de Ruiter / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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