The Maʾmunids ( fa, مأمونیان) were an independent dynasty of

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

rulers in

Khwarazm Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...

. Their reign was short-lived (995–1017), and they were in turn replaced by the expansionist Ghaznavids.

History

The ancient

kingdom of

had been ruled until 995 by the old established line of

Afrighids The Afrighids ( Khwarazmian: ''ʾfryḡ'') were a native Khwarezmian IranianClifford Edmund Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual, Columbia University, 1996. dynasty who ruled over the ancient kingdom of Kh ...

of Kath. Khwarazm, or the classical Chorasmia, was the well irrigated and rich agricultural region of lower

Oxus The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

. Surrounded on all sides by steppe land and desert, it was geographically isolated from other areas of civilization. This isolation allowed it to maintain a separate distinctive

language and culture. Under the Ma'munids, their capital of Gurganj became a centre of learning, attracting many prominent figures, such as the philosophers Avicenna and Abu Sahl al-Masihi, the mathematician

Abu Nasr Mansur Abu Nasri Mansur ibn Ali ibn Iraq ( fa, أبو نصر منصور بن علی بن عراق; c. 960 – 1036) was a Persian Muslim mathematician and astronomer. He is well known for his work with the spherical sine law.Bijli suggests that three ...

, the physician

Ibn al-Khammar Abū al-Khayr al-Ḥasan ibn Suwār ibn Bābā ibn Bahnām, called Ibn al-Khammār (born 942), was an East Syriac Christian philosopher and physician who taught and worked in Baghdad. He was a prolific translator from Syriac into Arabic and also wr ...

, and the

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

al-Tha'alibi Al-Tha'alibi (961–1038), was a writer famous for his anthologies and collections of epigrams. As a writer of prose and verse in his own right, distinction between his and the work of others is sometimes lacking, as was the practice of write ...

. The Ma'munids also embellished their capital with buildings such as a minaret which still survives till this day, and has an inscription crediting

Ma'mun II Abu'l-Abbas Ma'mun ibn Ma'mun (died March 1017) was the Ma'munid ruler of Khwarazm from 1009 until his death in 1017, having succeeded his brother Abu al-Hasan Ali in that post. He was the son of Ma'mun I ibn Muhammad. The greatest threat to Ma'm ...

() its founder. However, the Ma'munids soon fell into conflict with the

Ghaznavid The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...

Sultan

Mahmud Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''. Siam Mahmud *Mahmood (singer) (born 1 ...

(), who sought to pressurize his

Qarakhanid The Kara-Khanid Khanate (; ), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (), was a Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia in the 9th through the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek K ...

enemies by extending his rule into Khwarazm. In 1014, Mahmud demanded that Ma'mun II should add his name in the ''

khutba ''Khutbah'' ( ar, خطبة ''khuṭbah'', tr, hutbe) serves as the primary formal occasion for public preaching in the Islamic tradition. Such sermons occur regularly, as prescribed by the teachings of all legal schools. The Islamic tradition ...

'' (Friday sermon) in Khwarazm, thus acknowledging his suzerainty. Unable to gain military assistance or appease Mahmud through other means, Ma'mun II was forced to accept his demands, much to the dislike of the Khwarazmian nobles and military officers. This eventually resulted in a patriotic revolt, led by the commander-in-chief Alptigin, which led to the murder of Ma'mun II and accession of his nephew

Abu'l-Harith Muhammad Abu'l-Harith Muhammad was ruler of Khwarazm for a period in 1017. The son of Abu al-Hasan Ali, he was the last member of the Iranian Ma'munid dynasty to rule Khwarazm. In 1017, a young Muhammad was declared shah by the murderers of his uncle Abu' ...

in March 1017. Ma'mun II was the brother-in-law of Mahmud, which afforded the latter a pretext to invade Khwarazm. The Ghaznavid army defeated the local Khwarazmian forces at

Hazarasp Hazorasp ( uz, Hazorasp, Ҳазорасп), also known as Khazarasp (russian: Хазарасп), or by its more ancient name Hazarasp ( fa, هزار اسپ, meaning ''"thousand horses"''), is an urban-type settlement in Uzbekistan, administrative c ...

, brutalized the population of Gurganj, and captured many Khwarazmians, who were taken to the capital of

Ghazni Ghazni ( prs, غزنی, ps, غزني), historically known as Ghaznain () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana ( gr, Αλεξάνδρεια Ωπιανή), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan ...

as slaves. Abu'l-Harith Muhammad was deposed and imprisoned, while Khwarazm was incorporated into the Ghaznavid realm, thus marking the end of the Ma'munid dynasty, the last ethnically Iranian line of Khwarazmshahs.

Ma'munid shahs

Ma'mun I ibn Muhammad Abu'l-Ali Ma'mun ibn Muhammad (died 997) was ruler of Khwarazm from 995 until his death in 997. He was the founder of the Ma'munid dynasty, which lasted from 995 until 1017. Ma'mun was originally the Samanid governor of southern Khwarazm, with his ...

, 995–997 *

Abu al-Hasan Ali Abu al-Hasan 'Ali (died c. 1009) was ruler of Khwarazm (a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia) from 997 until his death c. 1009. The second member of the Ma'munid dynasty, he was the son of Ma'mun I ibn Muhammad ...

, son of Ma'mun I, 997–1008/9 *

, son of Ma'mun I, 1008–09 *

, son of Abu al-Hasan Ali, 1017

References

Sources

* * * * * * Ma'munids 995 establishments {{Iran-hist-stub