ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samura ( ar, عبد الرحمن بن سمرة, died in
Basra) was a general of the
Rashidun caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate ( ar, اَلْخِلَافَةُ ٱلرَّاشِدَةُ, al-Khilāfah ar-Rāšidah) was the first caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was ruled by the first four successive caliphs of Muhammad after his ...
and the succeeding
Umayyad Caliphate, and caliphal governor of
Sijistan in the 7th century CE.
Biography
According to
Ibn Manzur, Ibn Samura was a
Quraysh
The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qur ...
ite. His father was Samura ibn Habib ibn Rabi'a ibn
Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf ibn
Qusayy ibn Kilab.
Ibn Samura participated in the
Battle of Mu'tah
The Battle of Mu'tah ( ar, مَعْرَكَة مُؤْتَة, translit=Maʿrakah Muʿtah, or ar, غَزْوَة مُؤْتَة, link=no ') took place in September 629 (1 Jumada al-Awwal 8 AH), between the forces of Muhammad and the army of ...
in 629. After
Khalid ibn al-Walid
Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arab military commander. He initially headed campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career in ...
managed to organize the safe retreat from the abortive battle, Khalid sent Ibn Samura in advance as a messenger to
Medina, capital of the nascent Muslim state, to report the battle result to the Islamic prophet
Muhammad.
By 652, he replaced
Rabi ibn Ziyad al-Harithi
Rabi ibn Ziyad al-Harithi () was an Arab military leader, who served the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates.
Biography
In 651, Rabi ibn Ziyad invaded the Sasanian province of Sakastan. After some time, he reached Zaliq, a border town between Kirma ...
as the governor of
Sistan.
During the
Muslim conquest of Sistan, Ibn Samura was sent by governor of
Basra,
Abdallah ibn Amir
Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Kurayz ( ar, أبو عبد الرحمن عبد الله بن عامر بن كريز) (626–678) was a Rashidun politician and general, serving as governor of Basra from 647 to 656 AD during ...
to Sistan, and then initiated the
Muslim conquest of Khorasan, where he first secured peace in a place named "land of al-Dawar".
Capture of Zamindawar (653 CE)
In 653-4 CE, an army of around 6,000 Arabs was led by Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura, and seized
Rukhkhaj and
Zamindawar. In the shrine of Zoon in
Zamindawar, it is reported that Samura "broke off a hand of the idol and plucked out the rubies which were its eyes in order to persuade the
marzbān
Marzbān, or Marzpān (Middle Persian transliteration: mrzwpn, derived from ''marz'' "border, boundary" and the suffix ''-pān'' "guardian"; Modern Persian: ''Marzbān'') were a class of margraves, warden of the marches, and by extension militar ...
of Sīstān" that the idol was worthless.
Samura explained to the marzbān: "my intention was to show you that this idol can do neither any harm nor good."
Bost Bost may refer to:
Places
*Alternative name for Lashkargah, Afghanistan
**Boost Defenders, a cricket team from the region
**Bost Airport, near Lashkargah
*Bost, Allier, a commune in central France
People
*Bost (Μποστ) (1918–1995), pen name ...
and
Zabul submitted to the Arab invader by treaty in 656 CE.
It is then recorded by Abu Labid that when the army was trying to get their hands on the spoils of war, Ibn Samura stood up and warned them by narrating a hadith he heard from Muhammad that the Prophet forbade the seizing of spoils of war before it is distributed first according to the rule of Sharia. Then those who took the booty returned what they had taken, he then distributed it among them.
Then Ibn Samura sent the spoils of war to Abdullah ibn Amir.
Bost Bost may refer to:
Places
*Alternative name for Lashkargah, Afghanistan
**Boost Defenders, a cricket team from the region
**Bost Airport, near Lashkargah
*Bost, Allier, a commune in central France
People
*Bost (Μποστ) (1918–1995), pen name ...
(Sīstān) and
Zabulistan submitted by a
treaty of capitulation, also signed with the marzban of
Kerman
Kerman ( fa, كرمان, Kermân ; also romanization of Persian, romanized as Kermun and Karmana), known in ancient times as the satrapy of Carmania, is the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 821,394, in ...
before the death of
Caliph Uthman in 656.
The Muslims soon lost these territories during the
First Civil War (656-661).
Upon the caliph's death, he returned to
Basra, where its governor
Abdallah ibn Amir
Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Kurayz ( ar, أبو عبد الرحمن عبد الله بن عامر بن كريز) (626–678) was a Rashidun politician and general, serving as governor of Basra from 647 to 656 AD during ...
was dismissed by the new
Caliph Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
. He joined
Muawiyah I
Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
after the
Battle of the Camel
The Battle of the Camel, also known as the Battle of Jamel or the Battle of Basra, took place outside of Basra, Iraq, in 36 AH (656 CE). The battle was fought between the army of the fourth caliph Ali, on one side, and the rebel army led by ...
, and was sent as one of the envoys to
Hasan ibn Ali in 661. Abdallah ibn Amir was reappointed as governor in Basra by Muawiyah, and Samura was sent along with
Abd Allah ibn Khazim al-Sulami
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khāzim al-Sulamī () (died 692) was the Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad governor of Greater Khorasan, Khurasan between 662 and 665 and again in late 683, before becoming the nominal Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, Zubayrid governor of the s ...
to restore Arab rule in eastern
Khurasan
Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plate ...
and Sīstān. He introduced the office of ''ṣāḥeb al-šorṭa'' (chief of police) to Sīstān and built a mosque in Zaranj.
Capture of Kabul (665 CE)

The territories he had conquered had to be reclaimed by force or by treaty. He launched an expedition to
Arachosia and Zabulistan, recovering Bust and other cities.
Kabul was occupied in 665 CE after a siege of a few months. Kabul soon revolted but was reoccupied after a month-long siege. He managed to convert 12,000 inhabitants of Kabul to Islam before leaving the city according to
Firishta. Muawiyah personally confirmed him as governor dependent on the caliph. Abd al-Rahman's capture and plunder of
Kabul put an end to the rule of the
Nezak Hun king
Ghar-ilchi. The Nezak ruler was succeeded by the powerful Turk dynasty of the
Turk Shahis:
Barha Tegin
Barha Tegin (665 - 680 CE) was the first ruler of the Turk Shahis. He is only known in name from the accounts of the Muslim historian Al-Biruni and reconstructions from Chinese sources, and the identification of his coinage remains conjectural.
R ...
, the first Turk Shahi ruler took the throne in 665-666 CE and soon recaptured the territory as far as
Kandahar and
Bost Bost may refer to:
Places
*Alternative name for Lashkargah, Afghanistan
**Boost Defenders, a cricket team from the region
**Bost Airport, near Lashkargah
*Bost, Allier, a commune in central France
People
*Bost (Μποστ) (1918–1995), pen name ...
.
After Muawiyah deposed Samura from Sīstān in 665, he retired to Basra where the slaves he had brought from Kabul built a mosque in his house in the building style of Kabul. He died in Basra in 670.
References
Sources
*
{{s-end
7th-century military personnel
Generals of the Umayyad Caliphate
7th-century Arabs
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown