Abu Bakr Muhammad (died 941) was the first Muhtajid ruler of

Chaghaniyan Chaghaniyan (Middle Persian: ''Chagīnīgān''; ''Chaghāniyān''), known as al-Saghaniyan in Arabic sources, was a medieval region and principality located on the right bank of the Oxus River, to the south of Samarkand. History Hephthalite r ...

(until 939) and governor of

Samanid The Samanid Empire () was a Persianate society, Persianate Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, ruled by a dynasty of Iranian peoples, Iranian ''dehqan'' origin. The empire was centred in Greater Khorasan, Khorasan and Transoxiana, at its greatest ...

Khurasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West Asia, West and Central Asia that encompasses wes ...

(933–939). He was the son of Muzaffar ibn Muhtaj.

Origins

The origin of the Muhtajids is unknown. The name has been given by modern historians after their presumed forebear Muhtaj ( ''Muḥtāj''). They may have been descended from the Chaghan Khudahs, who ruled Chaghaniyan during the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. Another possibility is that their ancestors were

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

who migrated to the region and were Iranicized. In any case, by the early 10th century Chaghaniyan had become a vassal to the

Samanids People Samanid Samanid Samanid The Samanid Empire () was a Persianate society, Persianate Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, ruled by a dynasty of Iranian peoples, Iranian ''dehqan'' origin. The empire was centred in Greater Khorasan, Khorasan an ...

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

Biography

Abu Bakr Muhammad was the first ruler fully attested in sources. Under the Samanids, he was the governor of

Ferghana Fergana ( uz-Latn-Cyrl, Fargʻona, Фарғона, ), () or Ferghana, also Farghana is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 320 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km southwest of ...

. When in 929 the Samanid amir

Nasr II Nasr ibn Ahmad or Nasr II (), nicknamed "the Fortunate", was the ruler ('' amir'') of Transoxiana and Khurasan as the head of the Samanid dynasty from 914 to 943. His reign marked the high point of the Samanid dynasty's fortunes. He was the son ...

was temporarily expelled from power by his brothers, Muhammad remained loyal to him. As a result, when Nasr managed to regained power, he rewarded Muhammad with the governorship of

Balkh Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan. It is located approximately to the northwest of the provincial capital city Mazar-i-Sharif and approximately to the south of the Amu Darya and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border. In 2021 ...

, and then in 933 made him governor of

. During his time as governor of Khurasan, Muhammad battled various

Dailamite The Daylamites or Dailamites (Middle Persian: ''Daylamīgān''; ''Deylamiyān'') were an Iranian people inhabiting the Daylam—the mountainous regions of northern Iran on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea, now comprising the southeastern ...

bands in northern Iran. In 939 he fell ill and was replaced in his post by his son Abu 'Ali Chaghani. Abu Bakr Muhammad died in 941.

Sources

*Bosworth, C. E. "Al-e Mohtaj." ''Encyclopedia Iranica.'' 22 September 2006. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Bakr Muhammad 941 deaths Year of birth unknown 10th-century monarchs in Asia 10th-century Iranian people Monarchs of Chaghaniyan Samanid generals Samanid governors of Khorasan