Muhammad ibn Mikal was an

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 ...

nobleman from the Mikalid family, who served as a military commander of the

Tahirid dynasty The Tahirid dynasty ( fa, طاهریان, Tâheriyân, ) was a culturally Arabized Sunni Muslim dynasty of Persian dehqan origin, that ruled as governors of Khorasan from 821 to 873 as well as serving as military and security commanders i ...

. He was the son of Mikal, a nobleman who had left

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and settled in Khurasan, and could trace his descent back to the

Sogdia Sogdia ( Sogdian: ) or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Em ...

n ruler Divashtich. Muhammad also had a brother named

Shah ibn Mikal Shah ibn Mikal or al-Shah ibn Mikal, was an Iranian nobleman from the Mikalid family, who served as a military commander of the Tahirid dynasty and Abbasid Caliphate. Biography He was the son of Mikal, a nobleman who had left Iraq and settled in ...

, who, during his early career, along with Muhammad, played an important role under the Tahirid ruler

Abdallah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani Abdallah ibn Tahir ( fa, عبدالله طاهر, ar, عبد الله بن طاهر الخراساني) (ca. 798–844/5) was a military leader and the Tahirid governor of Khurasan from 828 until his death. He is perhaps the most famous of th ...

. In 864, the Alid Hasan ibn Zayd conquered

Tabaristan Tabaristan or Tabarestan ( fa, طبرستان, Ṭabarestān, or mzn, تبرستون, Tabarestun, ultimately from Middle Persian: , ''Tapur(i)stān''), was the name applied to a mountainous region located on the Caspian coast of northern Iran. ...

from the Tahirids, while another Alid named

Muhammad ibn Ja'far ibn al-Hasan Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monothe ...

expelled the Tahirid governor of

Ray Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (g ...

, and captured the city. The Tahirid ruler Muhammad ibn Tahir shortly sent an army from Khurasan under Muhammad ibn Mikal, who managed to recapture the city and capture Muhammad ibn Ja'far. Hasan, however, quickly made a counter-attack under his Dailamite general Wajin, who managed to rout the army of Muhammad ibn Mikal, and kill the latter. Muhammad had a son named Abd-Allah Mikali, who achieved prominence under the

Saffarids The Saffarid dynasty ( fa, صفاریان, safaryan) was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian origin that ruled over parts of Persia, Greater Khorasan, and eastern Makran from 861 to 1003. One of the first indigenous Persian dynasties to eme ...

, a dynasty which had conquered Khurasan from the Tahirids.

Sources

* * * 9th-century Iranian people 860s deaths 9th-century births Mikalids {{Iran-mil-bio-stub