Nuh ibn Nasr, or Nuh I (926-954), was the
Amir of the
Samanids in 943–954. He was the son of
Nasr II. It is rumoured that he married a
Chinese princess.
[Richard N. Frye, ''Bukhara, the Medieval Achievement'', (University of Oklahoma Press, 1965), 57.]
Rise to power
Nuh came to power after preventing a revolt against his father in 943. Several army officers, unhappy over Nasr's support of
Ismaili missionaries, planned to assassinate him. Nuh, given notice of the plot, arrived at a banquet held to organize the assassination, and seized and killed the leader of the plotters. To placate the others, he promised to put an end to the activities of the
Ismailis, and convinced his father to abdicate in his favor.
Reign
Shortly after Nuh's ascension, he was forced to put down a revolt in
Khwarazm. Another revolt, launched by
Abu 'Ali Chaghani, proved to be much more serious, and was supported by several Samanid officers such as
Abu Mansur Muhammad
Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Razzaq ibn 'Abdallah ibn Farrukh, also simply known as Abu Mansur Muhammad and Ibn 'Abd al-Razzaq, was an Iranian peoples, Iranian aristocrat who served the Samanids for most of his career, and briefly served as gove ...
, who served as the governor of
Tus. Abu 'Ali, in addition to being the ruler of the Samanid vassal state of
Chaghaniyan, had been the governor of
Khurasan since 939. In 945 he was removed from the latter post by Nuh, who desired to replace him with a
Turk named
Ibrahim ibn Simjur. Abu 'Ali joined forces with Nuh's uncle
Ibrahim ibn Ahmad and rebelled.
In 947 Ibrahim gained control of
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 ...
and crowned himself as ruler of the Samanid Empire, forcing Nuh to flee to
Samarkand
Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...
. Ibrahim, however, proved to be unpopular in the city, enabling Nuh to capture and blind his uncle as well as two of his brothers. Abu 'Ali's capital in Chaghaniyan was sacked, but in 948 peace was made between the two, and Abu 'Ali was confirmed as ruler of Chaghaniyan. Following the death of the governor of Khurasan,
Mansur ibn Qara-Tegin, in 952, Abu 'Ali regained that post as well.
Nuh removed Abu 'Ali from the governorship of Khurasan a second time after receiving a complaint from
Vushmgir, the
Ziyarid ruler of
Tabaristan. Nuh had previously supported Vushmgir; the latter had gained possession of Gurgan for a short time with Samanid support, and after losing it to the
Buyids, he used a Samanid army to take back Gurgan and Tabaristan in 947. The Ziyarids, along with the Samanids, and the Buyids subsequently fought over the region for the next few years, each side gaining temporary control of the area several times. Vushmgir, who was an ally of the Samanids, had been pleased when Abu 'Ali had gone to war against the Buyids, but was angered when Abu 'Ali made peace with the Buyids of
Ray. His complaint, which consisted of accusations that Abu 'Ali was conspiring with the Buyids, resulted in Nuh's decision to remove him. Abu 'Ali then fled to the
Buyids, and received a grant from the
Abbasid Caliph Al-Muti for control of
Khurasan. Nuh's death in 954 prevented him from solving this problem. He was succeeded by his son
'Abd al-Malik I.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuh 01
954 deaths
Samanids
10th-century monarchs in the Middle East
Year of birth unknown
10th-century Iranian people