The Sāmānid rule: Borrowed from the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate

The borrowed nature of the Sāmānid dynasty prompts one to examine the structure of this government in the persistence of the Tāherid government. One must note that the Sāmānids, in light of their geographical location, cultural thinking, and intellectual currents, reproduced the borrowed structure in a different direction. The sources of power derived from the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate after Khorāsān reached Mā Varā al-Nahr under the Sāmānids and made significant and wide-ranging social changes. Those far-reaching changes became the model for the Sāmānids and the dynasties that followed.

The formation of the Sāmānid dynasty, like that of the Tāherids, was the result of delegating the reign of Mā Varā al-Nahr to the Iranians. The starting point for the presence of the Sāmānids in Mā Varā al-Nahr was the revolt of Rāfeʿ ibn Leys, which forced Hārun al-Rashid, the ʿAbbāsid caliph, to move to Khorāsān. This revolt, which could have posed a great danger to the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate's eastern frontier, was resolved by the Sāmānids. It ended without war or bloodshed at the lowest possible cost. According to Narshakhi: