samanids and ḥusaynī chieftains (nuqabā) of nayshābūr

in the abbasid era, chieftainship (niqābat) was a politico-religious institution with social functions. since the early periods of the samanids era, the alavids’ chieftainship in nayshābūr, capital of khurāsān, had been turned over to the ḥusaynī alavids of banū zubāra, but amīr nūḥ b. manṣūr sāmānī (ruled 366-378) handed over this post to a ḥasanī alavid, whose descendants became the hereditary chieftains of the city. clarifying the socio-economic situation of nayshābūr, the present research dedicated to the study of the reasons for initial selection of baū zubāra by the early samanid rulers and amīr nūḥ’s revision of his ancestors’ policy in this respect. the findings of this research indicate that the disagreement between the socio-religious commitments of the chieftain and his political commitment to the samanid rulers, which were not necessarily consistent with his theoretical duties, resulted in turning the chieftains’ performance of duty to a function of the samanids’ politics. thus, when abū muḥammad yaḥyā b. muḥammad al-zubārī, the ithnā ‘asharī (twelver) chieftain of nayshābūr, considered the execution of his socio-religious commitments and his chieftain duties as prior to following amīr nūḥ, then the samanid ruler appointed abū ja‘far dāwūd b. al-ḥusayn al-ḥasanī in his place. abū ja‘far and his descendents were followers of the sunnī school.