Nuh I

Who was Nuh I?

Nuh ibn Nasr, or Nuh I, 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.

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.

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. 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, forcing Nuh to flee to Samarkand. 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.