Editing History of Iran (section)

==== Abbasid period and autonomous Iranian dynasties ====
{{Main|Abbasid Caliphate||Iranian Intermezzo|Tahirid dynasty|Saffarid dynasty|Ziyarid dynasty|Samanids|Sajid dynasty|Sallarid dynasty|Ilyasids|Buyid dynasty|Kakuyids}}
[[File:Saffarids 900ad.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Saffarid dynasty]] in 900 AD.]]
[[File:Iran circa 1000AD.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Map of the Iranian dynasties in the mid 10th-century.]]

The Abbasid army consisted primarily of Khorasanians and was led by an Iranian general, [[Abu Muslim Khorasani]]. It contained both Iranian and Arab elements, and the Abbasids enjoyed both Iranian and Arab support. The Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads in 750.<ref name="Islamic Conquest">{{cite web|url=http://www.iranchamber.com/history/islamic_conquest/islamic_conquest.php|title=History of Iran: Islamic Conquest|access-date=2007-06-21|archive-date=2019-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191005023220/http://www.iranchamber.com/history/islamic_conquest/islamic_conquest.php|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Amir Arjomand, the [[Abbasid Revolution]] essentially marked the end of the Arab empire and the beginning of a more inclusive, multi-ethnic state in the Middle East.<ref name=said>[[Saïd Amir Arjomand]], Abd Allah Ibn al-Muqaffa and the Abbasid Revolution. [[Iranian Studies (journal)|Iranian Studies]], vol. 27, #1–4. [[London]]: [[Routledge]], 1994. {{JSTOR|i401381}}</ref>

One of the first changes the Abbasids made after taking power from the Umayyads was to move the empire's capital from [[Damascus]], in the [[Levant]], to [[Iraq]]. The latter region was influenced by Persian history and culture, and moving the capital was part of the Persian mawali demand for Arab influence in the empire. The city of [[Baghdad]] was constructed on the [[Tigris River]], in 762, to serve as the new Abbasid capital.<ref name="AHGC">{{cite web|work=Applied History Research Group, University of Calgary |url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/fractured/ |title=The Islamic World to 1600 |access-date=26 August 2006  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005003551/http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/fractured/ |archive-date=5 October 2008 }}</ref>

The Abbasids established the position of [[vizier]] like [[Barmakids]] in their administration, which was the equivalent of a "vice-caliph", or second-in-command. Eventually, this change meant that many caliphs under the Abbasids ended up in a much more ceremonial role than ever before, with the vizier in real power. A new Persian bureaucracy began to replace the old Arab aristocracy, and the entire administration reflected these changes, demonstrating that the new dynasty was different in many ways from the Umayyads.<ref name="AHGC"/>

By the 9th century, Abbasid control began to wane as regional leaders sprang up in the far corners of the empire to challenge the central authority of the Abbasid caliphate.<ref name="AHGC"/> The Abbasid caliphs began enlisting ''mamluks'', Turkic-speaking warriors, who had been moving out of Central Asia into [[Transoxiana]] as slave warriors as early as the 9th century. Shortly thereafter the real power of the Abbasid caliphs began to wane; eventually, they became religious figureheads while the warrior slaves ruled.<ref name="Islamic Conquest"/>

[[File:Papak Xorramdin.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|[[Babak Khorramdin]] was the leader of ''[[Khurramites|the Khurramīyah movement]]''. A devout [[Zoroaster|Zoroastrian]], he led the Persian freedom movement against oppressive Arab rule.|alt=]]
The 9th century also saw the revolt by native Zoroastrians, known as the [[Khurramites]], against oppressive Arab rule. The movement was led by a Persian freedom fighter [[Babak Khorramdin]]. Babak's Iranianizing<ref>Bernard Lewis (1991), "The Political Language of Islam", University of Chicago Press, pp 482: "Babak's Iranianizing rebellion in Azerbaijan gave occasion for sentiments at the capital to harden against men who were sympathetic to the more explicitly Iranian tradition"</ref> rebellion, from its base in [[Iranian Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]] in [[Iran|northwestern Iran]],<ref>F. Daftary (1999) Sectarian and National Movements in Iran, Khurasan and Transoxania During Umayyad and Early 'Abbasid Times In History of Civilizations of Central Asia, vol. IV, part One, ed. M. S. Asimov, and C. E. Bosworth. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, pp. 41–60. excerpt from pg 50: "The activities of the Khurammiya reached their peak in the movement of Babak al-Khurrami, whose protracted rebellion based in north-western Iran seriously threatened the stability of the Abbassid caliphate... This revolt lasting for more than twenty years soon spread from Azerbaijan (North/West Iran) to western and central parts of Iran."</ref> called for a return of the political glories of the [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]]<ref>[[Kathryn Babayan]], "Mystics, monarchs, and messiahs", Harvard CMES, 2002. pg 138: "Babak revolted in Azerbaijan (816–838), evoking Abu Muslim as a heroic symbol..and called for a return to the Iranian past"</ref> past. The Khorramdin rebellion of Babak spread to the Western and Central parts of Iran and lasted more than twenty years before it was defeated when Babak was betrayed by [[Afshin (Caliphate General)|Afshin]], a senior general of the Abbasid Caliphate.

As the power of the Abbasid caliphs diminished, a series of dynasties rose in various parts of Iran, some with considerable influence and power. Among the most important of these overlapping dynasties were the [[Tahirids]] in [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] (821–873); the [[Saffarids]] in [[Sistan]] (861–1003, their rule lasted as maliks of Sistan until 1537); and the [[Samanids]] (819–1005), originally at [[Bukhara]]. The Samanids eventually ruled an area from central Iran to Pakistan.<ref name="Islamic Conquest"/>

By the early 10th century, the Abbasids almost lost control to the growing Persian faction known as the [[Buyid dynasty]] (934–1062). Since much of the Abbasid administration had been Persian anyway, the Buyids were quietly able to assume real power in Baghdad. The Buyids were defeated in the mid-11th century by the [[Great Seljuq Empire|Seljuq]] [[Oghuz Turks|Turks]], who continued to exert influence over the Abbasids, while publicly pledging allegiance to them. The balance of power in Baghdad remained as such – with the Abbasids in power in name only – until the Mongol invasion of 1258 sacked the city and definitively ended the Abbasid dynasty.<ref name="AHGC"/>

During the [[Abbasid]] period an enfranchisement was experienced by the ''mawali'' and a shift was made in political conception from that of a primarily Arab empire to one of a Muslim empire<ref name="Tobin">Tobin 113–115</ref> and c. 930 a requirement was enacted that required all bureaucrats of the empire be Muslim.<ref name="Astren" />