2021-07-23 Fri

Nuh II was Amir of the Samanids reigning from 976 to 997. He was the son and successor of Mansur I.

Since he succeeded his father when he was just 13 years only, at the outset the real power in the state lay with his mother and the Vizier Abu'l-Husain 'Abd-Allah ibn Ahmad 'Utbi. Sometime around his ascension, the Karakhanids invaded and captured the upper Zarafshan Valley, where the Samanid silver mines were located.

In 980 they struck again, seizing Isfijab. 'Utbi, however, was focused on removing Abu'l-Hasan Simjuri, the Samanid governor of Khurasan. The vizier considered Abu'l-Hasan to be too powerful; he managed to remove him from the post in 982. He replaced him with one of his own partisans, a Turkish general called Tash. Abu'l-Hasan fled to his appendage in Kuhistan, to the south of Herat.

Depicted here is a gold Dinar issued under his reign. The obverse of a coin depicts the inscription “La Ilaha Illallahu Wahdahu Lasharikalahu’. On the other hand, the reverse of a coin illustrates “Muhammadur Rasulullah”.

Image Source: Wikipedia.org