Life
Some time before 916 Muhammad became the ruler of Tarum. Like his predecessors, Muhammad forged a marriage alliance with the Justanids of Dailaman by marrying Kharasuya, daughter of the Justanid king Justan b. Wahsudan. This marriage allowed him to intervene in the affairs of the Justanids. In 919 he killed 'Ali b. Wahsudan, who had murdered Justan in order to take the throne for himself. Muhammad also killed Khusrau Firuz b. Wahsudan in battle, although Khusrau Firuz's son Mahdi was able to succeed him in spite of the Sallarid. Despite this, the power of the Sallarids increased at the Justanids' expense.
In 930 the Dailamite Asfar b. Shiruya ordered Mardavij to seize Tarum from Muhammad. Mardavij invaded Tarum and laid siege to the fortress of Shamiran, but Muhammad was eventually able to persuade him to revolt against Asfar. With Sallarid support Mardavij killed Asfar's brother and then Asfar himself, taking the latter's territories and founding the Ziyarid dynasty of northern Iran.
Muhammad's oppressive rule made him unpopular even to his own family. In 941 his sons Marzuban and Wahsudan confined him in a castle. Wahsudan took over the rule in Tarum, while Marzuban went on to conquer Azerbaijan. Muhammad was freed in 949, after Marzuban had been captured by the Buwayhids. Maruzban's Dailamite captains rallied among Muhammad, freeing him and setting him up in Ardebil. He was unable to maintain himself in Azerbaijan for long, however, as he quickly offended the Dailamites and was forced to flee to Tarum. There he was imprisoned for a second time by Wahsudan, and remained in prison until his death, which occurred some time before 953.
Besides his political career, Muhammad was known for building up the fortress of Shamiran. He did so by using expert workmen, promising them high pay but then reducing their status to that of forced laborers.
Read more about this topic: Muhammad Bin Musafir
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“This spending of the best part of one’s life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it reminds me of the Englishman who went to India to make a fortune first, in order that he might return to England and live the life of a poet. He should have gone up garret at once.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Each reaching and aspiration is an instinct with which all nature consists and cöoperates, and therefore it is not in vain. But alas! each relaxing and desperation is an instinct too. To be active, well, happy, implies courage. To be ready to fight in a duel or a battle implies desperation, or that you hold your life cheap.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The true colour of life is the colour of the body, the colour of the covered red, the implicit and not explicit red of the living heart and the pulses. It is the modest colour of the unpublished blood.”
—Alice Meynell (1847–1922)