Sadakiyans

Sadakiyans (ca. 770 – 827/28) was a Kurdish Muslim dynasty that ruled in northeastern Kurdistan, centered at Urmia. This dynasty was named after its founder Sadaka ibn Ali, a local tribal leader.

Sadaka, together with his siblings and henchmen, succeed to dominate a region from Lake Urmia to Mosul. As indicated by Baladhuri, in the wake of taking Urmia [1] he constructed several fortress and further fortified the city by creating a water-trench around it. He stretched out his territory to incorporate Salmas, Khoy (Xoy), Lajan, Ushno and Sindus in today’s northwestern Iran. During Harun al Rashid’s caliphate (Abbasid), Sadakiyans had additional territorial gains and their suzerainty was acknowledged by the governor of Tabriz. The triumphant campaigns of Sadakiyans shocked Abbasids, who afterwards sent a huge armed force commanded by a general known as Khazima. He managed to capture only Maragha (Maragheh), and Sadakiyan forces defeated him shortly after. Following Sadaka, his son Ali came to power and extended their dominon further.

Ali’s son Sadaka II known with his regnal name Zardîq (Zarir, Zariq) was on the throne between 824 and 827. Zariq was a skilled military commander like his grandfather. He got in touch with Abbasids and asserted that he was willing to fight the Iranian rebel-leader Babak Khorramdin in exchange for his dominance over Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Abbasid Caliph al-Mamun acknowledged the arrangement and instigated him to counter Babak Khurramdin who was hiding himself in the mountains of Azerbaijan.

In hijri year of 211, Zariq sent military force to Mosul so as to regain control over the city. He was unsuccessful at first, however assulted once more with a 40.000-strong army, retook Mosul and killed Said ibn Yūnus al-Azdi. This move of him enraged al-Mamun; he sent an army under the command of Muhamad ibn Humaid. In the end, Zariq was crushed. he was executed in 212 after Hijra (ca. 827–28 AD).

References

1. M. Th. Houtsma, 1993, E. J. Brill’s first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913-1936 – P. 1033, Brill

Related Pages

KURDISH HISTORY | KURDISH STATES IN HISTORY