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Abu Tahir Yazid (Arabic: ابوطاهر یزید) or Yazid I was sixth Shah of Shirvan and third Shah of Layzan.

Reign

He was reigning as Layzanshah as heir of his father Muhammad. He attacked Shirvan c. 917 and captured its ruler Ali I alongside his son Abbas and grandson Abu Bakr in Marzūqiya, near Derbent. While shah and son were executed, Abu Bakr managed to flee. He subsequently fortified Yazidiya (modern Shamakhi, Azerbaijan) in 918.

Around 932, Muflih al-Saji arrived in Shirvan, who was escaping Daysam al-Kurdi. Fearing retribution, Abu Tahir handed him over to Balduya, possibly a general of Daysam.

He intervened in Emirate of Derbent c. 944 when inhabitants expelled their ruler Ahmad b. Abd al-Malik I and appealed to Abu Tahir to take over emirate, who in turn sent his second son Ahmad to Derbent. However this rule proved short as Derbentis deposed Ahmad again and returned former emir to rule. Abu Tahir plundered environs of citadel as a retribution.

He soon had to face an invasion by Marzuban ibn Muhammad and was forced to make a common cause with Derbentis against Sallarid invasion. Despite that he won the battle, he was nevertheless forced to pay tribute later.

Towards the end of his reign, Abu Tahir was allied with Emirate of Derbent and Sallarids in a campaign against Christian neighbors, probably Bagratid Armenia.

Family

Abu Tahir Yazid had at least two sons:

• Muhammad — Layzanshah (917–948), Tabasaranshah (917–948), Shirvanshah (948–956)
• Ahmad — Emir of Derbent (c. 944)

References

1. ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 27.
2. Madelung 1975, p. 246.
3. Minorsky 1958, p. 62.

Sources

• Madelung, W. (1975). "The Minor Dynasties of Northern Iran". In Frye, R. N. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 198–249. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6.
• Minorsky, Vladimir (1958). A History of Sharvān and Darband in the 10th-11th Centuries. Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd.

• Shirvanshahs
• 10th-century monarchs in the Middle East