ʿALĪ B. MAʾMŪN

 

ʿALĪ B. MAʾMŪN, ABU’L-ḤASAN, second Ḵᵛārazmšāh of the short-lived Maʾmunid dynasty in Ḵᵛārazm (reigned 387-ca. 399/997-ca. 1008-09). He was married to Maḥmūd of Ḡazna’s sister Kah-Kālǰī (ʿOtbī, al-Taʾrīḵ al-Yamīnī, with commentary of Shaikh Manīnī, Cairo, 1286/1869, II, p. 151), and the latter was, after his death, taken over by his brother and successor Abu’l-ʿAbbās Maʾmūn in 406/1015-16 (Gardīzī, ed. Nazim, p. 73, ed. Ḥabībī, p. 182; Bayhaqī, p. 668); this marriage link was soon afterwards to provide a convenient casus belli, provoking Maḥmūd’s military intervention in Ḵᵛārazm, the extinction of the indigenous dynasty, and the incorporation of the region within the Ghaznavid empire (see Āl-e Maʾmūn). Virtually nothing is recorded about the internal affairs of Ḵᵛārazm during Abu’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī’s reign; at one point towards its end, despite his marriage alliance with the Ghaznavids, he seems to have been allied politically with the Ghaznavids’ enemies the Qarakhanids, who had taken over the Transoxanian lands of the Samanids (see Barthold, Turkestan3, pp. 272, 275). He must have died some time between 397/1006 and 400/1010.

Bibliography:

See also E. Sachau, “Zur Geschichte und Chronologie von Khwârazm,” Sb. Ak. Wiss. Wien 74, 1873, pp. 291-92.

(C. E. Bosworth)

Originally Published: December 15, 1985

Last Updated: August 1, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 8, p. 852

Cite this entry:

C. E. Bosworth, “ʿALĪ B. MAʾMŪN,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, I/8, p. 852, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ali-b-17 (accessed on 30 December 2012).