Rafi ibn Harthama

Muhammad ibn Zayd is the younger brother of Hasan ibn Zayd, an Alid who had founded Zaydid rule over Tabaristan in 864.

Nothing is known of his early life.

Muhammad is mentioned during Hasan's rule as being captured by Ya'qub al-Saffar during the latter's 874 invasion, but released at Gurgan when Ya'qub withdrew in 876.

After a brief visit to Tabaristan to see his mother, he had returned to Gurgan as an assistant to Hasan's brother-in-law, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim.

The Zaydids had ben expelled from Gurgan by the Tahirid general Ishaq al-Sari in spring 877, but soon recovered it.

In 880, Muhammad also suppressed the rebellion of Rustam ibn Qarin, a member of the native Bavandid dynasty that rules the mountains of eastern Tabaristan and opposes the Zaydids.

He then suppressed a rebellion in Gurgan headed by another Alid, Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Aqiqi, and probably continued to govern the province in his brother's name until the latter's death on January 6, 884.

Power in Tabaristan is usurped upon Hasan's death by his brother-in-law, Abu'l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Muhammad, who proclaims himself as the legitimate emir due to Muhammad's absence in Gurgan.

Muhammad is prevented from returning to Tabaristan straight away by a mutiny by his Daylamite troops, and is able to regain control of Gurgan itself only through the aid of the former Tahirid general and now ruler of Khurasan, Rafi' ibn Harthama.

Muhammad is able to finally return in October 884 to Tabaristan, seize the capital Amol, and behead the usurper.

Muhammad assumes the same regnal name as his brother, al-Da‘ī ila‘l-Haqq ("He who summons to the Truth"), and is known as al-Da‘ī al-Saghīr ("the Younger Missionary") in contrast to Hasan (al-Da‘ī al-kabīr, "the Elder Missionary").

He is also found in some sources as al-Qa’im bi al-Haqq ("Upholder of the Truth").

Muhammad now attacks Rustam, who had supported the usurper Ahmad, and drives him from his domains to seek refuge at the Saffarid court.

 Saffarid mediation enables Rustam to return.

Rafi ibn Harthama had originally served the Tahirid dynasty, which controlled Khurasan as virtual viceroys in the name of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Tahirid (and implicitly also Abbasid) control of Khurasan had been challenged in the 860s by the revolt of Ya'qub al-Saffar, who, beginning from his home province of Sistan, had defeated the Tahirid armies and by 873 had seized the provincial capital, Nishapur.

The failure of Ya'qub to seize Baghdad in 876, however, and his death soon after had weakened the Saffarid regime that his brother Amr ibn al-Layth had inherited.

With the Saffarids engaged elsewhere, and their takeover of the former Tahirid domains condemned as illegal by the Abbasid government, Nishapur had been seized in 875 by an anti-Saffarid faction under Ahmad ibn Abdallah al-Khujistani, a former Tahirid soldier.

After his murder in 882, Rafi, who had risen to be his commander-in-chief, had been acclaimed by al-Khujistani's army as his successor.

Rafi had faced the opposition of the Saffarids under Amr, who had made his peace with the caliph in 879 and been recognized as governor of Khurasan and most of Iran, as well as the adventurer Abu Talha Mansur ibn Sharkab, who had briefly seized Nishapur in 876–878 and was now ruler of Merv.

Defeated, Abu Talha soon sought Samanid and Saffarid aid, and in 885 he had been appointed as the Saffarid deputy for Khurasan, while Amr turns again west to confront the attempts of the Abbasid regent, al-Muwaffaq, to recover Fars.

Rafi's fortunes change at this point, as al-Muwaffaq strips the Saffarids of their governorships, and confers Khurasan on Rafi.

Rafi is now able to secure an alliance with the Samanids of Transoxiana and neutralize Abu Talha, seizing Merv and Herat.

He raids as far as Khwarezm in 886 and aids the Samanid Isma'il ibn Ahmad against his brother Nasr I.

…Rayy in 889/890, where he establishes his headquarters.

During his stay in Tabaristan, Rafi had been joined by Ali ibn al-Layth, Amr's brother, who had initially been the favored candidate to succeed Ya'qub.

Ali's sons, al-Mu'addal and al-Layth, will later accompany Rafi in his attempt to regain control of Khurasan in 896.

Rafi invades and conquers the Zaydid domains of Gurgan and Tabaristan in 888/889, defeating the Zaydid ruler Muhammad ibn Zayd in battle at the Chalus River.

From Tabaristan, …

…Rafi marches to Qazvin, then …