User:HistoryofIran/Ala al-Dawla Muhammad

Muhammad ibn Rustam Dushmanziyar, also known by his laqab (honorific title) of Ala al-Dawla Muhammad (علاء الدوله محمد), was a Daylamite military commander and the founder of the short-lived but important Kakuyid dynasty, ruling from c. 1008 to 1041.

Reign
Ala al-Dawla Muhammad was the son of Rustam Dushmanziyar, a Daylamite soldier who served the Buyid amirate of Jibal, and was given lands in the Alborz to protect them against the local rulers of the neighbouring region of Tabaristan. Rustam was the uncle of Sayyida Shirin (died 1028), a princess from the Bavand dynasty who was married to the Buyid amir (ruler) Fakhr al-Dawla ((r. 976 – 980)). Because of this connection, Ala al-Dawla Muhammad is often referred to as Ibn Kakuya or Pisar-i Kaku, "meaning son of the uncle." By 1008, he was the governor of the city of Isfahan, a position which his Sayyida Shirin had secured him. However, the report of the 11th-century local historian of Isfahan, Mafarrukhi, suggests that Ala al-Dawla Muhammad was in control of the city at least since 1003.

The fragility of Majd al-Dawla's kingdom allowed Ala al-Dawla Muhammad to rule autonomously, as well as expand his realm into the northern and western mountains, then controlled by autonomous Kurdish dynasties such as the Annazids. In 1023, Ala al-Dawla Muhammad captured Hamadan, putting an end to the rule of Shams al-Dawla's son and successor Sama' al-Dawla ((r. 1021 – 1023)). Majd al-Dawla was powerless to interfere. Although Ala al-Dawla Muhammad was virtually an independent monarch and the most powerful figure in Jibal, he continued to mint coins inscribed with the name of Majd al-Dawla as his suzerain until the latters downfall in 1029. A distinguished coin minted by Ala al-Dawla Muhammad in 1019/20 at Isfahan, mentions Majd al-Dawla with the imperial Persian title of shahanshah (King of Kings).

Avicenna
Avicenna was subsequently released, and went to Isfahan, where he was well received by Ala al-Dawla. In the words of Juzjani, the Kakuyid ruler gave Avicenna "the respect and esteem which someone like him deserved." Adamson also says that Avicenna's service under Ala al-Dawla "proved to be the most stable period of his life." Avicenna served as the advisor, if not vizier of Ala al-Dawla, accompanying him in many of his military expeditions and travels. Avicenna dedicated two Persian works to him, a philosophical treatise named Danish-nama-yi Ala'i ("Book of Science for Ala"), and a medical treatise about the pulse.

During the brief occupation of Isfahan by the Ghaznavids in January 1030, Avicenna and Ala al-Dawla relocated to the southwestern Iranian region of Khuzistan, where they stayed until the death of the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud ((r. 998 – 1030)), which occurred two months later. It was seemingly when Avicenna returned to Isfahan that he started writing his Pointers and Reminders. In 1037, while Avicenna was accompanying Ala al-Dawla to a battle near Isfahan, he was hit by a severe colic, which he had been constantly suffering from throughout his life. He died shortly afterwards in Hamadan, where he was buried.