page_title: 'Adud al-Dawla
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: 'Adud al-Dawla / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Buyid dynasty (934-1055)
context_page_description: Fannā Khusraw, better known by his laqab of ʿAḍud al-Dawla was an emir of the Buyid dynasty, ruling from 949 to 983, and at his height of power ruling an empire stretching from Makran to Yemen and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. He is widely regarded as the greatest monarch of the dynasty, and by the end of his reign was the most powerful ruler in the Middle East.
  The son of Rukn al-Dawla, Fanna Khusraw was given the title of Adud al-Dawla by the Abbasid caliph in 948 when he was made emir of Fars after the death of his childless uncle Imad al-Dawla, after which Rukn al-Dawla became the senior emir of the Buyids. In 974 Adud al-Dawla was sent by his father to save his cousin Izz al-Dawla from a rebellion. After defeating the rebel forces, he claimed the emirate of Iraq for himself, and forced his cousin to abdicate. His father, however, became angered by this decision and restored Izz al-Dawla. After the death of Adud al-Dawla's father, his cousin rebelled against him, but was defeated. Adud al-Dawla became afterwards the sole ruler of the Buyid dynasty and assumed the ancient Iranian title of Shahanshah.
context_section_description: Adud al-Dawla, like the previous Buyid rulers, maintained the Abbasids in Baghdad, which gave legitimacy to his dynasty in the eyes of some Sunni Muslims. However, he showed more interest than his predecessors to the pre-Islamic culture of Iran, and was proud of his Iranian origin. He visited Persepolis alongside Marasfand, the Zoroastrian chief priest (mobad) of Kazerun, who read the pre-Islamic inscriptions in the city for him. Adud al-Dawla later left an inscription in the city, which tells about his awareness of being heir of an ancient pre-Islamic civilization. Adud al-Dawla even claimed descent from the Sasanian king Bahram V Gor, minted coins of him wearing a Sasanian type crown, which carried the traditional Sasanian inscription, Shahanshah, may his glory increase. The reverse side of the coin said: May Shah Fanna Khusraw live long.
  However, he still preferred Arabic authors to Persian ones. There is very little evidence of his interest in Persian poetry. He spoke Arabic, wrote in Arabic and was proud to be a student of a famous Arab grammarian. He studied science in Arabic, including astronomy and mathematics. Many books written in Arabic were dedicated to him whether religious or secular. Apparently showing interest in Arabic rather than Persian, Adud al-Dawla followed the mainstream of intellectual life in a provincial town where culture was dominated by Arabic and Persian.
  Like many of his contemporaries, he does not seem to have felt that his admiration for the pre-Islamic Iranian civilization conflicted with his Muslim Shiite faith. According to some accounts, he repaired the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala, and built a mausoleum of Ali in Najaf, which is today known as the Imam Ali Mosque. He is said to have been generous to a prominent Shiite theologian, but did not follow a Shiite religious policy and was tolerant to the Sunnis. He even tried to get closer to the Sunnis by giving his daughter in marriage to the caliph, which was a failure because the caliph refused to consummate the marriage.
caption: Map of the Buyid Empire at the death of Adud al-Dawla (Yemen not shown)
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