Nuh II

Nuh II
Emir of the Samanids
Reign	976 – 997
Predecessor	Mansur I
Successor	Mansur II
Born	963
Died	23 July 997
House	Samanid
Father	Mansur I
Religion	Sunni Islam

Nuh II (Persian: نوح‎‎, died 997) was amir of the Samanids (976–997). He was the son and successor of Mansur I.

Having ascended the throne as a youth, Nuh was assisted by his mother and his vizier Abu'l-Husain 'Abd-Allah ibn Ahmad 'Utbi. Sometime around his ascension, the Karakhanids invaded and captured the upper Zarafshan Valley, where the Samanid silver mines were located. In 980 they struck again, seizing Isfijab. 'Utbi, however was focused on removing Abu'l-Hasan Simjuri, the Samanid governor of Khurasan. The vizier considered Abu'l-Hasan to be too powerful; he managed to remove him from the post in 982. He replaced him with one of his own partisans, a Turkish general called Tash. Abu'l-Hasan fled to his appendage in Kuhistan, to the south of Herat.

An expedition against the Buyids was mobilized in Khurisan, also in 982; it was initially successful, but the Samanid forces were subsequently crushed. A Buyid invasion of the Samanid state was prevented only by the death of 'Adud al-Daula. 'Utbi attempted to regroup the army, but was assassinated by supporters of Abu'l-Hasan and Fa'iq.

'Utbi's death sparked an uprising in the capital Bukhara; Nuh was forced to request Tash's assistance in crushing the revolt. The governor succeeded in this task, and prepared to fight the armies of Abu'l-Hasan and his son Abu 'Ali, along with Fa'iq. Eventually, however, he changed his mind and made peace with the Simjuris and Fa'iq. Tash convinced Nuh to give Fa'iq control of Balkh and to Abu 'Ali control of Herat; Abu'l-Hasan was restored in Khurasan, while Tash kept his governorship of Khurasan.

This peace was broken by 'Utbi's successor Muhammad ibn 'Uzair; the vizier had been rivals with 'Utbi and therefore disliked Tash. Nuh, due to Muhammad's advice, stripped Tash of his office and reinstated Abu'l-Hasan to the governorship. Tash fled to the Buyids, who provided him with assistance. The Simjuris and Fa'iq defeated him near the end of 987, however, and he fled to Gurgan, where he died in 988. During the same year, Nuh appointed Abu Ali Damghani as his new vizier, but later replaced him with Abu Nasr Ahmad as his vizier. Six months later, however, Abu Nasr Ahmad was assassinated by the ghulams of Nuh's palace, and Abu Ali Damghani was shortly re-appointed as Nuh's vizier.

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