Ushrusaniyya The Ushrusaniyya ( " " ) were a regiment in the regular army of the Abbasid Caliphate . Formed in the early ninth century A . D . , the unit consisted of soldiers who were originally from the region of Ushrusana in Transoxiana . The Ushrusaniyya initially served under the prominent general al - Afshin , but they remained active after his downfall , and are frequently mentioned during the period known as the Anarchy at Samarra . Background . Ushrusana was a frontier province in Central Asia , bordering the lands of Islam during the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates . It was situated between the districts of Samarkand in the west and Khujand to the east , and was somewhat south of the Syr Darya River . As a result of its location , several roads ran through it , making the province a frequent stop for travelers . The terrain of the country consisted of a mixture of plains and mountains ; some districts of Ushrusana had towns , but overall the region was little urbanized . The primary city was Bunjikath , which was often referred to as the City of Ushrusana . Prior to the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana in the early 8th century , Ushrusana was ruled by what was probably an Iranian dynasty , whose princes were known by the title of " afshīn " . Over the course of the 8th century Ushrusana was at times nominally subject to the Caliphate , but it remained effectively independent . Several Umayyad governors conducted raids into the country and received tribute from its rulers , but permanent conquest was not achieved by them . After the Abbasids came to power in 750 , the princes of Ushrusana made submissions to the caliphs during the reigns of al - Mahdi ( r . 775 – 785 ) and Harun al - Rashid ( r . 786 – 809 ) , but these appear to have been nominal acts and the people of the region continued to resist Muslim rule . Ushrusana was more firmly brought under Abbasid control following a quarrel that broke out within the ruling dynasty , during the caliphate of al - Ma ' mun ( r . 813 – 833 ) . In 822 , a Muslim army under Ahmad ibn Abi Khalid al - Ahwal conquered Ushrusana and captured its ruler Kawus ibn Kharakhuruh ; he was sent to Baghdad , where he submitted to the caliph and converted to Islam . From this point on , Ushrusana was generally considered to be part of the Abbasid state , although the " afshīn " s were allowed to retain their control over the country as subjects of the caliph . Kawus was succeeded by his son Khaydar , who had assisted Ahmad ibn Abi Khalid in his campaign against Ushrusana . Khaydar , who is usually referred to in the sources simply as al - Afshin , decided to enter the service of the Abbasids and made his way to al - Ma ' mun ' s court . There he embarked on a military career , and became a commander in the caliphal army . With al - Afshin came a number of his followers , a number of whom were fellow natives of Ushrusana . These men were integrated into the army and , serving under their prince , became known as the Ushrusaniyya . The Ushrusaniyya under al - Afshin . The formation of the Ushrusaniyya regiment was part of a general policy initiated by al - Ma ' mun and expanded by al - Mu ' tasim ( r . 833 – 842 ) to recruit soldiers from the various frontier districts of Transoxiana . As a result , the Ushrusaniyya were joined by other newly formed regiments from Central Asia , such as the Turks , the Faraghina , and the Ishtakhaniyya . These soldiers soon formed the majority of the caliphs ' guard and replaced the older Khurasani " Abna " ' as the backbone of the army . For the next several decades , these units collectively remained the dominant force in the caliphal military , both in Baghdad and , after 836 , in Samarra . After joining the caliphal court , al - Afshin quickly became one of the leading figures in the Abbasid military establishment . During the caliphate of al - Ma ' mun , he was sent to Barqa and , in 831 , to Egypt , in order to suppress rebel activity in those provinces . After al - Mu ' tasim became caliph , he was given a major command as the leader of the war against Babak al - Khurrami in Adharbayjan , and after a two - year campaign ( 835 – 837 ) he succeeded in destroying the rebellion and capturing its leader . Following this , he was put in charge of part of the Muslim army during al - Mu ' tasim ' s 838 expedition against the Byzantines , and he played a leading role during the siege of Amorium . The exact composition of his forces during these campaigns is unknown , but it appears that both Ushrusani and non - Ushrusani officers were serving under him by the mid - 830s . In 836 the Ushrusaniyya , together with the rest of the central army , were transferred to the new capital city of Samarra . They and other units attached to al - Afshin were granted allotments in the cantonment of al - Matira , in the southern part of the city . Here al - Afshin built a palace for himself ; on the caliph ' s orders , he also constructed a small market for his followers , together with baths and mosques . Numbers and equipment . No specific figures are provided in regards to the overall strength of the Ushrusaniyya in Samarra . Based on the frequent references to them in the sources , however , it is likely that they were one of the larger regiments in the capital . On the other hand , they were certainly outnumbered by the Turks , and probably by the Faraghina as well . The sources also suggest that not all of the troops under the command of al - Afshin were Ushrusaniyya , and that al - Matira was partly populated by non - Ushrusanians . Ushrusana itself was not a large country , and its population may not have been large enough to supply many soldiers . Modern estimates on the overall size and composition of the Samarran military vary widely , but the Ushrusaniyya are generally considered to have made up only a small portion of the army . Historian Helmut Töllner , for example , speculated that there were 20 , 000 to 30 , 000 troops in Samarra ; of these , half were Turks , and the Ushrusaniyya would have constituted only a fraction of the remainder . Archaeologist Derek Kennet , after surveying the remains of the military cantonments in Samarra , estimated that al - Matria was home to 11 , 847 soldiers ( Ushrusaniyya and non - Ushrusaniyya alike ) during the reign of al - Mu ' tasim , out of a total army size of 94 , 353 ; other historians , however , have considered these numbers to be too large . Hugh N . Kennedy , relying on figures provided in the literary sources , believed that there may have been around 5 , 000 non - Turkish Transoxianans , including Ushrusaniyya , in the central army . The equipment used by the Ushrusaniyya in combat is described at some length in a passage by the chronicler al - Tabari . During a riot in Samarra , in which the Ushrusaniyya were sent out to restore order , the troops fought the rioters with multiple weapons , firing arrows ( " nushshāb " ) into the hostile crowd and engaging them with swords ( " suyūf " ) . For defense , they were equipped with shields ( " durūʿ " ) and wore coats of mail ( " jawāshan " ) . They were also provided with mounts ( " dawābb " ) , but it is not specified whether these were meant to be ridden in battle or simply used for transport . Subsequent history . Al - Afshin ' s career came to an end when he was imprisoned on allegations of treason and apostasy in 841 , and this likely resulted in a decline in the importance of the Ushrusaniyya . Al - Ya ' qubi notes that after al - Afshin ' s death , the Turkish commander Wasif al - Turki and his followers took up residence in al - Matira during the caliphate of al - Wathiq ( r . 842 – 847 ) , and it is possible that the Ushrusaniyya were displaced from that area and forced to settle elsewhere in the city . The regiment survived , however , and continued to be used in military campaigns . In 847 , for example , they participated in Bugha al - Kabir ' s expedition against the disorderly Banu Numayr in western Arabia , during which they were under the command al - Afshin ' s former lieutenant Wajin al - Ushrusani . Following the assassination of the caliph al - Mutawakkil in December 861 , the caliphate entered a period of instability , known as the Anarchy at Samarra . During this period , the Ushrusaniyya , along with the other military regiments , played a prominent part in the affairs of the capital . Al - Mutawakkil ' s son al - Muntasir ( r . 861 – 862 ) , who was complicit in his father ' s death , had sought to make allies of the Ushrusaniyya in the days leading up to the murder , and many of them threw their support behind him . After al - Muntasir died in June 862 , the Ushrusaniyya , together with the Turks and Maghariba , agreed to the selection of al - Musta ' in as al - Muntasir ' s successor , and they were present during an inauguration ceremony for the new caliph . When riots broke out in the capital in favor of al - Musta ' in ' s rival al - Mu ' tazz , they were deployed to help suppress the dissidents , but suffered heavy casualties during the fighting . During the civil war which broke out between al - Musta ' in and al - Mu ' tazz in 865 , a large continent of Ushrusaniyya was present in Baghdad to fight for al - Musta ' in ; these were placed under the command of al - Afshin ' s son al - Hasan . Other Ushrusani officers , also on the side of al - Musta ' in , were assigned to various commands , such as escorting revenue shipments to Baghdad and guarding the city suburbs . After the war ended in early 866 in favor of al - Mu ' tazz , the Ushrusaniyya returned to Samarra , and over the next several years they occasionally participated in riots in the city . In June 870 , the Ushrusaniyya rallied to defend the caliph al - Muhtadi ( r . 869 - 870 ) when the Turks under Musa ibn Bugha al - Kabir revolted , but they were defeated and the caliph was killed . This event seems to have resulted in the decline of the regiment ; after this point , it disappears from the sources .