Studying Factors Affecting Tahirid dynasty's Alignment with Shi ism

Shortly after the martyrdom of Imam Reza (A), the Tahirid established a government in Khorasan, where people still lived with the memories of the presence of Imam. Imam’s guardianship provided great opportunities for the people to get acquainted with Shia teachings. Accordingly, besides their previous background, the inclination of the Tahirid towards Shi’ism was affected by their acquaintance and relation with Imam Reza (A) in Khorasan. In a similar vein, Taher Ibn Hossein’s attempt at defying caliphate and inclining towards the Alawites was as a result of sympathetic supports provided by the people of Marv, who were advocates of the Alawites. Studying the relations between Tahirid dynasty and Shia families like Khaza’ and Ajlian in Ray, plus their due positive performances, can further strengthen the hypothesis of inclination of the family towards Shi’ism. The policies adopted by Khorasan governors, Tahir and Abdullah, were mainly aligned with the Alawites as well. Contrary to conflicting narrations which indicate ambivalent and positive- negative attitudes of the Tahirid towards Shi’ism, there are pieces of evidence confirming their alignment with Shi’ism and the Alawites—resulted by the societal requirements or their personal encounter. The paper aims at studying the degree of relation between Tahirid dynasty and Shi’ism by considering a comprehensive set of factors indicating their alignment and the existing critical views.