text: ' adud al - dawla ( ) khusraw ( persian : ) , better known by his laqab of al - dawla ( arabic : الدولة , " pillar of the [ abbasid ] dynasty " ) ( september 24 , 936 – march 26 , 983 ) was an emir of the buyid dynasty , ruling from 949 to 983 , and at his height power ruling an empire stretching from makran as far 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 muslim ruler . 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 persian title shahanshah ( " king of kings " ) . when adud al - dawla became emir of iraq , the capital city , baghdad , was suffering from violence and instability owing to sectarian conflict . in order to bring peace and stability to the city , he ordered the banning of public demonstrations and polemics . at the same time , he patronized a number of shia scholars such as al - , and sponsored the renovation of a number of important shia shrines . in addition , ' adud al - dawla is credited with sponsoring and patronizing other scientific projects during his time . an observatory was built by his orders in isfahan where azophi worked . al - muqaddasi also reports that he ordered the construction of a great dam between shiraz and estakhr in 960 . the dam irrigated some 300 villages in fars province and became known as band - e amir ( port of the emir ) . among his other major constructions was the digging of the haffar channel , that joined the karun river to the shatt al - arab river ( the confluence of the tigris and the euphrates ) . the port of was built on the haffar , at its joining point with the shatt al - arab . early life fanna khusraw was born in isfahan on september 24 , 936 , he was the son of rukn al - dawla , who was the brother of imad al - dawla and mu 'izz al - dawla . according to ibn , fanna khusraw 's mother was the daughter of the daylamite nobleman al - hasan ibn al - , who was the cousin of the prominent daylamite military leader makan ibn kaki . reign rule in fars in 948 , fanna khusraw was chosen by his uncle imad al - dawla as his successor because he had no heir . imad al - dawla died in december 949 , and thus fanna khusraw became the new ruler of fars . however , this appointment was not accepted by a group of daylamite officers , who shortly rebelled against fanna khusraw . rukn al - dawla quickly left for southern iran to save his son , and was joined by the vizier of mu 'izz al - dawla for the same purpose . together they defeated the rebels and put fanna khusraw on the throne in shiraz . fanna khusraw then requested the title of " taj al - dawla " ( crown of the state ) from the abbasid caliph . however , to mu 'izz al - dawla , the title of " taj " ( " crown " ) implied that fanna khusraw was the superior ruler of the buyid empire , provoking a reaction from him , and making him decline fanna khusraw 's request . a more suitable title ( " adud al - dawla " ) ( " pillar of the [ abbasid ] dynasty " ) was instead chosen . adud al - dawla was only thirteen when he was crowned as the ruler of fars , and was educated there by his tutor abu ' l - fadl ibn al- ' amid . after the death of imad al - dawla in 949 , adud al - dawla 's father rukn al - dawla , who was the most powerful of the buyid rulers , claimed the title of senior emir , which mu 'izz al - dawla and adud al - dawla recognized . in 955 , a daylamite military officer named muhammad ibn makan seized isfahan from rukn al - dawla . adud al - dawla then marched towards the city and recaptured it from muhammad ibn makan . another daylamite military officer named also shortly rebelled against mu 'izz al - dawla , while his brother rebelled against adud al - dawla at shiraz . abu ' l - fadl ibn al- ' amid , however , managed to suppress the rebellion . in 966 , adud al - dawla and mu 'izz al - dawla made a campaign to impose buyid rule in oman . mu 'izz al - dawla died in 967 , and was succeeded by his eldest son izz al - dawla as emir of iraq . the same year , adud al - dawla aided the ziyarid bisutun in securing the ziyarid throne from his brother qabus . adud al - dawla and bisutun then made an alliance , and bisutun married a daughter of adud al - dawla , while he married a daughter of bisutun . campaigns in eastern iran in 967 , adud al - dawla took advantage of the quarrel between the ruler muhammad ibn ilyas and his son in kerman to annex the province to his domain . mu 'izz al - dawla had already attempted to conquer the province but was defeated by the . adud al - dawla conquered all of kerman , and appointed his son shirdil abu 'l - fawaris as the viceroy of the province , while a daylamite officer named ibn was appointed as the chief captain of the army of kerman . in the next year , adud al - dawla negotiated peace with the saffarid ruler khalaf ibn ahmad , who agreed to recognize buyid authority . in 969 / 970 , sulaiman , the son of muhammad ibn ilyas , wanted to regain his kingdom of kerman , and invaded the region . adud al - dawla managed to defeat the army of sulaiman and continued to expand his domains to the strait of hormuz . during his campaign in southern iran , many iranian tribes converted to islam and pledged allegiance to him . on august / september 971 , adud al - dawla launched a punitive expedition against the baloch tribes who had declared independence . adud al - dawla defeated them on january 8 , 972 , and installed loyal landowners to control the region . afterwards , adud al - dawla and his father rukn al - dawla signed a peace treaty with the samanids by paying them 150 , 000 dinars . in the same year , adud al - dawla conquered most of oman , including its capital , sohar . rebellion of - tegin and aftermath in 974 , izz al - dawla was trapped in wasit by his troops who under leader - tegin had rebelled against him . adud al - dawla quickly left fars to quell the rebellion , where he inflicted a decisive defeat on the rebels on january 30 , 975 , who under their new leader fled to syria . adud al - dawla then made a plot which forced izz al - dawla to abdicate in his favor on march 12 , 975 . rukn al - dawla , greatly angered at this action , protested against adud al - dawla , claiming that the line of mu 'izz al - dawla could not be removed from power . adud al - dawla tried to make an agreement with his father by proposing to pay tribute to him . rukn al - dawla , however , rejected his offer , and then restored izz al - dawla as the ruler of iraq . the consequences of the restoration of izz al - dawla would later lead to war between him and adud al - dawla after the death of rukn al - dawla . in 975 adud al - dawla launched an expedition to take bam and defeated another son of muhammad ibn ilyas who sought to reconquer to kerman . struggle for power in iraq and war with the hamdanids on september 16 , 976 , rukn al - dawla , the last of the first generation buyids , died . after his death , izz al - dawla prepared to take revenge against adud al - dawla . he made an alliance with fakhr al - dawla , the brother of adud al - dawla and his father 's successor to the territories around hamadan . he also made an alliance with the hamdanids prevailing in northern iraq , the ruler hasanwayh and the ruler of the marshy areas of southern iraq . however , mu 'ayyad al - dawla , the third son of rukn al - dawla , remained loyal to his eldest brother . izz al - dawla then stopped recognizing the rule of his cousin adud al - dawla , and stopped mentioning his name during friday prayers . adud al - dawla , greatly outraged by his cousin , marched towards khuzestan and easily defeated him in ahvaz on july 1 , 977 . izz al - dawla then asked adud al - dawla for permission to retire and settle in syria . however , on the road to syria , izz al - dawla became convinced by abu taghlib , the hamdanid ruler of mosul , to go fight again against his cousin . on may 29 , 978 , izz al - dawla along with abu taghlib invaded the domains of his adud al - dawla and fought against him near samarra . izz al - dawla was once again defeated , and was captured and executed at the orders of adud al - dawla . he then marched to mosul and captured the city , which forced abu taghlib to flee to the byzantine city of , where he asked for aid . adud al - dawla then spent one year in mosul to consolidate his power , while his army were completing the conquest of diyar bakr and diyar mudar ; the important hamdanid city of mayyafariqin was shortly captured by them , which forced abu taghlib to flee to rahba from where he tried to negotiate peace with adud al - dawla . unlike the rest of the buyids who had held the region temporarily , adud al - dawla had complete control of the region during the rest of his reign . adud al - dawla , now the ruler of iraq , then took control of the territories under the control of the bedouins and kurds . he also killed almost all the sons of hasanwayh , and appointed badr ibn hasanwayh , the last surviving son of hasanwayh , as the ruler of the dynasty . it should be understood that during that period the word " kurd " meant nomad . he then subdued the shayban tribe , and fought against hasan ibn ' imran , the ruler of . he was , however , defeated , and made peace with hasan who agreed to recognize his authority . during the same period , adud al - dawla had izz al - dawla 's former vizier ibn arrested , blinded , and then trampled to death by elephants . his corpse was thereafter impaled at the head of the bridge in baghdad , where it would remain until adud al - dawla 's death . war in northern iran during the same period , bisutun died , and his kingdom was thrown into civil war ; his governor of tabaristan , ibn bani , supported his son as the new ziyarid ruler , while bisutun 's brother qabus claimed the throne for himself . adud quickly sent an army to aid qabus against . qabus managed to defeat him and capture the son of bisutun in . adud then made the abbasid caliph give qabus the title of shams al - ma 'ali . in may 979 , adud al - dawla invaded the territories of his brother fakhr al - dawla , who was forced to flee to qazvin and then to nishapur , a large part of his troops deserted . adud al - dawla then moved to kerman and later kermanshah where he set up a governor . in august / september 980 , adud al - dawla captured hamadan and occupied the entire area south of the city which would remain in buyid hands in half a century . shortly after , on october / november of the same year , sahib ibn abbad , the vizier of adud al - dawla 's younger brother mu 'ayyad al - dawla , arrived from ray to negotiate a transfer of power in the city in favor of his master . adud al - dawla , recognized his younger brother mu 'ayyad because of his loyalty , and gave him the troops of fakhr al - dawla and helped him conquer tabaristan and gorgan from qabus who had betrayed adud by giving refugee to fakhr al - dawla . mu 'ayyad al - dawla shortly managed to conquer these two provinces . consolidation of the empire and peace negotiations with the byzantines adud al - dawla was now the senior ruler of the buyid empire , and several rulers such as the hamdanids , saffarids , , and even other lesser rulers who controlled yemen , including its surrounding regions , acknowledged his authority . other regions such as makran , was also under buyid control . adud al - dawla then returned to baghdad , where he built and restored several buildings in the city . he also stopped the quarrel between the daylamites and turks of the buyid army . in 980 , the byzantine rebel bardas skleros fled to mayyafariqin . when he arrived to the city , he sent his brother to baghdad to offer his to adud al - dawla and make an alliance against the byzantines , which adud al - dawla accepted . a byzantine envoy from constantinople shortly arrived to baghdad and tried to persuade adud al - dawla to hand over the rebel , but he refused and kept the rebel and some of his family members in baghdad for the rest of his reign , thus standing in a strong position for his diplomacy with the byzantines . in 981 , adud al - dawla sent abu bakr to constantinople to negotiate for peace . however , he was most likely sent to spy on the byzantines and how their military functioned , since adud al - dawla was planning to invade byzantine territory . in 982 , adud al - dawla sent another envoy to , this time under abu ishaq ibn , who after having spent three months in the city , concluded a 10 - year peace treaty with them . one year later , a byzantine envoy arrived back in baghdad , but adud al - dawla was too ill to bring an end to the negotiations . in the end , the 10 - year peace treaty was finally completed , and the byzantines also agreed to mention adud al - dawla 's name in the friday prayer in constantinople . sahib ibn abbad , is known to have said the following thing about this event : " he [ adud al - dawla ] has done what no kings of the arabs nor any chosroes [ kings ] of the persians could – he has syria and the two , and he is close to the despot of byzantium and the maghribi by his continuous correspondence . " administration and contributions adud al - dawla kept his court in shiraz . he visited baghdad frequently and kept some of his viziers there , one of them being a christian named nasir ibn harun . furthermore , he had several zoroastrian statesmen who served him , such as abu sahl sa 'id ibn fadl al - majusi , who served as his representative of baghdad before his conquest of iraq ; abu 'l - faraj mansur ibn sahl al - majusi , who served as his financial minister ; and bahram ibn ardashir al - majusi , who served as a buyid official . adud al - dawla seems to have greatly respected their religion . under him the buyid kingdom flourished . his policies were liberal so there were no riots during his reign . he embellished baghdad with numerous public buildings . he also built a famous public hospital known as the al- ' hospital . it was the largest hospital of that time , and was destroyed during the mongol conquests . many prominent figures worked at the hospital , such as ' ali ibn al- ' abbas al - majusi and ibn marzuban . adud al - dawla also build caravanserai 's and dams . the city that has particularly benefited from this work is shiraz . in the region of shiraz , he built a palace with three hundred and sixty rooms with advanced wind towers for air conditioning system of residential rooms . the population of shiraz had increased so much during his reign that he built a satellite city near the city for his army . the name of the city was kard - i khusraw ( " made by fanna khusraw " ) , making a clear reference to the names that the sasanians gave their foundations . there were two annual festivals in the city . the first to commemorate the day when the water pipe reached the city and the second to recall the date of the founding of the city . both celebrations were instituted by adud al - dawla on the model of the holiday of nowruz , the iranian new year . all these activities greatly expanded the economy of fars so that the tax income was tripled in the 10th - century . his contributions to the enrichment of fars made it a region of relative stability and prosperity for the culture of iran during the seljuq and mongol invasions . family adud al - dawla , in order to maintain peace , established marriage ties with several rulers ; his daughter was married to the abbasid caliph at - ta 'i , while another was married to the samanids and the ziyarid ruler bisutun . adud al - dawla himself had several wives , which included ; the daughter of bisutun ; the daughter of manadhar , an king ; and the daughter of , an king . from these wives , adud al - dawla had several sons ; abu 'l - husain ahmad and abu tahir , from the daughter of manadhar ; abu kalijar marzuban , from the daughter of ; and shirdil abu 'l - fawaris , from a turkic concubine . adud al - dawla also had a younger son named baha ' al - dawla . abu 'l - husain ahmad was supported by his mother and his uncle ibn manadhar as the heir of the buyid empire . however , abu kalijar marzuban , because of his more prominent descent , was appointed as heir of the buyid empire by adud al - dawla . ancestry death and succession adud al - dawla died at baghdad on march 26 , 983 , and was buried in najaf . his son abu kalijar marzuban , who was in baghdad at the time of his death , first kept his death secret in order to ensure his succession and avoid civil war . when he made the death of his father public , he was given the title of " al - dawla " . however , adud al - dawla 's other son , shirdil abu 'l - fawaris , challenged the authority of al - dawla , resulting in a civil war . legacy 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 , the zoroastrian chief priest ( ) of , 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 gur , minted coins of him wearing a sasanian type crown , and carried the traditional sasanian inscription ; shahanshah , may his glory increase . while the reverse side of the coin said : may shah fanna khusraw live long . however , he still preferred arabic authors more than persian ones . there is very little evidence which shows 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 content . 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 .