Division of Power and Gaining Political Legitimacy

After the Sassanid Empire, Iran under the Saljuqs (429–590 AH/1037–1194 AD) once again experienced the structure of an empire, but this country was far from its pre-Islamic structures. Apart from the fading of national and religious identity, these differences included the disappearance of the country's integrity and its transformation into part of the great Islamic empire. During the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate and with the formation of the Tāherid dynasty, the Iranians again tried to establish dynasties independent of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate. This resulted from the efforts of various agents and the formation of Iranian dynasties, including the Sāmānids and the Buyids. But before the rise of the Saljuq dynasty, Iran, in comparison to its pre-Islamic terrain, had become a fragmented territory ruled by various dynasties under the shadow of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate. Those who wanted to cross Iran from east to west had to travel across various borders, and even these lands included only part of the Iranian identity and not all of it.

The Saljuq Turkmen, as described in the previous chapter, set out on the same path as that covered by the agents of the Ghaznavids, including Mahmud. Crossing the border of Ray, invading Baghdad and the surrounding cities, and governing all the territories from Mā Varā al-Nahr to the Mediterranean Sea was a preliminary plan designed by the Ghaznavids and carried out by the Saljuq Turkmen.