He was succeeded by his brother Mansur I, who was put on the throne by a faction of ghulams led by the Turkic slave-commander, Fa'iq Khassa.

[1] Since the reign of Nuh I, several difficulties had appeared in the Samanid realm: financial shortcomings, dissatisfaction in the army, and the emergence of powerful neighbouring kingdoms such as the Buyids.

Internal strife, lack of capable viziers, and the increasing authority of the Turkic slave-soldiers (ghulam) had also weakened the Samanid realm.

[1] The ghulam regiment had been formed by the amirs as a counterbalance to the local Iranian dehqan (gentry), who were opposed to the centralising policy of the dynasty.

[5] From his father Abd al-Malik inherited a tumultuous kingdom; on the news of Nuh's death, many military commanders in different parts of the realm rebelled.

[1] At the same time, the Muhtajid prince Abu Ali Chaghani, who had lost the governorship of Khurasan at the end of Nuh's reign, fled to the domain of the Buyid ruler Adud al-Dawla (r. 949–983).

Under the terms of the peace treaty, the towns in Jibal, including Ray, were to remain under Buyid rule, while the Samanids would receive an annual sum of 200,000 dinars as tribute.

Abd al-Malik had him summoned to Bukhara in December 956, under the pretence that he would award him a robe of honour, but instead had the ghulam Alptigin kill him.

[1] Abu Ja'far's term as vizier turned out to be short-lived, due to Abd al-Malik's lack of experience, and the influence of the military commanders.

"[9] Regardless, the modern historian Clifford Edmund Bosworth states that "Mansur's reign may be regarded as the last one in which the fabric of the empire held firm, such that its prosperity excited favourable comment from outsiders.