Ashinas

Abu Ja'far Ashinas (Arabic: أبو جعفر أشناس; died 17 or 19 December 844) was a general of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tasim.

According to the accounts of al-Ya'qubi and al-Tabari, Ashinas was one of the first slaves purchased by Abu Ishaq, the future al-Mu'tasim, for his Turkish guard, along with Itakh al-Khazari, Wasif, and Sima al-Dimashqi.

[8] On the other hand, the Sinologist Édouard Chavannes and the Turkish historian Emel Esin [tr] suggested a derivation from the Ashina tribe of the Göktürks, while Christopher Beckwith rejects this association.

[16] When al-Mu'tasim founded Samarra as his new capital and residence in 836, Ashinas along with the other Turks received allotments in the western side of the new city, known as al-Karkh.

[19][20] The rise of men like Ashinas and the other Turks rankled with the traditional Abbasid elites, who saw their power being diminished in favour of these parvenus of servile origin.

[26] Nevertheless, according to Hugh N. Kennedy, this move "represented a further centralizing of power, for the under-governors of the provinces seldom appeared at court and played little part in the making of political decisions".

[14] When al-Mu'tasim left Samarra for al-Sinn in 840, he appointed him as his deputy in the capital, and when he returned, he publicly placed him on a throne and conferred a ceremonial crown to him.

[14] When Ashinas participated in the Hajj of 841, he received honours on every stop of the route, and was hailed as the amir, or governor, of the provinces from Samarra to Mecca for the duration of his pilgrimage.

[28][29] Ashinas died on 17 or 19 December 844,[30][b] at the height of his power;[32] according to the 14th-century historian al-Dhahabi, although not corroborated in other sources, he left behind a fortune of 100,000 gold dinars, which was confiscated by the caliph.