Hurra-yi Khuttali

She was married to two Maʽmunid rulers of the Khwarazm region, first Abu Ali Hasan and after his death, his brother Maʽmun II.

[2] She used two nisbas (a part of an Arabic name that acts as an adjective, often referring to the individual's place of origin[4]), Khuttali and Kaliji.

[1][b] According to the British orientalist Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Khuttali may have referred to an earlier Ghaznavid marital alliance with the Principality of Khuttal, located in central Asia.

[9] Hurra-yi Khuttali was a daughter of Sabuktigin, Amir of Ghazna (r. 977–997) and the progenitor of the Ghaznavids,[2] a dynasty of Turkic origin whose realm included modern day Afghanistan, eastern Iran and northwestern India.

[10] Hurra's date and place of birth is unknown, although Bosworth considers the region of Khuttalan (now in Tajikistan) as a probable candidate.

[20] Hurra, her younger brother Yusuf ibn Sabuktigin, and the military commanders of the army considered Muhammad inept and unable to rule the Ghaznavid empire, which was dependent on the powerful leadership of the sultan.

[21] Therefore, Hurra wrote a letter to Masʽud, who was preoccupied with his military campaign in Isfahan, informing him of his father's death and encouraging him to take the throne.

[27] The region of Khorasan housed rich oases, centres of industry and crafts and important trade routes and it was an integral part of the empire.

[27] Meanwhile, Turkoman tribes under the leadership of the Seljuk dynasty began raiding the towns and the caravans of the region from the northern borders.

[10][29] Masʽud attempted to suppress the raiders but was decisively defeated at the Battle of Dandanaqan (1040) and Khorasan was fully conquered by the Seljuks.

[38][17] Hurra displays her authority in her letter, her writing style is decisive and frequently uses the imperative mood, provoking her nephew's emotions and urging him to return with speed.

[39] Modern historian Soheila Amirsoleimani interprets her act of offering clothes to Masʽud's dilapidated army as metaphorically covering their shame.