The Al-i Muhtaj (Persian: آل محتاج) or Muhtajids (also known as the Chaghanids) was an Iranian or Iranized Arab ruling family of the small principality of Chaghaniyan.
[1] They may have been descended from the Chaghān Khudās who ruled Chaghaniyan during the early Middle Ages; another possibility is that their ancestors were Arabs who migrated to the region and were Iranicized.
When in 929 the Samanid amir Nasr II was temporarily expelled from power by his brothers, Muhammad remained loyal to him.
As a result, when Nasr managed to restore himself he rewarded Muhammad with the governorship of Balkh, and then in 933 made him governor of Khurasan.
Taher's army marched to Balkh in 991 but in the ensuing battle he was killed and Abu'l Muzaffar Muhammad established himself in Chaghaniyan.