Probably of Khurasani and Iranian origin, they were rivals of the Turkish guard, and played a major role in the court conflicts that marked the decade of the "Anarchy at Samarra" in the 860s.
[3] The term vanishes from the sources after the Abbasid Revolution, and reappears only in a letter by the Khurasani Iranian noble Tahir ibn Husayn to Caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833), during civil war of the Fourth Fitna.
[6] In the sources, they usually appear along with the jund, which in earlier times signified the free Arab warriors, as distinct from the Turkish corps of slave soldiers (mawālī or ghilmān) created by al-Mu'tasim.
[9] Hugh N. Kennedy suggested that these troops were raised by Tahir ibn Husayn for service in the west, and that the name was chosen as "a sort of honorific, referring back to a heroic and chivalrous past".
Ibn al-Ba'ith had fortified himself with his followers in the city of Marand and withstood several Abbasid attacks, until Bugha al-Shabir managed to turn many of his supporters away with letters of pardon and safe-conduct (amān).
[12][24] In the summer of 862, a contingent of shākiriyya participated in the army of 10,000 men led by Wasif al-Turki against the Byzantine frontier region, that resulted in the capture of Faruriyyah.
[25] On 9 June 862, two days after the accession of al-Musta'in (r. 862–866), a group of fifty shākiriyya, joined by Tabariyya cavalry and other soldiers, as well as the "hotheads and the rabble from the market", charged the escort of the caliph, provided by the Ushrusaniyya and Maghariba regiments, shouting "Victory to al-Mu'tazz",[26] the son of al-Mutawakkil who had been forced to renounce his succession rights in April, under pressure from the Turkish commanders.
[28] On 26 March 863, amidst the emotional response of the Baghdadi populace over the news of the recent death in battle against the Byzantines of two of the most distinguished Muslim commanders, Umar al-Aqta and Ali ibn Yahya al-Armani, the jund and the shākiriyya rioted in Baghdad, demanding their salaries.