The chief town of the Shapur valley on the road from Shiraz down to the Gulf ports, a place of linen weavers.
It is the home of the Sufi order of Shaykh Abu Ishaq Ibrahim Kazeruni (d. 426/1035), whose hospices serve merchants and sailors along the sea routes to India and China (they are described by Ibn Battuta in the fourteenth century), and whose shrine draws pilgrims and offerings. The ruins of Bishapur lie nearby. The head of the order in 1199-1200 is not pinned.
Who holds it
- Name
- Sa'd ibn Zangi, through his governor (not named)
- Title
- Atabeg of Fars
- Since
- 1198
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
Held for the atabeg Sa'd (on the majority reading).
How things stand that morning
A Salghurid town.
Charter
None known: the towns of the atabegs have no charters; the governor, the judge (qadi) and the market inspector (muhtasib) answer to the ruler.
Council
The shaykhs of the Kazeruni order carry great weight with the notables; names for 1200 not pinned.
Communities
Persian Sunni townsmen; the Sufi order and its pilgrims.
Fairs and markets
Daily or weekly markets; no fair dates recorded.
Militia
Not recorded for 1199-1200.
Walls and castle
Not described for 1200.
Trade and crafts
Linen and cotton cloth (Kazerun's cloth was famous), dates and fruit, the transit trade between Shiraz and the coast.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The order is well known; the town's government in 1200 is not.
Primary sources for Salghurids
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Comfort of Hearts and Sign of Joy: a History of the Seljuks, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Rawandi (Ravandi) (1203 to 1204, dedicated to Kaykhusraw I of Rum). A history of the Great Seljuks from their origins to the death of the last sultan Toghril III in 1194, begun at Hamadan and finished for Kaykhusraw of Rum when the author moved to Anatolia. Read online
- Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online
Sources and studies
- G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905), chapters XVII-XXIV (Fars, Kirman, Makran) after Istakhri, Muqaddasi, Ibn al-Balkhi, Yaqut and Mustawfi
- E. Mercil, 'Salgurlular', TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi (after Muhammad b. Ibrahim, Wassaf, Zarkub and Mercil, Fars Atabegleri Salgurlular, 1975)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.