Muhammad of Layzan

Muhammad ibn Yazid
Shah of Layzan
Reign?–917
PredecessorYazid ibn Khalid
SuccessorAbu Tahir Yazid
Diedc. 917
HouseYazidids
DynastyShirvanshah
FatherYazid ibn Khalid

Muhammad was second Shah of Layzan whose father was first Layzanshah Yazid ibn Khalid, a member of junior branch of Yazidids. He was nephew of first independent Shirvanshah Haytham I.

Nothing about his reign is known in sources except for that his "rule lasted a long time, his prestige grew and his affairs prospered".[1] He was thought to be a Shirvanshah earlier because of a confusing note left by al-Masudi who mentioned that it was Muhammad ibn Yazid that annexed principalities of Khursān (lands south to Derbent) and Vardān (north of Quba).[2] According to Vladimir Minorsky, this confusion is a result of both father and son of Abu Tahir Yazid having same name.[3]

Muhammad of Layzan was clearly from a different branch and not Shirvanshah[4] and probably died c. 917.

  1. ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 29.
  2. ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 81-82.
  3. ^ Minorsky 1958, p. 59.
  4. ^ Akopyan, Alexander (2009-01-01). "A donative dirham of the Shirwānshāh Muhammad ibn Ahmad (AH 370-81) struck in Barda'a in AH 373 (982/3)". The Numismatic Chronicle.