ABSTRACT
In the decades that followed the Khwarazm-Shah’s conquest, the Khujandis never gave up their attempts to regain the local power that they had held for so long. The balance of power was fundamentally unfavourable to them, as the Sa'ids were supported by the dominant power of the entire Iranian world. But the absence of the Khwarazm-Shahs, and their consequent inability to put an end to the state of endemic warfare that had prevailed since Pahlawan’s death, worked to the Khujandis’ advantage. During the four decades (590/1194–621/1224), the Khujandis were unable to overturn the pre-eminence that the Sa'ids had acquired at the end of the Saljuq period. They repeatedly formed alliances with the caliph, the Atabeg of Fars and various rebel Khwarazmian princes, but their successes were short-lived. Therefore, the pre-eminence of the Sa'ids from the 580s/1184–93 onwards reflected the change of the balance of power in the urban population in the Hanafis’ favour.
