Factors involved in establishing authority and legitimacy of Tabaristan Alavid Dynasty

Abbasid caliphate's chaotic and unstable situation during the third century, AH, and the oppression and injustic of the state agents and the long geographical distance between Tabaristan and Capital of the Caliphate, provided a good opportunity for the alavids of Tabaristan to establish their own government. Alavids started ruling Tabaristan by claiming the establishment of an independent shi'ite regime that refused to fall under sovereignty of the Abbasid empire. Due to the importance of legitimacy to the survival of a government, and to the strength and stability of a political system, this descriptive-analytical research has tried to evaluate the fundamentals of legitimacy of Tabaristan Alavid dynasty using existing historical data. The findings of this research suggests that Tabaristan Alavids unlike other governments at that time did not earn their legitimacy from the Baghdad caliphates and tried to get public legitimacy by relying on their kinship with prophet mohammad, and also by claiming of justice that is one of the basics of shi'ite faith, to strengthen the foundations of their authority and legitimacy, and were able to rule Tabaristan over half a century.