The Institution of Niqābat in Khorasan during the Forth and Fifth Century after Hijrah

The formation of guardianship institution in the third century (After Hijrah) is a turning point in the history of Islam. The descendents of the prophet's household (Sadat) attained a particular status and position in the Islamic society because of the kinship with the prophet. The purpose behind the establishment of this institution was to avoid the circumstances through which sadats were placed under the supervision of non-sadats.As a result of the migration of sadats to different parts of the world of Islam, a vast net of guardianship supervised the sadat's affairs. The difficulty of affairs relevant to preserving the affinity of sadats created a vast and deep relationship between the guardians and genealogists, the result of which was the formation of genealogy.During the forth and fifth century (After Hijrah), Khorasan was the center of the kingdom of Sunnite kings of Samani, Ghaznavi and Saljuqi, and sadats played an active role in different parts of the dynasty of these kings; therefore, through an analysis of the guardian's activity, one can gain a clearer picture of the relationship between the rulers and the guardians.In the present article, which takes a descriptive-analytic approach, first it has been tried to study a history of guardianship institutions and then to provide a clearer picture of the activity of guardians in Khorasan and the issues they were involved with.