From Kartid Sultanate to Tamerlane

Muʿizz al-Dīn Kart’s favored son and heir, Ghiyāth al-Dīn (Pīr ʿAlī) Kart, succeed his father. He terminated the Sarbadarid-Kartid détente; secured a fatwa from ulama and brought sectarian conflict to Nishapur Quarter. Multiple campaigns followed that ruined sections of Khurasan. Table 6.1, “Kartid-Sarbadarid Campaigns in the Nishapur Quarter, 773/1371–72 to 783/1381,” summarizes the campaigns and social-political impacts. Temür/Tamerlane, who had consolidated his kingdom and was planning the conquest of Persia, perceived the abysmal state of affairs in Khurasan. Notables of Khurasan became fearful of Temür’s wrath should Pīr ʿAlī resist Tamerlane’s armies as he was planning to do. Led by the Kartid vizier, Muʿīn al-Dīn Jāmī (a member of the powerful Sufi family of Shaykh Ahmad-i Jam, in Turbat-i Jam, Khurasan), they secretly communicated with Temür to negotiate a peaceful surrender of Herat.