Marwanids (Diyar Bakr) in the context of "History of the Kurds"

The Iranian Intermezzo, also called the Persian Renaissance, was a period in Iranian history marked by the rise to power of the first Iranian Muslim dynasties. Beginning 170 years after the Arab conquest of Iran and lasting until the middle of the 11th century, it is noteworthy since it was an interlude between the decay of Arab power under the Abbasid Caliphate and the rise of Turkic power under the Seljuk Empire, which triggered the Sunni Revival. The Iranian Intermezzo brought an end to Arab hegemony over Iranian lands and revived Iran's national spirit, albeit in conformity with Islam, though there were some non-Muslim movements (e.g., Mardavij) that outright rejected the Islamization of Iran. Although Zoroastrianism continued to decline, the movement did succeed in revitalizing the Persian language, with the most significant Persian literature from this period being the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi. The Iranian dynasties that took part in this effort were the Tahirids, the Saffarids, the Ilyasids, the Ghaznavids, the Sajids, the Samanids, the Ziyarids, the Buyids, the Sallarids, the Rawadids, the Marwanids, the Shaddadids, the Kakuyids, the Annazids, and the Hasanwayhids.

According to the historian Alison Vacca, the Iranian Intermezzo "in fact includes a number of other Iranian, mostly Kurdish, minor dynasties in the former caliphal provinces of Armenia, Albania, and Azerbaijan". Likewise, in the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the historian Clifford Edmund Bosworth states that the Russian historian Vladimir Minorsky considers the Rawadids to be flourishing during this period.

Diyar Bakr (Arabic: دِيَارُ بَكرٍ, romanized: Diyār Bakr, lit. 'abode of Bakr') is the medieval Arabic name of the northernmost of the three provinces of the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), the other two being Diyar Mudar and Diyar Rabi'a. According to the medieval geographer al-Baladhuri, all three provinces were named after the main Arab tribes that were settled there by Mu'awiya in the course of the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. The Diyar Bakr was settled by the Rabi'a subgroup of the Banu Bakr, and hence the two provinces are sometimes referred to collectively as "Diyar Rabi'a". In later Turkish usage, "Diyar Bakr" referred to the western portion of the former province, around Amid (which hence became known as Diyarbakır in Turkish).

Diyar Bakr encompasses the region on both banks of the upper course of the river Tigris, from its sources to approximately where its course changes from a west-east to a southeasterly direction. Its main city was Amida (Amid in Arabic), and other major settlements included Mayyafariqin, Hisn Kaifa, and Arzan. Geographically and politically, in early Islamic times the Diyar Bakr was usually part of the Jazira, but it was sometimes joined to the Armenian province to the north. In the late 9th century, it was controlled by an autonomous dynasty founded by Isa ibn al-Shaykh al-Shaybani. In the mid-10th century, the region passed into the hands of the Hamdanids, but their rule was contested by the Buyids (978–983) and after that the Marwanids.