Abu Ja'far Ashinas was a general of the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim

Al-Mu'tasim

Abu Ishaq 'Abbas al-Mu'tasim ibn Harun was an Abbasid caliph . He succeeded his half-brother al-Ma'mun...

, possibly of the sacred clan of the First Turkic empire, transcribed in Chinese as Ashina

Ashina

Ashina was a tribe and the ruling dynasty of the ancient Turks who rose to prominence in the mid-6th century when their leader, Bumin Khan, revolted against the Rouran...

 阿史那. While a folk etymology of his name is given in al-Tabari

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari

Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari was a prominent and influential Sunni scholar and exegete of the Qur'an from Persia...

, al-Mu'tasim

Al-Mu'tasim

Abu Ishaq 'Abbas al-Mu'tasim ibn Harun was an Abbasid caliph . He succeeded his half-brother al-Ma'mun...

 gave him the first rank among his Turkish generals and a text of Mas‘udi described him as a great noble. As the name Ashinas is not at all part of Turkish onomastic, and is only known for princes, it is quite certain that he was a late member of the imperial clan of the Turks.

According to al-Tabari, he was purchased by al-Mu'tasim in Baghdad during the reign of al-Ma'mun

Al-Ma'mun

Abū Jaʿfar Abdullāh al-Māʾmūn ibn Harūn was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 813 until his death in 833...

, along with Itakh al-Khazari and Wasif. He was in charge at Samarra

Samarra

Sāmarrā is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700....

of the Turkish troops of al-Mu'tasim. When he died in 844 he was governor of Egypt, and the most powerful general serving the Abbasids.