Adud al-Dawla had appointed his eldest son, Shirdil Abu'l-Fawaris, as viceroy to Kerman when he conquered that province in 968.

Abu'l-Fawaris resided in Baghdad for some time after 977, but was then sent back to Kerman.

As the eldest son, Shirdil regards himself as the successor to his father; 'Adud al-Dawla's apparent preference for his second son Marzuban had therefore made him hostile toward his brother.

'Adud al-Dawla never definitively named a successor by the time of his death in 983.

Marzuban (now Samsam al-Dawla) takes power in Baghdad as senior amir, but Shirdil also lays his claims to the succession, and from Kerman, …