Dinavar was a major city in the 8th-11th centuries, located to the northeast of Kermanshah

Kermanshah

Kermanshah is a city in and the capital of Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 784,602, in 198,117 families.The overwhelming majority of Kermanshahi people are Shi'a Muslims...

 in western Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. The ruins of the city is now located in Dinavar District

Dinavar District

Dinavar District is a district in Sahneh County, Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 19,973, in 5,042 families. The District has one city: Mian Rahan. The District's name reflects the ancient city of Dinavar, the ruins of which are in the District....

, in Sahneh County

Sahneh County

Sahneh County is a county in Kermanshah Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Sahneh. At the 2006 census, the county's population was 75,827, in 19,106 families. The county is subdivided into two districts: the Central District and Dinavar District...

, Kermanshah Province

Kermanshah Province

Kermanshah Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. The province was known from 1969 to 1986 as Kermanshahan and from 1986 to 1995 as Bakhtaran.-Counties:...

.

In the early Islamic times, it was called Mah al-Kufa, the element Mah probably originating from the fact that in the Seleucid period, the city was located in the heartland of Media. Dinavar historically has produced many scholars including Ebn Qotayba and Abu Hanifa Dinvari. Dinavar was also the center of the Kurdish

Kurdish people

The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...

 principality of Hasanwayhid

Hasanwayhid

Hasanawayhid or Hasanuyid was a Kurdish principality from 959 to 1015, centered at Dinawar . The principality ruled western Iran and upper Mesopotamia. The founder of the dynasty was Hasanwayh bin Husayn from the Kurdish tribe of Barzikani...

. It was sacked by Mardavij

Mardavij

Mardāvīj , was the founder of the Ziyarids dynasty, who successfully defeated the Abbasid's army firstly in Hamadan , and finally in Kashan and Isfahan...

 in 931. According to Ibn Athir

Ibn Athir

Ibn Athīr is the family name of three brothers, all famous in Arabian literature, born at Jazīrat ibn Umar in Cizre nowadays in south-eastern Turkey.-Majd ad-Dīn:...

 it was plundered by Oghuz Turkmens of Iva tribe in around 568/1172-73. According to Hamdollah Mostowfi

Hamdollah Mostowfi

Hamdollah Mostowfi was a Persian historian, geographer and epic poet.Mostowfi is the author of Nozhat ol-Gholub , Zafar-Nameh , and the Tarikh e Gozideh . His tomb is a structure with a blue turquoise conical dome, at Qazvin.-References and notes:...

, it was a small town in the 14th century. But it was devastated again by Timur

Timur

Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...

. Today only field of ruins are available.

Famous scholars

• Ebn Qotayba
• Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarī (Grammarian, Lexicographer, Astronomer, Mathematician)
• Abu Muhammad Abdullah b Hamadan Mubarak Dinawari