Among the provinces of the Sāsānian empire, the coastal regions along the southern shore of the Caspian Sea resisted the penetration of the Arabs and Islam most tenaciously. The early history of the Sāsānian dynasty is, however, shrouded in obscurity. The first mention of an Ispahbad ruling Tabaristān in a reliable report concerns the year 79/698. Tabaristān was ruled by Muslim governors residing in Āmul. Their first task was to secure the Muslim domination over the newly subdued territories. Though the nobility was generally left unharmed, some prominent Zoroastrian leaders were killed during the first years of the occupation. The history of the Bāvandid, Ispahbads of Shahriyārkūh in the 4th/ioth century can only fragmentarily be pieced together from occasional references in literary sources and some numismatic evidence. Rūyān in the 4th/10th century came under the rule of a dynasty bearing the title Ustandār. The population of Azarbaijan at the time of the conquest was predominantly Iranian, speaking numerous dialects.

In the first years after the conquest of Byzantine and Sāsānian lands the invaders made use of the existing currency, the Byzantine gold solidus or denarius aureus and the copper follis in Palestine and Syria, the Sāsānian silver drahm in the east. During the latter half of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth decades of the Hijra, a number of innovations were introduced and several radical iconographical changes were experimented. Excavations in recent years have disclosed the fact that during the transitional years following the Arab conquest, there were local issues of copper coinage. 'Abd al-Malik's monetary reform, began with gold coins in the year 77 and two years later mints in Iran and Iraq started issuing the purely epigraphical dirham which was to become the most popular coin in the Near and Middle East. The ‘Abbāsid and Khārijite movements are well reflected in the coinage.

This chapter discusses the traditional approach of Islamic art of Iran, first architecture and architectural decoration, then the so-called minor arts whose importance is far greater than their slightly pejorative name suggests. Northeastern Iranian ceramics provide examples of figural representations. The subjects are riders, dancers, standing or seated personages holding flowers and pitchers, as well as a number of unidentified activities. The greatest originality of these representations lies in their style. A sketchy line outlines the main subjects with very little consideration for bodily proportions and at times with distortions which could be considered as folk caricatures or as wilful modifications of visual impressions. There is a fairly large number of objects in metal which are commonly assigned to the period between the fall of the Sāsānian dynasty and the middle of the 5th/11th century.

The Iranian highlands by the Caspian Sea were controlled by the Zaidite rulers of Tabaristān and by various local potentates. The form of government established by the Būyids may be described with reservations as a military dictatorship. The Būyids were Dailamites and were largely dependent on soldiers drawn from their own people. The Dailamites had a long tradition of military prowess dating back to pre-Christian times and including campaigns against Georgia as allies of the Sāsānians. Women had always held an important place in Dailamite society and they were to wield great political influence and were even to achieve personal rule. In the mountain fastnesses of their homeland the Dailamites had already succeeded in repelling more than a dozen Muslim attacks before the beginning of the 3rd/9th century, when they began to receive Islamic influences. Baha' al-Daula, after protracted efforts, had finally succeeded in restoring some semblance of unity to the Būyid empire.