Ahmad was a Samanid

Samanid

The Samani dynasty , also known as the Samanid Empire, or simply Samanids was a Persian state and empire in Central Asia and Greater Iran, named after its founder Saman Khuda, who converted to Sunni Islam despite being from Zoroastrian theocratic nobility...

 ruler of Ferghana (819-864/5) and Samarkand

Samarkand

Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...

 (851/2-864/5). He was a son of Asad.

In 819 Ahmad was granted authority over the city of Ferghana by Caliph Al-Ma'mun's

Al-Ma'mun

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

 governor of Khorasan

Greater Khorasan

Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...

, Ghassan ibn 'Abbad, as a reward for his support against the rebel Rafi' ibn Laith. Following the death of his brother Nuh

Nuh ibn Asad

Nuh I ibn Asad was a Samanid ruler of Samarkand . He was a son of Asad.In 819 Nuh was appointed authority over the city of Samarkand by Caliph Al-Ma'mun's governor of Khurasan, Ghassan ibn 'Abbad, as a reward for his support against the rebel Rafi' ibn Laith. He continued to rule over the city...

, who ruled in Samarkand, Ahmad and another brother Yahya

Yahya ibn Asad

Yahya was a Samanid ruler of Shash and Samarkand . He was a son of Asad.In 819 Yahya was granted authority over the city of Shash by Caliph Al-Ma'mun's governor of Khurasan, Ghassan ibn 'Abbad, as a reward for his support against the rebel Rafi' ibn Laith...

 were given rule over the city by Abdallah, the governor of Khurasan. Yahya's power was subsequently significantly curtailed by Ahmad, and he may have ruled as simply a figurehead until his death in 855. Yahya's line was then superseded by Ahmad's. By the time of Ahmad's death in 864 or 865, he was the ruler of most of Transoxiana

Transoxiana

Transoxiana is the ancient name used for the portion of Central Asia corresponding approximately with modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyrgystan and southwest Kazakhstan. Geographically, it is the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers...

, bar Bukhara

Bukhara

Bukhara , from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400 . The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time...

 and Khwarazm. Samarkand went to one son, Nasr I

Nasr I of Samanid

Nasr I was amir of the Samanids . He was the son of Ahmad.Upon his father's death, Nasr inherited Samarkand and a significant part of Transoxiana. He soon found his position isolated from the rest of the Caliphate by the expanding Saffarids...

, while Shash went to another son, Ya'qub.