Abū Ibrāhīm Ismā'īl ibn-i Aḥmad-i Sāmāni, better known simply as Amir Ismail-i Samani, and also known as Isma'il ibn-i Ahmad, was the Samanid amir of Transoxiana and Khorasan. His reign saw the emergence of the Samanids as a powerful force. From Wikipedia
