The Samani dynasty ( "Sāmāniyān"), also called the Samanid Empire, or simply Samanids (819–999) was a Tajik state and empire in Central Asia and Greater Iran. It is named after its founder Saman Khuda, who converted to Sunni Islam. He had been born a member of the Zoroastrian nobility. It was the first Persian empire in Greater Iran and Central Asia after the Sassanid Persian empire collapsed because of the Arab conquest.