Ya'qub ibn al-Layth, Persian emir (b. 840)
Ya'qūb ibn al-Layth al-Saffārī (Persian: یعقوب لیث صفاری; 25 October 840 – 5 June 879), was a Persian coppersmith and the founder of the Saffarid dynasty of Sistan, with its capital at Zaranj (a city now in south-western Afghanistan). Under his military leadership he conquered much of the eastern portions of the Greater Iran consisting of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan as well as portions of western Pakistan and a small part of Iraq. He was succeeded by his brother, Amr ibn al-Layth.