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Muhammad
Muhammad ibn Abdullah (; c. 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious,
social, and political leader and the founder of the world religion of Islam.
According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet, divinely inspired to preach
and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and
other prophets. He is believed to be the final prophet of God in all the main
branches of Islam, though some modern denominations diverge from this belief.
Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity, with the Quran as well as
his teachings and practices forming the basis of Islamic religious belief.
Rashidun
Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate was the first of the four major caliphates established
after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was ruled by the first four
successive caliphs (successors) of Muhammad after his death in 632 CE (AH 11).
These caliphs are collectively known in Sunni Islam as the Rashidun, or
"Rightly Guided" caliphs al-Khulafa? ar-Rašidun). This term is
not used in Shia Islam, as Shia Muslims do not consider the rule of the first
three caliphs legitimate. The Rashidun Caliphate is characterized by a
twenty-five-year period of rapid military expansion followed by a five-year
period of internal strife. The Rashidun Army numbered more than 100,000 men at
its peak. By the 650s, in addition to the Arabian Peninsula, the caliphate had
subjugated the Levant to the Transcaucasus in the north; North Africa from
Egypt to present-day Tunisia in the west; and the Iranian Plateau to parts of
Central Asia and South Asia in the east. The four Rashidun caliphs were chosen
by a small electoral body consisting of prominent members of the Quraysh tribal
confederation called shura . The caliphate arose out of the death of Muhammad
in 632 CE and the subsequent debate over the succession to his leadership.
Abu Bakr, a close companion of Muhammad from the Banu Taym clan, was elected
the first Rashidun leader and began the conquest of the Arabian Peninsula. He
ruled from 632 to his death in 634.
Abu Bakr was succeeded by Umar, his appointed successor from the Banu Adi clan,
who continued the conquest of Persia, eventually leading to the fall of the
Sasanian Empire in 651.
Umar was assassinated in 644 by a Persian slave and was succeeded by Uthman, a
member of the Banu Umayya clan, who was elected by a six-person committee
arranged by Umar.
Under Uthman, the conquest of Armenia, Fars and Khorasan began. Uthman was
assassinated by Egyptian rebels in 656 and succeeded by Ali, a member of
Muhammad's Banu Hashim clan, who presided over the civil war known as the First
Fitna (656–661). The war was primarily between those who believed Uthman
was unlawfully killed, supporting his cousin and governor of the Levant
Muawiyah, and those who believed his killing was deserved, supporting the
caliph Ali. The civil war permanently consolidated the divide between Sunni and
Shia Muslims, with Shia Muslims believing Ali to be the first rightful caliph
and Imam after Muhammad, favoring his bloodline connection to Muhammad.
Additionally, a third faction in the war believed both Ali and Muawiyah should
be deposed and a new caliph elected by shura; this faction supported the
governor of Egypt Amr ibn al-As. The war led to the end of the Rashidun
Caliphate and the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate in 661 under Muawiyah.
Battle of Rasil 644
The Battle of Rasil was fought between the Rai Kingdom of Sindh and Rashidun
Caliphate in early 644. It was first encounter of Rashidun Caliphate in the
Indian subcontinent. The exact location of Battle is not known but historians
suggest it was fought at the western bank of River Indus. Caliph Umar (634-644)
launched an offense against the Sassanid Persian Empire in 642 and by mid 644
almost the entire Persian empire was conquered. An expedition to Kerman took
place roughly at the same time as an expedition to Sistan and Azerbaijan.
Suhail ibn adi was given command of this expedition. Suhail marched from Busra
in 643. Passing Shiraz and Persepolis he joined with other Muslim armies and
marched against Kerman, which was subdued after a pitch battle with local
garrisons. Further east of Kerman laid Makran, what is now a part of present
day Pakistan. It was a traditional territory of Sassanids but was then a domain
of the Rai Kingdom, who annexed it in 636-637 although they acted as a vassal
of Sassanid Persians in past. Raja Rasil, the king of Baluchistan, concentrated
huge armies in Sindh and Balochistan to halt the advance of the Muslims. Suhail
was reinforced by Usman ibn Abi Al Aas from Persepolis, and Hakam ibn Amr from
Busra. The combined forces defeated Raja Rasil at a pitch Battle of Rasil, who
retreated to the eastern bank of River Indus. Further east from Indus River
laid Sindh, which was domain of Rai kingdom. Umar, after learning that Sindh
was a poor and relatively barren land, disapproved Suhail’s proposal to
cross Indus River. For the time being, Umar declared the Indus River, a natural
barrier, to be the easternmost frontier of his domain. This campaign came to an
end in mid 644.
Caliph Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr al-Seddyq (27 October 573 – 23 August 634) was an Arab political
and religious leader who founded the Rashidun Caliphate and ruled as its first
caliph from 632 until his death in 634. He was the most prominent companion,
closest advisor and a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Abu Bakr
is one of the most important figures in Islamic history.
Caliph Umar
?Umar ibn al-Kha??ab ( c.?583/584 – 3 November 644), also spelled Omar,
was the second Rashidun caliph, reigning from 634 until his assassination in
644. He succeeded Abu Bakr (632–634) as the second caliph of the Rashidun
Caliphate on 23 August 634. Umar was a senior companion and father-in-law of
the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was also an expert Muslim jurist known for his
pious and just nature, which earned him the epithet al-Farooq ("the one
who distinguishes (between right and wrong)").
Battle of the Camel
656 or Battle of Basra
The Battle of the Camel, also known as the Battle of Jamel or the Battle of
Basra, took place outside of Basra, Iraq, in 36 AH/656 CE. The battle was
fought between the army of the fourth caliph, Ali, on one side, and the rebel
army led by Aisha, Talha and Zubayr, on the other side. Ali was the cousin and
son-in-law of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, whereas Aisha was a widow of
Muhammad, and Talha and Zubayr were both prominent companions of Muhammad.
Kharijites
The Kharijites, were an Islamic sect which emerged during the First Muslim
Civil War (656–661). They were former supporters of Caliph Ali who had
rebelled in protest at his acceptance of arbitration talks with his challenger
Mu'awiya to settle the dispute between the two at the Battle of Siffin in
657. They asserted that "judgment belongs to God alone", which became
their motto, and that rebels such as Mu'awiya had to be fought and overcome
according to Qur'anic injunctions. Ali defeated the Kharijites at the
Battle of Nahrawan
in 658, but their insurrection continued. Ali was assassinated in 661 by a
Kharijite seeking revenge for Nahrawan.
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; was the second of the four major
caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by
the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644–656), the third of the
Rashidun caliphs, was also a member of the clan. The family established
dynastic, hereditary rule with Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, long-time governor of
Greater Syria, who became the sixth caliph after the end of the First Fitna in
661. After Mu'awiyah's death in 680, conflicts over the succession resulted in
the Second Fitna, and power eventually fell into the hands of Marwan I from
another branch of the clan. Greater Syria remained the Umayyads' main power
base thereafter, with Damascus serving as their capital. The Umayyads continued
the Muslim conquests, incorporating the Transoxiana, Sindh, the Maghreb and the
Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) under Islamic rule. At its greatest extent, the
Umayyad Caliphate covered 11,100,000 km2 (4,300,000 sq mi), making it one of
the largest empires in history in terms of area. The dynasty in most of the
Islamic world was eventually overthrown by a rebellion led by the Abbasids in
750. Survivors of the dynasty established themselves in Cordoba which, in the
form of an emirate and then a caliphate, became a world centre of science,
medicine, philosophy and invention during the Islamic Golden Age. The Umayyad
Caliphate ruled over a vast multi-ethnic and multi-cultural population.
Christians, who still constituted a majority of the caliphate's population, and
Jews were allowed to practice their own religion but had to pay a head tax (the
jizya) from which Muslims were exempt. Muslims were required to pay the zakat
tax, which was earmarked explicitly for various welfare programs for the
benefit of Muslims or Muslim converts. Under the early Umayyad caliphs,
prominent positions were held by Christians, some of whom belonged to families
that had served in Byzantine governments. The employment of Christians was part
of a broader policy of religious accommodation that was necessitated by the
presence of large Christian populations in the conquered provinces, as in
Syria. This policy also boosted Mu'awiya's popularity and solidified Syria as
his power base. The Umayyad era is often considered the formative period in
Islamic art.
Yazid I
Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, romanized: Yazid ibn Mu?awiya ibn ?Abi
Sufyan; ( c. 646 – 11 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the
second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. He ruled from April 680 until his death
in November 683. His appointment was the first hereditary succession to the
caliphate in Islamic history. His caliphate was marked by the death of
Muhammad's grandson Husayn ibn Ali and the start of the crisis known as the
Second Fitna. Yazid's nomination as heir apparent in 676 CE (56 AH) by his
father Mu'awiya I was opposed by several Muslim grandees from the Hejaz region,
including Husayn and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. The two men refused to recognize
Yazid following his accession and took sanctuary in Mecca. When Husayn left for
Kufa in Iraq to lead a revolt against Yazid, he was killed with his small band
of supporters by Yazid's forces in the Battle of Karbala. Husayn's death caused
resentment in the Hejaz, where Ibn al-Zubayr called for a consultative assembly
to elect a new caliph. The people of Medina, who supported Ibn al-Zubayr, held
other grievances toward the Umayyads. After failing to gain the allegiance of
Ibn al-Zubayr and the people of the Hejaz through diplomacy, Yazid sent an army
to suppress their rebellion. The army defeated the Medinese in the Battle of
al-Harra in August 683 and the city was sacked. Afterward, Mecca was besieged
for several weeks until the army withdrew as a result of Yazid's death in
November 683. The Caliphate fell into a nearly decade-long civil war, ending
with the establishment of the Marwanid dynasty (the Umayyad caliph Marwan I and
his descendants). There were two more with this name Caliphs
Yazid II and
Yazid III.
Battle of Karbala
680
The Battle of Karbala was fought on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram in the year 61
AH of the Islamic calendar) between the army of the second Umayyad Caliph Yazid
I and a small army led by Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad, at Karbala, modern day Iraq. The Battle of Karbala galvanized the
development of the pro-Alid party (Shi'at Ali) into a unique religious sect
with its own rituals and collective memory. It has a central place in the Shi'a
history, tradition, and theology, and has frequently been recounted in Shi'a
literature. For the Shi'a, Husayn's suffering and death became a symbol of
sacrifice in the struggle for right against wrong, and for justice and truth
against injustice and falsehood. It also provides the members of the Shi'a
faith with a catalog of heroic norms. The battle is commemorated during an
annual ten-day period during the Islamic month of Muharram by Shi'a,
culminating on tenth day of the month, known as the Day of Ashura. On this day,
Shi'a Muslims mourn, hold public processions, organize religious gathering,
beat their chests and in some cases self-flagellate. Sunni Muslims likewise
regard the incident as a historical tragedy; Husayn and his companions are
widely regarded as martyrs by both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. After the morning
prayer on 10 October, both parties took up battle positions. Husayn appointed
Zuhayr ibn Qayn to command the right flank of his army, Habib ibn Muzahir to
command the left flank, and his half-brother Abbas as the standard bearer.
Husayn's companions, according to most accounts, numbered thirty-two horsemen
and forty infantrymen; although forty-five horsemen and one hundred
foot-soldiers, or a total of a few hundred men have been reported by some
sources.
Ibn Sa'd's army totaled 4,000. According to the Shi'a sources, however, more
troops had joined Ibn Sa'd in preceding days, swelling his army to 30,000
strong. The ditch containing wood were set alight. Husayn then delivered a
speech to his opponents reminding them of his status as Muhammad's grandson and
reproaching them for inviting and then abandoning him. He asked to be allowed
to leave. He was told that first he had to submit to Yazid's authority, which
he refused to do. Husayn's speech moved Hurr to defect to his side. After
Husayn's speech, Zuhayr ibn Qayn attempted to dissuade Ibn Sa'd's soldiers from
killing Husayn, but in vain. Ibn Sa'd's army fired several volleys of arrows.
This was followed by duels in which several of Husayn's companions were slain.
The right wing of the Kufans, led by Amr ibn al-Hajjaj, attacked Husayn's
force, but was repulsed. Hand-to-hand fighting paused and further volleys of
arrows were exchanged. Shemr, who commanded the left wing of the Umayyad army,
launched an attack, but after losses on both sides he was repulsed. This was
followed by cavalry attacks. Husayn's cavalry resisted fiercely and Ibn Sa'd
brought in armored cavalry and five hundred archers. After their horses were
wounded by arrows, Husayn's cavalrymen dismounted and fought on foot.
First Fitna 656 -661
The First Fitna (strife/sedition of the killing of Uthman') was the first
Muslim civil war which led to the overthrow of the Rashidun Caliphate and the
establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate. The civil war involved three main
battles between the fourth Rashidun caliph, Ali, and the rebel groups. The
roots of the first civil war can be traced back to the assassination of the
second caliph, Umar. Before he died from his wounds, Umar formed a six-member
council, which ultimately elected Uthman as the next caliph. During the final
years of Uthman's caliphate, he was accused of nepotism and eventually killed
by rebels in 656. After Uthman's assassination, Ali was elected the fourth
caliph. Aisha, Talha, and Zubayr revolted against Ali to depose him. The two
parties fought the Battle of the Camel in December 656, in which Ali emerged
victorious. Afterwards, Mu'awiya, the incumbent governor of Syria, declared war
on Ali ostensibly to avenge Uthman's death. The two parties fought the Battle
of Siffin in July 657. This battle ended in stalemate and a call for
arbitration, which was resented by the Kharijites, who declared Ali, Mu'awiya,
and their followers as infidels. Following the Kharijites' violence against
civilians, Ali's forces crushed them in the Battle of Nahrawan. Soon after,
Mu'awiya also seized control of Egypt with the aid of Amr ibn al-As. In 661,
Ali was assassinated by the Kharijite Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam. After Ali's
death, his heir, Hasan, was elected caliph and soon after attacked by Mu'awiya.
The embattled Hasan concluded a peace treaty, acknowledging the rule of
Mu'awiya. The latter founded the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled as its first
caliph.
Following Muhammad's death in 632, Abu Bakr became the new leader of the Muslim
community. After reasserting Muslim control over the dissident tribes of
Arabia, he sent the Muslim armies against the empires of Byzantium and
Sassanian Persia, initiating a wave of conquests which were continued by his
successor Umar (r. 634–644), bringing about almost complete collapse of
the Sassanians, and restricting the Byzantine Empire to Anatolia, North Africa,
and its European holdings. The conquests brought Muslims bounteous revenue and
lands.Particularly in Iraq, the former crown-lands and the lands of the Persian
aristocracy were now in Muslim hands. These became communal property
administered by the state. The revenue was distributed among the conquering
armies, who had settled in Iraq. Umar also left the provincial administration
to the respective governors, who ruled with considerable autonomy, and
provincial surplus was spent on the settlers of the conquered territories
instead of being sent to the capital.
Uthman succeeded Umar after the latter's assassination in 644. His policies
earned him discontent of the Muslim elite and accusations of nepotism. He began
centralizing the power by reliance on his Umayyad relatives, the clan who had
long opposed Muhammad, to the exclusion of other Quraysh,[a] who had enjoyed
significant authority during the reign of his two predecessors. He appointed
his kinsmen to all of the provincial governorships. Although he continued the
expansion in eastern Persia and west of Egypt, the conquests came to a halt in
roughly the later part of his reign. The influx of spoils slowed, and the
economic issues that had previously been ignored by the conquest tribesmen due
to incoming revenue started coming to the fore. This was coupled with the
dislike of the Arab nomads for central authority which had hitherto been
superseded by the continued war effort. The continued migration of tribes from
Arabia to the conquered territories also resulted in reduced payments from the
revenue of the lands, which led to resentment in the old settlers. Uthman's
interference in the provincial affairs, that consisted of his declaration of
the crown lands of Iraq as the state assets, and his demand that provincial
surplus be forwarded to the caliph in Medina, brought about widespread
opposition to his rule, especially from Iraq and Egypt, where majority of the
conquest armies had settled.
The old settlers also saw their status threatened by the land grants in
conquered territories to prominent Quraysh like Talha ibn Ubayd Allah and
Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and the caliph allowing late arriving tribal chiefs, such
as Ashath ibn Qays, to acquire lands there in exchange for their lands in
Arabia. Encouraged by the Medinese elite including the companions like Talha,
Zubayr, Amr ibn al-A's, the conqueror of Egypt whom Uthman had deposed, and
Muhammad's widow A'isha, the provincial opposition subsequently broadened into
open rebellion and dissidents from Egypt and Iraq marched on Medina, killing
the caliph in June 656. Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was subsequently
recognized caliph.
After the assassination of Ali in January 661, his eldest son, Hasan, was
elected caliph in Kufa.Mu'awiya shortly marched on Kufa with a large army,
while Hasan's military response suffered defections in large numbers, in part
facilitated by military commanders and tribal chiefs who had been swayed to
Mu'awiya's side by promises and offers of money. After a failed assassination
attempt on his life, a wounded Hasan, who by now only ruled the area around
Kufa, agreed to a peace treaty with Mu'awiya in 661.Under this treaty, Hasan
ceded the caliphate to Mu'awiya in exchange for a general amnesty for the
people and the return of the caliphate to Hasan after Mu'awiya's death.
However, Hasan died in 669 at the age of forty six. It is believed that he was
poisoned at the instigation of Mu'awiya. Mu'awiyah was crowned as caliph at a
ceremony in Jerusalem in 661.
Abd_al-Malik_ibn_Marwan
647 -705
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam - Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-?akam;
(July/August 644 or June/July 647 – 9 October 705) was the fifth Umayyad
caliph, ruling from April 685 until his death. A member of the first generation
of born Muslims, his early life in Medina was occupied with pious pursuits. He
held administrative and military posts under Caliph Mu'awiya I (r.
661–680), founder of the Umayyad Caliphate, and his own father, Caliph
Marwan I (r. 684–685). By the time of Abd al-Malik's accession, Umayyad
authority had collapsed across the Caliphate as a result of the
Second Muslim Civil War
and had been reconstituted in Syria and Egypt during his father's reign. .
In the east, Abd al-Malik's viceroy, al-Hajjaj, firmly established the caliph's
authority in Iraq and Khurasan, stamping out opposition by the Kharijites and
the Arab tribal nobility by 702. Abd al-Malik's final years were marked by a
domestically peaceful and prosperous consolidation of power.
Caliph Marwan II 744 -
750
Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam: Marwan ibn Mu?ammad ibn Marwan ibn
al-?akam; (691 – 6 August 750), usually known simply as Marwan II, was the
fourteenth and last caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 744 until he
was killed in 750. Much of his reign was dominated by a civil war, and he was
the last Umayyad ruler to rule the united Caliphate before the Abbasid
Revolution toppled the Umayyad dynasty. When Yazid III persisted in
overthrowing al-Walid II, Marwan at first opposed him, then rendered allegiance
to him. On Yazid's early death (Yazid named his brother Ibrahim as his
successor. Yazid fell ill of a brain tumour, Marwan renewed his ambitions,
ignored Yazid's named successor Ibrahim, and became caliph. Ibrahim initially
hid, then requested Marwan give him assurances of personal safety. This Marwan
granted and Ibrahim even accompanied the new caliph to Hisham's residence of
Rusafah. Old map of western Eurasia and northern Africa showing the expansion
of the Caliphate from Arabia to cover most of the Middle East, with the
Byzantine Empire outlined in green The expansion of the Muslim Caliphate until
750, from William R. Shepherd's Historical Atlas. Muslim state at the death of
Muhammad Expansion under the Rashidun Caliphate Expansion under the Umayyad
Caliphate Byzantine Empire Marwan named his two sons Ubaydallah and Abdullah
heirs. He appointed governors and proceeded to assert his authority by force.
However, the anti-Umayyad feeling was very prevalent, especially in Iran and
Iraq.
The Abbasids had gained much support. As such, Marwan's reign as caliph was
almost entirely devoted to trying to keep the Umayyad empire together. Marwan
took Emesa (Homs) after a bitter ten-month siege. Al-Dahhak ibn Qays
al-Shaybani led a Kharijite rebellion. He defeated the Syrian forces and took
Kufa. Sulayman ibn Hisham turned against Marwan, but suffered a severe defeat.
The Kharijites advanced on Mosul and were defeated. Sulayman joined them.
Al-Dahhak's successor al-Khaybari was initially successful in pushing back
Marwan's center and even took the caliph's camp and sat on his carpet. However,
he and those with him fell into fighting in the camp. Shayban succeeded him.
Marwan pursued him and Sulayman to Mosul and besieged them there for six
months. Then, reinforced, the caliph drove them out. Shayban fled to Bahrayn
where he was killed; Sulayman sailed to India.
In Khurasan there was internal discord, with the Umayyad governor Nasr ibn
Sayyar facing opposition from al-Harith and al-Kirmani. They also fought each
other. In addition, Abbasid envoys arrived. There had long been religious
fervor and a kind of messianic expectation of Abbasid ascendency. During
Ramadan of 747 (16 May – 14 June), the Abbasids unfurled the standards of
their revolt. Nasr sent his retainer Yazid against them. Yazid, however, was
bested, taken, and held captive. He was impressed by the Abbasids and when
released told Nasr he wanted to join them, but his obligations to Nasr brought
him back. Fighting continued throughout Khurasan with the Abbasids gaining
increasing ascendency. Finally, Nasr fell sick and died at Rayy on 9 November
748 at the age of eighty-five. Marwan campaigned in Egypt in 749 to quell the
Bashmuric Revolt and secure his rear, but his campaign was a failure. The
Abbasids, meanwhile, achieved success in the Hijaz. Marwan suffered a decisive
defeat by Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah on the banks of the Great Zab, called Battle
of the Zab. At this battle alone, over 300 members of the Umayyad family died.
Marwan fled, leaving Damascus, Jordan and Palestine and reaching Egypt, where
he was caught and killed on 6 August 750. His heirs Ubaydallah and Abdallah
escaped to modern Eritrea. Abdallah died in fighting there. Marwan's death
signaled the end of Umayyad fortunes in the East and was followed by the mass
killing of Umayyads by the Abbasids. Almost the entire Umayyad dynasty was
killed, except for the prince Abd ar-Rahman who escaped to Spain and founded an
Umayyad dynasty there. In Egypt, Marwan's tongue was fed to a cat.
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians,
also called the Neo-Persian Empire by historians, was the last Persian imperial
dynasty before the Muslim conquest in the mid-7th century AD. Named after the
House of Sasan, it endured for over four centuries, from 224 to 651 AD, making
it the longest-lived Persian dynasty. The Sasanian Empire succeeded the
Parthian Empire, and re-established the Iranians as a major power in late
antiquity alongside its neighboring arch-rival, the Roman-Byzantine Empire. The
Sasanian Empire was founded by Ardashir I, a local Iranian ruler who rose to
power as Parthia weakened from internal strife and wars with Rome. After
defeating the last Parthian shahanshah, Artabanus IV, in the battle of
Hormozdgan in 224, he established the Sasanian dynasty and set out to restore
the legacy of the Achaemenid Empire by expanding Iran's dominions. At its
greatest extent, the Sasanian Empire encompassed all of present-day Iran and
Iraq and stretched from the eastern Mediterranean (including Anatolia and
Egypt) to Pakistan, and from parts of southern Arabia to the Caucasus and
Central Asia. According to legend, the vexilloid of the Empire was the Derafsh
Kaviani. The period of Sasanian rule is considered a high point in Iranian
history and in many ways was the peak of ancient Iranian culture before the
Muslim conquest and subsequent Islamization. The Sasanians tolerated the varied
faiths and cultures of their subjects, developed a complex, centralized
government bureaucracy, and revitalized Zoroastrianism as a legitimizing and
unifying force of their rule. They also built grand monuments and public works
and patronized cultural and educational institutions. The empire's cultural
influence extended far beyond its territorial borders—including Western
Europe, Africa, China and India—and helped shape European and Asian
medieval art. Persian culture became the basis for much of Islamic culture,
influencing art, architecture, music, literature, and philosophy throughout the
Muslim world.
Sasanian Civil
War
The Sasanian civil war of 628–632, also known as the Sasanian Interregnum
was a conflict that broke out after the execution of the Sasanian king Khosrau
II between the nobles of different factions, notably the Parthian (Pahlav)
faction, the Persian (Parsig) faction, the Nimruzi faction, and the faction of
general Shahrbaraz. Rapid turnover of rulers and increasing provincial
landholder power further diminished the empire. Over a period of 4 years and 14
successive kings, the Sasanian Empire weakened considerably, and the power of
the central authority passed into the hands of its generals, contributing to
its fall.
Yazdegerd III
Yazdegerd III (also spelled Yazdgerd III and Yazdgird III; was the last
Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 632 to 651. His father was Shahriyar and
his grandfather was Khosrow II. (See
Muslim
Conquest of Persia)
Abdullah ibn Amir
Abu Abd al-Rahman, Abdallah ibn Amir ibn Kurayz, was a Rashidun politician and
general, serving as governor of Basra from 647 to 656 AD under the reign of
Rashidun Caliph Uthman ibn Affan. He was a cousin of the Caliph through his
father. He is most well known for his administrative and military prowess; his
campaign of reconquest and pacification of former territories of the Persian
Empire has left a legacy of Islamization in both Iran and Afghanistan.
Muslim
conquest of Kerman
The Muslim conquest of Kerman and Sistan took place around 644 AD, during the
caliphate of ?Uthman ibn ?Affan. Rashidun forces under ?Abdullah ibn ?Abdullah
ibn ?Itban and Suhail ibn ?Adi killed the Sassanid governor of Kerman and took
the towns of Bam, Bardsir, Jiroft and Sirjan.
Muslim
conquest of Sistan
The Persian Empire's province of Sistan in the 7th century extended from the
modern Iranian province of Sistan to central Afghanistan and Baluchistan
province of Pakistan. Sistan was raided by Muslim forces from Kirman, during
the reign of Caliph Umar: in 643-644 CE, Asim ibn Amr and Abdullah ibn Umair
made inroads into Sistan and besieged its capital Zaranj. A treaty was
concluded, forcing the Sistanis to pay the Kharaj. From that point, there were
many conflicts with the Turks, who resided in the area from Kandahar to Kabul.
Like other provinces of the Persian Empire, Sistan broke into revolt during
Uthman's reign in 649 CE. Uthman directed the governor of Busra, Abdullah ibn
Aamir to re-conquer the province. A column was sent to Sistan under the command
of Rabeah ibn Ziyad. He re-conquered it up to what is now Zaranj in
Afghanistan. Rabeah ibn Ziyad was made governor of Sistan. He remained there
for years, then he left for Busra, and the province again broke into revolt in
a larger area. Abdullah ibn Aamir sent Abdulrehman ibn Sumra to undertake the
operation. Abdur Rahman ibn Sumra led the Muslim forces to Sistan and after
crossing the frontier and overcoming resistance in the border towns advanced to
Zaranj, which at the time was named Zahidan. Once Zaranj was captured
Abdulrehman marched into Afghanistan and conquered it into north up to Kabul
after proceeding to Hindu Kush mountain range, Zamindawar and the mountain of
Ghor, which at the time was named Mandesh. during this campaign he destroyed
some golden Idols and successfully captured the local Kushan Sahi king. He
returned to Zaranj and remained governor until Uthman's death in 656.
Muslim
conquest of Khorasan
In 642 the Sassanid Empire was nearly destroyed and almost all parts of Persia
were conquered, except parts of Khorasan, which were still held by Sassanids.
Khorasan was the second largest province of the Sassanid Empire. It stretched
from what is now north-eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its capital
was Balkh, in present-day northern Afghanistan. In 651 after Yazdegerd III was
murdered by Mahuy Suri, the marzban or administrator of Marw Tabaristan was
afterwards invaded by the Muslim Arabs. Khorasan, a province of the Persian
Empire was conquered during the reign of Caliph Umar, under command of Ahnaf
ibn Qais. After Caliph Umar's death, Khorasan broke into series of which first
happened when revolt under Persian Emperor Yazdegerd III, but before he could
lead the Persians against the Muslims, he was betrayed and killed in 651.
Caliph Uthman in 651, sent ibn Aamir, governor of Basra, to re-conquer
Khorasan. Ibn Aamir marched with large forces from Basra to Khorasan
outstripping another contingent of Said Ibn Al-Aas, who departed from Kufa
together with Hudzaifah Ibn Al-Yaman, Husayn ibn Ali, Hasan ibn Ali and other
companions.
Razzia - Ghazi
A ghazi , plural guzat) was an individual who participated in ghazw (???,
gazw), meaning military expeditions or raiding. The latter term was applied in
early Islamic literature to expeditions led by the Islamic prophet Muhammad,
and later taken up by Turkic military leaders to describe their wars of
conquest. In the context of the wars between Russia and the Muslim peoples of
the Caucasus, starting as early as the late 18th century's Sheikh Mansur's
resistance to Russian expansion, the word usually appears in the form gazavat
In English-language literature, the ghazw often appears as razzia, a borrowing
through French from Maghrebi Arabic. In modern Turkish, it is used to refer to
veterans, and also as a title for Turkic Muslim champions such as Ertugrul,
Osman I, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Battle of Badr - 624 AD
Battle of the
Yarmuk 634 AD.
The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk) was a major battle between the
army of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate.
The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in
August 636, near the Yarmouk River, along what are now the borders of
Syria–Jordan and Syria–Palestine, southeast of the Sea of Galilee.
The result of the battle was a complete Muslim victory that ended Byzantine
rule in Syria. The Battle of the Yarmuk is regarded as one of the most decisive
battles in military history, and it marked the first great wave of early Muslim
conquests after the death of Prophet Muhammad, heralding the rapid advance of
Islam into the then-Christian Levant.
Battle of
al-Qadisiyyah 636 AD
The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah , also spelled Qadisiyah, Qadisiyya, Ghadesiyeh or
Kadisiya, fought in 636, was a decisive battle between the Arab Muslim army and
the army of the Sasanian Empire of Persia during the first period of Muslim
conquests. The Muslim victory was key to the conquest of Asorestan (Iraq) and
was followed by major engagements at Jalula and Nahavand. The battle also saw
the alleged alliance of Emperor Yazdegerd III with Byzantine emperor Heraclius,
who married his granddaughter Manyanh to Yazdegerd as a symbol of alliance.
Battle of Nahavand,
642 AD
The Battle of Nahavand , also spelled Nihavand or Nahawand, was fought in 642
between the Rashidun Muslim forces under Caliph Umar and Sasanian Persian
armies under King Yazdegerd III. Yazdegerd escaped to the Merv area, but was
unable to raise another substantial army. It was a victory for the Rashidun
Caliphate and the Persians consequently lost the surrounding cities including
Spahan (Isfahan). The former Sassanid provinces, in alliance with Parthian and
White Hun nobles, resisted for about a century in the region south of the
Caspian Sea, even as the Rashidun Caliphate was replaced by the Umayyads, thus
perpetuating the Sassanid court styles, Zoroastrian religion, and Persian
language.
Battle of Oxus
River 651
The Battle of Oxus River was a significant battle in the 7th century, fought
between the combined armies of the Sassanid and Göktürk Empires
against the Muslim Arab army that had overrun Persia. Following his defeat, the
last Sassanid Emperor, Yazdegerd III, became a hunted fugitive who fled to
Central Asia and then to China. Khorasan was the second largest province of the
Sassanid Persian Empire. It stretched from what is now north-eastern Iran,
Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its capital was Balkh, now in northern
Afghanistan. In 651, the mission of conquering Khurasan was assigned to Ahnaf
ibn Qais and Abdullah ibn Aamir. Abdullah marched from Fars and took a short
and less frequent route via Rayy. Ahnaf then marched north direct to Merv, in
present Turkmenistan. Merv was the capital of Khurasan and here Yazdegerd III
held his court. On hearing of the Muslim advance, Yazdegerd III left for Balkh.
No resistance was offered at Merv, and the Muslims occupied the capital of
Khurasan without a fight. Ahnaf stayed at Merv and waited for reinforcement
from Kufa. Meanwhile, Yazdegerd had also gathered considerable power at Balkh
and also sought alliance with the Khan of Farghana, who personally led the
Turkish contingent to help Yazdegerd III. Umar ordered that Yazdegerd’s
allied forces should be weakened by breaking up the alliance with the Turks.
Ahnaf successfully broke up the alliance and the Khan of Farghana pulled back
his forces, realizing that fighting with the Muslims was not a good idea and
might endanger his own kingdom. Yazdegerd's army was defeated at the Battle of
the Oxus River and retreated across the Oxus to Transoxiana. Yazdegerd III had
a narrow escape and fled to China. Balkh was occupied by the Muslims, and with
this occupation the Persian war was over. The Muslims had now reached the
outermost frontiers of Persia. Beyond that laid the lands of the Turks and
still further laid China. The old mighty empire of the Sasanians had ceased to
exist.
Battle of Nishapur
652
The Battle of Nishapur was fought in 652 between the Karen family and the
Rashidun Caliphate along with their allies, the Kanarangiyan family. In 651,
Yazdegerd III was murdered by Mahuy Suri, the marzban of Marw. Tabaristan was
afterwards invaded by the Muslim Arabs, who were defeated at the battle of
Ruyan by the Zoroastrian Dabboyids. Farrukhzad, the previously minister of
Yazdegerd, and ruler of Tabaristan, managed to repel the Arabs with the aid of
Gil Gavbara and make a treaty with them. The Arabs then invaded Khorasan, and
made a treaty with the kanarang of Tus, Kanadbak. In the treaty Kanadbak agreed
to pay tribute to the Arabs while still remaining in control of his territories
in Tus. In order to strengthen the weakened Karen family, and to reclaim lost
Karenid territory, Burzin, along with another Karenid named Sawar Karin, made
resistance to the Arabs and tried to reclaim territory from the Kanarangiyan
family. In promise of regaining his lost territories, Kanadbak agreed to aid
Abdullah in capturing Nishapur from the Karenid rebels. Abdullah and Kanadbak
started pillaging the areas of Nishapur, and fought heavily to capture the
city. Sawar then tried to make peace with Abdullah, and told him that he would
open the gates of Nishapur if the latter pardoned him. Abdullah agreed,
however, when the gates were opened, he entered the gate with his army, and
started to plunder the city and killing citizens, until Kanadbak said to him:
"O amir, once you have been victorious and triumphant forgiveness is a
higher [virtue] than revenge and retribution." Abdullah then did as the
latter said and restored the city to Kanadbak's domains.
Battle of Badghis
654
The Battle of Badghis was fought in 654 between the Karen family and their
Hephthalite allies against the Rashidun Caliphate. In 651, the Arabs had
invaded Khorasan, and by 652, they had conquered most of the region. However,
in 654, the Karenids under Karin, along with the Hephthalites under Nezak
Tarkan, made an insurrection against the Arabs. The rebellion spread in Herat,
Badghis and Quhistan, and later they even managed to repel the Arabs from
Nishapur and Balkh. During the same period the people of Zaranj rebelled,
however, the Arabs under Abd-Allah ibn Amir managed to defeat them and kill
Karin.
Battle of al-Harra
683
The Battle of al-Harra (Yawm al-?arra lit.?'the day of al-Harra') was fought
between the Syrian army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683) led by
Muslim ibn Uqba and the local defenders of Medina, namely the Ansar and
Muhajirun factions, who had rebelled against the caliph. The battle took place
at the lava field of Harrat Waqim in the northeastern outskirts of Medina on 26
August 683. The elite factions of Medina disapproved of the hereditary
succession of Yazid, unprecedented in Islamic history until that point,
resented the caliph's impious lifestyle, and chafed under Umayyad economic
policies. After declaring their rebellion, they besieged the Umayyad clan
resident in Medina and dug a defensive trench around the city. The
expeditionary force sent by Yazid together with the local Umayyads, who had
since been released from the siege, encamped at Harrat Waqim where they were
confronted by the rebels. Despite an initial advantage, the Medinese were
routed as a result of the defection of one of their factions, which enabled
Umayyad horsemen led by Marwan ibn al-Hakam to attack them from the rear.
Afterward, the army pillaged Medina for three days, though accounts of the
plunder vary considerably. The Syrian army proceeded to besiege the rebel
leader Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca, though Ibn Uqba, who was maligned in
Muslim traditional sources for his role in Medina's plunder, died en route. The
Battle of al-Harra is described as one of the Umayyads' "major"
crimes by the traditional sources.
The location of the battle was in a lava field known as Harrat Waqim, which
straddles the eastern outskirts of Medina in the Hejaz (western Arabia). It was
named after the Waqim fortress of the Banu Qurayza tribe that had been resident
in the area during the pre-Islamic period and was alternatively known as Harrat
Bani Qurayza or Harrat Zuhra. It formed part of the vast geological system of
?arras (basaltic deserts) which spanned the region east of the Hauran in Syria
southward to Medina's environs. As a result of the fame of the battle, Harrat
Waqim was thenceforth referred to in Muslim sources as "the Harra".
The hereditary succession of the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I's son Yazid I in 680
had been unprecedented act in Islamic history and was a point of contention
among the people of Medina, particularly the eminent Muslim leaders of the
Hejaz. One of them, Husayn, a son of Caliph Ali (r. 656–661) and grandson
of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, left Medina to lead a revolt against Yazid in
Iraq, but was slain alongside his entire band of about seventy followers at the
Battle of Karbala by the forces of the Umayyad governor Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad;
Yazid is said to have had the head of Husayn put on display in Damascus.
Reports of impious behavior by Yazid, including entertainment by singing girls
and a pet monkey contributed to prevailing attitudes in Medina of his
unsuitability as caliph. The Medinese consisted of the Ansar (native Medinese
who had hosted and allied with Muhammad after his emigration from Mecca in 622)
and the Muhajirun (Muhammad's early supporters who had emigrated with him). The
Muhajirun were dominated by the Quraysh, the tribe to which Muhammad, Ali and
the Umayyads belonged. At the time of the opposition to Yazid, the Medinese
were mostly the children of the two factions, i.e. Islam's first military
generation, and felt threatened at the potential loss of the inherited military
pensions brought about by Umayyad fiscal reforms; the reforms called for
pensions to be given only in exchange for direct military service. To reconcile
with the Medinese, Yazid requested that they send a delegation to his court in
Damascus. The governor of Medina, Yazid's cousin Uthman ibn Muhammad ibn Abi
Sufyan, organized the Medinese embassy to Damascus. Yazid attempted to win over
the delegates by lavishing them with gifts and money. This proved fruitless
when the delegates returned and incited the people of Medina with accounts
detailing Yazid's scandalous lifestyle. The most vociferous critic among the
delegates was Abd Allah ibn Hanzala. He declared that he and his sons would
fight against Yazid should others not help him and though he was respected by
Yazid, he would use the gifts the latter gave him against the caliph.
Meanwhile, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, a grandson of the first caliph Abu Bakr (r.
632–634), had taken control of Mecca in September 683, established his
headquarters in the Ka'aba and allied with Ibn Hanzala in opposition to Yazid.
Uthman ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Sufyan was unable to control the growing opposition
to Umayyad ruleAccording to the early Muslim historian al-Mada'ini (d. 843),
the inaugurating act of rebellion by the Medinese occurred during a gathering
in the mosque where the attendees each tossed an article of clothing, such as a
turban or a shoe, an Arab custom symbolizing a severing of ties, to renounce
their allegiance to Yazid
. According to another early Muslim historian Abu Mikhnaf (d. 774), the first
act of rebellion by the Medinese was giving allegiance to Ibn Hanzala.
Afterward, they assaulted the Umayyads and their supporters in the city,
together about 1,000-strong, who fled to the quarter of their senior elder,
Marwan ibn al-Hakam. Marwan sent urgent requests for assistance from Yazid, who
dispatched a 4,000 to 12,000-strong, well-equipped army of Syrian Arab
tribesmen, dominated by the Banu Kalb. The expeditionary force was sent to
suppress the opposition from both the Medinese and Ibn al-Zubayr. As an
incentive to the troops, who anticipated an arduous campaign ahead, each
soldier was paid 100 dirhams over their regular stipend. Yazid's initial choice
for the commander of this force, the Umayyad Amr ibn Sa'id ibn al-As, refused
the position out of a principle not to shed the blood of his fellow Quraysh,
while Ubayd Allah, still reeling from the fallout from his role in the death of
Husayn, also refused. Instead, the loyal, elderly, non-Qurayshi veteran Muslim
ibn Uqba was given the command. According to the historian al-Ya'qubi (d. 897),
Ibn Uqba's forces were composed of equal numbers of troops from the five junds
(armies) of Syria: Rawh ibn Zinba al-Judhami led the men of Palestine, Hubaysh
ibn Dulja al-Qayni led the men of Jordan, Abd Allah ibn Mas'ada al-Fazari led
the men of Damascus, Husayn ibn Numayr al-Sakuni led the men of Homs and Zufar
ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi led the men of Qinnasrin.
Upon hearing of the Syrian advance, the Medinese reinforced the siege against
the Umayyads of Medina, before allowing them to leave after they gave oaths not
to assist the incoming army. On their way to Syria, the exiled Umayyads
encountered Ibn Uqba's army in the Wadi al-Qura region between Syria and
Medina. Ibn Uqba's inquiries about Medina's defenses were rebuffed by most of
the Umayyads, some of whom continued on their way north, but Marwan's son Abd
al-Malik cooperated and offered valuable intelligence. Under Marwan's
leadership, most of the exiles joined the expedition. In Medina, the defenders,
numbering about 2,000 men, dug a trench to protect a vulnerable northern corner
of the city and divided themselves into four units, two of which were commanded
by members of the Quraysh, one by a member of the Banu Ashja and the other by
Ibn Hanzala of the Ansar. For three days starting on 23 August Ibn Uqba
attempted negotiations with the Medinese leaders. He appealed for unity and
promised two annual payments to the Medinese from Yazid and a significant price
reduction of corn. According to the historian Laura Veccia Vaglieri, this
indicates that economic concerns contributed to the Medinese opposition of the
Umayyads. The negotiations between Ibn Uqba and the Medinese faltered, and
clashes ensued. The Medinese horsemen marched against Ibn Uqba in the Harra,
and may have advanced as far as Ibn Uqba's litter, from which he commanded his
troops. Upon their approach, Ibn Uqba confronted them on horseback and actively
participated in the fighting. The Medinese gained an early advantage, but were
ultimately overtaken by the Syrians and several Ansari and Qurayshi notables
were slain, including Ibn Hanzala, eight of his sons and a handful of other men
from the Medinese elite.
The medieval Arab historians Wahb ibn Jarir (d. 822) and al-Samhudi (d. 1533)
held that Medinese lines were compromised by the defection of the Banu Haritha,
who gave Marwan and his horsemen access through their quarter in Medina,
enabling them to assault the Medinese at al-Harra from the rear. The Quraysh,
led by Abd Allah ibn Muti al-Adawi, fled the battlefield and headed for safety
to Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca. According to the early Muslim source al-Waqidi (d.
747), the battle concluded on 26 August 683.
Conflicting accounts abound regarding the aftermath of the Syrian victory.
According to Abu Mikhnaf and al-Samhudi, Ibn Uqba gave his troops free rein to
pillage Medina for three days. The number of Medinese casualties incurred
during the battle and immediate aftermath range from 180 to 700 members of the
Ansar and Quraysh, and 4,000 to 10,000 other Medinese. Al-Samhudi further
claimed that as a result of the alleged rape of Medinese women by Ibn Uqba's
troops, 1,000 illegitimate children were later born by them as a result. The
account of early Arab historian Awana ibn al-Hakam (d. 764) describes a more
orderly capture, in which Ibn Uqba summoned the notables of Medina to give
allegiance to Yazid at the Quba Mosque and used the occasion to execute several
prominent leaders of the opposition movement, including a number from the
Quraysh and Ma'qil ibn Sinan al-Ashja'i. The latter had been a close friend and
belonged to the same Ghatafan tribal grouping as Ibn Uqba, but was nonetheless
executed for his disavowal of Yazid. A son of Caliph Uthman (r. 644–656),
a member of the Umayyad clan, had his beard cut as punishment for suspected
collusion with the Medinese, though Ali ibn al-Husayn, a grandson of Caliph
Ali, was well-treated on the personal instructions of Yazid.
Wahb ibn Jarir likewise did not make note of a three-day plunder of Medina and
Wellhausen doubts that it occurred. The accounts of Abu Mikhnaf and Awana agree
that following the ordering of affairs in Medina, Ibn Uqba left to subdue Ibn
al-Zubayr in Mecca, but fell ill and died on the way in al-Mushallal. As
ordered by Yazid, he left as second-in-command Husayn ibn Numayr al-Sakuni, who
proceeded to besiege Mecca in September. The alleged cruelty against the
townspeople of Medina by the Umayyad army became a cause célèbre
that was invoked by future generations. Ibn Uqba was thenceforth known as
"Musrif", a play on his name "Muslim" that meant "he
who exceeds all bounds of propriety". The historian Michael Lecker
considers the reports of Syrian atrocities in Medina as "undeniably
anti-Umayyad and probably exaggerated".] Moreover, Wellhausen dismisses
the depiction by later Muslim and western sources of Ibn Uqba as a brutal
heathen with a deep hatred for Islam, in general, and the people of Medina, in
particular, as a falsity that developed over time and is unsupported by the
early and more credible Muslim sources.
In Wellhausen's assessment, the suppression of the Medinese revolt did not
render a major decline to the city's political status; this had already been
precipitated by the assassination of Caliph Uthman, the aftermath of which
marked Medina's end as the capital of the nascent Muslim state. The city
continued to be a center for religious scholarship, Arab high culture and a
redoubt for poets and singers. Vaglieri counters Wellhausen's doubts about the
extent of the army's pillage, asserting that the "[traditional Muslim]
sources are unanimous on this point".
Battle of Khaziar
686
The Battle of Khazir, romanized: Yawm Khazir) took place in August 686 near the
Khazir River in Mosul's eastern environs, in modern-day Iraq. The battle
occurred during the Second Muslim Civil War and was part of the larger struggle
for control of Iraq between the Syria-based Umayyad Caliphate, the Kufa-based
pro-Alid forces of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi, and the Mecca-based caliphate of Abd
Allah ibn al-Zubayr. It ended in a rout for the Umayyads and the expansion of
Mukhtar's rule into the region of Mosul. The ranks of Ubayd Allah's
60,000-strong army consisted of Arab tribesmen from Syria and as such was
referred to in medieval sources as jumu' ahl al-Sham (host of the Syrians). At
the time, according to one report cited by 9th-century historian al-Tabari,
"[Caliph] Marwan's army was from Kalb and their commander was Ibn
Bahdal", while "the whole of Qays was in al-Jazira and were opponents
of Marwan and the family of Marwan". Historian Hugh N. Kennedy asserts
that this "report is exaggerated" because Ubayd Allah recruited
commanders from both Qays and Yaman (the latter were dominated by the Kalb),
"but it does point to a general problem" regarding the effect of the
Qaysi–Yamani rivalry on the Umayyad army.Mukhtar's forces were smaller
than Ubayd Allah's army, but the morale of his men was high due to their
victory in Kufa and their desire to avenge Husayn ibn Ali and Ibn Surad's
Penitents, whose deaths were attributed to Ubayd Allah. The report of the
Arabic historian Abu Mikhnaf (d. 774) has Ibn al-Ashtar's army as a
well-organized, 20,000-strong cavalry force, while the account of the
contemporary Syriac historian John bar Penkaye describes this force as a
rag-tag army of 13,000 foot soldiers. The foot soldiers were referred to as
Mukhtar's shur?a (select troops). The army Mukhtar sent under Ibn al-Ashtar's
command consisted largely of mawali (sing. mawla; non-Arab clients of Arab
tribes). The ranks of the mawali were dominated by the Persians of Kufa led by
Abu Amra Kaysan; the latter, a mawla of a Bajila tribesman, either commanded
the shur?a or the ?aras (personal guard) of Mukhtar. The predominance of
Persians in Mukhtar's army was noted by Umayyad defectors to Ibn al-Ashtar;
they complained to have rarely heard a word of Arabic spoken by Mukhtar's
soldiers, whom they viewed as unfit to confront the elite troops of the Umayyad
army. According to the 9th-century historian al-Dinawari, Ibn al-Ashtar
responded that his troops were "the sons of noble warriors and chiefs of
the Persians". Arab cavalry also formed a significant part of Ibn
al-Ashtar's forces and his lieutenant commanders were also Arabs.
Qutayba_ibn_Muslim
Abu ?af? Qutayba ibn Abi ?ali? Muslim ibn ?Amr al-Bahili ( 669–715/6) was
an Arab commander of the Umayyad Caliphate who became governor of Khurasan and
distinguished himself in the conquest of Transoxiana during the reign of
al-Walid I (705–715). A capable soldier and administrator, he consolidated
Muslim rule in the area and expanded the Caliphate's border to include most of
Transoxiana. From 705 to c.?710 he consolidated Muslim control over the native
principalities of Tokharistan and conquered the principality of Bukhara, while
in 710–712 he conquered Khwarizm and completed the conquest of Sogdiana
with the capture of Samarkand. The latter opened the road to the Jaxartes
valley, and during the last years of his life Qutayba led annual campaigns
there, extending Muslim control up to the Fergana Valley and parts of western
China.
Battle of the Zab
750
The Battle of the Zab, also referred to in scholarly contexts as Battle of the
Great Zab River, took place on January 25, 750, on the banks of the Great Zab
River in what is now the modern country of Iraq. It spelled the end of the
Umayyad Caliphate and the rise of the Abbasids, a dynasty that would last from
750 to 1258 which is divided in to two periods: Early Abbasid period (750-940)
and Later Abbasid period (940-1258). In 747, a major rebellion broke out
against the Umayyad Caliphate, which ruled most of the Middle East from 661 to
750. The principal cause of the rebellion was the increasing gap between the
outlying peoples of the Caliphate and the Damascus-based Umayyad government.
The Umayyad-appointed governors of the Caliphate's various provinces were
corrupt and interested only with personal gains. Additionally, the Umayyads
claimed no direct descent from Muhammad, while the Abbasids did (they descended
from Muhammad's uncle Abbas—a fact the latter used greatly during the
revolution). In 750, the army of the Umayyad caliph Marwan II fought a combined
force of Abbasid, Shia, Khawarij, and Iraqi forces. Marwan's army was, on paper
at least, far larger and more formidable than that of his opponents, as it
contained many veterans of earlier Umayyad campaigns against the Byzantine
Empire; its support for the caliph, however, was only lukewarm. The morale of
the Umayyads had been damaged by the series of defeats inflicted earlier in the
rebellion, while the morale of the Abbasid armies had increased.
The Abbasid army formed a spear wall, a tactic they had adopted from their
Umayyad opponents, presumably from witnessing it in earlier battles. This
entailed standing in a battle line with their lances pointed at the enemy
(similar to the stakes used by English longbowmen at Agincourt and Crécy
many centuries later). The Umayyad cavalry charged, possibly believing that
with their experience they could break the spear wall. This was a mistake on
their part, however, and they were all but butchered. The Umayyad army fell
into retreat, its morale finally shattered. Many were cut down by the zealous
Abbasids or were drowned in the wintertime River Zab. Marwan's army was, on
paper at least, far larger and more formidable than that of his opponents, as
it contained many veterans of earlier Umayyad campaigns against the Byzantine
Empire; its support for the caliph, however, was only lukewarm. The morale of
the Umayyads had been damaged by the series of defeats inflicted earlier in the
rebellion, while the morale of the Abbasid armies had increased. At this battle
alone, over 300 members of the Umayyad family died. Marwan fled, leaving
Damascus, Jordan and Palestine and reaching Egypt, where he was caught and
killed on 6 August 750.
Battle of Talas 751
AD
The Battle of Talas or Battle of Artlakh was a military engagement between the
Arab Abbasid Caliphate along with its ally, the Tibetan Empire, against the
Chinese Tang dynasty. In 715 the Tang emperor declined the demand of the
Türgesh tribe leader Suluk to be recognized as Qaghan, instead offering
him the rank of duke in the Tang military. In response, Suluk invaded the Tarim
Basin together with the Tibetan Empire, but they were driven out by the cavalry
of Ashina Xian. Suluk and his khagan soldiers challenged the Umayyad and Tang
control of the oasis towns regularly. But before Suluk's death his soldiers
were defeated by the Tang in 736 and by the Muslim military in 737. At the same
time Türgesh tribes established metal industries in Tang controlled
Fergana Valley, an area that was also home to important iron production
centers. The Karluks, a federation of three Türgesh tribes with
settlements in the Tian Shan mountains, were producers and exporters of iron
weapons to the Tibetan empire and the Tang dynasty. In 747 the Tang general Gao
Xianzhi, who had successfully fought the Tibetan empire in the Pamir Mountains,
established Tang control over the Gilgit region. In early 748 the Persian
Abbasid general Abu Muslim occupied Merv, the capital of Greater Khorasan, and
went on to lead what has become known as the Abbasid revolution. In the year
750, Abu al-'Abbas al-Saffah (As-Saffah) was proclaimed the first Abbasid
caliph in the great mosque of Kufa.
The Umayyad Caliphate fell in 750 at the Battle of the Zab. Abu Muslim had
raised an army that included Muslims and non-Muslims, which he dispatched
westwards to take control over Ummayyad territory. The Tang general and the
Abbasid general would eventually meet in 750 when the kings of the Silk Road
towns Tashkent and Ferghana sought the support of their imperial overlords in a
battle of dominance. Gao Xianzhi conquered the Abbasid controlled Tashkent
after a siege. The Abbasid general Ziyad ibn Salih escaped from Tashkent to
Samarkand where he gathered troops and marched eastwards to confront the Tang
army. In Fergana the Tang general Gao Xianzhi raised an army by recruiting
Karluk Turks. In July 751 AD, Tang and Abbasid forces met in the valley of the
Talas River to vie for control over the Syr Darya region of central Asia.
According to Chinese sources, after several days of stalemate, the Karluk
Turks, originally allied to the Tang, defected to the Abbasid Arabs and tipped
the balance of power, resulting in a Tang rout. The defeat marked the end of
the Tang westward expansion and resulted in Muslim Arab control of Transoxiana
for the next 400 years. Control of the region was economically beneficial for
the Abbasids because it was on the Silk Road. Chinese prisoners captured in the
aftermath of the battle are said to have brought paper-making technology to
West Asia. The Abbasid victor was Abu Muslim.
Abu Muslim
Abu Muslim Abd al-Rahman ibn Muslim al-Khurasani or Behzadan Pour Vandad
Hormozd ( born 718/19 or 723/27, died in 755), was a Persian general in service
of the Abbasid dynasty, who led the Abbasid Revolution that toppled the Umayyad
dynasty. He took Merv in December 747 (or January 748), defeating the Umayyad
governor Nasr ibn Sayyar, as well as Shayban al-Khariji, a Kharijite aspirant
to the caliphate. He became the de facto governor of Khurasan, and gained fame
as a general in the late 740s in defeating the rebellion of Bihafarid, the
leader of a syncretic Persian sect that was Mazdaist. Abu Muslim received
support in suppressing the rebellion both from purist Muslims and Zoroastrians.
In 750, Abu Muslim became leader of the Abbasid army and defeated the Umayyads
at Battle of the Zab.
Abbasad Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet
Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas
ibn Abdul-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes its name.
They ruled as caliphs for most of the caliphate from their capital in Baghdad
in modern-day Iraq, after having overthrown the Umayyad Caliphate in the
Abbasid Revolution of 750 CE (132 AH). The Abbasid Caliphate first centered its
government in Kufa, modern-day Iraq, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded
the city of Baghdad, near the ancient Sasanian capital city of Ctesiphon.
Baghdad became a center of science, culture, philosophy and invention in what
became known as the Golden Age of Islam.
Abu
al-Abbas al-Saffah 722 -754
Abu al Abbas al-Saffah, also spelled Abu al-?Abbas al-Saffa?, (born
722—died 754, Anbar [Iraq]), Islamic caliph (reigned 749–54), first
of the Abbasid dynasty, which was to rule over the eastern Islamic world for
approximately the next 500 years.
As-Saffah another entry
on same man
Abu al-‘Abbas ‘Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Saffa? 721/722 – 10 June
754) usually known as Abul ‘Abbas as-Saffa? or simply by his laqab
As-Saffah was the first caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, one of the longest and
most important caliphates (Islamic dynasties) in Islamic history. (Due to
different methods of romanising Arabic names, the spellings As-Saffah and
Al-Saffah may both be found.) Abu'l ‘Abbas' laqab or caliphal title was
As-Saffa?, meaning "the Blood-Shedder" for his ruthless tactics and
perhaps also to instill fear in his enemies. During the last days of the
Umayyad caliphate, Abu al-‘Abbas and his clan chose to begin their
rebellion in Khurasan, an important, but remote military region comprising
eastern Iran, southern parts of the modern Central Asian republics of
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and northern Afghanistan. In
743, the death of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham provoked a rebellion in the east.
Abu al-`Abbas, supported by Shi'as and the residents of Khurasan, led his
forces to victory over the Umayyads. The civil war was marked by millennial
prophecies encouraged by the beliefs of some Shi'as that As-Saffa? was the
mahdi. In Shi'ite works such as the Al-Jafr faithful Muslims were told that the
brutal civil war was the great conflict between good and evil. The choice of
the Umayyads to enter battle with white flags and the Abbasids to enter with
black encouraged such theories.
The color white, however, was regarded in much of Persia as a sign of mourning.
In early October 749 (132 AH), Abu al-'Abbas as-Saffah's rebel army entered
Kufa, a major Muslim center in Southern Iraq. As-Saffah had not been yet
declared caliph. One of his priorities was to eliminate his Umayyad rival,
caliph Marwan II. The latter was defeated in February 750 at a battle on the
(Great) Zab river north of Baghdad, effectively ending the Umayyad caliphate,
which had ruled since 661 AD. Marwan II fled back to Damascus, which didn't
welcome him, and was ultimately killed on the run in Egypt that August.
As-Saffah would go on to become the first Abbasid caliph, but he did not come
forward to receive the pledge of allegiance from the people until after the
Umayyad caliph and a large number of his princes were already killed. In one
far-reaching, historic decision, as-Saffah established Kufa as the new capital
of the caliphate, ending the dominance of Damascus in the Islamic political
world, and Iraq would now become the seat of 'Abbassid power for many
centuries.
As-Saffah's four-year reign was marked with efforts to consolidate and rebuild
the caliphate. His supporters were represented in the new government, but apart
from his policy toward the Umayyad family, as-Saffah is widely viewed by
historians as having been a mild victor. Jews, Nestorian Christians, and
Persians were well represented in his government and in succeeding Abbasid
administrations. Education was also encouraged, and the first paper mills,
staffed by skilled Chinese prisoners captured at the Battle of Talas, were set
up in Samarkand. Equally revolutionary was as-Saffah's reform of the army,
which came to include non-Muslims and non-Arabs in sharp contrast to the
Umayyads who refused any soldiers of either type. As-Saffah selected the gifted
Abu Muslim as his military commander, an officer who would serve until 755 in
the Abbasid army. During his reign a great battle took place in 751 known as
the Battle of Talas or Battle of Artlakh was a military engagement between the
Abbasid Caliphate along with their ally the Tibetan Empire against the Chinese
Tang dynasty. In July 751 AD, Tang and Abbasid forces met in the valley of the
Talas River to vie for control over the Syr Darya region of central Asia. After
several days of stalemate, the Karluk Turks originally allied to the Tang
defected to the Abbasids and tipped the balance of power, resulting in a Tang
rout.
Abbasid Revolutiion
The Abbasid Revolution, also called the Movement of the Men of the Black
Raiment, was the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE), the
second of the four major Caliphates in early Islamic history, by the third, the
Abbasid Caliphate (750–1517 CE). Coming to power three decades after the
death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the Rashidun
Caliphate, the Umayyads were an Arab empire ruling over a population which was
overwhelmingly non-Arab. Non-Arabs were treated as second-class citizens
regardless of whether or not they converted to Islam, and this discontent
cutting across faiths and ethnicities ultimately led to the Umayyads'
overthrow. The Abbasid family claimed to have descended from al-Abbas, an uncle
of Muhammad. The revolution essentially marked the end of the Arab empire and
the beginning of a more inclusive, multiethnic state in the Middle East.
Remembered as one of the most well-organized revolutions during its period in
history, it reoriented the focus of the Muslim world to the east.
Barmakid dynasty 705 -803
The Barmakids ), also spelled Barmecides, were an influential Iranian family
from Balkh, where they were originally hereditary Buddhist leaders (in the
Nawbahar monastery), and subsequently came to great political power under the
Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad. Khalid, the son of Barmak became the chief minister
(vizier) of Al Saffah, the first Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty. His son Yahya
aided Harun al-Rashid in capturing the throne and rose to power as the most
powerful man in the Caliphate. The Barmakids were remarkable for their majesty,
splendor and hospitality. They are mentioned in some stories of the One
Thousand and One Nights.
Tahirid dynasty 821 -
873
The Tahirid dynasty was a Sunni dynasty, that effectively ruled Khorasan from
821 to 873 as well as serving as military and security commanders in Abbasid
Baghdad until 891. The dynasty was founded by Tahir ibn Husayn, a leading
general in the service of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun. For his support of
al-Ma'mun in the Fourth Fitna, he was granted the governance of Khorasan. The
Tahirids initially made their capital in Merv but was later moved to Nishapur.
The Tahirids, however, were not an independent dynasty—according to Hugh
Kennedy: "The Tahirids are sometimes considered as the first independent
Iranian dynasty, but such a view is misleading. The arrangement was effectively
a partnership between the Abbasids and the Tahirids." Indeed, the Tahirids
were loyal to the Abbasid caliphs and in return enjoyed considerable autonomy;
they were in effect viceroys representing Abbasid rule in Persia. The tax
revenue from Khorasan sent to the caliphal treasury in Baghdad was perhaps
larger than those collected previously.
Abdullah died in 845 and was succeeded by his son Tahir II. Not much is known
of Tahir's rule, but the administrative dependency of Sistan was lost to rebels
during his governorship. Tahirid rule began to seriously deteriorate after
Tahir's son Muhammad ibn Tahir became governor, due to his carelessness with
the affairs of the state and lack of experience with politics. Oppressive
policies in Tabaristan, another dependency of Khorasan, resulted in the people
of that province revolting and declaring their allegiance to the independent
Zaydi ruler Hasan ibn Zayd in 864. In Khorasan itself, Muhammad's rule
continued to grow increasingly weak, and in 873 he was finally overthrown by
the Saffarid dynasty, who annexed Khorasan to their own empire in eastern
Persia.
Besides their hold over Khorasan, the Tahirids also served as the military
governors (ashab al-shurta) of Baghdad, beginning with Tahir's appointment to
that position in 820. After he left for Khorasan, the governorship of Baghdad
was given to a member of a collateral branch of the family, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim,
who controlled the city for over twenty-five years] During Ishaq's term as
governor, he was responsible for implementing the Mihna (inquisition) in
Baghdad. His administration also witnessed the departure of the caliphs from
Baghdad, as they made the recently constructed city of Samarra their new
capital. When Ishaq died in 849 he was succeeded first by two of his sons, and
then in 851 by Tahir's grandson Muhammad ibn Abdallah. Abdallah played a major
role in the events of the "Anarchy at Samarra" in the 860s, giving
refuge to the caliph al-Musta'in and commanding the defense of Baghdad when it
was besieged by the forces of the rival caliph al-Mu'tazz in 865. The following
year, he forced al-Musta'in to abdicate and recognized al-Mu'tazz as caliph,
and in exchange was allowed to retain his control over Baghdad. Violent riots
plagued Baghdad during the last years of Abdallah's life, and conditions in the
city remained tumultuous after he died and was succeeded by his brothers, first
Ubaydallah and then Sulayman. Eventually order was restored in Baghdad, and the
Tahirids continued to serve as governors of the city for another two decades.
In 891, however, Badr al-Mu'tadidi was put in charge of the security of Baghdad
in place of the Tahirids, and the family soon lost their prominence within the
caliphate after that.
Battle of Balkh 900
AD
The Battle of Balkh took place between the armies of the Samanid Empire under
the command of Emir Isma'il ibn Ahmad and Saffarid forces under Emir Amr ibn
al-Layth in 900. The Saffarid army was defeated by the Samanid forces, and Amr
ibn al-Layth was captured. The Samanid ruler, Isma'il ibn Ahmad, was sent him
in chains to Baghdad, where he was executed in 902, after al-Mu'tadid's death
After the Battle, the Saffarids lost Khorasan and were left with the control of
Fars, Kerman and Sistan, but they also lost these provinces after a civil war
by 912.
Caliph Omar Obaidullah ibn Ziyad
Zunbils
Zunbil, also written as Zhunbil, or Rutbils of Zabulistan, was a royal dynasty
south of the Hindu Kush in present southern Afghanistan region. They ruled from
circa 680 AD until the Saffarid conquest in 870 AD. The Zunbil dynasty was
founded by Rutbil (Turkic: Iltäbär), the elder brother of the Turk
Shahi ruler (either Barha Tegin or Tegin Shah), who ruled over a Khalaj
Turk-Hephthalite kingdom from his capital in Kabul. The Zunbils are described
as having Turkish troops in their service by Arabic sources like Tarikh
al-Tabari and Tarikh-i Sistan. Their capital was at Ghazni. Around the time the
first ruler of the Turk Shahis Barha Tegin died, his dynasty split into two
kingdoms. From 680 AD, Tegin Shah became the king of the Turk Shahis, and ruled
the area from Kabulistan to Gandhara as well as Zabulistan. His title was
"Khorasan Tegin Shah" (meaning "Tegin, King of the East"),
and he was known in Chinese sources as Wusan teqin sa. His grand title probably
refers to his resistance to the peril of the Umayyad caliph from the west. In
680-683 AD, Rutbil split from his brother the Shahi of Kabul, and established
the Zunbil dynasty, paying temporary allegiance to Salm ibn Ziyad, the Arab
governor of Sistan. At the time when Salm ibn Ziyad was governor of Sistan
(680-683 AD), Rutbil split from his brother, the Shah of Kabul, and established
the Zunbil dynasty, paying temporary allegiance to Salm ibn Ziyad.The area of
Zabulistan came to be ruled by Rutbil, also spelled Zibil or Jibul (from
Turkic: Iltäbär "Commander"). The relationship between the
two relatives was at times antagonistic, but they fought together against Arab
incursions.[4] Rubtil issued coins derived from Sassanian prototypes, with a
Bactrian script legend on the obverse, a Pahlavi script legend on the reverse,
and a short Brahmi script legend in the name of Sri Vakhudeva? ("His
Highness the Majestic Lord"):
Zabulistan
Zabulistan /Zabolistan/Zawulistan or simply Zabul,, was a historical region in
southern Afghanistan roughly corresponding to the modern provinces of Zabul and
Ghazni. Following Ghaznavid dominion, Zabul became largely synonymous with the
name of its capital Ghazni. By the tenth century, Islamic sources mention
Zabulistan as part of the Khorasan marches, a frontier region between Khorasan
and India. In the Tarikh-i Sistan, finished around 1062 CE, the author regards
Zabul as part of the land of Sistan, stretching from the Hamun Oasis all the
way to the Indus. Today, the modern Afghan province of Zabul and the Iranian
city Zabol take their names from the historical region. Zabulistan has become
popularized as the birthplace of the character Rostam of Ferdowsi’s
Shahnama in which the word Zabulistan is used interchangeably with Sistan, a
historically separate region located to its west.
Caliph al Mansur 714-775
Abu Ja'far Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Mansur (95 AH – 158 AH (714 CE –
6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Mansur was the second
Abbasid caliph, reigning from 136 AH to 158 AH (754 CE – 775 CE) and
succeeding As-Saffah. He is known for founding the 'Round City' of Madinat
al-Salam, which was to become the core of imperial Baghdad. Modern historians
regard Al-Mansur as the real founder of the Abbasid Caliphate, one of the
largest polities in world history, for his role in stabilizing and
institutionalizing the dynasty. Al-Saffah was a great-grandson of Abbas ibn Abd
al-Muttalib, an uncle of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. Al-Saffah began
asserting his claim to become caliph in the 740s and became particularly active
in Khorasan, an area where non-Arab Muslims lived. After the death of the
Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 743 a period of instability followed.
Al-Saffah led the Abbasid Revolution in 747 and his claim to power was
supported throughout Iraq by Muslims. He became the first caliph of the Abbasid
caliphate in 750 after defeating his rivals. As-Saffah died after a short five
year reign and Al-Mansur took on the responsibility of establishing the Abbasid
caliphate by holding on to power for nearly 22 years, from Dhu al-Hijjah 136 AH
until Dhu al-Hijjah 158 AH (754 – 775). Al-Mansur was proclaimed Caliph on
his way to Mecca in the year 753 (136 AH) and was inaugurated the following
year. Abu Ja'far Abdallah ibn Muhammad took the name Al-Mansur ("the
victorious") and agreed to make his nephew Isa ibn Musa his successor to
the Abbasid caliphate. This agreement was supposed to resolve rivalries in the
Abbasid family, but Al-Mansur's right to accession was particularly challenged
by his uncle Abdullah ibn Ali. Once in power, caliph Al-Mansur had his uncle
imprisoned in 754 and killed in 764. He founded Baghdad in 762.
Caliph Harun al-Rashid
763-809
Harun al-Rashid Harun Ar-Rašid, "Aaron the Just" or "Aaron
the Rightly-Guided"; (917 March 763 or February 766 – 24 March 809 CE
/ 148–193 AH) was the fifth Abbasid Caliph. His birth date is debated,
with various sources giving dates from 763 to 766. His epithet
"al-Rashid" translates to "the Orthodox", "the
Just", "the Upright", or "the Rightly-Guided". He
ruled from 786 to 809, traditionally regarded to be the beginning of the
Islamic Golden Age.
Abdullah
ibn Khazim
Abd Allah ibn Khazim al-Sulami (died 692) was the Umayyad governor of Khurasan
between 662 and 665 and again in late 683, before becoming the nominal Zubayrid
governor of the same province between 684 and his death. Ibn Khazim was later
part of a group of Arab tribal commanders who accompanied Salm ibn Ziyad to
Khurasan in 681 from Basra when Salm was appointed governor of Khurasan by
Caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683). Salm left Ibn Khazim in charge of the
province after fleeing in the wake of the successive deaths of caliphs Yazid
and his son Mu'awiya II in 683 and 684, which caused the collapse of Umayyad
rule. Ibn Khazim gave his allegiance to the Mecca-based caliph Abd Allah ibn
al-Zubayr. Early on, he contended with mutinies by troops from the Rabi'a tribe
and the military governors of Herat and Marw al-Rudh, who both hailed from the
Banu Bakr tribe. He was assisted in their suppression by troops from the Banu
Tamim, another large tribal faction from which many Khurasani Arab troops
hailed. He installed his son Muhammad at Herat while he took up his
headquarters at Marw al-Rudh. Afterward, the Tamim revolted, captured Herat and
killed Muhammad before turning their attention toward Ibn Khazim. However,
before they could move against him, dissension developed among them and their
rebel army disbanded. Ibn Khazim's position in Khurasan was strong when the
Umayyads under Caliph Abd al-Malik defeated and killed Ibn al-Zubayr and his
brother Mus'ab in Mecca and Iraq. Thus, in 692 he refused to pay allegiance to
Abd al-Malik when the latter demanded it, despite being offered the
governorship for a further seven years. In response, Abd al-Malik entering into
an alliance with a factional leader of the Tamim, Bukayr ibn Wisha al-Sa'di,
who agreed to eliminate Ibn Khazim in return for the governorship of Khurasan.
Circa 689 CE, the Hephthalite ruler of Badghis and the Arab rebel Musa ibn Abd
Allah ibn Khazim, son of the Zubayrid governor of Khurasan Abd Allah ibn Khazim
al-Sulami, allied against the forces of the Ummayad Caliphate. The Hepthalites
and their allies captured Termez in 689, repelled the Arabs, and occupied the
whole region of Khorasan for a brief period, with Termez as they capital,
described by the Arabs as "the headquarters of the Hephthalites" (dar
mamlakat al-Haya?ela).
Hephthalites
The Hephthalites sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White
Hunas, in Iranian as the Spet Xyon and in Sanskrit as the Sveta-huna), wwere a
people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to 8th centuries CE. They
formed an empire, the Imperial Hephthalites, and were militarily important from
450 CE, when they defeated the Kidarites, to 560 CE, when combined forces from
the First Turkic Khaganate and the Sasanian Empire defeated them. After 560 CE
they established "principalities" in the area of Tokharistan, under
the suzerainty of the Western Turks (in the areas north of the Oxus) and of the
Sasanian Empire (in the areas south of the Oxus), before the Tokhara Yabghus
took over in 625. The Imperial Hephthalites, based in Bactria, expanded
eastwards to the Tarim Basin, westwards to Sogdia and southwards through
Afghanistan, but they never went beyond the Hindu-Kush, which was occupied by
the Alchon Huns, previously mistakenly regarded as an extension of the
Hephthalites. They were a tribal confederation and included both nomadic and
settled urban communities. They formed part of the four major states known
collectively as Xyon (Xionites) or Huna, being preceded by the Kidarites and by
the Alkhon, and succeeded by the Nezak Huns and by the First Turkic Khaganate.
All of these Hunnic peoples have often been linked to the Huns who invaded
Eastern Europe during the same period, and/or have been referred to as
"Huns", but scholars have reached no consensus about any such
connection. The stronghold of the Hephthalites was Tokharistan (present-day
southern Uzbekistan and northern Afghanistan) on the northern slopes of the
Hindu Kush, and their capital was probably at Kunduz, having come from the
east, possibly from the area of Badakhshan. By 479 the Hephthalites had
conquered Sogdia and driven the Kidarites eastwards, and by 493 they had
captured parts of present-day Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (in present-day
Northwest China). The Alchon Huns, formerly confused with the Hephthalites,
expanded into Northern India as well.
The sources for Hephthalite history are sparse and the opinions of historians
differ. There is no king-list, and historians are not sure how the group arose
or what language they initially spoke. They seem to have called themselves
Ebodalo (?ß?da??, hence Hephthal), often abbreviated Eb (?ß), a
name they wrote in the Bactrian script on some of their coins. The origin of
the name "Hephthalites" is unknown, it may stem either from a
Khotanese word *Hitala meaning "Strong", from hypothetical Sogdian
*Heßtalit, plural of *Heßtalak, or from postulated Middle Persian
*haft al "the Seven Al". The Hephthalites were considered as a
powerful military force.
Depending on sources, their main weapon was the bow, the mace or the sword.
Judging from their military achievements, they probably had a strong cavalry.
"Hunnic" designs in weaponry are known to have influenced Sasanian
designs during the 6th–7th century CE, just before Islamic invasions.
The Sasanians adopted Hunnish nomadic designs for straight iron swords and
their gold-covered scabbards. This is particularly the case of two-straps
suspension design, in which straps of different lengths were attached to a
P-shaped projection on the scabbard, so that the sword could be held sideways,
making it easier to draw, especially when on horseback. The two-point
suspension system for swords is considered to have been introduced by the
Hephthalites in Central Asia and in the Sasanian Empire and is a marker of
their influence, and the design was generally introduced by them in the
territories they controlled. The first example of two-suspension sword in
Sasanian art occurs in a relief of Taq-i Bustan dated to the time of Khusro II
(590–628 CE), and is thought to have been adopted from the Hepthalites.
Swords with ornate cloisonné designs and two-straps suspensions, as
found in the paintings of Penjikent and Kizil and in archaeological
excavations, may be versions of the daggers produced under Hephthalite
influence. Weapons with Hunnic designs are depicted in the "Cave of the
Painters" in the Kizil Caves, in a mural showing armoured warriors and
dated to the 5th century CE. Their sword guards have typical Hunnish designs of
rectangle or oval shapes with cloisonné ornamentation. Lamellar helmets
were also popularized by the steppe nomads, and were adopted by the Sasanian
Empire when they took control of former Hephthalite territory. This type of
helmet appears in sculptures on pillar capitals at ?aq-e Bostan and Behistun,
and on the Anahita coinage of Khosrow II (r. 590–628 CE).
Alchon_Huns
The Alchon Huns, (Bactrian: a????(?)? Alchon(n)o) also known as the Alchono,
Alxon, Alkhon, Alkhan, Alakhana and Walxon, were a nomadic people who
established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and 6th
centuries CE. They were first mentioned as being located in Paropamisus, and
later expanded south-east, into the Punjab and central India, as far as Eran
and Kausambi. The Alchon invasion of the Indian subcontinent eradicated the
Kidarite Huns who had preceded them by about a century, and contributed to the
fall of the Gupta Empire, in a sense bringing an end to Classical India. The
invasion of India by the Huna peoples follows invasions of the subcontinent in
the preceding centuries by the Yavana (Indo-Greeks), the Saka (Indo-Scythians),
the Palava (Indo-Parthians), and the Kushana (Yuezhi). The Alchon Empire was
the third of four major Huna states established in Central and South Asia. The
Alchon were preceded by the Kidarites and succeeded by the Hephthalites in
Bactria and the Nezak Huns in the Hindu Kush. The names of the Alchon kings are
known from their extensive coinage, Buddhist accounts, and a number of
commemorative inscriptions throughout the Indian subcontinent. The Alchons have
long been considered as a part or a sub-division of the Hephthalites, or as
their eastern branch, but now tend to be considered as a separate entity.
Invasion of Bactria:
The Alkhons are initially recorded in the area of Bactria circa 370 CE, from
where they confronted the Sasanian Empire to the west and the Kidarites to the
southeast. Emergence of the Alchon tamgha An early Alchon coin based on the
design of Sasanian coinage, with bust imitating Sasanian king Shapur II (r.309
to 379 CE), only adding the Alchon Tamgha symbol . During the reign of Shapur
II, the Sasanian Empire and the Kushano-Sasanians gradually lost the control of
Bactria to these invaders from Central Asia, first the Kidarites from around
335 CE, then the Alchon Huns from around 370 CE, who would follow up with the
invasion of India a century later, and lastly the Hephthalites from around 450
CE. Early confrontations between the Sasanian Empire of Shapur II with the
nomadic hordes from Central Asia called the "Chionites" were
described by Ammianus Marcellinus: he reports that in 356 CE, Shapur II was
taking his winter quarters on his eastern borders, "repelling the
hostilities of the bordering tribes" of the Chionites and the Euseni
("Euseni" is usually amended to "Cuseni", meaning the
Kushans), finally making a treaty of alliance with the Chionites and the
Gelani, "the most warlike and indefatigable of all tribes", in 358
CE.
After concluding this alliance, the Chionites (probably of the Kidarites tribe)
under their King Grumbates accompanied Shapur II in the war against the Romans,
especially at the siege of Amida in 359 CE.
Victories of the Xionites during their campaigns in the Eastern Caspian lands
were also witnessed and described by Ammianus Marcellinus. The Alchon Huns
occupied Bactria circa 370 CE, chasing the Kidarites in the direction of India,
and started minting coins in the style of Shapur II but bearing their name
"Alchono". Invasion of Kabulistan (c.385 CE): Around 380-385 CE, the
Alchons emerged in Kapisa, taking over Kabulistan from the Sassanian Persians,
while at the same time the Kidarites (Red Huns) ruled in Gandhara. The Alchons
are known to have reused the mint and the coin dies of Shapur II south of the
Hindu Kush, again simply adding their name "Alchono" to Sasanian
coinage. The Alchon Huns are sometimes said to have taken control of Kabul in
388.
In the First Hunnic War (496–515), the Alchon reached their maximum
territorial extent, with King Toramana pushing deep into Indian territory,
reaching Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in Central India, and ultimately
contributing to the downfall of the Gupta Empire. To the south, the Sanjeli
inscriptions indicate that Toramana penetrated at least as far as northern
Gujarat, and possibly to the port of Bharukaccha. To the east, far into Central
India, the city of Kausambi, where seals with Toramana's name were found, was
probably sacked by the Alkhons in 497–500, before they moved to occupy
Malwa. In particular, it is thought that the monastery of Ghoshitarama in
Kausambi was destroyed by Toramana, as several of his seals were found there,
one of them bearing the name Toramana impressed over the official seal of the
monastery, and the other bearing the title Hunaraja ("King of the
Huns"), together with debris and arrowheads.
Another seal, this time by Mihirakula, is reported from Kausambi. These
territories may have been taken from Gupta Emperor Budhagupta. Alternatively,
they may have been captured during the rule of his successor Narasimhagupta. A
decisive battle occurred in Malwa, where a local Gupta ruler, probably a
governor, named Bhanugupta was in charge.
In the Bhanugupta Eran inscription, this local ruler reports that his army
participated in a great battle in 510 CE at Eran, where it suffered severe
casualties. Bhanugupta was probably vanquished by Toramana at this battle, so
that the western Gupta province of Malwa fell into the hands of the Hunas. He
sacked Kausambi and occupied Malwa. According to a 6th-century CE Buddhist
work, the Manjusri-mula-kalpa, Bhanugupta lost Malwa to the "Shudra"
Toramana, who continued his conquest to Magadha, forcing Narasimhagupta
Baladitya to make a retreat to Bengal. Toramana "possessed of great
prowess and armies" then conquered the city of Tirtha in the Gauda country
(modern Bengal). Toramana is said to have crowned a new king in Benares, named
Prakataditya, who is also presented as a son of Narasimha Gupta. Toramana was
finally defeated by local Indian rulers.
The local ruler, Bhanugupta, is sometimes credited with vanquishing Toramana,
as his 510 CE inscription in Eran, recording his participation in "a great
battle", is vague enough to allow for such an interpretation. The
"great battle" in which Bhanagupta participated is not detailed, and
it is impossible to know what it was, or which way it ended, and
interpretations vary. Mookerji and others consider, in view of the inscription
as well as the Manjusri-mula-kalpa, that Bhanugupta was, on the contrary,
vanquished by Toramana at the 510 CE Eran battle, so that the western Gupta
province of Malwa fell into the hands of the Hunas at that point, so that
Toramana could be mentioned in the Eran boar inscription, as the ruler of the
region. Toramana was finally vanquished with certainty by an Indian ruler of
the Aulikara dynasty of Malwa, after nearly 20 years in India. According to the
Risthal stone-slab inscription, discovered in 1983, King Prakashadharma
defeated Toramana in 515 CE.The First Hunnic War thus ended with a Hunnic
defeat, and Hunnic troops apparently retreated to the area of Punjab. The
Manjusri-mula-kalpa simply states that Toramana died in Benares as he was
returning westward from his battles with Narasimhagupta.
The Second Hunnic War started in 520, when the Alchon king Mihirakula, son of
Toramana, is recorded in his military encampment on the borders of the Jhelum
by Chinese monk Song Yun. At the head of the Alchon, Mihirakula is then
recorded in Gwalior, Central India as "Lord of the Earth" in the
Gwalior inscription of Mihirakula. According to some accounts, Mihirakula
invaded India as far as the Gupta capital Pataliputra, which was sacked and
left in ruins. The Alchon Huns resettled in the area of Gandhara and Kashmir in
northwestern India under the rule of Sri Pravarasena (c.530-590 CE), thought to
be the son of Toramana. His reign probably lasted about 60 years from circa 530
CE.
According to Kalhana's 12th century text Rajatarangini, Pravarasena established
a new capital named Pravarapura (also known as Pravarasena-pura). Based on
topographical details, Pravarapura appears to be same as the modern city of
Srinagar. He also built a temple named "Pravaresha". Pravarasena was
probably succeeded by a king named Gokarna, a follower of Shiva, and then by
his son king Narendraditya Khinkhila. The son of Narendraditya was
Yudhishthira, who succeeded him as king, and was the last known king of the
Alchon Huns. According to the Rajatarangini Yudhishthira ruled 40 years,
probably until circa 625 CE, but he was dethroned by Pratapaditya, son of the
founder of the Karko?a Empire, Durlabhavardhana. Around the end of the 6th
century CE, the Alchons withdrew to Kashmir and, pulling back from Punjab and
Gandhara, moved west across the Khyber pass where they resettled in Kabulistan
under the leadership of Toramana II. There, their coinage suggests that they
merged with the Nezak – as coins in Nezak style now bear the Alchon tamga
mark. Alchon-Nezak "crossover coinage", 580–680. Nezak-style
bust on the obverse, and Alchon tamga Alchon Tamga.png within double border on
the reverse.
During the 7th century, continued military encounters are reported between the
Hunas and the northern Indian states which followed the disappearance of the
Gupta Empire. For example, Prabhakaravardhana, the Vardhana dynasty king of
Thanesar in northern India and father of Harsha, is reported to have been
"A lion to the Huna deer, a burning fever to the king of the Indus
land". The Alchons in India declined rapidly around the same time that the
Hephthalites, a related group to the north, were defeated by an alliance
between the Sassanians and the Western Turkic Kaghanate in 557–565 CE. The
areas of Khuttal and Kapisa-Gandhara had remained independent kingdoms under
the Alchon Huns, under kings such as Narendra, but in 625 CE they were taken
over by the expanding Western Turks when they established the Yabghus of
Tokharistan. Eventually, the Nezak-Alchons were replaced by the Turk Shahi
dynasty around 665 CE.
Termez
One of Central Asia's oldest towns, Old Termez, located a few kilometers west
of the modern city along the Amu Darya river, was established sometime before
the 3rd century BC. The city may have been known to the Achaemenids (the 10th
century Shahnameh purports its existence during the mythological Zoroastrian
Kayanian dynasty). In 329 BC Alexander the Great conquered the surrounding
region, known as Sogdia. Most recent scholarship argues that Termez is the site
of Alexandria on the Oxus, though some identify this site with Ai-Khanoum.
After a period of Seleucid rule, Termez became part of the breakaway
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. The Ionian Greek language persisted in the area through
the Tocharian period, being phased out of administrative use during the time of
the Kushan Empire, in favor of the Bactrian language. It was during this period
that Termez, named Ta-li-mi (???) in Chinese sources, became an important
center of Mahasa?ghika Buddhism. Termez was incorporated into the Sassanid
Persian Empire in the 3rd century AD, and elements of Zoroastrian-Buddhist
religious syncretism appear in the archaeological record, with Buddhist
monasteries containing fire altars, and a graffiti inscription referencing
"Buddha-Mazda."
During the 7th century Termez played host to the Buddhist monk and traveler
Xuanzang, who reported: There are about ten Sangharamas with about one thousand
monks. The stupas and the images of the honoured Buddha are noted for various
spiritual manifestations. In 676 the city was conquered by the Umayyad
Caliphate. It again rose to religious significance during the Abbasid and
Samanid Empires, producing notable scholars such as hadith collector Imam
Al-Tirmidhi and Sufi master and theologian Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi. Termez passed
through the hands of the Ghaznavid, Seljuk, Karakhanid, and Khorezmshah
kingdoms from the 11th to 13th centuries. In 1220 after a two-day siege, the
city was destroyed by the troops of Genghis Khan. According to one account,
"all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and
divided in accordance with their [the Mongols'] usual custom, then they were
all slain." Ibn Battuta found the city reconstructed in the early 14th
century. The restored Termez soon came under the rule of Tamerlane's Timurid
Empire with the backing of the Tirmidh Sayyids, a local religious aristocracy
claiming descent from Muhammad through Sayyid Ali Akbar. The Timurids held the
territory until it became a part of the independent Emirate of Bukhara in the
16th century. By the second half of the 18th century the city was again
abandoned, and the ruins of the reconstituted Termez laid outside the nearby
villages of Salavat and Pattakesar (Pattagissar).
Khalid ibn ?Abdallah ibn Khalid ibn Asid (fl. 683–712) was an Umayyad
prince and statesman who served as governor of Basra in 692–693 during the
reign of Caliph
Ziyad ibn Salih: See Battle of Talis
Ja'far_ibn_Yahya -
Barmakids'
Ja?far ibn Yahya Barmaki, Jafar al-Barmaki (767–803) also called Aba-Fadl,
was a Persian vizier of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, succeeding his
father (Yahya ibn Khalid) in that position. He was a member of the influential
Barmakid family, formerly Buddhist leaders of the Nava Vihara monastery. Along
with the rest of the Barmakids, he was executed in 803 at the orders of Harun
al-Rashid. He had a reputation as a patron of the sciences, and did much to
introduce Indian science into Baghdad. He was credited with convincing the
caliph to open a paper mill in Baghdad, the secret of papermaking having been
obtained from Tang Chinese prisoners at the Battle of Talas (in present-day
Kyrgyzstan) in 751.
Safi-ad-din-Ardabili
1252 - 1334
Safi-ad-din Ardabili ( 1252/3 – 1334) was a Kurdish poet, mystic, teacher
and Sufi master. He was the son-in-law and spiritual heir of the Sufi master
Zahed Gilani, whose order—the Zahediyeh—he reformed and renamed the
Safaviyya, which he led from 1301 to 1334. Safi was the eponymous ancestor of
the Safavid dynasty, which ruled Iran from 1501 to 1736.
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan, or Khorasan, is a historical eastern region in the Iranian
Plateau. The name Khorasan is Persian and means "where the sun arrives
from" or "the Eastern Province". The name was first given to the
eastern province of Persia during the Sasanian Empire and was used from the
late Middle Ages in distinction to neighbouring Transoxiana. Greater Khorasan
is today sometimes used to distinguish the larger historical region from the
former Khorasan Province of Iran (1906–2004), which roughly encompassed
the western half of the historical Greater Khorasan. Khorasan comprised the
present territories of northeastern Iran, parts of Afghanistan and southern
parts of Central Asia. The province was often subdivided into four quarters,
such that Nishapur (present-day Iran), Marv (present-day Turkmenistan), Herat
and Balkh (present-day Afghanistan) were the centers, respectively, of the
westernmost, northernmost, central, and easternmost quarters. In a strict sense
of the term, Khorasan stretched as far as the Amu Darya (Oxus) river. However,
the name has often been used in a loose sense to include a wider region that
included most of Transoxiana (encompassing Bukhara and Samarqand in present-day
Uzbekistan), extended westward to the Caspian coast and to the Dasht-e Kavir
(Great Salt Desert), southward to Sistan, and eastward to the Pamir Mountains.
Khorasan was first established as an administrative division in the 6th century
(approximately after 520) by the Sasanians, during the reign of Kavad I (r.
488–496, 498/9–531) or Khosrow I (r. 531–579), which comprised
the eastern and northeastern part of the empire. Early Islamic usage often
regarded everywhere east of Jibal or what was subsequently termed Iraq Ajami
(Persian Iraq), as being included in a vast and loosely-defined region of
Khorasan, which might even extend to the Indus Valley and the Pamir Mountains.
The boundary between these two was the region surrounding the cities of Gurgan
and Qumis. In particular, the Ghaznavids, Seljuqs and Timurids divided their
empires into Iraqi and Khorasani regions. Khorasan is believed to have been
bounded in the southwest by desert and the town of Tabas, known as "the
Gate of Khorasan",:?562? from which it extended eastward to the mountains
of central Afghanistan.
Sources from the 10th century onwards refer to areas in the south of the Hindu
Kush as the Khorasan Marches, forming a frontier region between Khorasan and
Hindustan. The southeastern region of Khorasan fell to the Kushan Empire in the
1st century AD. The Kushan rulers built a capital in modern-day Afghanistan at
Bagram and are believed to have built the famous Buddhas of Bamiyan. Numerous
Buddhist temples and buried cities have been found in Afghanistan. However, the
region of Khorasan remained predominantly Zoroastrian but there were also
Manichaeists, sun worshippers, Christians, Pagans, Shamanists, Buddhists, Jews,
Hindus and others. One of the three great fire-temples of the Sassanids
"Azar-burzin Mehr" is situated near Sabzevar in Iran. The boundary of
the region began changing until the Kushans and Sassanids merged to form the
Kushano-Sassanian civilization. In Sasanian era, Khurasan was further divided
into four smaller regions, and each region was ruled by a marzban. These four
regions were Nishapur, Marv, Herat and Balkh. Khorasan in the east saw some
conflict with the Hephthalites who became the new rulers in the area but the
borders remained stable. Being the eastern parts of the Sassanids and further
away from Arabia, Khorasan region was conquered after the remaining Persia. The
last Sassanid king of Persia, Yazdgerd III, moved the throne to Khorasan
following the Arab invasion in the western parts of the empire. After the
assassination of the king, Khorasan was conquered by Arab Muslims in 647 AD.
Like other provinces of Persia it became a province of the Umayyad Caliphate.
Sogdia
- Soghdiana- see the map for extent - This entry is lengthy in keeping with the
ancient to modern history of the region.
Sogdia (Sogdian: so?d) or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian civilization between
the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,
Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid
Empire, and listed on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great. Sogdiana
was first conquered by Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire,
and then was annexed by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great in 328 BC. It
would continue to change hands under the Seleucid Empire, Greco-Bactrian
Kingdom, Kushan Empire, Hephthalite Empire, and Sasanian Empire. The Sogdian
city-states, although never politically united, were centered on the city of
Samarkand. Sogdiana lay north of Bactria, east of Khwarezm, and southeast of
Kangju between the Oxus (Amu Darya) and the Jaxartes (Syr Darya), including the
fertile valley of the Zeravshan (called the Polytimetus by the ancient Greeks).
Sogdian territory corresponds to the modern provinces of Samarkand and Bokhara
in modern Uzbekistan, as well as the Sughd province of modern Tajikistan. In
the High Middle Ages, Sogdian cities included sites stretching towards Issyk
Kul, such as that at the archeological site of Suyab.
Sogdian, an Eastern Iranian language, is no longer spoken, but a descendant of
one of its dialects, Yaghnobi, is still spoken by the Yaghnobis of Tajikistan.
It was widely spoken in Central Asia as a lingua franca and served as one of
the First Turkic Khaganate's court languages for writing documents. Sogdians
also lived in Imperial China and rose to prominence in the military and
government of the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907 AD). Sogdian merchants and
diplomats travelled as far west as the Byzantine Empire. They played an
important part as middlemen in the trade route of the Silk Road. While
originally following the faiths of Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Buddhism and,
to a lesser extent, Nestorian Christianity from West Asia, the gradual
conversion to Islam among the Sogdians and their descendants began with the
Muslim conquest of Transoxiana in the 8th century. The Sogdian conversion to
Islam was virtually complete by the end of the Samanid Empire in 999,
coinciding with the decline of the Sogdian language, as it was largely
supplanted by Persian. So too did the original religions of the Sogdians
decline; Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Manichaeism, and Nestorian Christianity
disappeared in the region by the end of the Samanid period. The Samanids were
also responsible for converting the surrounding Turkic peoples to Islam, which
presaged the conquest of their empire in 999 by an Islamic Turkic power, the
Kara-Khanid Khanate (840–1212). During the early 13th century, Khwarezmia
was invaded by the early Mongol Empire and its ruler Genghis Khan destroyed the
once vibrant cities of Bukhara and Samarkand. However, in 1370, Samarkand saw a
revival as the capital of the Timurid Empire. The Turko-Mongol ruler Timur
forcefully brought artisans and intellectuals from across Asia to Samarkand,
transforming it not only into a trade hub but also one of the most important
cities of the Islamic world.
Tokharistan
Tokharistan (formed from "Tokhara" and the suffix -stan meaning
"place of" in Persian) is an ancient Early Middle Ages name given to
the area which was known as Bactria in Ancient Greek sources. Today,
Tokharistan is fragmented between Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, but
it was recognized as a single unit by the Chinese Empire in the 7th and 8th
century CE, as a region of the Protectorate General to Pacify the West.
Geographically, Tokharistan corresponds to the upper Oxus valley, between the
mountain ranges of the Hindu-Kush to the south and the Pamir-Alay to the north.
The area reaches west as far as the Badakshan mountains, south as far as
Bamiyan. Arab sources considered Kabul as part of the southern border of
Tokharistan, and Shaganiyan as part of its northern border. In a narrow sense,
Tokharistan may only refer to the region south of the Oxus. The region used the
East Iranian Bactrian language, which was current from the 2nd to the 9th
century CE. The most important city of Tokharistan was Balkh, which was at the
center of the trade between Iran (the Sasanian Empire) and India. The region of
Tokharistan had been outside of Sasanian control for the three centuries
preceding the Muslim conquest of Persia in 633-651 CE. During that time,
Tokharistan was under the rule of dynasties of Hunnish or Turkic origin, such
as the Kidarites, the Alchon Huns and the Hephthalites. At the time of the Arab
conquest, Tokharistan was under the control of the Western Turks, through the
Tokhara Yabghus.
Zarafshan
Zarafshan is a city of over 68,000 inhabitants (2009) in the center of
Uzbekistan's Navoiy Region. Located in the Kyzylkum desert, it receives water
from the Amudarya by a 220-km pipeline. Zarafshan is called "the gold
capital of Uzbekistan". It is home of the Navoi Mining & Metallurgy
Combinat's Central Mining Administration, charged with mining and processing
gold from the nearby Muruntau open-pit mine. Between 1995 and 2006 the Muruntau
gold mining and processing operation was run by the Zarafshan-Newmont Joint
Venture, a foreign direct investment by Newmont Mining Corporation of Denver,
Colorado (at the time the largest U.S. investor in Uzbekistan - it was also the
first major Western investment in the region since the breakup of the Soviet
Union). Uzbekistan expropriated the company's assets in 2006 and by 2007 had
taken full ownership of the mine. Zarafshan Airport (IATA: AFS) is served by
Uzbekistan Airlines with direct daily flights to and from Tashkent.
Muhammad ibn
Tahir
Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Tahir ibn 'Abdallah , died c. 910) was the last
Tahirid governor of Khurasan, from 862 until 873. When Muhammad's father Tahir
ibn Abdallah died in 862, the caliph wanted to replace him with Tahir's brother
Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir, but after the latter refused he appointed
Muhammad as governor. The caliph however did not grant Muhammad other titles
usually reserved for the Tahirid governor of Khurasan, such as the military
governorship of Iraq and Baghdad (sahib al-shurta), but instead gave them to
Muhammad ibn Abdallah. When he became governor, Muhammad was still young and
rather inexperienced. Only two years after he succeeded his father, Tabaristan
was lost to a Zaydi revolt under Hasan ibn Zayd ibn Muhammad, and the Tahirids
were unable to recover the province. In 867, the Saffarid amir of Sistan,
Ya'qub al-Saffar, took Herat and imprisoned its Tahirid governor. An army was
dispatched under the Samanid Ibrahim ibn Ilyas to stop Ya'qub, but was
defeated, after which Muhammad was forced to come to terms. During this time
Muhammad also tried to gain the offices in the West that had been given to his
uncle Muhammad. After the latter died in 867, his brother 'Ubaydallah had taken
over the offices. In opposition to Ubaydallah, Muhammad sent another uncle,
Sulayman ibn 'Abdallah, as his representative in Iraq, and Sulayman was able to
gain the posts at the expense of Ubaydallah, although the latter would
eventually recover them. The weakness of Muhammad's rule in Khurasan would
eventually lead to the end of Tahirid rule there. In 873, the Saffarid Ya'qub
marched on Muhammad's capital, Nishapur. Muhammad refused to flee and was
captured by the Saffarids. For three years he remained in captivity, but was
freed by caliphal forces after the Saffarids were defeated at the Battle of
Dair al-'Aqul in 876. After he was freed the caliph reinvested him with the
governorship of Khurasan, although Muhammad never asserted his authority there.
Several anti-Saffarid partisans in Khurasan, such as Ahmad al-Khujistani and
Rafi' ibn Harthama, placed Muhammad's name in the khutba in areas they managed
to control, but Muhammad never exercised any actual authority over them.
Saffarid dynasty 861 -
1003 See map of extent.
The Saffarid dynasty was a Sunni Persian dynasty from Sistan that ruled over
parts of Greater Iran, with its capital at Zaranj (a city now in southwestern
Afghanistan), from 861 to 1003. One of the first indigenous Persian dynasties
to emerge after the Islamic conquest, the Saffarid dynasty was part of the
Iranian Intermezzo. The dynasty's founder was Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar, who
was born in 840 in a small town called Karnin (Qarnin), which was located east
of Zaranj and west of Bost, in what is now Afghanistan. A native of Sistan and
a local ayyar, Ya'qub worked as a coppersmith (?affar) before becoming a
warlord. He seized control of the Sistan region and began conquering most of
Iran and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The Saffarids used their capital Zaranj as a base for an aggressive expansion
eastward and westward. They first invaded the areas south of the Hindu Kush,
and then overthrew the Persian Tahirid dynasty, annexing Khorasan in 873. Arab
armies carrying the banner of Islam came out of the west to defeat the
Sasanians in 642 and then they marched with confidence to the east. On the
western periphery of the Afghan area the princes of Herat and Sistan gave way
to rule by Arab governors but in the east, in the mountains, cities submitted
only to rise in revolt and the hastily converted returned to their old beliefs
once the armies passed.
The harshness and avariciousness of Arab rule produced such unrest, however,
that once the waning power of the Caliphate became apparent, native rulers once
again established themselves independent. Among these Saffarids of Sistan shone
briefly in the Afghan area. The fanatic founder of this dynasty, the
coppersmith’s apprentice Yaqub ibn Layth Saffari, came forth from his
capital at Zaranj in 870 and marched through Bost, Kandahar, Ghazni, Kabul,
Bamyan, Balkh and Herat, conquering in the name of Islam. By the time of
Ya'qub's death, he had conquered the Kabul Valley, Sindh, Tocharistan, Makran
(Balochistan), Kerman, Fars, Khorasan, and nearly reached Baghdad but then
suffered a defeat by the Abbasids. The Saffarid dynasty did not last long after
Ya'qub's death. His brother and successor, Amr bin Laith, was defeated at the
Battle of Balkh against Ismail Samani in 900. Amr bin Laith was forced to
surrender most of his territories to the new rulers. The Saffarids were
confined to their heartland of Sistan, and with time, their role was reduced to
that of vassals of the Samanids and their successors.
Ya'qub_ibn_al-Layth_al-Saffari
840 -879
Ya'qub-i Layth-i Saffari 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. Ya'qub was born in 840 in a
small town called Karnin (Qarnin), which was located east of Zaranj and west of
Bost (Lashkargah), in what is now Afghanistan. Information about his genealogy
and social background is lacking. Clifford Edmund Bosworth explains that a
number of Sunni sources were invariably hostile to Ya'qub because of the
disrespect he showed toward the Abbasid caliph. "Some sources accused
Ya'qub of being a Khariji, Ibn Khallikan labelled him a Christian, and Nizam
al-Mulk claimed that he converted to Ismailism".
However, these claims came roughly a century after Yaqub's death, and most
sources agree on Ya'qub's ascetic lifestyle. Ya'qub, along with his brothers
Amr ibn al-Layth, Tahir ibn al-Layth and Ali ibn al-Layth, later joined the
ayyars under Salih ibn al-Nadr, who had opposed the Abbasids and began ruling
in Bost. By 854, the ayyars managed to expel Ibrahim ibn al-Hudain, who was the
Tahirid governor of Sistan.
In 858, Dirham ibn Nasr, another ayyar leader, managed to replace Salih as the
ruler of Sistan. However, in 861, Ya'qub overthrew Dirham, and gave himself the
title of Emir at that point. Ya'qub attracted the attention of an Abbasid
caliph by first battling Kharijites in his homeland of Sistan. In 864,
"Ya?qub led an expedition to Bost against his former master Salih, and
then into Rukkaj and Zamindavar against the local ruler there, the Zunbil,
killing him and securing an immense booty."[9] He also managed to capture
several family members of the Zunbils, including the Zunbil king's son. He then
vanquished the Hindu Shahis, conquering their capital Kabul. He later moved
against the Kharijites in northern Sistan, winning a decisive victory and
killing their leader Ammar ibn Yaser in 865. Ya'qub's campaigns marked the
decline of militant Kharijism in the East.
After having defeated the Ammar, Ya'qub held a celebration. During the
celebration, one of the members of the court made a speech in Arabic. Ya'qub
asked the latter why he made a speech in a language which he could not
understand. One of Ya'qub's secretaries, Muhammad ibn Vasif, then made a qasida
in Persian. Ya'qub claimed the inheritance of the kings of Persia and sought
"to revive their glory," and thus in 867 he sent a poem written by
himself to the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tazz. The poem said: "With me is the
Derafsh Kaviani, through which I hope to rule the nations." In 870/871,
Ya'qub marched against the Kharijites of Herat, and defeated them. He then
marched towards Karukh, and defeated another Khariji leader who was named Abd
al-Rahman. Ya'qub then pardoned Abd al-Rahman and made him governor of Isfizar.
His army would later march to Ghazna, Kabul, and Bamyan, conquering these
territories in the name of Islam by appointing Muslim governors. From there
they moved to north of the Hindu Kush and by 870 AD the whole of Khorasan was
brought under their control.
The Panjshir Valley was now under Ya'qub's control, which made him able to mint
silver coins. In 873, Ya'qub ousted the Tahirids from their own capital of
Nishapur, and captured its ruler Muhammad ibn Tahir, which led to conflicts
with the Abbasid caliphate. During one of Ya'qub's numerous battles, his face
was disfigured to where he could only eat through a pipe in his mouth for
twenty days. Ya'qub set out west for Fars with the intention of subjugating the
province. Sources disagree on what happened next, but Ya'qub was eventually
dissuaded from continuing his expedition, and he turned back toward Sistan. His
withdrawal is described as having been caused either by the governor Muhammad
ibn Wasil's submission to him, or by the arrival of emissaries sent by the
caliphal government to convince him to abandon his westward advance. In either
case, Muhammad soon afterwards reached a rapprochement with the central
government, and in 872 he handed over the kharaj (tax revenues), and possibly
the government of Fars, to a caliphal representative.
Ya'qub later traveled to Tabaristan in 874, and battled the Zaydid leader
al-Hasan ibn Zayd. Ya'qub collected taxes in Tabaristan's capital Amul before
departing for Rayy. Ya'qub ibn al-Layth once again set out for Fars, this time,
invading it and advancing to Estakhr, seizing Muhammad's treasuries there.
Muhammad departed from Khuzestan, and returned to Fars in an attempt to stop
Ya'qub. They met near Lake Bakhtegan in August 875, and in the resulting
battle, Muhammad, despite having a numerically superior army, was defeated.
Muhammad was forced to flee; Ya'qub looted Muhammad's stronghold at Sa'idabad
and took control of Fars. Map showing the location of the battle, as well as
the routes taken by the Saffarid (red) and main 'Abbasid (blue) armies In 876,
the Abbasid representative Al-Muwaffaq offered Ya'qub governorship of Khurasan,
Tabaristan, Fars, Gurgan, and Ray, and to appoint him as head of security in
Baghdad.Ya'qub, sensing that the offer was made due to the weakness of the
caliph, rejected it and wrote back that he would be advancing to the capital.
The offer also alienated the Turks of Samarra, who felt that Ya'qub represented
a threat to their interests. Seeing that an agreement with the Saffarid was
impossible, the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tamid decided upon war and pronounced a
formal curse upon Ya'qub.
On 7 March 876, al-Mu'tamid left Samarra, leaving his son Al-Mufawwad in charge
of the capital. On 15 March he arrived at Baghdad, before arriving near
Kalwadha and setting up camp. Ya'qub traveled through Khuzistan, during which
he gained the defection of a former general of the caliph's, Abi'l-Saj Devdad,
and entered Iraq. The caliphal general Masrur al-Balkhi managed to slow down
his progress by flooding the land outside Wasit, but the Saffarid army was able
to get through this and he entered Wasit on 24 March. Leaving Wasit, he set out
for the town of Dayr al-`Aqul, which was about fifty miles from Baghdad.
According to one source, Ya'qub did not actually expect the caliph to offer
battle; instead he would give in to any demands that the Saffarid had.
Al-Mu'tamid, however, sent al-Muwaffaq to stop him. The two armies met at
Istarband, between Dayr al-`Aqul and Sib Bani Kuma. The Battle of Dayr al-Aqul
took place on 8 April. Before the battle, Ya'qub reviewed his troops, who
apparently numbered about ten thousand. The Abbasids, however, had a numerical
superiority and the additional advantage of fighting on familiar territory. The
center of the Abbasid army was commanded by al-Muwaffaq. Musa bin Bugha had
command of the right wing, and Masrur al-Balkhi the left. A final appeal was
made to the Saffarids to restore their loyalty to the caliph, and the battle
began. The fighting raged on for most of the day.
The Saffarid army was somewhat reluctant to directly fight the caliph and his
army. Despite this, there were heavy losses on both sides, and several Abbasid
and Saffarid commanders were killed. Ya'qub himself was wounded, but he did not
leave the field. As evening approached, reinforcements arrived to support
al-Muwaffaq. The mawla Nusayr created a diversion by attacking the Saffarid
rear from boats on the Tigris and setting fire to the Saffarid baggage train,
giving the Abbasids a further advantage. Eventually the Saffarid army began to
flee from the battle.
Ya'qub and his bodyguards continued to fight, but were forced to leave the
field as the army retreated, leaving them behind. The caliph had apparently
flooded the lands behind the Saffarids before the battle, and this made a
retreat difficult; many men drowned attempting to escape the Abbasid army. With
the Saffarids making their hasty exit, al-Muwaffaq was able to capture Ya'qub's
baggage. Several political prisoners that Ya'qub had brought with him, such as
the Tahirid Muhammad bin Tahir, also fell into Abbasid hands and were freed.
Ya'qub then withdrew from Iraq and died three years later. It was during
Ya'qub's rule that Persian was introduced as an official language, and Ya'qub
reportedly did not know Arabic. Ya'qub has been accorded the historical status
of a popular folk hero since his court began the revitalization of the Persian
language after two centuries in which the Arabic language flourished in Persian
lands. Several poets, like Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Mamshadh, fabricated Ya'qub's
genealogy, tracing it back to the legendary Iranian king Jamshid. Ya'qub is
also sometimes perceived as one of the first autonomous rulers in Khurasan
since the Islamic conquests. Ya'qub's campaigns in fact also marked the early
stage in the decline of caliphal political unity in the Islamic world, which
was further worsened by the ghulams and the Dailamites.
Battle of Dayr
al Aqui 876
The Battle of Dayr al-Aqul was fought on April 8, 876, between forces of the
Saffarid ruler Ya'qub ibn Laith and the Abbasid Caliphate. Taking place some 80
km southeast (downstream) of Baghdad, the battle ended in a decisive victory
for the Abbasids, forcing Ya'qub to halt his advance into Iraq. The town of
Dayr al-?Aqul literally "monastery at the river-bend", from a Syriac
?aqula "bend") was the main town of the fertile district (?assuj) in
central Nahrawan, making it the most important town on the Tigris between
Baghdad and Wasit. The battle itself took place near a village of the town's
district, called Istarband, between Dayr al-Aqul itself and Sib Bani Kuma. The
battle took place on April 8. Before the battle, Ya`qub reviewed his troops,
who apparently numbered about ten thousand. The Abbasids, however, had a
numerical superiority and the additional advantage of fighting on familiar
territory. The center of the Abbasid army was commanded by al-Muwaffaq. Musa
bin Bugha had command of the right wing, and Masrur al-Balkhi the left. A final
appeal was made to the Saffarids to restore their loyalty to the caliph, and
the battle began.[19] The fighting raged on for most of the day. The Saffarid
army was somewhat reluctant to directly fight the caliph and his army. Despite
this, there were heavy losses on both sides, and several Abbasid and Saffarid
commanders were killed. Ya`qub himself was wounded, but he did not leave the
field. As evening approached, reinforcements arrived to support al-Muwaffaq.
The mawla Nusayr created a diversion by attacking the Saffarid rear from boats
on the Tigris and setting fire to the Saffarid baggage train, giving the
Abbasids a further advantage. Eventually the Saffarid army began to flee from
the battle. Ya`qub and his bodyguards continued to fight, but were forced to
leave the field as the army retreated, leaving them behind. The caliph had
apparently flooded the lands behind the Saffarids before the battle, and this
made a retreat difficult; many men drowned attempting to escape the Abbasid
army. With the Saffarids making their hasty exit, al-Muwaffaq was able to
capture Ya`qub's baggage. Several political prisoners that Ya`qub had brought
with him, such as the Tahirid Muhammad bin Tahir, also fell into Abbasid hands
and were freed.
Amr ibn al-Layth
879 - 901
Amr ibn al-Layth or Amr-i Laith Saffari was the second ruler of the Saffarid
dynasty of Iran from 879 to 901. He was the son of a whitesmith and the younger
brother of the dynasty's founder, Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar. Said to have
started as a mule-driver and a mason, he later fought alongside his older
brother and in 875 became governor of Herat. When Ya'qub died in Fars in 879,
Amr managed to become the successor of the Saffarid throne over his brother Ali
ibn al-Layth, who was the preferred choice of both Ya'qub and the army. In 884,
the Bavandid ruler Rustam I, after being repelled from Mazandaran by the Zaydi
ruler Muhammad ibn Zayd, arrived to the court of Amr, and requested his aid to
reclaim the Bavand throne. With the aid of Amr, Rustam was allowed to return to
his domains in Mazandaran. The Caliph al-Mu'tadid (r. 892–902) was forced
to acknowledge the reality of the Saffarids' domination in the East, and
reached a modus vivendi with them, perhaps hoping, according to Hugh N.
Kennedy, to harness them in a partnership analogous to that which the Tahirids
had enjoyed in previous decades.
Consequently, the Saffarids were recognized in their possession of Khurasan and
eastern Persia as well as Fars, while the Abbasids were to exercise direct
control over Jibal, Ray and Isfahan. The Abbasid–Saffarid partnership in
Iran was most clearly expressed against the intrepid general Rafi ibn Harthama,
who had made his base in Ray and posed a threat to both caliphal and Saffarid
interests in the region. Al-Mu'tadid sent the Dulafid Ahmad ibn Abd al-Aziz to
seize Ray from Rafi, who fled and made common cause with the Zaydis of
Tabaristan in an effort to conquer Khurasan from the Saffarids. With Amr
mobilizing anti-Alid sentiment against him and the expected assistance from the
Zaydis failing to materialize, Rafi was defeated and killed in Khwarazm in 896.
Amr, at the pinnacle of his power, sent the defeated rebel's head to Baghdad.
In 897 Ray too was handed over to the Saffarids by the Abbasids, who could not
manage to hold the city against Zaydi invasion. The partnership finally
collapsed after al-Mu'tadid named Amr ibn al-Layth governor of Transoxiana in
898, which was ruled by his rivals, the Samanids. Al-Mu'tadid encouraged Amr to
confront the Samanids, but in the event, Amr was crushingly defeated and taken
prisoner in 900. The Samanid ruler, Isma'il ibn Ahmad, sent him in chains to
Baghdad, where he was executed in 902, after al-Mu'tadid's death. Al-Mu'tadid
in turn conferred Amr's titles to Isma'il ibn Ahmad, but the Saffarid remnant
under Tahir proved sufficiently resilient to thwart the caliphal attempts at
regaining Fars and Kirman for several more years. It was not until 910 that the
Abbasids managed to regain the coveted Fars province
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