JAMES G. FORLONG FUND VOL. II. THE ARAB CONQUESTS IN CENTRAL ASIA H. A. R. GIBB, M.A. (EDIN. AND LOND.) Lecturer in Arabic, School of Oriental Studies, London. THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY 74 Grosvenor Street, London, W.1. 1923...

The first draft of this work was presented to the University of London in December 1921, under the title of “The Arab Conquest of Transoxania”, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts, and was approved by the Senate in January 1922, for publication as such. During the year my attention was taken up in other directions and, except for the publication of two studies on the subject in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, nothing further was done until by the generosity of the Truste

The Oxus is a boundary of tradition rather than of history. Lying midway between the old frontier of Aryan civilisation formed by the Jaxartes and the Pamīr and the natural strategic frontier offered by the north-eastern escarpment of the plateau of Īrān, it has never proved a barrier to imperial armies from either side. It was not on the Oxus but on the Jaxartes that Alexander’s strategic insight fixed the position of Alexander Eschate, and when the outposts of Persian dominion were thrust back

Researches into Chinese records have now made it possible to obtain a more definite idea of the political conditions of these frontier provinces in the seventh century. All the principalities acknowledged the Khan of the Western Turks as overlord and paid tribute to him under compulsion, though, as will appear, there is good cause for doubting whether a Turkish army ever came in response to their appeals for support until the rise of the Türgesh power in 716. Geographically the cultivated lands

The early Arabic sources are remarkably rich in material for the reconstruction of the conquests in Khurāsān and Transoxania. For the earlier period the narratives of Yaʿqūbī and Balādhurī are nearly as full as those of T abarī, but the special value of the latter lies in his method of compilation which renders the traditions amenable to critical study and thus provides a control for all the others. Moreover, while the other historians, regarding the conquests of Qutayba as definitely completing

[1] Franke, Beiträge 41 ff., 67. Cordier, Chine I, 225. [2] If Marquart’s identification (Ērānshahr, 201 f.) is correct. [3] Cordier I. 229: Ērānshahr 50 ff. [4] Yuan Chwang I. 103. Prof. Barthold suggests that the connection between the Ephthalites and the Huns may have been political only, not racial. [5] Chavannes, Documents 155: Ērānshahr 89. [6] T ab. I. 2885. 13 and 2886. 3: Yaʿqūbī, History, II, 193: Yāqūt (ed. Wüstenfeld) I. 492: Balādhurī 403: Ērānshahr 65 f., 77 f., and 150. Bādghīs wa

Arab legend relates that the Muslim forces, pursuing Yazdigird from the field of Nihāwand in 21/642, had already come in contact with the “Turks” of T ukhāristān before the death of ʿOmar. But the final destruction of the Sāsānid power and first imposition of Arab rule on Khurāsān only followed ten years later, by the troops of ʿAbdullah ibn ʿĀmir, ʿOthmān’s governor in Ba s ra. The Ephthalites of Herāt and Bādghīs submitted without a blow, and the first serious check to their advance was met in

Although at this junction Ziyād himself died, his policy was carried on by his sons, in particular by ʿUbaydullah. Scarcely any governor, not even H ajjāj, has suffered so much at the hands of the traditionists as the “Murderer of H usayn,” though his ability and devotion to the Umayyads are beyond question. It is not surprising therefore that his earlier military successes should be so briefly related, in spite of their importance. Yet as he was no more than 25 years of age when appointed by Mu

The tribal feuds which occupied the Arabs of Khurāsān left the princes of Transoxania free to regain their independence. It would seem even that Lower T ukhāristān was not only in part lost to the Arabs but that local forces took the offensive and raided Khurāsān. On the gradual restoration of order under Umayya, however, Lower T ukhāristān again recognised, at least in name, the Arab suzerainty [34] . Meanwhile, a strange episode had occurred in Chaghāniān. Mūsā, the son of ʿAbdullah ibn Khāzim

[21] Bal. 408. 5: Chav., Doc. 172, n. 1. There were two localities called Māyamurgh in S ughd: one near Samarqand (I st akhrī 321. 6), and the other one day’s march from Nasaf on the Bukhārā road (ibid. 337. 7). According to the Chinese records the former is the one in question here. [22] Yāqūt, ed. Wüstenfeld, II. 411. 21: cf. Caetani, “Annali” VIII. 4 ff. On Qārin, Nöldeke, Sasaniden 127, 437: Marquart, Ērānshahr 134. [23] Chav., Doc. 172. [24] Cf. Lammens, “Ziād b. Abīhi” (R.S.O. 1912) p. 664

The first task before Qutayba was to crush the revolt of Lower T ukhāristān. In the spring of 86/705 the army was assembled and marched through Merv Rūdh and T ālaqān on Balkh. According to one of T abarī’s narratives the city was surrendered without a blow. A second account, which, though not explicitly given as Bāhilite, may be regarded as such, since it centres on Qutayba’s brother and is intended to establish a Bāhilite claim on the Barmakids, speaks of a revolt amongst some of the inhabitan

In the following year, Qutayba, first making sure of the crossings at Āmul and Zamm, opened his campaigns in Bukhārā with an attack on Paykand. From the expressions of Narshakhī, on whose history of this period we may place more reliance since his details as a rule fit in with and supplement the other histories, it can be gathered that the principality of Bukhārā was weakened by civil war and invasion. During the minority of T ughshāda and the regency of Khātūn, the ambitious nobles had struggle

If the Arabs returned in the autumn of 90/709 elated with their success, they were soon given fresh cause for anxiety. Nēzak, finally realising that all hope of recovering independence must be extinguished if Arab rule was strengthened in Khurāsān, and perhaps putting down to weakness Qutayba’s willingness to gain his ends if possible by diplomacy, determined on a last effort to overthrow Muslim sovereignty in Lower T ukhāristān, at the moment when it was least to be expected. Having obtained pe

It might perhaps have been expected that Qutayba’s next object after the capture of Samarqand would be to establish Arab authority in S ughd as firmly as had been done in Bukhārā. It would probably have been better in the end had he done so, but for the moment the attractions of the “forward policy” which had already proved so successful were too strong. Instead of concentrating on the reduction of S ughd, it was decided to push the frontiers of the Empire further into Central Asia, and leave th

[41] Chav. Doc. 42, 282 f.: Marquart Chronologie 15: T abarī II. 1078, 1080. [42] As was suggested by Prof. Houtsma, Gotting. Gelehrt. Anz., 1899, 386-7. [43] Suggested readings in Barthold, Turkestan, p. 71 n. 5, and p. 76. [44] T ab. 1184 f., 1195: Chav. Doc. 172: Hamadhānī, Kitāb al-Buldān (Bibl. Geog. Arab. V) 209. 7: cf. T ab. 1874. [45] Narshakhī 8, 15, 30, 37, 44: T ab. 1199. 1: Yaʿqūbī Hist. II. 342. 9. Cf. Marquart, Chronologie 63 and Barthold, Arab. Quellen 7. [46] H amāsa, ed. Freytag

[74] As the history of this and the following period has been given in considerable detail by Wellhausen (Arab. Reich 280 ff.) from the Arab point of view, it is intended in these chapters to follow only the situation in Transoxania and the course of the Türgesh conquests, avoiding as far as possible a simple recapitulation of familiar matter. Thus little reference is made to the factional strife among the Arabs, though it naturally played a very important part in limiting their power to deal wi

[99] Cf. T abarī 1594. 14: 1613. 3: Chavannes, Documents 142. [100] The details of this measure are discussed by Wellhausen, Das Arabische Reich 297 ff., and van Vloten, Domination Arabe 71 f. Note that T ab. 1689. 5 expressly refers to them as “conditions of peace.” [101] Narshakhī 8. 19. [102] Chav., Doc. 142. [103] T ab. 1717 f. [104] Chav., Doc. 286. [105] Van Vloten, op. cit. 20. Cf. e.g. T ab. 1694. 1 with Narsh. 60. 3-5. [106] Barthold, Turkestan 219. [107] T ab. 1867. [108] T ab. 1956. 1

Al-Balādhurī: (1) ( Kitāb al-Ansāb ) Anonyme Arabische Chronik , Band XI, ed. W. Ahlwardt, Greifswald, 1883. —— (2) Kitāb Futū h al Buldān , ed. M. J. de Goeje, Leyden, 1865. Ad-Dīnawarī: Kitāb al-Akhbār a t - T iwāl , ed. V. Guirgass, Leyden, 1888. Fragmenta Historicorum Arabicorum , vol. I, from Kitāb al-ʿUyūn, ed. M. J. de Goeje and P. de Jong, Leyden, 1869. Ibn al-Athīr: Taʿrīkh al-Kāmil , 12 vols., Cairo 1290 A.H. Ibn Khalliqān, Biographical Dictionary , trans. by Baron MacGuckin de Slane,

W. Barthold: (1) Turkyestan v’Epokhu Mongolskavo Nashyestviya , St. Petersburg, 1898. —— (2) Zur Geschichte des Christenthums in Mittel-Asien bis zur Mongolischen Eroberungen , German trans. by R. Stübe, Tubingen and Leipzig, 1901. —— (3) See under Radloff. —— (4) Articles in Encyclopaedia of Islām . L. Caetani: Chronographia Islamica , Paris, 1912-(proceeding). Léon Cahun: Introduction à l’Histoire de l’Asie: Turcs et Mongols des Origines à 1450 , Paris, 1896. E. Chavannes: (1) Documents sur le