Qutaiba
bin Muslim Bahli
Hajjaj deputed Qutaiba bin Muslim
Bahli as the governor of Khorasan in 86 A.H. Qutaiba arrived in Merv and
appointed Ayas bin Abdullah bin Amr the officer of defense and chief of police.
He entrusted the management of finance to Uthman bin Sad. Taking a large army,
he set out towards Talaqan. There the Turkish King of Safad paid a visit to him
and agreed to conform and pay the required taxes and at the end of the meeting
the king induced him to launch an attack on Akhroon and Shoman which were part
of the land of Tagharistan.
When Qutaiba reached Akhroon and
Shoman, their kings agreed to obey and pay him the taxes and made peace with
him. He sent his brothers Saleh to Farghana and he returned to Merv. Saleh
conquered Kashana Darasht and Akhshakeet in the land of Farghana. In 87 A.H.,
Qutaiba invaded Bukhara. The Turks in the area put up a defense of the
territory but in vain. The Islamic forces collected a large amount of spoils of
war. In 88 A.H., the inhabitants of Safad and Farghana revolted and making the
Chinese king's sister's son their leader had gathered a huge army of two
hundred thousand and came to face Qutaiba. He fought and defeated them and
returned to Merv. In 89 A.H., the chiefs of Bukhara Kush, Nasf and Safad
jointly rebelled. They were also defeated unconditionally and compelled to
surrender.
In 90 A.H. Durdan, the king of
Bukhara and the king of Safad and the Turkish chiefs of the surrounding
territories were prepared to rebel but Nizak Turkhan, the prince of Badghais
remained loyal to the Muslims. Qutaiba, taking Turkhan with him, moved towards
Bukhara, the Turks fought bravely. They at first vanquished the local vanguard
but when the Islamic forces steadied and attacked, they captured the Turkish
positions. The Turk’s leader and his son were wounded and escaped and the
Muslims scored a major victory. Tarkhoon, the king of Safad agreed to pay the
Jizya annually and Qutaiba returned to Merv. (Jizya: A tax paid by non-Muslims
living under an Islamic Government. Since the non-Muslims are exempt from
military service and taxes imposed on Muslims, they must pay this tax to
compensate. It guarantees them security and protection. If the State cannot
protect those who paid jizya, then the amount they paid is returned to them.)
As soon as he returned to Merv, Nizak arrived in Tukharistan (now part of
northern Afghanistan) and revolted. Then Asbahand, the king of Balkh, Bazan the
king of Mardarood, the Prince of Talqan, Fayarab, the Prince of Jurjan and the
king of Kabul jointly hatched a conspiracy and expelled Qutaiba’s Governor.
Qutaiba sent his brother Abdur Rahman bin Muslim with an army of twelve
thousand with the instructions to encamp at Yardqan. With the end of winter,
Qutaiba sent some armies to Nishapur (modern: Neyshabur, 50 kilometers west of
Meshed) and led a multi-pronged attack against the rebels. As a result, they
were punished in proportion to their crime and all of them agreed to remain
loyal and pay the Jizya. In this campaign, the fort of Samangan was captured
and annexed to the Islamic territory. Nizak was caught and killed.
The king of Jurjan was pardoned and
allowed to remain king in his own country. In brief, the Turkish chiefs
rebelled repeatedly and they were defeated each time by Qutaiba until the idea
of rebellion left their minds. In 92 A.H. Ratbeel, who has been mentioned in
the previous pages, intended to revolt but when Qutaiba arrived in his
territory with his army Ratbeel begged for forgiveness and paid the Jizya. In 93
A.H., Qutaiba won the land of Khwarizm, took a promise from its king to pay the
legitimate taxes and then returned the country to him. When Qutaiba was
capturing Khwarizm, the natives of Safad saw that the former was at a great
distance from them expelled Qutaiba’s governor and rebelled against him.
Qutaiba sent the booty towards Khwarizm to Madinah, and he himself with an army
rushed towards Safad with terrific speed.
Having heard Qutaiba’s arrival the
inhabitants of Safad requested the Chinese emperor to help them and he sent his
veteran generals and princes for their defense. The Turks prepared to defend
the fort of Samarkand. Qutaiba came and began to the fight. Several bloody
battles were fought. The son of the Chinese emperor was killed. The fort was
brought under Muslim control by virtue of their strength and thousands of Turks
were put to death. Heavy taxes were imposed on them and the leaders of the
revolt who were arrested were sent to Hajjaj. Among the captives was a woman
who was a descendent of Yazdegerd (who was the child ruler of Persia at the
time of its fall to the Muslims). He sent the woman to Waleed bin Abdul Malik
who married her. She gave birth to his son Yazid. After coming back to Merv,
Qutaiba appointed Mughira bin Abdullah the Governor of Nishapur. In 94 A.H.,
the inhabitants of Shash seem to be ready to revolt, Qutaiba asked the rules of
Bukhara Kush, Nasf and Khwarizm for help. All responded and an army of ten
thousand soldiers was collected. Qutaiba encamped at Khajand and sent the army
to Shash and Qutaiba returned to Merv while he was returning he was informed up
to Hajjaj's death. At that time, the Muslims occupied all the territories up to
Kashgar and had established Islamic rule firmly over all of Turkistan. He sent a delegation to the
Chinese emperor under the leadership of Habira bin Mashmarj Kilabi with the
message. "Accept Islamic rule or the horses of the Islamic warriors will
run over China".
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