| Muslim conquest of Transoxiana | |||||
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| Part of the Muslim conquests | |||||
Map of Transoxiana in the 8th century, where Battle of the Defile took place. |
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| Belligerents | |||||
| Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate (after Umayyad period) |
Türgesh Kaghanate Göktürk Empire[1] |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| Qutayba ibn Muslim Muslim ibn Sa'id † Al-Kharashi Junayd ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Murri Sawra ibn al-Hurr al-Abani Sa'id ibn Amr al-Harashi Asad ibn Abd Allah al-Qasri Nasr ibn Sayyar |
Suluk Khagan Kül Chor Gurek Kapagan Khan[1] Bilge Qaghan Kul Tigin |
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The Muslim conquest of Transoxiana or the Arab conquest of Transoxiana[3] was the conquest of Transoxiana by the Muslims and Arabs as part of the Muslim conquests.
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As a corollary to the Muslim conquest of Persia, the Muslims became neighbors of the Turkic city states of Transoxiana, whom were predominantly adherents of their Tengrianist faith. Although Transoxiana was included in the Turkestan region, only the ruling elite of Transoxiana were of Turkic origins whereas the local population was Iranic Soghdians [4]. As the Arabs reached Transoxiana followed by the breakup of Sassanid Persian Empire, the Turks and Arabs had long series of clashes and battles against each other over the control of Transoxiana's Silk Road cities [Barthold]. The Turks, especially the Turgesh under leadership of Suluk, and Khazars under Barjik clashed with their Arab neighbours in order to conquer this important region and take control of the Silk Road over Transoxiana.
Although the major battles between Turks and Muslims occured mainly for region of Transoxiana in Turkestan, Khazars are considered to have minor role in Turkestan front as their campaigns occured mainly outside of region, such as Caucasus, North Caucasus, Mosul as well as the Khazar capital of Atil. The Bulgars also played important role against Arabs in the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople.
Suluk's aim was to reconquer all of Transoxiana from the Arab invaders - his war was paralleled, much more westwards, by the Khazar empire. In 721 Turgesh forces, led by Kül Chor, defated the Caliphal army commanded by Sa'id ibn Abdu'l-Aziz near Samarkand. Sa'id's successor, Al-Kharashi, massacred Turks and Sogdian refugees in Khujand, causing an influx of refugees towards the Turgesh. In 724 Caliph Hisham sent a new governor to Khorasan, Muslim ibn Sa'id, with orders to crush the "Turks" once and for all, but, confronted by Suluk, Muslim hardly managed to reach Samarkand with a handful of survivors, as the Turgesh raided freely.
A string of subsequent appointees of Hisham were soundly defeated by Suluk, who in 728 took Bukhara and later on still inflicted painful tactical defeats such as the Battle of the Defile upon the Arabs, discrediting Umayyad rule and maybe putting the foundations for the Abbasid revolution. The Turgesh state was at its apex of glory, controlling Sogdiana, the Ferghana Valley It was only in 732, that two powerful Arab expeditions to Samarkand managed, if with heavy losses, to reestablish Caliphal authority in the area; Suluk renounced his ambitions over Samarkand and abandoned Bukhara, withdrawing north.
In 734 an early Abbasid follower, al-Harith ibn Surayj, rose in revolt against Umayyad rule and took Balkh and Marv before defecting to the Turgesh three years later, defeated. In 738 Suluk, along with his allies al-Harith, Gurak (a Turco-Sogdian leader) and men from Usrushana, Tashkent and Khuttal to launch a final offensive. He entered Jowzjan but was defeated by the Umayyad governor Asad at the Battle of Sa'n or Kharistan.
The Göktürks also had campaigns against the Arab Muslims. [1] By 705, the Göktürks had expanded as far south as Samarkand and threatened Arab control of Transoxiana.[1] Following Qutaiba's campaigns and Gurek's surrender, the Göktürk Empire sent forces down to the Transoxiana in order to help their Transoxian allies. According to Arab sources the forces were led by Kapagan, Bilge and Tegin.[5] The Göktürks clashed with the Umayyad Caliphate in a series of battles (712-713) in which the Arabs again emerged as victors.[1] The main factor of Göktürk failure was rebellions inside the empire and growing Chinese threat from the East.
After the spread of Islam in the lands of Iran, Muslims and the Tengrianist Turkic peoples became neighbours in the 700's. Qutayba ibn Muslim was assigned by Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, the Muslim viceroy of Iraq, to invade Turkestan. He managed to conquer cities like Sughd, Bukhara, Samarkand, Shash and Farghana. In the Battle of Talas an Arab army decisively defeated a Tang Dynasty force and the Arab dominatation of the region were consolidated.[6]
In the Umayyad period, the Arab-Islamic armies managed to defeat Turkic ruling class of the region, and conquered the Soghdian lands of Transoxiana where Turks were ruling. After the conquest, the ruling Turkic elite were cleared from the region. Among the local Iranic Soghdians, the Islamization process was slow during Umayyad Caliphate period, but it was accelerated during the Abbasid period [Barthold]. The Umayyad Caliphate were treating non-Arab peoples as second class citizens,[7] and many Soghdian commoners were executed by them, so therefore Islam didn't get enough conversions by Soghdian commoners [Grousset]. However, during the Abbasid period, Arabs began to respect Soghdian locals and as a result, Islam have began spreading across Central Asia Iranic Soghdians. As for the Turkish conversions to Islam, it occured two centuries later in a different way without an aggressive move. Turks In 932, Satuk Bughra Khan of Kara-Khanid Khanate embraced Islam, making him first Turkic khagan to adopt Islam and make it state religion [Barthold].
The last major victory of Muslims in Central Asia occured at the Battle of Talas (751). Barthold states that the Islamic rule over Transoxiana was secured at the Battle of Talas. Turks had to wait two and a half more centuries before reconquering Transoxiana when Karakhanids reconquered the city of Bukhara in 999.