Qutayba ibn Muslim (Arabic: قتيبة بن مسلم, full name: Abu Hafs Qutayba ibn Abi Salih Muslim ibn Amr al-Bahili[1]) was an Arab commander of the Umayyad Caliphate army who became governor of Khorasan and distinguished himself in the conquest of Transoxiana (Arabic: Mawara al-Nahr) 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. Following Walid's death, Qutayba rebelled but was defeated and killed. Most of his conquests in Transoxiana were lost after his death; only after the Battle of Talas in 751 did the region come firmly under Muslim control.
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Qutayba was born in 669 CE in Basra, where his family was influential. He rose to prominence during his participation in the suppression of the Khurramite revolt of Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Ash'ath, when he was noted by the governor of Iraq and the East, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. Under al-Hajjaj's patronage, he took Rayy from the rebel Umar ibn Abi'l-Salt in 701, and became the city's governor.[1] Then, in late 704 or early 705, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan appointed Qutayba as governor of Khorasan. The choice of Qutayba, who hailed from the relatively weak Bahila tribe, was intended by al-Hajjaj to heal the destructive feud between the South Arab or "Yemeni" (Azdi) and North Arab (Qaysi) tribal confederations in Khorasan by providing a governor who did not belong to either. The Bahila were neutral between the two groups, but generally allied themselves to the Qays, thus furthering al-Hajjaj's policy of emasculating Azdi power, which had been dominant in Khorasan during the governorship of Yazid ibn al-Muhallab. Furthermore, as Qutayba lacked a strong tribal base of his own, he could be expected to remain firmly attached to his patron.[1][2][3] Qutayba would spend the next ten years of his life in Central Asia, consolidating and expanding Muslim rule there. In this endeavour, both his military and diplomatic and organisational abilities came him in good stead; most importantly, he was able to enlist the support of the local Iranian population and the powerful dihqan class.[1][4]
The first task which Qutayba set himself was the suppression of the rebellion in Lower Tokharistan, which was accomplished swiftly with the reconquest of Balkh. Qutayba then secured the submission of the local princes in the upper Oxus valley, most notably of Tish, king of al-Saghaniyan. After extensive negotiations led by Sulaym the Persian, the tarkhan Nizak, ruler of the Hephthalite principality of Badghis, surrendered to Qutayba, and pledged to accompany him in his expeditions.[1][5] In 706–709, Qutayba occupied himself with the long and bloody conquest of Sogdia. The Sogdians were at the time divided by civil war, and Qutayba was able to easily capture the city of Baykand, near the Sogdian capital Bukhara, after a two-month siege. He left a small garrison there and departed, but the inhabitants launched a revolt soon after. The Arab army then turned back and proceeded to sack the city. The men of fighting age were executed, the women and children sold off as slaves, and enormous booty amassed, especially in armour and weapons, which equipped the Arab army.[1][6][7] The brutal punishment meted out to Baykand shocked the region: the Sogdians patched up their quarrels and the princes of Transoxiana united behind Wardan Khudah. In the campaign of 707, Qutayba was able to capture two outlying towns, Tumuskath and Ramithana, before he was threatened in his rear by the allied Transoxianan army. Qutayba avoided a battle, and engaged in negotiations to gain time, before executing a rapid retreat to safety through the Iron Gate to beyond the Oxus, crossing the river at Tirmidh.[8] The campaign of 708 was also a failure, which drew the ire of al-Hajjaj. For 709, al-Hajjaj drew up a new plan: the Arabs launched a direct attack on Bukhara, which caught the alliance—possibly weakened by the death of its leader, Wardan Khudah—by surprise. The city was taken by storm, a tribute of 200,000 dirhams imposed, and an Arab garrison installed. In its direct aftermath, the ruler of Samarkand sent envoys to Qutayba and became a tributary vassal to the Caliphate.[1][9][10]
This success was followed however by the rebellion in the autumn of 709 of much of Lower Tokharistan under Nizak of Baghdis, with the support of the principalities of Yalqan and Faryab, and the city of Balkh. In an effort to raise the entire region in revolt, Nizak also forced the nominal suzerain of Tokharistan, the Yabghu, to join the uprising. The year was too advanced for a direct confrontation and the Muslim levy-based army mostly disbanded, but Qutayba ordered his brother Abd al-Rahman to take the garrison of Merv, some 12,000 men, and head to Balkh to secure the Muslim position there. This move proved effective in discouraging the rebellion of more local princes, and in spring, Abd al-Rahman was able to re-establish Muslim control over Tokharistan almost without bloodshed. Most of the rebel rulers fled or capitulated, and finally, Nizak was captured and executed on al-Hajjaj's orders, despite promises of pardon, while the Yabghu was exiled to Damascus and kept there as a hostage. Tokharistan was more firmly incorporated into the Caliphate, as Arab district representatives were appointed alongside the local princes, who were gradually relegated to secondary place. Abd al-Rahman ibn Muslim was installed with a garrison near Balkh to oversee the affairs of the province.[11][12] Despite the swift end of Nizak's revolt, the king of Shuman and Akharun (or Akhrun), in the northern mountainous districts of Tokharistan, decided to rebel as well. Qutayba led his forces against him, besieged his citadel and took it. The king fell in battle, and his supporters were executed. Qutayba then marched west over the Iron Gate, taking Kish and Nasaf and visiting Bukhara, where he settled relations between the Arabs and the locals, installed the young Sogdian prince Tughshada in the position of Bukhar-Khudah ("king of Bukhara") and established an Arab military colony in the city. Later, in 712/713, Qutayba built a mosque in the city's citadel, but although the Arab authorities encouraged the conversion of the native population by paying them to attend prayers, Islamization proceeded slowly.[1][13][14] At the same time, Qutayba engaged in a step that marked a radical departure from previous practice in the East by ordering the conquered territories to provide native auxiliary levies, usually some ten to twenty thousand strong, to supplement the Arab tribal army (which, at the time of his death, according to the historian al-Tabari, mustered 47,000 Arabs and 7,000 mawali). Gibb suggests that this move may be seen as an answer to the need for more troops to control the conquered territories and continue Muslim expansion, as well as a means of placing the local manpower in Arab service and depleting it at the same time, reducing the risk of anti-Arab revolts. Gibb also suggests that the creation of an indigenous force may have been an attempt by Qutayba to establish a power base of his own.[15]
Later in 711, al-Hajjaj ordered Qutayba to march against the Hephthalite kingdom of Zabulistan, whose ruler, titled Zunbil, had long remained an indomitable thorn in the Arabs' side and menaced their province of Sistan. Repeated expeditions against him had failed, and a truce had been agreed in exchange for tribute. In addition, the existence of a free Zabulite kingdom was a threat to the security of Muslim control over the Hephthalite principalities of Tokhristan, who might be encouraged to seek support from it.[16] Thus Qutayba led a large army south, but the Zunbil readily offered his submission and the payment of tribute. Satisfied with this easy success, and unwilling to hazard a campaign in the mountains of Zabulistan, Qutayba departed. No garrisons were installed, and as soon as the Arab army had departed, the Zunbil ceased the payment of tribute.[17][18][19]
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Taking advantage of Qutayba's absence in the south, the inhabitants of Samarkand overthrew their ruler due to his passive stance towards the Arabs, and installed the prince Ghurak in his stead. As Qutayba prepared to march against Samarkand during the winter of 711/712, he received envoys from the king of Khwarezm, who asked for his aid in dealing with the rebellion of his brother Khurrazadh. Qutayba advanced with his forces in a lightning campaign, and while his brother Abd al-Rahman defeated Khurrazadh's troops, he secured the levy of 10,000 Khwarezmian troops for his own use. The Khwarezmians however rebelled shortly after Qutayba's departure and killed their ruler. It was not until later in the year that Qutayba was able to send a force under al-Mughira ibn Abdullah to subdue the region; the Arabs proceeded to massacre most of the upper classes who had fomented the revolt and installed direct Arab rule in Khwarezm, although the local dynasty was left in place.[20][21]
After leaving Khwarezm, Qutayba marched against Samarkand. The Sogdians had disbanded most of their forces, and the Arabs were able to advance straight to the city itself with little hindrance and lay siege to it. Ghurak and the inhabitants of the city resisted the Arabs with determination, and called upon the rulers of Shash (Tashkent) and Ferghana for aid. The ruler of Shash indeed sent a strong army to aid them, but it was ambushed and destroyed by the Arabs. The news of this arrived at the time where the Arab siege weapons had effected a breach in the city walls, forcing Ghurak to sue for peace. Qutayba initially granted surprisingly lenient terms: the payment of an annual tribute and the provision of an auxiliary corps, as well as the construction of a mosque inside the city and the celebration of prayers there by the Arab army. Once inside the city however, Qutayba proceeded to occupy and garrison it. One of his brothers (either Abd al-Rahman or Abdallah) was left as governor, and orders were given prohibiting any non-Muslim access to the city citadel. Ghurak and his retinue left the city and founded a new town, Farankath, further to the north. This treachery enabled Qutayba to bring most of Transoxiana under his (albeit tentative) control, but it also considerably tarnished his prestige among the Sogdians.[22][23][24][25]
Arab sources indicate that at about his time, the Sogdian princes called upon the Western Turks or the Turgesh for help against the Arabs, although the chronology and veracity of these accounts is open to question.[22][26] At any rate, over the next two years Qutayba engaged in an effort to push the Caliphate's borders further and gain control of the Jaxartes valley. A large force, supported by some 20,000 Transoxianian levies, marched into the valley in early 713. The native levies were dispatched against Shash, which was reportedly taken, while Qutayba with the Arabs marched in the direction of Khujand and Ferghana. Little is known of these expeditions, although successful battles are recorded before Khujand and at Minak in Ushrusana, and the dispatch of an Arab embassy to the Chinese court is verified by Chinese sources. Al-Tabari reports that Qutayba marched into Chinese-held territory up to Kashgar, but this claim is dismissed by H.A.R. Gibb.[22][27] In 714, Qutayba renewed his expeditions along the Jaxartes, probably with Shash as his base, but his campaign was cut short upon receiving the news of the death of al-Hajjaj. Unsure of his position now that his patron was gone, he disbanded the army and returned to Merv.[28][29]
Caliph Walid quickly re-confirmed Qutayba as governor, and even made his province independent from the governor of Iraq, but Qutayba's position was not secure: the Arab army was tired of constant campaigning and was still riven by factional rivalries, while Qutayba himself had alienated the most powerful Arab tribal groups. He was generally popular among the native Iranians, but the leader of the native auxiliaries, Hayyan al-Nabati, had turned against him. Qutayba was completely unaware of the situation however, and began preparations for the campaign of 715, during which he intended to finally capture Ferghana and complete the subjugation of the Jaxartes valley. His only concern was that his old rival, Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, might be restored to the Caliph's favour after al-Hajjaj's death, and he took few precautions except for removing his family and belongings from Merv to Shash and placing a guard on the Oxus.[30][31] His campaign against Ferghana was under way when news reached the army of Caliph Walid's death and the accession of his brother Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik to the throne. The new Caliph was a bitter enemy of Qutayba, for the latter had argued in favour of excluding him from the succession. Although Sulayman re-confirmed him in his position as governor, Qutayba feared that he would soon be removed. At the last, after negotiations with the new regime in Damascus failed, Qutayba resolved to rebel. The Arab levies refused to support him, and the Iranian auxiliaries, although fvourably disposed towards him, were prevented from declaring their support by Hayyan al-Nabati. Only his family, his fellow-Bahili tribesmen and his Iranian bodyguard remained faithful. The opposition, led by the Tamim tribe, coalesced around their leader Waki ibn Abi Sud al-Tamimi. In August 715 (according to Tabari) or early 716 (according to Ibn Qutaybah), Qutayba and other members of his family were killed at Ferghana by Arab soldiers. Waki ibn Abi Sud succeeded him as governor, and ordered the army to return to Merv, where it was disbanded.[22][32][33][34]
After Qutayba's death, the Arab position in Transoxiana swiftly crumbled. His successors were unable to maintain his conquests in the face of local revolts and Turkish assistance, and most of Transoxiana was abandoned within six years after his death. In the south too, the Zunbil of Zanbulistan ceased his payment of tribute to the Caliphate and remained resolutely independent for decades after. Qutayba's role in the conquest and gradual Islamization of Central Asia was crucial, and in later times, his tomb in Ferghana became a site of pilgrimage for the local Muslims.[22][35] His descendants too continued to hold influential positions: his son Muslim was governor of Basra, and his grandson Abu 'Amr Sa'id ibn Salm held several provincial governorships under the Abbasids.[22]