Read The Great Arab Conquests Online
Authors: Hugh Kennedy
The Great Arab Conquests (48 page)
The end came in 704 when the new Umayyad governor of Khurasan
45
allied with the Iranian princes sent an army against him in Tirmidh and Mūsā was killed when his horse stumbled as he tried to escape. He had enjoyed fifteen years of effective independence, king of his riverside stronghold and magnet for the restless and disaffected, Arab and Iranian alike. He was a man whose reputation had spread far and wide. In the little provincial town of Qūmis in northern Iran, 800 kilometres from Tirmidh, there was a man called Abd Allāh, at whose house the young men of the district would gather, no doubt telling stories and generally shooting the breeze. His hospitality cost Abd Allāh dear, and when his debts mounted up it was all the way to Mūsā that he went for help. He was not disappointed and was rewarded with a gift of 4,000 silver dirhams. It was among men like Abd Allāh that Mūsā’s memory was kept green, celebrated in poetry, and it must have been they who remembered the stories that form the basis of his saga as it has come down to us.
45
allied with the Iranian princes sent an army against him in Tirmidh and Mūsā was killed when his horse stumbled as he tried to escape. He had enjoyed fifteen years of effective independence, king of his riverside stronghold and magnet for the restless and disaffected, Arab and Iranian alike. He was a man whose reputation had spread far and wide. In the little provincial town of Qūmis in northern Iran, 800 kilometres from Tirmidh, there was a man called Abd Allāh, at whose house the young men of the district would gather, no doubt telling stories and generally shooting the breeze. His hospitality cost Abd Allāh dear, and when his debts mounted up it was all the way to Mūsā that he went for help. He was not disappointed and was rewarded with a gift of 4,000 silver dirhams. It was among men like Abd Allāh that Mūsā’s memory was kept green, celebrated in poetry, and it must have been they who remembered the stories that form the basis of his saga as it has come down to us.
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THE ROAD TO SAMARQAND
By the beginning of the year 705 Arab armies had conquered almost all of Khurasan up to the Oxus river. Only outlying mountainous areas still resisted. This is not to say that the whole province was peacefully ruled by Arab governors collecting taxes from a docile and obedient population, but the Arab authorities were in control. From their bases at Merv and Balkh, they could mount expeditions to crush any insurgents and pillage their lands and properties. Across the river, things were very different. Apart from Mūsā’s outpost at Tirmidh, there was no Arab Muslim settlement at all and, as far as we know, not a single mosque had been constructed. The local kings and the Turkish nomads remained firmly in control.
All this was about to change. In this year Hajjāj, viceroy of Iraq and all the East, appointed a new governor of Khurasan. Qutayba b. Muslim came from the small tribe of Bāhila, which was not attached to any of the great tribes whose quarrels were tearing the Arabs of Khurasan apart. This made him an attractive candidate for this most difficult job. Not only could he be neutral in these feuds, but he would not be subject to the relentless pressure for favours which leaders of large tribes had to endure from their followers. He also enjoyed the support of the shrewd and determined Hajjāj. The fact that he lacked a major tribal following of his own meant that he was dependent on Hajjāj for his authority, and this in turn meant that Hajjāj could trust him not to lead a rebellion. Qutayba comes across as a man more respected than loved. The sources emphasize his competence as an organizer and leader of armies, but there are no tales of his generosity or of his patronage of poets. He could be a ferocious opponent and had no compunction about executing prisoners, even ones he had granted safe conduct to, if he thought it was necessary. On the other hand, he was willing to work with local kings and chiefs if he felt it would help the Muslim cause. He also enjoyed the support of an extensive and competent immediate family, especially his brother, Abd al-Rahmān, who was his ever-reliable second-in-command and right-hand man.
Qutayba arrived with a clear policy, to unite the Arabs of Khurasan in the cause of Islam and the
jihād
and lead them to conquer the rich lands across the river which his predecessors had not managed to secure. Every spring he would assemble the Muslim army in Merv and set out, returning to the capital in the autumn, when the troops would disperse to their towns and villages in Khurasan until the next year’s campaigning season. The campaigns that were about to begin were to prove the toughest, bloodiest and probably the most destructive of all the campaigns of the great Arab conquests.
jihād
and lead them to conquer the rich lands across the river which his predecessors had not managed to secure. Every spring he would assemble the Muslim army in Merv and set out, returning to the capital in the autumn, when the troops would disperse to their towns and villages in Khurasan until the next year’s campaigning season. The campaigns that were about to begin were to prove the toughest, bloodiest and probably the most destructive of all the campaigns of the great Arab conquests.
According to what claims to have been an eyewitness account, Qutayba arrived from Iraq in the capital Merv just as his predecessor was reviewing the troops before leading a raid across the river. He immediately took command and addressed the soldiers, urging them to the
jihād
. ‘God has brought you here so that he may make His religion strong, protect sacred things through you and through you to increase the abundance of wealth and mete out harsh treatment to the enemy.’ He stressed that those who fell in the
jihād
would be still be alive, quoting the Koran:
1
‘Count not those who are slain on God’s path as dead but rather as living with their Lord, by Him provided.’ He ended with a brisk exhortation: ‘Fulfil the promise of your Lord, get yourselves used to travelling the greatest distances and enduring the greatest hardships, and beware of looking for easy ways out.’ The nature of the appeal was clear; there was no mention here of tribal or ethnic solidarity: this was going to be a campaign for all Muslims, Arab and non-Arab alike. He promised the classic combination of serving God and getting rich. We will never know how many of his listeners responded with lively excitement to the new opportunities for wealth and spiritual rewards, and how many of them heard his words with sinking hearts, dreading the hardships and dangers that lay ahead.
2
jihād
. ‘God has brought you here so that he may make His religion strong, protect sacred things through you and through you to increase the abundance of wealth and mete out harsh treatment to the enemy.’ He stressed that those who fell in the
jihād
would be still be alive, quoting the Koran:
1
‘Count not those who are slain on God’s path as dead but rather as living with their Lord, by Him provided.’ He ended with a brisk exhortation: ‘Fulfil the promise of your Lord, get yourselves used to travelling the greatest distances and enduring the greatest hardships, and beware of looking for easy ways out.’ The nature of the appeal was clear; there was no mention here of tribal or ethnic solidarity: this was going to be a campaign for all Muslims, Arab and non-Arab alike. He promised the classic combination of serving God and getting rich. We will never know how many of his listeners responded with lively excitement to the new opportunities for wealth and spiritual rewards, and how many of them heard his words with sinking hearts, dreading the hardships and dangers that lay ahead.
2
We have a detailed picture of his army in the year 715 at the end of his period in office.
3
At this time Qutayba is said to have commanded 40,000 troops originating from Basra in southern Iraq. They were organized in their main tribal groups and brought with them the sense of tribal solidarity that served them well on the battlefield, but also the tribal rivalries that could easily erupt into violence. In addition there were 7,000 troops newly arrived from Kūfa in central Iraq and 7,000 who are described as
mawāli
, non-Arab converts, who had enrolled in the Muslim forces. They were led by a man called Hayyān al-Nabatī. One of the reasons for Qutayba’s eventual success was that he attracted the loyalty of these local troops, who, if the figures are to be believed, comprised around 12 per cent of his forces. They seem to have fought as hard as any of the Arabs, and their local knowledge must have made them especially useful, but not all Arabs were prepared to accept them as equals and this tension lay just below the surface. Perhaps the most important reason for Qutayba’s success was that, until things went wrong, leading to his tragic end, he was able to manage these disparate groups and give them a common purpose, expanding the lands of Islam into Transoxania and perhaps eventually as far as China.
3
At this time Qutayba is said to have commanded 40,000 troops originating from Basra in southern Iraq. They were organized in their main tribal groups and brought with them the sense of tribal solidarity that served them well on the battlefield, but also the tribal rivalries that could easily erupt into violence. In addition there were 7,000 troops newly arrived from Kūfa in central Iraq and 7,000 who are described as
mawāli
, non-Arab converts, who had enrolled in the Muslim forces. They were led by a man called Hayyān al-Nabatī. One of the reasons for Qutayba’s eventual success was that he attracted the loyalty of these local troops, who, if the figures are to be believed, comprised around 12 per cent of his forces. They seem to have fought as hard as any of the Arabs, and their local knowledge must have made them especially useful, but not all Arabs were prepared to accept them as equals and this tension lay just below the surface. Perhaps the most important reason for Qutayba’s success was that, until things went wrong, leading to his tragic end, he was able to manage these disparate groups and give them a common purpose, expanding the lands of Islam into Transoxania and perhaps eventually as far as China.
Qutayba began campaigning immediately, leading his men up the Oxus to Tukhāristan. Here his main objective was pacification rather than conquest. He paid a state visit to Balkh, where he was welcomed by the local landowners. He then crossed the river and was met by the king of Saghāniyān, with gifts and a golden key as a symbol of his submission. In return he was offered protection against the next-door king of Shūmān, which was Qutayba’s next stop. Here again the king hastened to make peace and hand over tribute. Having secured his southern flank with this show of force and diplomacy, Qutayba returned to Merv for the winter.
He began the next year, 706, by settling some unfinished business in the south. The most powerful of the local princes, the Buddhist Nayzak, maintained his independence in the mountainous area of Badhghīs, north-west of Herat. He had captured some Muslims and kept them prisoner. Qutayba sent a messenger to him, who warned him about provoking the new governor. Nayzak was induced to free the prisoners and go in person to see the governor at Merv. The people of Badhghīs made peace on the understanding that Qutayba would not enter their lands.
4
This sort of live-and-let-live arrangement characterized much of the nature of the Arab conquest in the remoter areas of Transoxania.
4
This sort of live-and-let-live arrangement characterized much of the nature of the Arab conquest in the remoter areas of Transoxania.
Then he turned his attention to his real objective, the rich cities of Soghdia in the Zarafshan valley. At the beginning of spring he crossed the river to Paykand, the nearest of them and the first on the road from the river crossing at Amul. The site of the city now lies wasted and deserted about 60 kilometres west of Bukhara, but in the early eighth century it was a great trading centre, whose merchants regularly visited China along the overland Silk Road. It lay at the very end of the fertile lands of the Zarafshan valley, surrounded by desert. It was a very tempting prize, but the city was well protected by great mud-brick walls and an inner citadel with only one gate.
5
It was so strong that it was known simply as ‘the Fortress’ or ‘the Bronze Fortress’, and the inhabitants had no desire to submit to the financial demands of the Arabs. The initial conquest seems to have been fairly quick, the defenders being forced back behind the walls and then asking to make peace. This was granted in exchange for tribute, and Qutayba was on his way back to the Oxus when he heard that the citizens had risen in revolt and killed the governor he had left in charge; there was, as so often, a story about how an Arab had tried to take advantage of the daughters of a powerful local man and had been stabbed as a result,
6
but it is just as likely that the inhabitants felt that now the Muslim forces had withdrawn, they no longer needed to pay the tribute they had been forced to promise.
5
It was so strong that it was known simply as ‘the Fortress’ or ‘the Bronze Fortress’, and the inhabitants had no desire to submit to the financial demands of the Arabs. The initial conquest seems to have been fairly quick, the defenders being forced back behind the walls and then asking to make peace. This was granted in exchange for tribute, and Qutayba was on his way back to the Oxus when he heard that the citizens had risen in revolt and killed the governor he had left in charge; there was, as so often, a story about how an Arab had tried to take advantage of the daughters of a powerful local man and had been stabbed as a result,
6
but it is just as likely that the inhabitants felt that now the Muslim forces had withdrawn, they no longer needed to pay the tribute they had been forced to promise.
Qutayba was determined to teach them a lesson that would be learned by all the people of Soghdia. After a month of blockade, he set workmen to dig a mine under the walls of the city and prop up the roof with wood. He had intended that they should burn the props and that the wall should then collapse. Things did not work out quite as planned; the wall fell down when they were still propping it up and forty of the unfortunate workmen were killed. The technique of digging a siege mine is well attested in western European warfare from the time of the Crusades on, but this seems to be the only recorded example of its use in the early Islamic conquests, and it is possible that it was a technique Qutayba had learned from the local troops recruited into his army in Central Asia. Though things clearly turned out very badly for the unlucky workmen, the mine achieved the desired result - the Muslims forced their way in, not without great difficulty, through the collapsed portion of the wall. Once the city had been taken by force, its inhabitants and their wealth were at the mercy of the conquerors. All the fighting men were systematically killed, the women and children taken into captivity, the town deserted. Many of the merchants were said to have been off on a trading expedition to China. When they returned they searched for their women and children, ransomed them from the Arabs and set about rebuilding the city.
7
In reality, it seems that Paykand never really recovered from the sack, and it was soon completely overshadowed by the growth of neighbouring Bukhara.
7
In reality, it seems that Paykand never really recovered from the sack, and it was soon completely overshadowed by the growth of neighbouring Bukhara.
The Arab sources remember the conquest not for the human misery it caused but for the wealth of the booty acquired. One captive attempted to ransom himself with 5,000 pieces of Chinese silk, the equivalent of a million dirhams.
8
They found a silver statue in a Buddhist shrine (
butkhāna
) weighing 4,000 dirhams and other treas ures, including two pearls the size of pigeons’ eggs. When Qutayba asked where the pearls had come from, he was told that two birds had come and placed them in the temple with their beaks. For Muslim writers, this charming tale was simply evidence of the obvious wrong-headedness of Buddhism.
9
The pearls were sent, with other choice items, to Hajjāj in Iraq, who wrote back, full of praise for Qutayba’s generosity. The rest of the silver was melted down and made into coin to pay the Muslim soldiers: in so doing much of the ancient art of Central Asia was lost for ever. There was so much new money that the Muslims were able to equip themselves with the most splendid armour and weapons, soldiers, as usual, being expected to pay for their own gear. In this case, however, captured weapons were handed out to the troops as well. After the triumph at Paykand, the army moved on to the Bukhara oasis, where some villages were attacked and obliged to make peace.
8
They found a silver statue in a Buddhist shrine (
butkhāna
) weighing 4,000 dirhams and other treas ures, including two pearls the size of pigeons’ eggs. When Qutayba asked where the pearls had come from, he was told that two birds had come and placed them in the temple with their beaks. For Muslim writers, this charming tale was simply evidence of the obvious wrong-headedness of Buddhism.
9
The pearls were sent, with other choice items, to Hajjāj in Iraq, who wrote back, full of praise for Qutayba’s generosity. The rest of the silver was melted down and made into coin to pay the Muslim soldiers: in so doing much of the ancient art of Central Asia was lost for ever. There was so much new money that the Muslims were able to equip themselves with the most splendid armour and weapons, soldiers, as usual, being expected to pay for their own gear. In this case, however, captured weapons were handed out to the troops as well. After the triumph at Paykand, the army moved on to the Bukhara oasis, where some villages were attacked and obliged to make peace.
The next year, 707, Qutayba was on the march again. Once again, the objective was the Bukhara oasis. This year he was accompanied by Nayzak, who now appears as a member of his army, part soldier and part hostage. The campaign did not achieve very much. The Soghdians were now well aware of the threat the Arab armies posed and they had made alliances with the Turks and the people of distant Farghāna. The allies hovered in the steppe, waiting for an opportunity to attack. As the Arab army moved along the road towards Bukhara it was very spread out, with more than a kilometre and a half between Qutayba, who was leading, and his brother and right-hand man Abd al-Rahmān, who was in command of the rearguard. The Turks saw their chance and attacked the tail of the column. Abd al-Rahmān sent a messenger to his brother, appealing for help. By the time Qutayba, accompanied by Nayzak, had reached the rear of the army, the Muslim forces were facing defeat, but his appearance turned the tables, the Turks were seen off and disaster averted. Qutayba decided not to press on, however, but turned south, crossing the river at Tirmidh and returning via Balkh to Merv for the winter.
The campaigning season of 708 was also a failure. Qutayba came up against the forces of a local ruler in the Bukhara area called Wardān-Khudā, and was unable either to make conquests or extract tribute. He won a stinging rebuke from Hajjāj for his pains.
10
10
The next year, 709, Qutayba decided to move against Bukhara again. He may well have been aided by the death of his opponent of the previous year, Wardān-Khudā. The accounts of this campaign are quite unclear, but it seems that when the Muslims approached the city, the inhabitants appealed for help to the other Soghdians and the Turks and the main fighting was against this relieving army. The fullest narrative we have comes from the tribe of Tamīm and reads like an account from the earliest phases of the conquests, full of heroic speeches and individual deeds of valour but leaving the wider picture quite obscure. Qutayba is portrayed as sitting on a chair to command, wearing a yellow tunic over his weapons. At one point we are told the infidels entered Qutayba’s camp and rampaged through it until the women started beating them back by hitting the faces of their horses and weeping. This spurred the men into action and the attack was repelled. This is the only mention of women in Qutayba’s armies, and whereas it may be a complete fabrication, it might suggest that women did play a significant role in the campaigns and particularly in the organization of the camps.
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