few months' reign, he left Islām a prey to anarchy. Two claimants appeared for the thorny crown-Abdullah ibn Zobayr, and Merwān I. of the race of Umayya. The first gained the allegiance of Yemen, including the Holy Places, Egypt and part of Syria; the second was proclaimed lord of Damascus, and speedily drove his rival from Syria and Egypt. Merwan's son and successor, 'Abd el-Melik, concluded a peace with the Byzantine emperor on the basis of the payment of a tribute of 50,000 pieces of gold, and turned the whole of his forces against the pretender, who still held to Mekka and Medina. Him he defeated twice, and slew Mohammad. All Islām was now under his chieftainship, with the exception of Khorāsān, which was governed by 'Abdullah ibn Khāzim as representative of Ibn Zobayr. Finding it impossible to secure the former's allegiance, 'Abd elMelik incited one of his generals named Bukayr to compass his master's death, on a promise to confer on him the governorship of the province. The bait was swallowed by Bukayr, who formed a conspiracy against 'Abdullah ibn Khāzim, and deprived him of authority (692). He became head of Khorasan; but his triumph was shortlived. The Caliph naturally doubted the loyalty of one who had shown himself unfaithful to his trust, and superseded him by Umayya ibn 'Abdullah ibn Khalid (696). Four years later (700), Muhallab, who had left Merv and established himself in Kesh (the modern Shahrisebz), sent his son Habib with a huge army entered my hut, each to present me a new-born child. I could not catch the exact words; all I could understand was that one of the infants was O'Donovan Beg, another O'Donovan Khan, a third O'Donovan Bahadur. I forget what the others were. It turned out that the Tekkes' newly born children are, as a rule, called after any distinguished strangers who may be on the oasis at the time of their births, or have resided there a short time previously, or after some event intimately connected with the tribe" (The Story of Merv, p. 329). against Bokhārā, whose king he utterly defeated. While Muhallab was in Kesh, his followers entreated him to penetrate farther into the country, but Muhallab replied that his only aim was to bring all his Musulmans safe back to Merv. After two years' stay at Kesh he came to terms with the inhabitants of the surrounding country, and, satisfied with the large tribute they rendered to him, returned to his headquarters at Merv. Muhallab died A.H. 82 (701), and was succeeded by his son Yezid in the government of Merv. In A.H. 84 (703)1 the latter was deprived of his post by the famous Hajjaj, who had the disposal of all such appointments. Yezid thereupon quitted Khorāsān, and his brother Mufaddhal, who had formerly been his lieutenant, was appointed governor. He held the post for about nine months, undertaking during that brief period successful expeditions against Khiva and Badghis. The immense spoils of war he distributed among his soldiers, keeping, we are told, nothing for himself. In A.H. 86 (705) 'Abd el-Melik died, and in the same year, on the arrival of Yezid in 'Irāk, Hajjāj appointed Kutayba ibn Muslim el-Bahili governor of Khorāsān in place of Mufaddhal. The glorious career of Kutayba in Central Asia began at this epoch with his entry into Merv. 1 Cf. Aug. Müller, Der Islam, p. 411, who gives the date as A. H. 85. 2 An entertaining account of this cruel and witty governor will be found in d'Herbelot, under the article Heggiage-ben-Josef-al-Thakefi. CHAPTER VI THE FIRST EASTERN CAMPAIGNS OF KUTAYBA THE arrival of Kutayba on the scene marks a new epoch in the history of Mohammedan conquests in Central Asia. Though the Arabs had been for many years masters of Khorāsān, with an established capital at Merv,1 their hold on the country beyond the Oxus was very slight. The expeditions which they had hitherto made into Bokhārā2 and other parts of Transoxiana were mere raids, and their authority in those countries departed with the main body of their army. Kutayba was the first Arab leader who compelled the inhabitants of the tract lying between the Oxus and Jaxartes to acknowledge the Caliph's supremacy, and to plant the standard of Islām in lands where the creed of Zoroaster had retained its greatest vitality. 1 Merv has been styled by almost all European writers on the subject, "The Queen of the World." Now the origin of this high-sounding title is the expression Merv-i-Shāhijān, a title used to distinguish this town from Merv er-Rud. This word Shāhijān has been taken as a corruption of Shah-ijahān, or "Queen of the World." Yakūt says that Shāhijān means "Soul of the King." The form as it now stands is probably "Arabicised" from an old Persian form Shahgan, "what appertains to a king." Cf. Rückert, Gram. Poet, und Rhet. der Perser (Gotha, 1874), p. xix. The mistranslation, if such it be, has shared the fate of most mistranslations of the kind, and become universal among Europeans. * It must be remembered that Bokhārā is the name of a kingdom as well as of a town. In A.H. 86 (705), as we have seen, 'Abd el-Melik died. He was succeeded in the Caliphate by his son Welid, and in the same year Kutayba ibn Muslim made a triumphal entry into Merv as governor of Khorāsān. On arriving at Merv, Kutayba called together the inhabitants, and urged them to join a Holy War, emphasising his trumpet-call by quotations from the Koran. The fierce Arabs swarmed to his standard, and Kutayba soon found himself at the head of an army animated with the keenest enthusiasm, to whom he distributed pay sufficient to maintain their families during their career of conquest. The military and civil administration of the oasis during his absence was delegated by him to trusted lieutenants. Having thus organised victory, he set out in a westerly direction across the desert. The first town which he reached was Tālikān.1 Here he was received by the dihkans 2 and chief men of Balkh, who escorted him across the Oxus. He was met on the right bank by the king of the Chaghāniān, who brought presents and a golden key, and invited him to enter his capital. Kutayba accepted his submission, and allowed him to remain in office under the Caliph's suzerainty. He then marched to Akhrun and Shūmān, and after levying tribute on their chief, returned to Merv. Some authorities relate that Kutayba, before crossing the Oxus, made an expedition into Balkh, and there crushed a rising among the inhabitants, who were attempting to rid themselves of the Arab yoke. In the same year he concluded a peace 1 Between Balkh and Merv er-Rūd, three days' journey from the latter. Istakhri, the geographer, speaks of it as the most important place in Tokhāristan. "He had not 2 Dihakān=the man (i.e. the head man) of the dih, or village. 3 Vambéry seems to confuse the two accounts, for he says: yet arrived within the limits of ancient Bactria when the inhabitants of Balkh came out to meet him, and conducted him with honour into their city." But Tabari speaks distinctly of an engagement, in connection with which he |