persistence of the Arabs, sent a letter to the king of Shash asking his aid. Two thousand men of Shash set out at once for Samarkand; but Kutayba, hearing of their movements, surprised them in ambuscade and put them to rout. Two days later the king sued for peace. Kutayba agreed to retire on payment of a heavy tribute, but stipulated that he should be allowed to enter the city and build a mosque and inaugurate a religious service. His terms were accepted, but instead of masons he sent 4000 armed Arabs to uproot idolatry. All the graven images of Samarkand were burned, Kutayba himself commencing the conflagration and inaugurating the auto-da-fé.

At the

The hostility of Shash was not forgotten. beginning of A.H. 94 (712) Kutayba set out from Merv, crossed the Oxus, and marched against Shash and Farghāna at the head of a large army. The expedition resulted in the reduction of the towns of Shash, Khojand, and Kāshān on terms similar to those accorded to the people of Samarkand.2

In A.H. 96 (714) Kutayba set out on his last expedition. He carried the Mohammedan arms farther east than any of his predecessors had done; and, though his conquests on the borders of China were not of a permanent nature, he established an eastern frontier to Islam which has never since been encroached on. Before setting out on this last campaign Kutayba received news of the death of the Caliph Welid, and the succession of Sulayman his brother. As he knew that the Caliph was his enemy he3 took the precaution of carrying

1 He is said to have obtained no less than 20,000 native levies, men from Kesh, Nakhshab, and Khwārazm. Cf. Tabari, Annales, Series II. p. 1256.

2 In the year 95 Hajjāj died at the age of fifty-four.

3 Welid had been most anxious to make his own son heir-apparent in the place of his brother, and in his designs had been supported by Hajjaj and

his family with him to Samarkand, where they were placed in safe keeping. On this expedition Kutayba reached, and apparently entered, Kāshghar, but though it is stated that he conquered the province, we have no particulars of an engagement of any kind.

Kutayba. Hence the bad blood that existed between the conqueror and the new Caliph.

Vambéry adds the following details without reference (not to be found either in Tabari or Narshakhi): "Having conquered Farghāna, he went through the Terek Pass into Eastern Turkestan. Here he encountered the princes of the Uigurs, who in default of union among themselves were easily conquered. We are told that the Arabs extended their incursions into the province of Kansu. . . . Turfan, on the very first appearance of the Arabs, embraced Islam" (Bokhara, pp. 31, 32).

CHAPTER VIII

KUTAYBA'S FALL AND DEATH

THE realm of Arabic literature contains no more vivid picture of contemporary life and manners than that given us by Tabari in his account of Kutayba's fall. Many circumstances conspired to effect his ruin. The unbounded arrogance arising from uniform success, and the many acts of perfidy of which he was guilty, had weakened the attachment of his followers, which was based rather on greed for booty than devotion to a cause. His friend and constant patron Hajjāj had died in A.H. 94. The new Caliph, Sulayman, had never forgotten that Kutayba had supported his predecessor Welīd in an attempt to exclude him from the succession; and his principal adviser was Yezid ibn Muhallab, whom Kutayba had ousted from the government of Khorāsān. But tribal hatred was the most telling factor in Kutayba's

1 Gibbon recognised the greatness of Kutayba as a conqueror, while lamenting the scanty notices to be found of him in European works; cf. Decline and Fall, chap. li. D'Herbelot, in his Bibliothèque Orientale, dismisses our hero, under the heading Catbah, in a very summary manner. "Ce fut un des plus villains Arabes de son siècle, Valid, sixième Khalife de la race des Ommiades, le fit général de ses armées en Perse, l'an de l'Hégire 88. Il conquît tout le grand pays de Khorazan, et obligea en ces quartierslà à brûler leurs idoles et à bâtir de Mosquées. Après cette conquête, il passa dans la Transoxiana et prit de force les fameuses villes de Samarcande et de Bokhara, et défit Mazurk roi de Turkestan, qui s'était approché pour les sécourir. Ce grand capitaine finit ses conquêtes l'an 93 (sic) de l'Hégire."

fall. It raged with intense fury among the Arabs during the Caliphate, and was at the root of every revolution of that stirring period.

Kutayba's first thoughts on hearing of the accession of Sulayman were that the Caliph would certainly reinstate Yezid as governor of Khorāsān. In view of forestalling this action he sent a messenger to Sulayman bearing three letters. The first contained assurances of his loyalty; the second, expressions of his contempt for Yezid; the purport of the third, which was written on a smaller sheet, was as follows: "I have ceased to recognise Sulayman as my sovereign, and have revolted against him." His envoy was intrusted to hand the first missive to the Caliph and watch his movements narrowly. If he should read it and then pass it to Yezid, the second was to be submitted to him. Should it be similarly treated, the gauntlet of defiance was to be thrown down in the third letter.

The injunctions were strictly followed. The three messages were delivered successively; but, beyond communicating each to Yezid, the Caliph betrayed no sign of resentment. The messenger was allowed to depart in company with a courtier, who carried with him an Act of reinvestiture in the governorship of Khorāsān in favour of Kutayba. When the pair reached Holwan2 they learnt that Kutayba had already raised the standard of revolt, and Sulayman's messenger returned straightway to Syria. When Kutayba's messenger reached Khorāsān his master asked him how matters had gone. On learning that his action of throwing off his allegiance had been, to say the least of it, premature, Kutayba was filled with repentance, and took counsel with his brothers and captains as to what course he should pursue. They were agreed that

1 Tabari, Annales, Series II. pp. 1283-96.

An important town on the Perso-Turkish frontier, north-east of Baghdad.

Sulayman would never pardon Kutayba, but opined that his life would be spared in remembrance of his past services to Islām. "Alas," cried Kutayba, "it is not death I fear, but that the Caliph will certainly give the government of Khorāsān to Yezīd, and humiliate me before all the world; I prefer death to that!" Among the many projects suggested to him the wisest seems to have been that of his brother 'Abd er-Rahman, who advised him to proceed to Samarkand and then give his followers the option of staying with him or returning to their homes. Having by this means surrounded himself with men whom he could trust, he might declare his independence of Sulayman. But Kutayba was too confident in his own influence to listen to counsel savouring of timidity. The only plan which suited his temper was one formulated by another brother named 'Abdullah. It was that Kutayba should call his officers together and urge them to join in a revolt against the Caliph. This desperate scheme was promptly acted upon. Kutayba harangued his followers in brief but stirring words, dwelling on the want of capacity shown by his predecessors, especially by Yezid; he reminded his troops of the successes that had attended them under his leadership, of the fairness with which he had always divided the spoil among them, and of his prosperous administration of Khorāsān. He then awaited the acclamations which his lightest utterances had hitherto received. A deep and anxious silence reigned on the assembly. Kutayba, lashed to fury by the ingratitude of those who owed everything to him, lost all semblance of self-restraint and burst forth into a tirade, in which his lieutenants were designated as "cowardly Bedouins, infidels, and hypocrites." Then, trembling with half-suppressed passion, he withdrew to

1 This saying is not to be found in the Arabic Tabari, but in the Persian version. See Zotenberg, vol. iv. p. 204.