Muslim conquest of Transoxiana

Muslim conquest of Transoxiana
Part of the Muslim conquests
Date 673–751 Location Transoxiana, Central Asia Result Islamization of Transoxiana Spread of Islam amongst the Iranian peoples
Belligerents
Umayyad Caliphate (until 748) Abbasid Caliphate (from 748)	Principalities of Tokharistan Sogdian principalities Khwarazm Fergana Türgesh Kaghanate Tang Dynasty
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	Ghurak Suluk Khagan Köl-chür al-Harith ibn Surayj Kapagan Khan Bilge Qaghan Kul Tigin Divashtich  † Karzanj  †

Islamization of Transoxiana

The Muslim conquest of Transoxiana or Arab conquest of Transoxiana were the 7th and 8th century conquests, by Umayyad and Abbasid Arabs, of Transoxiana; the land between the Oxus and Jaxartes rivers, a part of Central Asia that today includes all or parts of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

As a corollary to the Muslim conquest of Persia, the Muslims became neighbors of the city states of Transoxiana. Although Transoxiana was included in the loosely defined "Turkestan" region, only the ruling elite of Transoxiana was partially of Turkic origins whereas the local population was mostly a diverse mix of local Iranian populations. As the Arabs reached Transoxiana following the conquest of the Sassanid Persian Empire, local Iranian-Turkic and Arab armies clashed over the control of Transoxiana's Silk Road cities. In particular, the Turgesh under the leadership of Suluk, and Khazars under Barjik clashed with their Arab neighbours in order to control this economically important region.The Arabs had reached Central Asia in the decade after their decisive victory in the Battle of Nihavend in 642, when they completed their conquest of the former Sassanid Empire by seizing Sistan and Khurasan. Marw, the capital of Khurasan, fell in 651 to Abdallah ibn Amir, and with it the borders of the nascent Caliphate reached the river Oxus (modern Amu Darya). The lands beyond the Oxus—Transoxiana or Transoxania, known simply as "the land beyond the river" (mā wara al-nahr) to the Arabs—were different to what the Arabs had encountered before: not only did they encompass a varied topography, ranging from the remote mountains of the Hindu Kush to fertile river valleys and deserts with oasis cities, it was also settled by a variety of peoples, both sedentary and nomadic, and instead of the imperial administration of the Persians, the region was divided into many small independent principalities.

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