Northern Iran and the Eastern Frontier (Maps 3.3 and 4.2)

Like Caucasia, northern Iran and Central Asia were endowed with the sort of terrain that impeded easy conquest and they were able to retain a fair degree of independence throughout the seventh century. As well as the mountain ranges of the Elburz in the north, the Kopet Dag in the northeast, the Paropamisus and Hindu Kush in the east, there are a number of deserts that hamper travel: the Kavir and Lut in the center, the Karakum to the northeast, and the Margo and Rigestan to the southeast. It goes without saying, then, that the conquest of this land by the Arabs proceeded very slowly. By 652 they had a grip on the western central plateau around Nihawand and on the southwest provinces of Khuzistan, Fars, and Kirman, but the north and the east had experienced little more than opportunistic raiding. The only major Arab garrison was at Merv, and even here the troops were not permanently settled but came on rotation from Iraq. Arab rule was still, therefore, very precarious, but the death of Yazdgird and the flight of his sons to the east meant that there was no obvious person to lead a comeback and most of the region's potentates were happy to do deals with the new rulers in exchange for being left alone. For example, when the Arabs approached Merv al-Rudh, in modern northwest

MAP 4.2 Eastern Frontier.

Afghanistan, its local lord sent a letter asking them to respect the agreement that his great-grandfather had made with the emperor Khusrau I “after killing the serpent that used to eat people,” which had exempted his family from tax and guaranteed its hereditary governorship of the region.10 The Arabs mostly accepted these requests, since it gave them the time they needed to gradually establish an administrative infrastructure and to win over or strike down individual nobles and cities one by one rather than en masse.

Northern Iran

There are three distinct sectors in northern Iran. On the west side is Azerbaijan, extending southwest from the western shores of the Caspian Sea. Its governor, based at the capital of Ardabil, had initially opposed the Arabs, but when the latter promised not to kill or enslave anyone or to destroy any fire temples, and to allow them to maintain their observance of Zoroastrianism and their “traditional dancing festivals,” he agreed to a treaty. In return, the Arabs received yearly tribute and the right to station a garrison in the capital. In the center are the Caspian provinces, separated from the central Iranian plateau by the Elburz Mountains and blessed with a rich and varied flora due to the humidity of the Caspian Sea. This isolation favored strong local identities and willful petty rulers, who are celebrated in a large number of local histories drafted in medieval times. “They would demand a treaty one time,” complained one Muslim author, “but then refuse to pay the tribute the next time, continually starting war and suing for peace.” The ruler of Tabaristan (also known as Mazandaran) was particularly independent-minded and it was known even to the Chinese, to whose court he sent emissaries, that he refused to submit to the Arabs. Arab generals did every now and then have a go at asserting their authority over these regions, but most left with a bloody nose. In 674, for example, Masqala ibn Hubayra headed for Tabaristan with I0,000 men seeking to take charge of the land assigned to him, but when they began to ascend the steep valleys the locals rolled down rocks onto their heads, wiping out much of that army. Masqala was obliged to make peace with the people, recognizing their autonomy, in return for “payment of 500,000 dirhams, 100 shawls and 300 head (of slaves).”

Finally, on the east side, are the fertile plains of Gurgan and the steppe lands of Dihistan, sandwiched between the Caspian Sea and the Karakum Desert, where the Persian emperor Peroz met his end in ad 484. These were the preserve of the Turkish Chol (Arabic: Sul) dynasty, which had already made its home there before the Arab conquests. The region was left alone until the reign of Sulayman (715—17), who dispatched the redoubtable general Yazid ibn al-Muhallab to seek its submission. He besieged the incumbent monarch for several months, but was not able to obtain his surrender and agreed to leave on condition of payment of tribute. As soon as he had gone, the locals threw off their allegiance and killed the agent of the government who had been left behind. This provoked a furious reaction from Yazid, who fought them for months until they finally surrendered, and this time “he gibbeted their warriors” and, in fulfillment of an earlier threat, he made bread from their blood and ate it. Thus this country reluctantly became part of the Arab Empire, though like the other Caspian provinces it retained its distinctiveness and detachedness from the central government for many centuries to come. II

The Northeast Frontier

The eastern frontier of Iran effectively fell into a northern sector and a southern sector, which lay on either side of the imposing Hindu Kush mountain range. The northern sector was dominated by the upper reaches of the Oxus and Jaxartes Rivers, and was bounded to the west by the Karakum desert and to the north by the Kizilkum desert. It was a world divided into numerous micro-regions by these mountains, rivers, and deserts, and this topographical diversity was matched by political diversity, with a bewildering array of princes and lords ruling over discrete locales. The most important principalities were Tukharistan (ancient Bactria), centered around Balkh in the very north of modern Afghanistan, and Sogdia, which comprised the cities that were strung out along the Zarafshan River, together with their agricultural hinterlands, in particular Bukhara and Samarkand in modern Uzbekistan. This northern sector was much richer than its southern counterpart, especially Sogdia, the inhabitants of which had managed to establish themselves in the pre-Islamic period as the chief middlemen in the overland trade between China, Iran, and Byzantium. This means that it is also better documented than its southern counterpart, both attracting more attention from the world powers, especially China, and even providing us with some local sources in the native languages of Bactrian and Sogdian. These help to bring out the diversity of this land, for whereas Muslim authors tended only to see infidels, contemporary texts make clear that Islam had to jostle for position with Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Manichaeism, and Christianity for a good while. And where Muslim authors tended to label everyone as Turks or Persians, other texts can help to bring out the rich tapestry of local identities that existed in this region.

The Chinese pilgrim xuanzang traveled through this region in the early seventh century and he reveals something of this complex mosaic. The country was divided, he tells us, into twenty-seven states, each with separate chiefs but all subject to the Turks. He had arrived shortly before the empire of the western Turks disintegrated under pressure from a resurgent China. Nevertheless, their khagan (leader) still seemed an impressive figure to xuanzang, who paid him a visit in the year 629-30 in the vicinity of Lake Issykul, in modern Kyrgyzstan: “He was surrounded by about two hundred high-ranking companions (tarkhans), all clothed in brocade, with their hair braided. On the right and the left he was attended by troops clad in furs and fine-spun hair garments, carrying lances, bows and standards, and mounted on camels and horses.” They sat in “a pavilion adorned with golden flower ornaments which blinded the eye with their glitter.” The officers, kitted out in resplendent garments of embroidered silk, had spread out mats and all the while the khagan’s bodyguard stood behind in readiness. Food, wine, and conversation followed, and the pilgrim was sent off with warm regards and commendations, bearing gifts of red satin vestments and fifty pieces of silk. I2 But not long afterward this khagan was killed in a revolt against his authority and the regime he headed faltered, its last leader dying a prisoner in China in 659. The Arabs thus arrived at a time when there was something of a power vacuum at the top. The Chinese emperor Gaozong (650-83) claimed the area formerly overseen by the Turks, since he regarded the latter as vassals of China, but in practical terms this meant little given the difficulty of the terrain and its considerable distance from the imperial heartlands. Circumstances would change at the end of the seventh century when the Turks reasserted their authority and posed a serious threat to the Arabs, but until then the latter had no option but to deal with all the myriad chiefs of this region individually, whether by force or by diplomacy.

The first Arab to tackle the subjugation of this northern sector was 'Abdallah ibn 'Amir, the energetic and capable governor of Basra (649—56, 661—64).13 He had first set about obtaining the submission of Merv and the smaller settlements of Khurasan, such as Nishapur and Sarakhs, then moved eastward into what is now western Afghanistan. Usually treaties were agreed that guaranteed life and property in return for an annual cash payment, though sometimes slaves, animals, and foodstuffs were given as well or instead; the apportionment of the tribute among the population was the responsibility of the local grandees (dihqans) and the Muslims had only to take receipt of it. An expeditionary force entered Tukharistan, in modern north Afghanistan, and agreed to terms with Balkh, a rich agricultural oasis and a renowned center of Buddhism, but did not cross the Oxus River. Ibn 'Amir himself negotiated with the leaders beyond this watery boundary, agreeing not to go over to their side as long as they gave tribute of cattle, male and female slaves, silk, and garments. During the first Arab civil war (656—61), however, all these gains were reversed, for all of northeast Iran took the opportunity to throw off its allegiance. When Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan took charge of the whole of Persia for Mu'awiya in 670, he was able to bring some order and consistency to the Arab approach to their eastern frontier lands. He centralized the administration at Merv and settled in and around this city 50,000 families from Iraq, presumably with promises of lucrative rewards for those campaigning in this gateway to the east. This meant that there was now a local base of operations and a pool of military manpower, which made it much easier to launch sorties into Transoxania (the lands beyond the Oxus River) than before, when troops had to be drawn from faraway Basra. Subsequent governors of Khurasan took advantage of this resource to try to advance Arab control in the region. Ziyad's own son 'Ubaydallah (673-76) was “the first Arab to cross the river (Oxus) to Bukhara,” marching against and defeating the Bukhar Khuda (“the lord of Bukhara”), who ruled the wealthy emporia of Paykand and Bukhara.

At this point the local historical tradition focuses on the person of the Bukhar Khuda’s wife, referred to simply as the Khatun (“the lady”) and celebrated for her wisdom and capable management. Her husband died leaving an infant son, and so she assumed control, acting as the regent of the country for fifteen years and making deals with various Arab leaders in the best interests of her subjects. Every day, it is said, she would ride out of the fortress on a horse and, halting at the gate of the forage-sellers, she would sit on a throne while before her stood slaves, eunuchs, and nobles. Standing at a distance were “two hundred youths from the landowners and the princes ready for service, girded with gold belts and bearing swords.” As soon as she appeared, “all made obeisance to her and stood in two rows while she inquired into the affairs of state and issued orders and prohibitions.” In 676 she provided a contingent of Bukharans to support an Arab assault against that other jewel in the crown of this land, Samarkand, the capital of the Sogdians. Though the latter resisted, they quickly submitted when the Arabs, aided by a local guide, targeted “the castle in which were the sons of their kings and nobles,” fearing that all of them might be killed. The Arabs were, then, making solid, if slow, gains during Mu'awiya’s reign, but the debilitating civil war that erupted upon the death of Yazid I in 683 reversed this process and it was another two decades before they were able to recuperate their losses.

The Southeast Frontier

The core part of the southern sector of the Arabs’ eastern frontier equated roughly to the eastern and southern parts of modern Afghanistan and the northwest of modern Pakistan and comprised cities such as Zarang, Bust, Kandahar, Kabul, and Kapisa. These were difficult lands to traverse owing to the prevalence of harsh deserts and high mountains, but in the southwest the Helmand and Arghandab Rivers made agriculture possible and in the east rich seams of precious metals, especially the silver mines of Panjshir, provided a good living for its inhabitants. The Arabs established reasonable control over Zarang and its hinterland, especially in the time of the long-serving governor 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura (654—56, 661—70). This was in the west of the province of Sistan; to the east, separated from Zarang by the Margo desert, the going was much harder, especially in the Hindu Kush Mountains. Here there were a number of local rulers, such as the Rutbils in Arrukhaj (ancient Arachosia) and Zabulistan, and the Kabul Shahs and Khingals in the area of Kabul and Gandhara (around modern Peshawar in northwest Pakistan), who, as we can see from their coinage, maintained their rule and distinctive artistic and religious traditions. At the western end of the Hindu Kush was the province of Badhghis, which, with its capital Herat, was one of the last holdouts of the Hephthalites, the people that had dominated pretty much all of Central Asia in the mid-fifth to the mid-sixth century before losing out to the Turks. These various local lords were very jealous of their independence and were protected by rough terrain, and so, though they sometimes signed truces and treaties for a time, they reneged repeatedly whenever the circumstances were propitious. For example, in 654 Herat and Badhghis threw off their allegiance and ejected the agent of the Arab government, apparently acting at the instigation of a member of the noble Persian Karin family. Zarang reneged three times and in 671 successfully resisted an order from Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan to kill their Zoroastrian chief priest and extinguish their sacred fires. And upon the death of 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura the Kabul Shah rallied a force sufficiently strong to expel the Arabs from Kabul and its environs, and the Rutbil reasserted his control over Zabulistan and Arrukhaj as far as Bust. A treaty was renegotiated, but about the time of the death of the caliph Yazid I (680—83) “the people of Kabul treacherously broke the compact” once again and routed the army sent to re-impose it, and throughout the second Arab civil war the Rutbil maintained his authority by playing off the different Arab factions against one another.14