The Arab Caliphate and the conquest of Transoxiana

In the early 7th century Islam arose on the Arabian peninsula; Muhammad (570–632) united the Arabs into one state in 630, and after his death the caliphs (“successors”) led it. The Caliphate (632–1258) subdued Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Iran and in 651 took Merv; the land up to the Amu Darya was called Khorasan and the land beyond the river Transoxiana. The first raids came in 654 and 667, and in 673 Ubaydallah ibn Ziyad entered Bukhara and collected an indemnity. The full conquest is linked with the Khorasan governor Qutayba ibn Muslim: Balkh (705), Bukhara (709), Khwarazm (711), Samarkand (712, a treaty with the Sogdian ikhshid Ghurak), then Chach and Fergana (713–715). Qutayba was killed in 715 by his own soldiers. The land belonged to the caliph and was granted as iqta, with the ushr tax taken, while the dehqons became tenants.