Results of the conquest and the popular uprisings

During the conquest many oases, towns and villages were ruined, irrigation works were damaged and crops were left without water. The rulers of Bukhara, Paykand and Sogdiana paid large tribute and indemnities in return for treaties, and thousands of local young men were drafted into the caliphate’s army. In cities such as Merv, Paykand, Bukhara and Samarkand half of the houses were handed over to the Arabs and the Iranians who came with them. The kharaj (one third of the harvest), the ushr, the zakat (one fortieth of property) and the jizya (a head tax on those who did not accept Islam) were introduced. Those who accepted Islam were at first freed from kharaj and jizya, so many rulers and nobles became Muslims to keep their privileges. Qutayba turned the temple in the centre of Bukhara into a congregational mosque; sources report that books in Sogdian script and statues were destroyed. This process took a long time, however, and Islam gradually blended with local culture.