Balkh's Sulh and al-Ahnaf's Khwarizm March

صلح بلخ ومسير الأحنف إلى خوارزم

Balkh

Al-Ahnaf took Talaqan by sulh and Faryab — or Umair ibn al-Ahmar did — then marched on Balkh, the city of the Tukhara, whose people truced at four hundred thousand, or seven hundred on the sounder report; he left Asid ibn al-Mutashammis — some say his nephew — over it, then went against Khwarizm, all beyond the river with an eastern city, could not take it, and came back to a Balkh whose sulh Asid had already levied.

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Era
The Rashidun Caliphate
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Overview

al-Ahnaf ibn Qays took Talaqan by treaty, then marched to Balkh, where its people made peace with him. He then turned toward Khwarazm but could not take it. 1

Talaqan and Fariyab

al-Ahnaf took Talaqan by treaty and also took Fariyab. The account gives another view, that Fariyab was taken by Amir ibn Ahmar. 1

The treaty of Balkh

al-Ahnaf marched to Balkh, which is the city of Tukhara. Its people made peace with him for four hundred thousand. The source gives another figure, seven hundred thousand, and describes it as the more reliable. 1

He appointed Asid ibn al-Mutashammis over Balkh; he is said to have been al-Ahnaf's nephew. 1

Khwarazm

al-Ahnaf marched to Khwarazm, could not take it, and returned to Balkh. Asid had already collected its treaty payment. 1

Notes

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Had participant
al-Ahnaf ibn Qays· Asid ibn al-Mutashammis
Occurred at
Balkh

People and things also explored

al-Ahnaf's Petition to Umar for Basra· al-Ahnaf's Sulh at Qasr al-Ahnaf and Marw al-Rudh· al-Ahnaf's Battle in Tukharistan· al-Aqra' ibn Habis Takes Juzjan· Asad ibn Abdallah's Khurasan· The Conquest of Isbahan· the conquest of Khurasan (30 AH)· The Conquest of Qumm and Qashan

Sources

  1. Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Balkh's Sulh and al-Ahnaf's Khwarizm March”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/ahnaf-balkh-khwarizm/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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al-Ahnaf's Petition to Umar for Basra

Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays came to Umar with the Basrans; Umar heard them one by one while al-Ahnaf sat silent in a corner till asked — then: 'our brothers of the garrison towns dwell between sweet waters and tangled gardens, and we in a reeking marsh whose dew never dries nor pasture grows, the briny sea eastward, the waste westward, no tillage no milk, our due reaching us like an ostrich's gullet; the weak man walks two farsakhs for sweet water and the woman miscarries her child going — lift our misery and mend our poverty or we are a people lost'. Umar joined Basra's children to the stipend and wrote Abu Musa to dig them a canal.