al-Ahnaf's Sulh at Qasr al-Ahnaf and Marw al-Rudh

صلح الأحنف قصر الأحنف ومرو الروذ

Al-Ahnaf went toward Tugharistan to the place called Qasr al-Ahnaf — a fortress of Marw al-Rudh whose great rustaq bears his name, 'Shaqq al-Jarradh' — besieged it, and its folk truced at three hundred thousand; his condition: 'a man of ours enters the castle, gives the adhan in it, and stays among you till I return' — accepted, and the sulh covered the whole rustaq. At Marw al-Rudh they fought hard before being forced into the fort; its marzban, of Badhan of Yemen's line or kin, wrote that Badhan's Islam summoned him to peace — truced at sixty thousand, al-Mada'ini's sources say six hundred — after al-Ahnaf's horse had already taken Rustaq Bagh with its herds.

Overview

Ibn Amir sent al-Ahnaf ibn Qays toward Tukharistan. He made peace with the people of Qasr al-Ahnaf, then with the people of Marw al-Rudh. ¹

Qasr al-Ahnaf

al-Ahnaf came to a place called Qasr al-Ahnaf, a fort in Marw al-Rudh with a large district known as the district of al-Ahnaf. He besieged its people, and they made peace with him for three hundred thousand. ¹

al-Ahnaf stipulated that a man of the Muslims should enter the fort, give the call to prayer there and stay among them until he left. They agreed, and the treaty covered the whole district. ¹

Marw al-Rudh

al-Ahnaf went to Marw al-Rudh and besieged its people. They fought him hard, but the Muslims routed them and drove them back into their fort. The marzban, who was of the line of Badhan, lord of Yemen, or a kinsman of his, wrote to al-Ahnaf that Badhan's conversion to Islam had moved him to make peace. He made peace with him for sixty thousand. ¹

The source quotes al-Mada'ini that some people said the sum was six hundred thousand. al-Ahnaf's horsemen had taken a district called Baghh and driven off its livestock, and the peace came after that. ¹

Notes

The data gives no date for the event; it needs an additional source.

al-Ahnaf's Battle in Tukharistan

Tukharistan massed against the Muslims — Juzjan, Talaqan, Faryab and their neighbors to thirty thousand, with the Saghaniyan from the river's east bank. Back at his castle al-Ahnaf overheard by night a man tending his fire or kneading dough: 'the move is to camp between the Marghab and the mountain — river right, mountain left — and you face no more than your own number'. He took it, five thousand Muslims — four thousand Arabs, a thousand Ajam converts — waved his banner and charged; the Saghaniyan king drove his spear at al-Ahnaf, who wrenched it from his hand and fought on, killing three drum-bearers one after another; then the rout — slaughter wherever they found them, and the foe laid down arms in safety.

al-Ahnaf's Sulh at Qasr al-Ahnaf and Marw al-Rudh

At a glance

Overview

Qasr al-Ahnaf

Marw al-Rudh

Notes

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Time

al-Ahnaf's Battle in Tukharistan