al-Ahnaf's Battle in Tukharistan

وقعة الأحنف بطخارستان

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.

Overview

The people of Tukharistan and the surrounding region gathered to fight the Muslims. al-Ahnaf ibn Qays met them with about five thousand men, and the battle ended in their defeat. ¹

Gathering of the opponents

The people of Jawzjan, Talaqan, Fariyab and those around them gathered, reaching thirty thousand. The people of Saghaniyan came to them from the eastern side of the river. ¹

The plan and the position

al-Ahnaf returned to his fort. He went out at night and heard a man lighting a fire under his cooking pot, or kneading dough, who said that the right plan was to camp between the Murghab and the mountain: the Murghab on his right and the mountain on his left, so that from the enemy he would face only as many as his own men. al-Ahnaf saw this as sound and did it. ¹

The fighting

He had five thousand Muslims with him: four thousand Arabs and a thousand Muslims of the non-Arab peoples. He raised his banner and charged. The king of Saghaniyan made for al-Ahnaf with a spear; al-Ahnaf snatched it from his hand and fought fiercely. He killed three of the drummers. ¹

The opponents were then routed, the Muslims killed a great many of them, and the rest laid down their arms wherever they wished, under safe conduct. ¹

Notes

The data names Marw al-Rudh as the place of the event and gives no date; it needs an additional source.

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

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.

al-Ahnaf's Battle in Tukharistan

At a glance

Overview

Gathering of the opponents

The plan and the position

The fighting

Notes

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Time

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