Battle of al-Junayd at al-Sha'b

وقعة الجنيد بالشعب

c. 731 CE · 113 AH

In 113 AH al-Junayd ibn Abd al-Rahman set out on a raid towards Tokharistan and halted at the river of Balkh. He sent Umara ibn Huraym towards Tokharistan with eighteen thousand men, and Ibrahim ibn Bassam al-Laythi with ten thousand in another direction. The Turks rose in force and came to Samarqand, which was held by Sura ibn al-Hurr; Sura wrote to al-Junayd, and he ordered the men to cross. Al-Mujashshir ibn Muzahim al-Sulami and Ibn Bistam al-Azdi stood before him and said: the Turks are not like others; they will not meet you in formed ranks or in a charge; you have divided your army; and the commander of Khurasan will not cross the river with fewer than fifty thousand. Write to Umara to come to you, and wait, and do not hurry. He said: then what of Sura and the Muslims with him? He crossed and camped at Kas. The Turks had filled in the wells on his route, so he asked which of the two roads to Samarqand was the better; al-Mujashshir said: take the road of the pass, which is equally distant between us and them. Al-Junayd took the pass road and spent the night at its foot, then went on with the men until he entered the defile (al-Sha'b), four farsakhs from Samarqand. Khaqan fell upon them with a great host, and the people of Sughd, Shash and Ferghana and a body of Turks advanced upon them. Khaqan charged the vanguard, and they broke back toward the army, with the Turks pursuing and coming at them from every side. The people held and fought until they were spent; swords would no longer cut, so they fought with cut wood, until both sides tired and they came to close grappling. The Azd banner passed through eighteen men, all of whom were killed, and eighty men of the Azd fell that day. Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Hawdhan, on a chestnut horse wearing armour, charged seven times and killed a man on each charge, until those on his flank feared him. The enemy's interpreter called to him: the king says, do not fight; turn to us and we will abandon our idol and worship you. He answered: I fight you only so that you abandon the worship of idols and worship God alone; and he fought until he was killed. Yazid ibn al-Mufaddal had carried a hundred camel-loads of sawiq for the Muslims; he kept asking after the men, and whenever he asked after someone he was told that he had been killed. He advanced saying 'there is no god but God' until he was killed ¹.