Qutayba's Baykand, Bukhara and Nizak's Killing

Qutayba ibn Muslim raided Baykand in 87 AH, with Nizak with him, then took Bukhara, and killed Nizak in Tukharistan. Al-Baladhuri relates this, and al-Salabi adds that the fighting lasted so long that al-Hajjaj wrote to the provinces to pray for the army. ^{1 2}

Al-Baladhuri says that Qutayba crossed the river from Zam to Baykand, the nearest of the cities of Bukhara to the river. Its people betrayed him and called on the Soghdians for help; he fought them and besieged them, then they asked for peace, and he took it by force. ¹

Qutayba raided Tumshkat and Karminiya in 88 AH, and left his brother Bashshar ibn Muslim as his deputy over Merv. Then he raided Bukhara and took it by peace. ¹

Al-Baladhuri quotes Abu Ubayda Ma'mar ibn al-Muthanna that the people of Bukhara were wary of him, so he asked to enter it and pray two rak'as, and they let him in. He had hidden a group who entered and overwhelmed the people at the gate, and he took great booty. ¹

The source says that he struck the Soghdians, killed Nizak in Tukharistan and crucified him, and took Kush and Nasaf by peace. ¹

Al-Salabi says that Bukhara was taken three years after the regular raiding began. ²