Abiward

Abiward: a town in Khurasan. The conquest accounts report that its chief, Bahmatah, came to Ibn Amir and made peace with him for four hundred thousand. Another report, introduced with "it is said", states that Abd Allah ibn Khazim was sent to it and made peace with its people for four hundred thousand dirhams. ¹

The two reports agree on the sum and differ on the name of the commander; the matter needs an additional source.

The unsigned Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.) entry on Abiward places the town and district on the northern slopes of the mountains of Khurasan, in the region that became part of the Turkmen republic of the USSR. In ancient times it was the first line of defence of Khurasan against the nomads. Under the Sasanians it was split among small principalities, and in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries it belonged to the Ghurbani princes. Nadir Shah came from this region, and after the Russo-Persian frontier was fixed in 1885, Atak was incorporated into Russia. ²