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Ardabil: one of the possessions of Azerbaijan, according to al-Baladhuri. The Khazars withdrew to it after the battle of the Desert of Warthan, and al-Jarrah fought them four farsakhs from the side of Armenia, three days, until he and those with him were martyred, as the account reports. Its river was named the river of al-Jarrah, and a bridge was attributed to him. It is also reported that a traveller, Mussafir the butcher, came to it in disguise, and a group of the Shurat went out with him. See the killing of al-Jarrah. ¹

The Khazars

The Khazars in al-Baladhuri are the people beyond the Caucasus whose great king bears the title Khaqan; Salman ibn Rabi'a warred on them until slain at Balanjar, and they surged across the Rass in al-Jarrah's day until he met and fell fighting them near Ardabil; when their great king learned the numbers Marwan ibn Muhammad trod into his lands it filled him with dread, and he sent summoning him to Islam or war — Marwan answering 'I accept Islam', whereupon the Khaqan showed forth Islam, Marwan compounding with him confirming his kingdom, and settled a body of them between al-Samur and al-Shabiran in the Lakz plain; and Yazid ibn Asid married into their king's house at al-Mansur's command, the Khaqan's daughter bearing him a son who died while she died in her lying-in.

Ardabil

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The Khazars