Ingliz tili I fakulteti

The Arab conquest and early Muslim expansion

I n the 7th century AD a Sogdian fertile land became a subject of keen interest of the Arabs who from 673 started to invade these lands. The Arabs called it Mawarannahr ("that which is beyond the river"). In 709-712 the Arab leader Ibn Muslim Kuteiba conquered the main centers of Mawarannhr: Samarkand, Bukhara and Khorezm. As a result, Uzbekistan and practically the whole Central Asia became a part of the Arab Caliphate under the control of the Baghdad caliphs (Omeiad Dynasty till the middle of 8th century and since 750 the Abassid dynasty). The Arab influence in the Mawarannahr became dominant. The Arabs brought Islam and forcibly converted residents of the conquered lands to this new religion. By the 10th century the entire population of Mawarannahr (the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya) adopted Islam. All attempts of local people to resist the invaders were not successful. But such major rebellions as the rebellion of Mukanna and Rafi ibn Leis forever remained in the chronicles of the liberation movements of Central Asian nations.

Central Asia successfully retained much of its Iranian characteristic, remaining an important center of culture and trade for centuries after the adoption of the new religion. Transoxiana continued to be an important political player in regional affairs, as it had been under various Persian dynasties. In fact, the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled the Arab world for five centuries beginning in 750, was established thanks in great part to assistance from Central Asian supporters in their struggle against the then-ruling Umayyad Caliphate.

During the height of the Abbasid Caliphate in the eighth and the ninth centuries, Central Asia and Transoxiana experienced a truly golden age. Bukhoro became one of the leading centers of learning, culture, and art in the Muslim world, its magnificence rivaling contemporaneous cultural centers such as Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordoba. Some of the greatest historians, scientists, and geographers in the history of Islamic culture were natives of the region.

As the Abbasid Caliphate began to weaken and local Islamic Iranian states emerged as the rulers of Iran and Central Asia, the Persian language continued its preeminent role in the region as the language of literature and government. The rulers of the eastern section of Iran and of Transoxiana were Persians. Under the Samanids and the Buyids, the rich Perso-Islamic culture of Transoxiana continued to flourish.