Qutayba ibn Muslim al-Bahili

Qutayba ibn Muslim al-Bahili (died 96 AH / 715 CE) was one of the greatest military commanders of the Umayyad Caliphate, the conqueror of Transoxiana (Mawarannahr) who pushed the frontiers of the Islamic empire to the borders of China and India. He served under al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, the governor of Iraq, who appointed him to lead the eastern campaigns.

He conducted a systematic, brilliant series of military campaigns over approximately a decade that brought Bukhara, Samarqand, Khwarizm, Ferghana, Shash (Tashkent), and the Sogdian territories into the Islamic domain. His campaigns are among the most geographically significant in Islamic military history, opening Central Asia to Islam — the region that would become one of the most important centers of Islamic civilization, producing scholars like al-Bukhari, al-Tirmidhi, and later Timur.

He reportedly reached as far as Kashgar on the borders of Tang China. A diplomatic encounter between Muslim and Chinese forces during his campaigns is recorded in both Chinese and Arabic sources. His military successes established Muslim hegemony over the Silk Road trade routes through Central Asia.

He was killed by his own troops after al-Hajjaj's death and the subsequent change in caliphal authority. When Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik came to power and al-Hajjaj's allies fell from favor, Qutayba ibn Muslim attempted to declare independence in Khurasan, but his soldiers refused to follow him in rebellion against the caliph and he was killed by them in 96 AH near Ferghana. His campaigns nonetheless permanently changed the religious and cultural landscape of Central Asia.