Abd Allah ibn Amir

Map of Sakastan under the Sasanians

Having secured his position in Kerman, Abd Allah sent an army under Mujashi ibn Mas'ud there. After crossing the Dasht-i Lut desert, Mujashi ibn Mas'ud reached Sakastan, but suffered a heavy defeat and was forced to retreat.[5]

One year later, Abd-Allah ibn Amir sent an army under Rabi ibn Ziyad Harithi to Sakastan. After some time, Rabi reached Zaliq, a Sakastani border town, where he forced the dehqan of the town to acknowledge Rashidun authority. He then did the same at the fortress of Karkuya, which had a famous fire temple mentioned in the Tarikh-i Sistan.[6] He then seized more land in the province. Next, he besieged the provincial capital, Zrang, and, after a heavy battle outside the city, its governor, Aparviz, surrendered. When Aparviz went to Rabi ibn Ziyad to negotiate a treaty, he saw that Rabi was using the bodies of two dead soldiers as a chair. This horrified Aparviz, who, in order to spare the inhabitants of Sakastan from the Arabs, made peace with them in return for a heavy tribute of 1 million dirhams, including 1,000 slave boys (or girls) bearing 1,000 golden vessels.[6][7] Rabi ibn Ziyad was then appointed governor of the province.[8]

The city of Estakhr was destroyed after a battle to take the city and a force of 40,000 defenders including many Sasanian nobles were killed. Abd Allah invaded the Fars province and put an end to the Persian resistance. After the Arab conquest of Pars, the Sasanian king Yazdegerd III fled to Kerman.[7]

Later, Abd Allah sent Ahnaf ibn Qais and Amr ibn Ma'adi Yakrib towards a further expansion of Arab control of the Sasanian Empire which led to the Muslim conquest of Khorasan, during which they subdued the cities of Marw al-Rudh and Balkh.[9] As winter came, Ahnaf and Amr stayed in Balkh.[9]

The Rashidun caliphate sent two contingents tasked with conquering the Sasanian province of Kerman, headed by Ibn Amir and Suhail, who reached Tabasayn. Then, they advanced towards Nishapur. Ibr Amir and Suhail quickly met opposition, with fighting against the Koch and Baloch, resulting in the death of the governor of Kerman.

In 647 AD, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari was deposed from the governorship of Basra. Uthman appointed Ibn Amir as the new Governor of Basra. Ibn Amir was twenty-five years old at that time.

During his tenure as governor in Basra, Ibn Amir changed the town from a merely transient camp to a permanent settlement, and the town gradually become a centre of commerce in Iraq. While Ibn Amir was involved in further conquests to the east, Basra gradually also started to lose her characteristic as a frontier garrison.[12]

Uthman was aiming to solve tensions in the newly-conquered Iraq caused by the sudden influx of Arab tribesmen into garrison towns such as Kufa and Basra. He did so by opening new fronts in territories he aimed to conquer. This aimed to consume and channel the tribesmen's energy towards new military expeditions. When Ibn Amir arrived at Basra, he immediately prepared for new conquests into Persia.[13][14] Ibn Amir reformed Basra in many ways, including the construction of a new irrigation canal and fixing the water supply infrastructure for the use of Hajj pilgrims passing through the area.[15]

During Uthman’s reign, the province revolted alongside other Sasanian provinces. Uthman directed Ibn Amir to crush the rebellion.

Accordingly, Ibn Amir marched his forces into Persepolis, which surrendered and agreed to pay tribute. From there, the army marched to the city of Al j bard, where he encountered little resistance. Its citizens agreed to pay tribute.

Ibn Amir then advanced to Gor. The Sasanians fought against his forces, but they were defeated and the city was captured. Peace was made which included the introduction of Jizya.[4] While the army was still in Gor, Persepolis again revolted. Ibn Amir brought his forces to back to Persepolis and laid siege on the city. After a violent battle, Ibn Amir's army was able to regain control of the city. All the Sasanian leaders guilty of instigating the revolt were captured and executed. With the fall of Persepolis, other cities in Fars also surrendered unconditionally. The Uthman-appointed governor of Pars, after analysing the situation, sent Islamic missionaries to various cities in the region to convert the people to Islam, with the hopes of avoiding future revolts.

After suppressing revolts in Fars, ibn Amir turned towards Kerman, which revolted again in 651-652 AD. He sent a force under the command of Mujasshaa ibn Musa Salmi. Kerman was soon re-conquered with little resistance.[16]

Uthman then directed Ibn Amir, who at the time was Governor of Basra, to re-conquer the province. Troops were sent to Sistan under Rabi' ibn Ziyad's command. He re-conquered the area up to what is now Zaranj in Afghanistan. Ibn Ziyad was made governor of Sistan, where he remained for some time. He then returned to Basra, whereupon the province revolted once again, this time affecting a much larger area.

Ibn Amir sent Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura to reconquer Sistan. Ibn Samura led the Muslim forces to Zaranj. Once Zaranj was captured, Ibn Samura marched into Afghanistan and conquered it as far as Kabul. After this campaign Ibn Amir set his eyes toward Khorasan.

Khorasan, a province of the Sasanian Empire, was conquered during the reign of Caliph Umar, by troops under the command of Ahnaf ibn Qais. After Caliph Umar's death, Khorasan was the subject of a series of revolts under Sasanian King Yazdegerd III. But before he could lead the Sasanians against the Muslims, he was betrayed and killed in 651. The same year Caliph Uthman ordered ibn Amir to re-conquer Khorasan. Ibn Amir marched with a large force from Basra to Khorasan to be joined by another contingent led by Said Ibn Al-Aas, who departed from Kufa together with Hudzaifah Ibn Al-Yaman, Husayn ibn Ali and Hasan ibn Ali.[17]

After capturing the main forts in Khorasan, ibn Amir sent many columns invarious directions into Khorasan in order to prevent the Sasanians from gathering into a large force.[4] The town of Bayak, in modern Afghanistan, was taken by force, with a Muslim commander falling in the battle. After Bayak, the Muslims marched towards Tabisan, which was captured with little resistance. The Muslim army captured the city of Nishapur after a long siege. The Muslim army continued capturing other towns in the Khorasan region and consolidated their position in the region. The Muslim army then marched towards Herat in Afghanistan, which surrendered to the Muslims peacefully. After gaining control of the region the Muslims marched towards the city of Merv in modern Turkmenistan. The city surrendered along with other towns in the region except for one, Sang, which was later taken by force. The campaign in Khorasan ended with the conquest of Balkh (Afghanistan) in 654.

However, a second uprising broke out again in Khorasan in the wake of the first Muslim civil war when Muawiya was appointed as Caliph replacing Ali. This revolt was centred in Herat and Balkh. Abd Allah ibn Amir was appointed once again to deal with the revolt. This time the retaliation was fierce and swift and the famous Zoroastrian temple of Nobahar was destroyed.[18]

After consolidating Muslim forces in Khorasan, Abd Allah ibn Amir crossed the Oxus River which was known to the Muslims as the Amu Darya and invaded Uzbekistan in southern Transoxiana. Details of these campaigns are little known but a greater part of southern Transoxiana submitted to the suzerainty of the Rashidun Caliphate.[4]

• Naji, A. J.; Ali, Y. N. (1981). "The Suqs of Basrah: Commercial Organization and Activity in a Medieval Islamic City". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 24 (3): 298–309. doi:10.2307/3631909. JSTOR 3631909. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
• Morony, M. (1986). "ʿARAB ii. Arab conquest of Iran". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 2. pp. 203–210.
• Marshak, B.I.; Negmatov, N.N. (1996). "Sogdiana". In B.A. Litvinsky, Zhang Guang-da and R. Shabani Samghabadi (ed.). History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume III: The Crossroads of Civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. ISBN 92-3-103211-9.
• Zarrinkub, Abd al-Husain (1975). "The Arab conquest of Iran and its aftermath". The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–57. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6.