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N. Governor of Samarcand, Ahmad of Farghana, Yahya of Tâshkand, and Ilyis of

Herat. On the death of Niih in 192 H.=807 A.D., Ahmad succeeded to the Government of Samarcand, and on his death, 250 H.=864 A.D., his son, Nasr, succeeded, and, on the first of Ramazan in the following year, was appointed Viceroy of the newly-constituted province of Mawaranahar, or Transoxiana, by the Khalif Withic Billah.

In the revolt of Yakûb bin Laith of Sistan, Nasr, aided by his younger brother, Ismàil, recovered Bukhara, from the rebel, and in Ramazin 260 H.=873 A.D. appointed him its Governor. By this victory Nasr established his authority over all Turkistan, and in the same year received, from the Khalif Muwaffic Billah, a new patent, appointing him Viceroy of Mawaranahar, from the Jyhon or Oxus to Acsa-iBilid-i-Mashric or " The extreme cities of the East."

The two brothers after this quarrelled, and each had the Kkutba=" Friday prayer for the reigning family," read in his own name, and Ismàil further withheld the revenue of 50,000 diram due yearly from Bukhara. On this Nasr at Samarcand summoned his brothers from Farghana and Tâshkand with their troops and Turk levies, and marched against Bukhara in Raja 272 H.= winter of 885-6 A.D., but, before coming into collision, they were reconciled by Harithma, who had crossed the Oxus on the ice to the aid of Ismàil, and now persuaded them all to return to their respective Governments; a step they were the more ready to adopt on account of the severe losses they had experienced in men and cattle from t he intense cold and scarcity of supplies.

Three years later, however, the brothers again broke into hostilities, and Nasr, marching against Bukhara, was met and defeated by Ismàil at Dih Warz on Tuesday, 15th Jamddi Akkir 275 H.=888 A.D. On this occasion Nasr fell into the hands of Ismàil who, treating him with an unlooked-for deference and respect, begged his speedy return to his own Government, lest the people hearing of his disaster should rise in revolt against him. Nasr lauded his brother's magnanimity in tears, and avowing that he had expelled from his heart all feeling of animosity against him, hastened back to Samarcand, where he died four years later.

Ismàil now advanced and took possession of Samarcand, and from that as a base prosecuted a gkazât=" crescentade" on the Turk frontier. In 280 H.=893 A.D. he captured and annexed Tariz=Turkistan, a populous and wealthy frontier city that had long been frequented as a mart of exchange by Turk, Christian, Muhammadan, and Chinese merchants, and, exacting a general profession of Islam converted its great Kaliszya=" Christian Church" into a " Friday Mosque," in which he had the kkutba read in the name of the Khalif M'utasid Billah, and finally returned to Bukhara laden with a rich plunder. Whilst he was engaged in this " meritorious" war for the difflusion of Islam, Ismàil, in Mukarram 280 H., received a patent from the Khalif confirming him as Viceroy in succession 'to Nasr. Its arrival was opportune, and stimulated the Muslims to the successes above indicated, and to less successful efforts to force the creed across the passes to the eastward; in which direction the way for the Faith was prepared by the persuasive eloquence of their merchant Missionaries years before its forcible establishment at the point of the sword.

Seven years of active religious propagandism on the Turkistan frontiers had elapsed, when Ismàil, who during this period had acquired an undefined sort of authority over the States of Kishghar, was involved in the war against 'Umro Laith, whom, after a short and decisive campaign, he captured at Balkh, 288 H.=901 A.D., and two years later sent prisoner to Baghdad. For this service he received from the Khalif M'utasid Billah a fresh patent of sovereignty over the countries of Khurasan

to the frontiers of Sind and Hind, and Mawaranahar and Turkistan. Following this he prosecuted a campaign in Tabaristan, and annexing the province returned to Bukhara, 291 H.=903-4 A.D., the sovereign of an empire that extended from Ray, Cazwin, Ispahan, and Shiraz on the west to the values of the Tian-shin on the

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