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0183 Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1
Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 183 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000196
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( 121. )

N. invasion was staved off, and Faik provided for by the Government of Samarcand. Peace did not long endure, for on the death of Abiul Kasim a contested succession, and intestine broils soon led to the division of the Samani empire, or what remained of it, between the two great Tartar Chiefs of the time, between Mahmûd, the son of Subuktakin of Ghazni, and Iylik Khan, the son of Bughra Khan of Kashghar. The latter, who had extended his possessions to Khiva or Khwahrizm, now seized Bukhara, and taking prisoner Abdul Malik, the last reigning Prince of the Samanf

  • dynasty, sent him to his capital at Orgo nj, where he died.

   P.   It will be seen by the preceding sketch of the history of the Muhammadan

power during the first three centuries of its rule in Mawaranahar, that it from the very commencement, notwithstanding the opposition the Arabs here experienced, and the check the rapid progress of their arms through Persia here received, made its weight felt upon the independent States of Turkistan to the north and east ; and thus acquired a steadily growing influence, which aided, as it materially was, through the channels of trade, in after times facilitated the spread of the faith and rule over those wide regions, whence the former ultimately penetrated to, and took root in the furthest limits of the Chinese Empire ; where it has so flourished that in our own day we find it aspiring to seize the supreme control of the Government, and the sovereignty of the country, a struggle that is still proceeding at this day.

The first expedition of Kutaiba along the southern skirts of the Allah Ugh, or

Tianshan, or Tangrf Ula, or God Mountains, as they are called in Arabic, Chinese, Mongol, and English respectively, the " Celestial Mountains" of European Orientalists, up to Turfan, opened the way to Islam; and the next expedition of Nasr bin Sayyar kept it so, till, in the time of the native Samanf rule, the relations thus commenced were naturally more freely extended and improved, and presently, 260 H. = 873 A.D., led to the subjugation, of the country in the reign of Nasr, the first Prince of that dynasty, which on the decline of the Khilafat or Khalifat rose to divide the Persian soil with the Dilami.

The nature of this subjugation, however, appears to have been more nominal

than real, and, in the absence of an absolute authority, the creed made but little general progress against the quiet and resolute opposition of the Budhists and Christians ; and this even in the cities where its forcible profession was more easy of accomplishment ; whilst in the rural districts and nomad camps it found no footing whatever.

We find, indeed, that Islam was not even nominally established in the country

till nearly the last quarter of the next century, when a Prince of the hereditary ruling family of Bughra Khan at Kashghar, becoming a convert to the faith, enforced it upon his subjects at the point of the sword, in the face of a determined and protracted opposition which prevented its spread beyond the limits of his own territory and immediate authority. It was only now, on the downfall of the Samanf dynasty, that Islam, through the proselitizing zeal of the successors of that family—of Mahmûd in the direction of Hindustan, and of Iylik Khan in the direction of Turkistan—received a fresh impetus, grid was extended south, east, and north with a rapidity only equalled by the violence employed, and with an endurance not less remarkable.

   T.B.K.   The account of the first introduction of this religion into Kashghar, as given in

the Tazkira Bughra Khan, which is a history of the Islamite martyrs and saints in this country translated into Uighûr Turki from the original Persian by Shekh Attar, is an absurdly distorted figment of the preisthood built upon a foundation of fact. The eighth chapter of this book is devoted to the history of Abû Nasr Samanf, at whose hands, it is said, the Prince above alluded to was converted ; and as its style is characteristic, I here introduce a summarized version of it.

Abû Nasr Samanf was a very devout and holy man, and versed in all sorts of kingly knowledge. He was virtuous and gentle, and a strict Musalman, who never diverged from the way of the law of the Prophet. He was a merchant, and devoted all the profits of his trade to charity amongst the Musalmans, of whom he fed and