The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

A.D. 724-43] CAMPAIGN ACROSS THE OXUS 393
son of Al-Muhallab and
;
'Asim ibn 'Abdallah, a Keisi like A. II. 105-
himself, but an enemy of his, was appointed in liis place. ^2l
Al-Juneid at the moment was dying of dropsy but Hisham Fall of
;
was so enraged at the alliance he had formed, that, aware hg^^',',.
of his condition, he bade 'y\sim, if breath still remained,
to put the dying man to torture. Death happily released
Al-Juneid from the hands of the new governor, who vented
his spleen, according to the wont of the day, on those who
had held office under his unfortunate predecessor. :\s one Rebellion of
result of this harsh treatment, a leader named Al-IIarith M^ir'th.
ibn Sureij, a Temimite, had raised the standard of revolt,
with the old Khariji cry, " To the Book of God and to the
tradition and the will of the people." He was in truth a
Murjite who put politics before theology. He possessed
himself of Balkh and all the surrounding countrx-. Then
followed by 60,000 Arabs, chiefly descended from the Azd,
Bekr and Temlm, he unwisely advanced on Merv, where,
flesertcd by many of his followers, he suffered defeat and
loss, and with the remnant was forced to recross the Oxus.
Notwithstanding, several thousand Arabs still followed his
banner, and the provinces in Central Asia, owing to the
inaction of 'Asim, remained long in
a state of open revolt.
-After a year of misgovernment and mishap, 'Asim was Asad
rleposed, and Asad again appointed to Khorasan.^ liis '^^•^PPO'n'ed,
hand was soon felt in the reduction of the country, and the 735 a.p.
defeat of .Al-Ijarith and other rebellious leaders. The
followers of Al-Harith came to a grievous end. A party
of his relatives and their dependents were by Asad's troops
captured in a fort, and sold, noble-born Arabs with the rest,
as slaves to the highest bidder in the bazaar of J^alkh. In
another fortress, 4C0 dying of thirst had to surrender at
discretion. The chiefest of these, fiftj- in number, were
beheaded. The rest were, b\' Asad's order, divided into
three lots, of which one was slain, a second had hands and
legs both cut off, while the third their hands only. Such
was the barbarity of Asad. Al-Harith himself effected his
escape; and (a thing hitherto unheard of in Islam) joined
himself to the pagan 'J'urk.
'
The appointment of Viceroy was in the yift of his brother Khalid,
.governor of Al-'IraU. Khorfisan was ininiediately under Al-'irak
thouijh sometimes administered dirert from Damascus.