al-Ahnaf's Battle in Tukharistan

وقعة الأحنف بطخارستان

Marw al-Rudh

Tukharistan massed against the Muslims — Juzjan, Talaqan, Faryab and their neighbors to thirty thousand, with the Saghaniyan from the river's east bank. Back at his castle al-Ahnaf overheard by night a man tending his fire or kneading dough: 'the move is to camp between the Marghab and the mountain — river right, mountain left — and you face no more than your own number'. He took it, five thousand Muslims — four thousand Arabs, a thousand Ajam converts — waved his banner and charged; the Saghaniyan king drove his spear at al-Ahnaf, who wrenched it from his hand and fought on, killing three drum-bearers one after another; then the rout — slaughter wherever they found them, and the foe laid down arms in safety.