War with the Khazars of Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik ۔مسلمہ بن عبد الملک کی خزر سے جنگ

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War with the Khazars of Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik

Bismillah Hir Rahman Nir Rahim

Dekhti aankhon aur suntay kanon ko Asslamoalaikum, sisters brothers friends and elders, we are describing the gripping tale of the war between Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik and the Khazars in this captivating informative video. we describing the military tactics, cultural clashes, and lasting impact of this historical event. Please be with us upto end of this informative video.

The Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people. They formed an empire called Khazaria in Russia from the 6th to 10th century CE. They came from the Western Turkic Khaganate of the Eurasian steppe, after it was conquered by Tang China.

Maslama was also the first to establish the Caliphate's presence north of the Caucasus, leading to the commencement of direct conflict with the Khazars (the Second Arab–Khazar War). Sources date the resumption of the conflict as early as 707 with a campaign by Maslama in Adharbayjan and up to Derbent (known in Arabic as Bab al-Abwab, 'Gate of Gates'). Further attacks on Derbent are reported by different sources in 708 by Muhammad ibn Marwan and the following year again by Maslama.

In 713/14, Maslama led an expedition which captured Derbent, reportedly after a resident showed him a secret underground passage. The Armenian historian ?ewond claims that the Arabs, realizing that they could not hold the fortress, razed its walls. Maslama then drove deeper into Khazar territory. The Khazar khagan confronted the Arabs at the city of Tarku but, apart from a series of single combats by champions, the two armies did not engage for several days. The imminent arrival of Khazar reinforcements under the general Alp' forced Maslama to quickly abandon his campaign and retreat to Iberia, leaving his camp with all its equipment as a ruse.

The early Muslim sources generally credit Maslama with leading the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 713, though his nephew Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Walid is also cited as the leader that year. Leadership of the sawa'if and the annual Hajj were both prestigious commands, which under the Umayyads were almost exclusively held by prominent members of the dynasty.
Siege of Constantinople

From 715 Maslama was the leading general in the plans of his brother, Caliph Sulayman, to conquer the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, as Sulayman himself was too ill to lead the campaign in person. Maslama led a huge army, which sources report to have numbered 120,000 men and 1,800 ships. In late 715, the Arab vanguard crossed the Taurus Mountains into Byzantine territory, Maslama following in spring 716 with the main army and the fleet. The Arabs' plans were aided by the recurrence of civil strife, which had plagued the Byzantines since 695; Emperor Anastasius II was overthrown by Theodosius III in 715, who was in turn opposed by the strategos of the Anatolic Theme, Leo the Isaurian. Maslama hoped to use the divisions among the Byzantines for his own benefit and initiated contacts with Leo, but the latter used the negotiations to outwit the Arab general and occupied for himself the strategic city of Amorium, which Maslama had intended to use as his winter base. As a result, Maslama marched further west, to the coastlands of the Thracesian Theme. There he spent the winter, while Leo marched against Theodosius in Constantinople, which he entered in March 717.

In early summer 717, Maslama with his army crossed from Asia into Europe over the Dardanelles, and proceeded to besiege Constantinople from land and sea. His navy, however, was soon neutralized by the use of Greek fire, and as his army was unable to overcome the city's land defences, the siege continued into the winter, which was especially severe that year, with snow covering the ground for three months. Maslama had brought along many supplies, but they either soon ran out or were lost—Arab accounts make much of Leo tricking the Arab general yet again during negotiations into handing over or destroying a significant part of his hoarded supplies[24]—and the army began to suffer from hunger and disease.

In spring, reinforcements arrived in the form of two large fleets from Egypt and Ifriqiya, but a large part of their crews, who were mostly conscripted Christians, went over to the Byzantines, and Leo's navy managed to destroy or capture the Arab fleets. The Byzantines also defeated an Arab army marching to aid the besiegers through Asia Minor, while Maslama's men had to contend with attacks by the Bulgars as well, which cost them many men. The siege had clearly failed, and the new Caliph, Umar II (r.?717–720), ordered Maslama to retreat. On 15 August 718, after thirteen months of siege, the Arabs departed.

So friends, tomorrow we will be described the Governorship in Iraq Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik, hope you will like our struggle and watch all our videos related to this historical topic, may Allah bless you. Allah Hafiz

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