Rabinjan Explained

Rabinjan or Arbinjan (Arabic: ربنجن، أربنجن) was a medieval town in the region of Transoxiana, between the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. It was located in the vicinity of the present-day Katta-Kurgan.[1]

Geography

The Muslim geographers described Rabinjan as a town of Sughd and a dependency of Samarkand. It was one of the settlements on the Samarkand-Bukhara road, lying between Zarman to the east and Dabusiyya to the west,[2] and was located to the south of the Sughd River.[3] Ibn Khurradadhbih described the town as being twelve farsakhs from Samarkand and twenty-seven from Bukhara;[4] Qudama, on the other hand, considered it to be thirteen farsakhs from Samarkand and twenty-four from Bukhara.[5] Al-Istakhri added that it was two farsakhs from al-Kushaniya.[6]

History

The site of Rabinjan was settled almost two thousand years ago.[7] In the pre-Islamic history of the town, it was considered as one of the settlements of Sogdiana. During this period there may have been a Christian presence in the town, as evidenced by a ceramic cast for molding crosses which was recovered from the area.[8]

During the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana, Rabinjan was subjected to attacks by the Arabs. In 699 Habib ibn al-Muhallab undertook a raid against it, but he was opposed by an army led by the lord of Bukhara and decided to withdraw.[9] It was during the campaigns of Qutayba ibn Muslim (705–715) that Rabinjan was conquered by the Muslims. In 712 the town was the scene of a skirmish between the armies of Qutayba and Ghurak, the Sogdian prince of Samarkand; the Muslims won the engagement and they were able to continue their advance to Samarkand.[10]

After its conquest, Rabinjan shared the history of Muslim Sughd, and it was ruled successively by the Umayyads, Abbasids and Samanids.[11] In the ninth and tenth centuries it was generally included by the Muslim geographers in their accounts of Transoxiana. Al-Muqaddasi, writing in the late tenth century, recorded that Rabinjan produced a number of goods, including winter shawls, dried dates, metal drinking cups, ropes made of hemp, and sulfur.[12] Other writers noted that it was also known for its saddlecloths[13] and production of tin bronze.

Following the downfall of the Samanids in the late eleventh century, Rabinjan became a possession of the western Qarakhanids. In 1158 the town was destroyed during the Khwarazm-Shah Il-Arslan's invasion of Transoxiana.[14]

References

Notes and References

  1. Barthold, p. 97; Buryakov et al, p. 43
  2. Ibn Khurradadhbih, p. 26; al-Istakhri, pp. 316, 320, 323, 334, 343; Ibn Hawqal, pp. 365, 370, 375, 398, 403; al-Muqaddasi, pp. 47, 222, 278; al-Hamadhani, p. 325
  3. Le Strange, p. 468
  4. Ibn Khurradadhbih, pp. 25-6
  5. Qudama, p. 203
  6. Al-Istakhri, p. 343
  7. Buryakov et al, p. 43
  8. Savchenko and Dickens, p. 299
  9. Al-Tabari, v. 22: p. 189; Gibb, p. 25
  10. Al-Tabari, v. 23: p. 197; Gibb, p. 45
  11. Al-Tabari, v. 24: p. 178; v. 25: p. 85; Narshakhi, pp. 80, 85
  12. Al-Muqaddasi, p. 264
  13. Al-Tabari, v. 23: p. 197
  14. Barthold, p. 97; Abu al-Fida, p. 220

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