The First Muslim DYNASTY

Islamic armies defeated the Sasanians in AD 642 at Nahavand (near modern Hamadan, Iran) and moved on to the Afghan area, but they were unable to hold the territory; cities submitted, only to rise in revolt, and the hastily converted returned to their old beliefs once the armies had passed. The 9th and 10th centuries witnessed the rise of numerous local Islamic dynasties. One of the earliest was the Tahirids of Khorasan, whose kingdom included Balkh and Herat; they established virtual independence from the 'Abbasid caliphate in AD 820. The Tahirids were succeeded in 867-869 by a native dynasty from Seistan, the Saffarids. Local princes in the north soon became feudatories of the powerful Samanids, who ruled from Bukhara. From 872 to 999 Bukhara, Samarkand, and Balkh enjoyed a golden age under Samanid rule.

The Ghaznavids.

In the middle of the 10th century a former Turkish slave named Alptegin seized Ghazna (Ghazni). He was succeeded by another former slave, Subüktigin, who extended the conquests to Kabul and the Indus. His son was the great Mahmud of Ghazna, who came to the throne in 998. Mahmud conquered the Punjab and Multan and carried his raids into the heart of India. The hitherto obscure town of Ghazna became a splendid city, as did the second capital at Bust (Lashkar Gah).

The Ghurids.

Mahmud's descendants continued to rule over a gradually diminishing empire until 1150, when 'Ala`-ud-Din Husayn of Ghur, a mountain-locked region in central Afghanistan, sacked Ghazna and drove the last Ghaznavid out to India. 'Ala`-ud-Din's nephew, Mu'izz-ud-Din Muhammad, known as Muhammad of Ghur, first invaded India in 1175. After his death in 1206, his general, Qutb-ud-Din Aybak, became the sultan of Delhi.

The Khwarezm-Shahs.

Shortly after Muhammad of Ghur's death, the Ghurid Empire fell apart, and Afghanistan was occupied by Sultan 'Ala` ad-Din Muhammad, the Khwarezm-Shah. The territories of the Khwarezm-Shah dynasty extended from Chinese Turkistan in the east to the borders of Iraq in the west.

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