Ibn Samura participated in the Battle of Mu'tah in 629. After Khalid ibn al-Walid managed to organise the safe retreat from the abortive battle, Khalid sent Ibn Samura in advance as a messenger to Medina, capital of the nascent Muslim state, to report the battle result to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[2]
In 653-4, an army of around 6,000 Arabs was led by Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura, and seized Rukhkhaj and Zamindawar. In the shrine of Zoon in Zamindawar, it is reported that Ibn Samura "broke off a hand of the idol and plucked out the rubies which were its eyes in order to persuade the marzbān of Sīstān" that the idol was worthless. [4][5] Ibn Samura explained to the marzbān: "my intention was to show you that this idol can do neither any harm nor good."[6]Bost and Zabul submitted to the Arab invader by treaty in 656 CE.[4]
It is then recorded by Abu Labid that when the army was trying to get their hands on the spoils of war, Ibn Samura stood up and warned them by narrating a hadith he heard from Muhammad that the Prophet forbade the seizing of spoils of war before it is distributed first according to the rule of Sharia. Then those who took the booty returned what they had taken, he then distributed it among them.[7]
Upon the caliph's death, he returned to Basra, where its governor Abd Allah ibn Amir was dismissed by the new Caliph Ali. He joined Mu'awiya I after the Battle of the Camel, and was sent as one of the envoys to Hasan ibn Ali in 661. Abdallah ibn Amir was reappointed as governor in Basra by Mu'awiya, and Samura was sent along with Abd Allah ibn Khazim al-Sulami to restore Arab rule in eastern Khurasan and Sīstān. He introduced the office of ṣāḥib al-shurṭa (chief of police) to Sīstān and built a mosque in Zaranj.
Capture of Kabul (665)
Barha Tegin led the Turk Shahis and rolled back Abd al-Rahman's conquests in Afghanistan from 665 CE.
The territories Ibn Samura had conquered had to be reclaimed by force or by treaty. He launched an expedition to Arachosia and Zabulistan, recovering Bust and other cities. Kabul was occupied in 665 after a siege of a few months. Kabul soon revolted but was reoccupied after a month-long siege. He managed to convert 12,000 inhabitants of Kabul to Islam before leaving the city according to Firishta. Mu'awiya personally confirmed him as governor dependent on the caliph.[citation needed] Ibn Samura's capture and plunder of Kabul put an end to the rule of the Nezak Hun king Ghar-ilchi. The Nezak ruler was succeeded by the powerful Turk dynasty of the Turk Shahis: Barha Tegin, the first Turk Shahi ruler took the throne in 665-666 and soon recaptured the territory as far as Kandahar and Bost.[8]
After Mu'awiya deposed Ibn Samura from Sīstān in 665, he retired to Basra where the slaves he had brought from Kabul built a mosque in his house in the building style of Kabul. He died in Basra in 670.[citation needed]
^ abcHawramani, Ikram (1311). "عبد الرحمن بن سمرة بن حبيب بن ربيعة" [Abdul Rahman bin Samra bin Habib bin Rabiah]. Hawramani.com. Ikram Hawramani. Retrieved 5 December 2021. Ibn Manẓūr (d. 1311 CE) - Mukhtaṣar Tārīkh Dimashq; Brief history of Damascus
Marshak, B.I.; Negmatov, N.N. (1996). "Sogdiana". In Litvinsky, B.A.; Guang-da, Zhang; R. Shabani, Samghabadi (eds.). History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume III: The Crossroads of Civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. ISBN92-3-103211-9.
