The Islamization Process of Transoxiana

Today, the geography a significant part of which is located within the borders of Uzbekistan, has been mentioned as Transoxiana in the sources since the 9th century. This geography is the name of a special region that gives life to science-culture and art, hosts intellectual currents. This region which has trained countless scientists who have shaped the history of Islamic thought-science and contributed to the development of Islamic civilization for centuries; is a geography with privileged features where history, culture and universal values meet. Cities such as Bukhara, Samarkand, Tirmidh, Tashkant and Fargana have hosted many religious, intellectual and philosophical schools as well as being centers of science. Very important works related to different fields, a significant part of which have survived to the present day, were also written in this geography. In the middle of the 7th century, it is assumed that the people of the region knew about Islam, albeit indirectly. The role and influence of Muslim traders, scholars and men of heart known as spiritual guides or cynical politicians, who traveled to these places before the conquest of the region by the Islamic armies, on the spread of Islam will be investigated and it is aimed to analyze the current debates in this study. It will be evaluated how the Islamization process has developed in Transoxiana from the beginning and if a periodization is made, it will be tried to determine which events, which states or which individuals' activities will be based on. It is known that the first contact of Turks with Muslims was after the Nihawant War (21/642) during the Umayyad period. If the year 644 is to be taken as a basis for the first encounter, the Islamization process was officially completed in the first century in Transoxiana. However, considering all of Turkestan, it would not be wrong to say that it was completed three centuries later. Especially in Transoxiana, cities were frequently changed hands and destroyed due to the power struggle between Muslims and the inhabitants of the region. It is certain that the stability that could not be achieved in the region for nearly a century has affected the Islamization process. However, it should be noted that although it is said that there is a slowdown in Islamization studies in certain periods, it continues without interruption. In this study, for about a century of Islamization process from the first contact will be evaluated.