THE ROLE AND POSITION OF TRANSOXIANA IN ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION IN THE FIRST FOUR CENTURIES OF THE HIJRI

Abstract

After the death of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Islam spread beyond the Arabian Peninsula, and the Islamic Ummah included a wide range of Persian, Turkish, Syriac, Coptic, and Amazigh tribes and nations. The entry of Islam into Transoxiana began gradually in the middle of the first century of the Hijri and was established during the Samanid period with the Hanafi school of thought as its core. Transoxiana’s privileged geographical location and its cultural and civilizational background made this region the center of gravity of culture and civilization in the east of the Islamic Caliphate, opposite Cordoba, the capital of the Umayyads of Andalusia. From the early second century of the Hijri, paper, the most important spiritual document and influential in the dynamics of science and civilization, was produced in the city of Samarkand. In the third and fourth centuries of the Hijri, during the era of the Samanid government, with the efforts of learned and scholarly emirs and ministers, Transoxiana became a center for the production of science and civilization in various fields. The formation of modern bureaucracy, the translation movement, the compilation of jurisprudential and historical sources, the emergence of famous scholars in various sciences, the flourishing of libraries and scientific centers are examples of the transformation in the field of culture and civilization, and caused Transoxiana to make a significant contribution to the construction of Islamic culture and civilization. The present study attempts to explain the position of Transoxiana and the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara as an influential hub in Muslim culture and civilization with an analytical and comparative approach. To achieve the goal of this research, the question is (What role and position did Transoxiana have in the construction of Muslim culture and civilization after the adoption of Islam?) This study has been written with a historical approach based on the "descriptive-analytical" method. The research findings indicate that the Transoxiana region, under the teachings of the Islamic religion regarding science, began its role in the early second century AH with the production and publication of paper, and during the Samanid period, due to the Samanid government having learned and science-loving emirs and ministers, its cultural and civilizational activities developed increasingly, so that at the same time, Transoxiana played a role as the scientific and cultural hub of the Islamic world in the east of the Islamic Caliphate, in contrast to the Umayyad government of Andalusia in the west of the Islamic Caliphate.