Part One
TRANSOXANIA AND KHURASAN
(G. A. Pugachenkova)

Part Two
SOUTHERN CENTRAL ASIA
(A. H. Dani)

Part Three
EASTERN CENTRAL ASIA
(Liu Yingsheng)

This region covers the southern and eastern parts of what is now Afghanistan, together with Pakistan and northern India. The Arabs came into this region from two different directions: the Arabian Sea route and the land route through southern Persia and Makran. The first led to a pattern of sea-coast settlements and the second eventually led to an urban system connected by new trade routes, as described by al-Birni and other early historians. Among the coastal port towns Debal (or Daybul), correctly Devlaya (Temple), is described in detail. It is generally identified with the recently excavated remains at Banbhore, 64 km south-east of modern Karachi. Later, ^cAmr, a son of Muhammad b. Qsim and deputy of the governor al-Hakam (728–37), founded the city of al-Mansura near the old site of Brahmanabad – a fortified city fully developed by the Habbri Arab amirs of Sind (861-1031). The Arabs penetrated up the Indus valley to Multan in south-western Panjab and occupied the pre-Muslim city with its citadel and its low-lying commercial and industrial settlement.

The port of Banbhore is located on the eastern bank of Gharo Creek, where the Indus debouched into the sea in the past. The Arab city stood on the ruins of the older settlement. It consisted of two main parts: the fortified city later subdivided into eastern and western sectors, and an outer, unwalled city extending over a large area on the north and east round an ancient lake. The unwalled portion included an industrial area probably answering to the shahristn (city proper) and the rabad (suburb). The city was well planned. The residential sectors were divided into blocks separated by streets and lanes. The houses of the lite were built of semi-dressed stone blocks and also of square-shaped baked bricks with lime-plastered walls and floors. The main citadel was later reduced to a smaller fortified area on the east with a great mosque, the dr al-Imr (government headquarters) and other civic buildings.

The fortification walls were built with large, heavy blocks of semi-dressed and undressed limestone set in mud mortar, and strengthened by large Semicircular bastions at regular intervals. They were supported by a solid stone revetment at the base. Later in the ^cAbbasid period, mud-bricks filled the core of the wall. So far, three gateways have been traced in the citadel. The eastern gateway overlooked the unwalled city, with a flight of steps to the lake. The other two gateways have fine dressed Stone blocks, and one of them in the south is flanked by semicircular bastions. In the middle a semicircular palatial house is discernible. The great mosque is almost square in shape, measuring 36 m x 37 m, with its outer wall of solid stone masonry. In the middle is a brick-laid open courtyard with a prayer chamber on the west and cloisters on the three other sides. The prayer chamber has no mihrb, but shows three rows of stone bases for wooden pillars. Only two gateways, one on the north and another on the east, are known. The design of the mosque is probably derived from those of early Islamic Iraq, at Kufa and Wasit, with their traditional zulla (prayer chamber), sahn (courtyard) and aiwns (chambers with arched portals and open at the front), but the mihrb is notably missing. The earliest Kufic inscription found here gives the date 109/727.

Al-Mansura is a typical example of an Arab town founded to give protection to the Muslims against surrounding foes. We also hear of the fortified town of al-Mahfuza, although this has not yet been excavated. However, it may not have been much different from the planned fortified city of al-Mansura, which is situated about 19 km south-east of Shahdadpur in modern Sangar district, Sind. The city, which had a burnt-brick fortification wall in the shape of an ovoid, had semicircular bastions, of which 245 have been exposed. Of the 4 gateways, only 2 have been excavated on the north-western and north-eastern sides of the city. The first was planned with brick-on-edge and was flanked by semicircular bastions. The city seems to have been laid out on a grid system. One main street running from north-east to south-west divided the city into two main blocks, with side streets subdividing the two blocks into sub-blocks. Out of them, the north-western block contained administrative buildings and the northern and southern blocks were industrial sectors.

The great mosque is located in the heart of the city. It is of traditional type, rectangular in plan, measuring 46 m x 76 and is composed of a covered prayer chamber and an open courtyard, flanked by 7.6 m-wide cloisters on either side. The roof was supported on wooden pillars resting on square brick bases, with 6 rows of 14 pillars. The mihrb is semicircular in plan and faces the central aisle. There was an elaborate arrangement for water supply and sewage disposal; the drains were covered and some of them had terracotta pipes.