[CHAPTER 28 WALID BIN ABDUL MALIK (705-715 A.D./86-96 A.H.) The reign of Walid was in many ways the supreme point of Umayyad power. The main interest of the period lies in a resumption of conquest and expansion, now extended to three new areas. In Central Asia Qutaibah bin Muslim, a nominee of Hajjaj, Abdul Malik’s governor of Iraq, was the first to establish Arab power firmly in the lands beyond the Oxus, occupying Bokhara and Samarqand and achieving resounding victories. Further to the South, an Arab force occupied the Indian province of Sind. More important was the landing in Spain in the year 710 A.D., rapidly followed by the occupation of the greater part of the Iberian Peninsula.
