Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Babak Pursued and Killed
There had arisen an and pretender named Babak in Azerbijan during the reign of Ma’mun. He perpetrated havoc in the
S.M. Imamuddin,P.160.

564
Poh, ,al and Cultural History of Islam

northern province^ -With countenance of the Armenians and Greeks Babak held sway .’ Azerbijan for twenty years, demolished many Abbasid fortresses , gtween Zanjan and Ardebil, defeated six famous, Abbasid generals ent one after another spread terror as far as Hamadan and gav, ^red a large number of followers in northern Persia. He was s^ pressed in 20/835 by Abdullah Ibn Tahir, who almost ruling ove^V.hurasan independently. Babak’s followers were defeated and he ^s himself pursued into Greek territory by the Turkish general */$hin b. Haydar Ashrusani. Beyond Ardebil he defended himself ^ two years. His strongholds were captured one by one and he wa Driven to Armenia where he was captured by the Armenian prince (id handed over to Afshin in 222/837. Afshin returned successfi, , vvith a large number of prisoners including Babak and his brother Au^ullah to Samarra. The two brothers were killed, the head of Babak ^as paraded on the streets of Samarra and sent to Khurasan and tha. ^f his brother in the streets of Baghdad. This was a great military ac^, jgvement of the Turkish soldiers.
War with the
The Gree , fimperor Theophilus (829-42) with whom Babak had entered into a,,jance finding Babak pursued by a Muslim general ravaged the lands. £ Asia Minor, northern Syria and Mesopotamia. Mu’tasim after si ijuing the rebels at home marched with a huge army in Rabi II, ^vJ/Mar. 838. Reaching Tarsus he divided his army into three column the wings commanded by Turkish generals and the centre by Uja (the Arab general while the main command was in the hands cxr Afshin. The Abbasids attacked Ammuriyah (Amorium) in Ga^. Jia whence the imperial dynasty hailed in the very heart of Asia Mi $. Theophilus and Manuel being defeated by the Saljuq archers ea Joyed for the first time by Muta’sim at Dasymon fled and the Gre )c city fell after about two months siege. It was given up to plum ,j and destruction. A large number of the Greeks were taken captiv ,$, the chief families were free on paying ransoms or killed. Accov jjng to Gibbon 200,000 persons were killed. Theophilus had s^ vight help from Venice and Muslim Spain when he had been threate^ fd by Ma’mun taking the field in person but the Caliph’s death iru jp3 had relieved him from th? impending danger. He came by sea v t,ich had been left unguarded because the Abbasids
Abu Ishaq Muhammad Al-Mu’taswi Billah 565
had neglected the fleet and Mu’tasim was forced to conclude a truce in 841 and return on the receipt of the alarming report of a military conspiracy at Baghdad. After Mu’tasim no serious offensive was taken by the Abbasids though war on this front continued throughout the 9th century. The Arab geographer Qudamah even mentions three raids every year about this time. But they were man to keep the soldiers engaged and maintain their discipline the earlier zeal of religion and conquest of non-Muslim lands had gone never to come back again.