Nezak Tarkhan

{{Short description|Nomadic ruler of Tokharistan (died c. 710)}}

File:Hephthalites. Circa 700 CE. With crowned facing head and tamgha.jpg with AH 69 (688 CE) date. In the margin: a Hephthalite countermark with crowned facing head and a late tamgha 20px. Time of Nezak Tarkhan, circa 700 CE.]]

Nezak Tarkhan (-710 CE) was a nomadic ruler of Tokharistan who led a revolt against the Arab commander Qutayba bin Muslim around 709 CE.{{cite journal |last1=ALRAM |first1=MICHAEL |title=From the Sasanians to the Huns New Numismatic Evidence from the Hindu Kush |journal=The Numismatic Chronicle |date=2014 |volume=174 |page=281 |jstor=44710198 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44710198 |issn=0078-2696}}

Nezak Tarkhan is first mentioned in 651 CE as the Hephthalite ruler of Badghis, when he allied with the marzban of Merv against the Sasanian ruler Yazdegerd III.{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K-poAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA214|title=The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History|chapter=Iran in the Early Islamic Period|author=Michael G. Morony|editor=Touraj Daryaee|page=214|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=5 September 2011|isbn=978-0-19-987575-7}} Yazdegerd III was defeated and barely escaped with his life, but he was murdered in the vicinity of Merv soon after, and the Arabs managed to capture the city of Merv the same year.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=123}}

In 659, Chinese chronicles still mentioned the "Hephtalite Tarkhans" (悒達太汗 Yida Taihan, probably related to "Nezak Tarkhan"), as some of the rulers in Tokharistan who remained theoretically subjects to the Chinese Empire, and whose main city was Huolu 活路 (modern Mazār-e Sherif, Afghanistan).Referencing Tangshu XLIII, B, pp. 6-9 and Chavannes, Documents, p. 69, n. 2 in {{Encyclopædia Iranica Online|last=Grenet |first=Frantz |title=NĒZAK|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nezak|year=2002}}{{cite web |last1=Theobald |first1=Ulrich |title=The Western Territories 西域 |url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/xiyu.html |website=www.chinaknowledge.de |language=en}} Yaqut al-Hamawi called Badghis "the headquarters of the Hephthalites" ({{Transliteration|ar|dār mamlakat al-Hayāṭela}}).

Thâbit and Hurayth ibn Qutba, who were brothers and leaders of the merchant community of Merv, allied with Arab rebel and ruler of Termez, Musa ibn Abd Allah ibn Khazim, who was the son of the Zubayrid governor of Khurasan Abd Allah ibn Khazim al-Sulami, against the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate. This alliance expanded to include Nezak, as well as the Hepthalite princes of Transoxiania and Tukharistan. They rebelled and Musa drove out the Umayyads from Transoxiania. While Musa's allies suggested to him to conquer all of Khorasan, his Arab allies told him to only take over Transoxiana, which he achieved.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=132}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2007|pp=243–254}} The Umayyad forces under Yazid ibn al-Muhallab however defeated this alliance, defeating Nezak in Badghis in 703 and capturing Termez from Musa in 704.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=132}}{{Encyclopædia Iranica | volume = 3 | fascicle = 4 | pages =370-372 |last=Bosworth |first=C.E. |title=BĀḎḠĪS |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/badgis-region}}

Nezak Tarkhan, the ruler of the Hephthalites of Badghis, led a new revolt in 709 with the support of other principalities as well as his nominal ruler, the Yabghu of Tokharistan. In 710, the Umayyad general Qutaiba ibn Muslim was able to re-establish Muslim control over Tokharistan and captured Nizak Tarkhan, who was executed on the orders of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, despite promises of pardon, while the Yabghu was exiled to Damascus and kept there as a hostage.{{sfn|Gibb|1923|pp=36–38}}{{sfn|Shaban|1970|pp=66–67}}{{cite journal |last1=Esin |first1=E. |title=Tarkhan Nīzak or Tarkhan Tirek? An Enquiry concerning the Prince of Badhghīs Who in A. H. 91/A. D. 709-710 Opposed the 'Omayyad Conquest of Central Asia |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |date=1977 |volume=97 |issue=3 |page=330 |doi=10.2307/600737 |jstor=600737 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/600737 |issn=0003-0279|url-access=subscription }}

According to some authors, he may have been of Nezak descent and "Nezak Tarkhan" was a title of multiple rulers encountered by the Muslims rather than a personal name.{{cite book|title=From Persepolis to the Punjab: Exploring Ancient Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan|author1=Elizabeth Errington|author2=Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis|page=100|publisher=British Museum Press|year=2007}}