Middle Sirderya basin from Islamic conquest to the Mongol invasion and its place in the history of İslam

The Middle Sirdarya basin is a region in Central Asia which located in the South province of present Kazakhstan. The region is also the homeland of the Turks. Throughout history, the Middle Sirdarya basin has played the role of a bridge of religion and culture between nomadic Turks in the north and settled people of Transoxania. Since Saks inhabited the region in B.C. 1000 different tribes have lived there since then. But demographic structure of the region is more homogeneous in terms of nationality than Transoxania. Although the Soghds built cities in the Middle Sirdarya basin and Jetisu in the 5th century A.D. and settled there, the majority of the people of the region were mostly tribes of Turkish origin. The beliefs such as Shamanism, Buddhism, Manichaeism and Nesturism that prevailed in the region until the 8th century, disappeared with the beginning of the spread of Islam in the region in the first quarter of the same century. The period during which the Samanids dominated Central Asia by the end of the 9th century, the Islamic religion was now fully dominant in the cities of the Middle Sirdarya basin. The process of Islamization of nomadic Turks gained momentum especially after the missionary activities of the Yasawi tariqat which emerged in the region during the Karahanids period. After living under Islamic domination for five centuries. in the first half of the XII. century the Muslims lost the region and the Middle Sirdarya basin was captured by the non-Muslim Karahıtays. However, under the rule of Karahıtays, which were tolerant of religion, Muslims lived their religious lives freely. In the last quarter of XII. and in the first quarter of the XII. centuries, the Middle Sirdarya basin came under the rule of the Khwarezmshah State. It meant that the region returned to Muslim rule again. But this joy did not last long.