Al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah

[1][3] Al-Jarrah remained in Khurasan until March/April 719, when he was dismissed after 17 months in office due to complaints of his mistreatment of the native converts to Islam (mawali), who, despite their conversion, were still obliged to pay the poll-tax (jizya).

In the winter of this year, 30,000 Khazars launched an invasion of Armenia and inflicted a crushing defeat on the army of the local governor Mi'laq ibn Saffar al-Bahrani at Marj al-Hijara in February/March 722.

In response, the Khazars raided south of the Caucasus, but in February 724, al-Jarrah inflicted a crushing defeat on them in a battle between the rivers Cyrus and Araxes that lasted for several days.

For all his energy, Maslamah's campaigning failed to produce the desired results: by the time of his dismissal, the Arabs had lost control of northeastern Transcaucasia and been thrust once more into the defensive, with al-Jarrah again having to defend Adharbayjan against a Khazar invasion.

Arab sources report that he reached as far as the Khazar capital, al-Bayda, on the Volga, but modern historians such as Khalid Yahya Blankinship consider this improbable.

[7][13] It is unclear whether the Khazars moved through the Darial Pass or the Caspian Gates, but they succeeded in outmanoeuvring al-Jarrah, bypassing the Arab forces and laying siege to Ardabil, the capital of Adharbayjan, where 30,000 Muslim troops and their families were gathered.

[14][15] Command passed to al-Jarrah's brother al-Hajjaj, who was unable to prevent the sacking of Ardabil, or to check Khazar raids that reached as far as south as Mosul.

[18][19] Al-Jarrah's death caused widespread lamentation in the Muslim world, particularly among the soldiers, as he had achieved a legendary status already during his lifetime: the "paradigmatic general" (Patricia Crone), he had an impressive physical presence—according to tradition, he was so tall that when he entered the Great Mosque of Damascus, his head seemed to be suspended from the lamps—and his military prowess was celebrated with the sobriquets "hero of Islam" (Baṭal al-Islām) and "Cavalier of the Syrians" (Fāris Ahl al-Shām).