[citation needed] Ushrusana functioned as a frontier province in Central Asia, bordering the lands of Islam during the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates.

[9] Ushrusana is mentioned by Arab sources during the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana, and was at times nominally subject to the Caliphate, but it remained effectively independent.

[3] A Second dynasty is known from this period, which ruled between 720 and 894 CE, until the Principality was overtaken by the Samanid Empire: Kharabugra (720-738), Hanahara (738-800), Cavus (800-825), Haydar (al-Afshin) (825-840), Hassan (840-860), Abdallah (860-880), Sayr (880-893/894).

[citation needed] Several Umayyad governors conducted raids into the country and received tribute from its rulers, but permanent conquest was not achieved by them.

[11] After the Abbasids came to power in 750, the princes of Ushrusana made submissions to the caliphs during the reigns of al-Mahdi (r. 775–785) and Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809), but these appear to have been nominal acts[12] and the people of the region continued to resist Muslim rule.

[13] The Muslim historian Ya'qubi (died 897/8) in his Ta'rikh ("History"), recounts that the third Abbasid Caliph Al-Mahdi (ruled 775-785 CE) asked for, and apparently obtained, the submission of various Central Asian rulers, including that of the Afshīn of Usrushana.

[18] From this point on, Ushrusana was generally considered to be part of the Abbasid state, although the afshins were allowed to retain their control over the country as subjects of the caliph.