46 chapter one
creating intrigues and stirring up intentional troubles among the
Turks;^103 for that reason Tonyuquq appealed to the Turks not to accept
the Chinese habits and manners and not to live in towns, but “to fol-
low the water and the grass”. In fact, this way he dissuaded Bilgä kha-
gan (716–734) from building up a city in the steppe aft er receiving
100 000 rolls of silk in 727 A.D. from China and feeling rich enough
to plan this event. Tonyuquq pointed out the very important fact that
the Turks, for their survival, have always relied on their fl exibility and
mobility; however, if they had a city to settle down in, they could be
defeated and lose everything in one single battle; the free nomadic life
provided them with the advantage to attack or retreat according to the
enemy’s power.^104
Th e courage and bravery showed on the battlefi eld were among the
qualities that always made an impression on the nomads. Th ey value
the strength and recognize it in the Other if demonstrated appropri-
ately (i.e., in accordance with their warrior ethos). In such cases, all
other considerations were not valid. Th at is why we could lay our trust
on at-Ṭ ̣abarî who puts the following words in the khagan’s mouth:
Indeed, when the Arabs are in a diffi cult situation, they seek death; leave
them, let them retreat [from the battlefi eld—my note, Ts. St.], do not
stand on their way since you will not be able to resist them.^105Such recognition is even more valuable with view to the fact that it was
made aft er many decades during which the Arabs undertook numer-
ous eff orts to conquer Central Asia and to introduce Islam there; they
were opposed by the joint (most oft en) armies of Sogdians and Turks
and—until the battle of Talas in 751 A.D.—the army of the Chinese
T’ang dynasty.^106 Although they were all opposed not only to the Arabs
but to Islam as well, in this case even the confessional opposition,
known for its extremes, could not hide its admiration for the Other
whose bravery was highly valued according to the Turkic warrior’s
ethos.^107 Again, the reference point for evaluating Arab bravery is the
(^103) Stebleva 1965, 108, 112.
(^104) Liu Mau-tsai 1958, 172–173; Barfi eld 1989, 149. Tamîm ibn Baḥr (see Minorsky
1978, N 1, p. 284) points to that same practice as regards the Uighur khagan who was
moving from place to place following the grass. 105
Istoriia aṭ-Ṭabarî [at-Tabarî] 1987, 223.
(^106) More details see in, Christian 1998, 307–314.
(^107) Cf. the unexpected behavior of Li Shi-min, who, though Chinese, led his armies
for he knew how important it was for the nomads to be led by their chiefs or rulers, a
concept that was quite untypical for the sedentary China; following the prescriptions