Salm ibn Ziyad

Abū Ḥarb Salm ibn Ziyād ibn Abīhi (died late 692) was a general and statesman of the Umayyad Caliphate, who later defected to the caliphate of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr during the Second Muslim Civil War before returning to the Umayyads' ranks. Salm was appointed by Caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683) as the governor of Khurasan and Sijistan in 681. During the course of his governorship, he launched several expeditionary raids into the Central Asian regions of Transoxiana, including Samarkand, and Khwarazm. His successes and generous distribution of war booty among his Khurasani Arab troops gained him wide popularity with them, but after Yazid died, Salm was not able to maintain their loyalty to the Umayyads for long. After his troops and chosen successor, Abd Allah ibn Khazim al-Sulami, gave their allegiance to the rival caliphate of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, Salm made for Basra. There, he ultimately joined Ibn al-Zubayr's camp, but was imprisoned in Mecca by the latter nonetheless. After paying a large bribe, he was released and following Ibn al-Zubayr's death at the hands of the Umayyads in late 692, he was reappointed the governor of Khurasan. However, he died before he could resume his duties.

Life Salm was the third eldest son of Ziyad ibn Abihi, the Umayyad governor of Iraq and virtual viceroy of the eastern part of the caliphate. By the time of Ziyad's death in 673, his family maintained a strong footing in the eastern caliphate;

One of Salm's first actions upon arriving at Merv was the arrest and public condemnation of the powerful Arab chieftain Qays ibn al-Haytham al-Sulami, who had been empowered by Salm's brother Abd al-Rahman. According to historian Muhammad Abdulhayy Shaban, his arrest was an effort by Salm to gain the support of the influential chieftain Aslam ibn Zur'a al-Kilabi, who had been imprisoned and extorted by Qays, and to signal a departure of Abd al-Rahman's policy of redirecting the revenues of Khurasan to Damascus instead of among the province's troops for expeditions.

Salm scored victories and gains during his raids across the Oxus River against the Soghdian princes of Transoxiana and Samarkand in Central Asia. He is credited as the first Arab commander to encamp in territory east of the Oxus during the winter. Previously, the Arab armies, which had been crossing east of the Oxus from 671, refrained from camping there in the winter because they were unaccustomed to the severe Central Asian cold and the consequent need for heavier, warm clothing. She gave birth to one of his sons, whom they named Sughdi in honor of his birthplace, Sogdhia.

Salm also led raids into the Khwarazm.