Qutaibah bin Muslim

Qutaibah bin Muslim (d. 715) was an Arab Muslim general who lived during the late 7th/early 8th century. He served under the Ummayad caliphs, and made his greatest gains during the reign of al-Walid I. He was originally the governor of Khorasan. Eventually he was sent on an expedition to Transoxiana and in the process was responsible for conquering almost all of Soghdiana including the important cities of Bukhara and Samarkand. He also reached the frontiers of China and apparently he acquired paper from the Chinese bringing it to Arab civilization.

Despite his victories, he was jailed and executed after the death of Al-Walid I, by the new caliph, Suleiman. The reasoning behind this was political and likely because Suleiman saw Qutaibah as a threat or he felt that Qutaibah was among those who had tried to stop al-Walid from appointing Suleiman the next caliph. Others have speculated that it was due to Qutaibah's good relationship with Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef.