# Multan Falls After a Two-Month Siege (712 CE)

URL: https://allhistories.com/pakistan/timeline/712-multan-falls-after-a-two-month-siege
Location: Multan, Punjab
Themes: Arab conquest, Sindh

After conquering Sindh, the Arab army moved north and captured Multan in 712 following a siege of about two months. Wikipedia's account of the conquest dates the fall of the city to the campaign of 711 to 713, along with Nerun, Sehwan, Aror, Brahmanabad and Alor. The city's population stayed largely non-Muslim for decades afterward. Multan was a rich prize because of its Sun Temple, which brought in large tax revenue, by some accounts up to thirty per cent of the state's income. That wealth gave the city the Arabic nickname Frontier House of Gold. The capture brought southern Punjab within the Umayyad province of Sindh, the first Islamic entity in South Asia. Control of Multan gave later Muslim rulers a base on the main route from Sindh to the Punjab. In the ninth century it became the seat of the Banu Munabbih emirs. Multan's role as a religious and commercial centre grew, and it later became known as the City of Saints. At this point in the timeline (712 CE), Arab Sindh was under the governor Muhammad bin Qasim, Umayyad commander and governor of Sindh (712 – 715 CE). Other contemporary rulers included Al-Walid I, Umayyad caliph (705 – 715 CE) and Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, Umayyad governor of Iraq (694 – 714 CE).

## Why it matters
Multan became the northern anchor of Muslim Sindh and a commercial and religious centre for the next five centuries.

Ruler at the Time: [Muhammad bin Qasim](https://allhistories.com/pakistan/rulers/muhammad-bin-qasim)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Multan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multan)
- [Wikipedia — Muslim conquest of Sindh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquest_of_Sindh)