Uzbekistan located in the basin of the Zerafshan and Kashkadarya

Sogdiana, which they called "Garden of victorious Caliph". But here they faced strong resistance. Only in 712 Sogd fell under onslaught of the army of Kuteiba ibn Muslim. Sogdian ishhid (king), Divashtich, did not submit to the conquerors and was replaced with another king, Gurek.

Divashtich had to withdraw to Penjikent, his ancestral domain, and there, 70 kilometers off the town on Mount Mug he built his unassailable castle. Ten years later Khorasan governor, emir Said al Kharashi, decided to do away with the recalcitrant king. The Arabs destructed the palace and Temple of Fire in Penjikent, broke all the statues, destroyed all mural paintings, and burnt Sogdian manuscripts. The fortress on Mount Mug was taken by storm and Divashtich himself was taken prisoner, and then was crucified on the wall of a mausoleum close to the present-day town of Aktash in Samarkand region.
The Arabs extirpated local religions and established Islam as state religion. The Sogdian language was replaced with Dari, whereas the unique Sogdian characters were replaced with Arabic script often called "eastern Latin".
Since the 10th century the word Sogd as the name of both the kingdom and a historical area fell into disuse but for the times of Temurids when it continued to be used as the name of two small districts to the west of Samarkand.