This article explores the religious, cultural, and intellectual landscape of the Khorasan and Transoxiana regions during the 3rd and 4th centuries AH (9th and 10th centuries CE) through the lens of classical Muslim geographical literature. Focusing on the works of prominent geographers such as Istakhri, Ibn Hawqal, and al-Maqdisi, the study investigates how these texts portray the natural, political, and spiritual boundaries of the region. Particular attention is given to the description of scientific institutions, religious pluralism, and sectarian diversity, shedding light on the vibrant scholarly and cultural atmosphere of the period. The article further evaluates the historiographical and analytical value of these sources for modern historical and geographical scholarship.

Khorasan, Transoxiana, Muslim geographical literature

al-Baghdādī, Abū Manṣūr ʽAbd al-Qāhir b. Ṭāhir b. Muḥammad. (2011). Mezhepler arasındaki farklar (E. R. Fığlalı, Trans.). TDV Yayınları. (Original work Al-Farq bayn al-firaq, ca. 429/1037)

al-Bakrī, Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. (1992). Al-Masālik wa-al-mamālik (A. P. Van Leeuwen & A. Ferre, Eds., Vols. 1-2). Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī. (Original work ca. 487/1094)

al-Balādhurī, Abī al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā b. Jābir. (1992). Kitāb Futūḥ al-Buldān (F. Sezgin, Ed.). Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften. (Original work ca. 279/892-893)

Barthold, V. V. (1981). Moğol istilasına kadar Türkistan (H. Dursun Yıldız, Trans.). Kervan Yayınları. (Original work Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion, 1900)

Heck, P. L. (2002). The construction of knowledge in Islamic civilization: Qudama b. Ja’far and his Kitab al-Kharaj wa-sina’at al-kitaba. Brill.

Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam. (1993). In V. Minorsky (Ed. & Trans.) & F. Sezgin (Ed.), Islamic Geography (Vol. 101). Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften. (Original work composed 372/982-983)

Ibn al-Faqīh al-Hamadhānī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad b. Muḥammad. (1885). Mukhtaṣar Kitāb al-Buldān (M. J. De Goeje, Ed.). Brill. (Original work ca. 300/913)

Ibn al-Nadīm, Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad b. Abī Yaʿqūb Isḥāq al-Māʿrūf. (2002). Al-Fihrist (Y. A. Ṭawīl, Ed.). Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya. (Original work ca. 385/995)

Ibn Faḍlān, Aḥmad. (1995). Seyahat nâme (R. Şeşen, Trans.). Bedir Yayınları. (Original work ca. 309-310/921-922)

Ibn Ḥawqal, Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad. (1939). Ṣūrat al-Arḍ (J. H. Kramers, Ed.). Brill. (Original work ca. 367/977)

Ibn Khurdādhbih, Abū al-Qāsim ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh. (1992). Kitāb al-Masālik wa-al-mamālik (M. J. De Goeje, Ed.). In F. Sezgin (Ed.), Islamic Geography (Vol. 39). Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften. (Original work ca. 300/912-913)

Ibn Rustah, Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad b. ʿUmar. (1992). Kitāb al-Aʿlāq al-Nafīsa (M. J. De Goeje, Ed.). In F. Sezgin (Ed.), Islamic Geography (Vol. 40). Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften. (Original work ca. 300/913)

al-Iṣṭakhrī, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad al-Fārisī. (1992). Kitāb Masālik al-Mamālik (M. J. De Goeje, Ed.). In F. Sezgin (Ed.), Islamic Geography (Vol. 34). Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften. (Original work ca. 346/957)

al-Maqdisī, Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad. (1906). Aḥsan al-Taqāsīm fī Maʿrifat al-Aqālīm (M. J. De Goeje, Ed.). Brill. (Original work ca. 375/985)

al-Masʿūdī, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn. (2002). Murūj al-Dhahab wa Maʿādin al-Jawhar (Sharīf Riḍā, Ed., Vols. 1-7). (Original work ca. 345/956)

al-Yaʿqūbī, Aḥmad b. Abī Yaʿqūb b. Wāḍiḥ al-Kātib. (1992). Kitāb al-Buldān (M. J. De Goeje, Ed.). In F. Sezgin (Ed.), Islamic Geography (Vol. 40). Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften. (Original work ca. 292/905)

Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī, Shihāb al-Dīn Abī ʿAbd Allāh. (1957). Muʿjam al-Buldān (Vols. 1-5). Dār Sādir. (Original work ca. 626/1229)