Nor was ʿOmar’s policy a true policy of conciliation, based as it was not on the maintenance of the Arab conquests but on the complete evacuation of Transoxania. His orders to that effect were of course indignantly rejected by the Arab colonists in Bukhārā and Samarqand, but together with his appointment of the feeble and ineffective ʿAbdur-Ra_h_mān b. Nuʿaym al-Qushayrī as governor, such a policy was naturally construed by the Sogdians as mere weakness, and an invitation to regain their independence. In addition to the embassies to China, to be related in the next chapter, and possibly also some negotiations with the Türgesh, Ghūrak sought to win back his capital by playing on ʿOmar’s piety. The Caliph sent envoys to the princes of Sogdiana calling on them to accept Islām, and Ghūrak, outwardly professing his adherence, sent a deputation to ʿOmar urging that as “Qutayba dealt with us treacherously and tyrannically, but God has now caused justice and equity to reign” the city should be restored to the _S_ughdians. The commonsense of the judge appointed to try the case on ʿOmar’s instructions by the governor of Samarqand, Sulaymān b. Abiʾs-Sarī (himself a mawlā), solved the problem in an eminently practical manner, and we are told that his decision, so far from being “malicious,” was satisfactory to both the Arabs and the _S_ughdians, if not perhaps to Ghūrak. Beyond the remission of kharāj, it is doubtful whether ʿOmar’s administration benefited the subject peoples in the slightest, and the reaction which followed his brief reign only aggravated the situation. Already before its close the _S_ughdians had withdrawn their allegiance[71]. Thus within six years from the death of Qutayba, much of his work was undone. He had laid the foundations on which the later rule of Islām was built, and laid them well, though his own superstructure was too flimsy to withstand the tempests of the years ahead. But the fault was not entirely, perhaps not even chiefly, the fault of the builder. He was snatched away before his work was done, even if in his latter years he tended to neglect everything else for military glory. As we shall see, there was no peace in Transoxania until other men arose, great and strong enough to adopt and carry out the best of his plans. The ruthlessness and ferocity of his conquests, however, have been much exaggerated. He was always ready to use diplomacy rather than force if it offered any hope of success, so much so that his lenience was misconstrued on occasion by both friends and foes. Only in cases of treachery and revolt his punishment came swift and terrible. That he did not hesitate to take vengeance on his private enemies is to say no more than that he was an Arab. It was not without reason that in later days the Muslims of Central Asia added Qutayba’s name to the roll of martyrs and that his tomb in Farghāna became a favourite place of pilgrimage[72].