After the Islamic conquest Sistan became a province first of the Umayyad and then of the Abbasid Caliphates. In the 860s; the Saffarid dynasty emerged in Sistan and proceeded to conquer most of the Islamic East; until it was checked by the Samanids in 900.

After the Samanids took the province from the Saffarids; it briefly returned to Abbasid control; but in 917 the governor Abu Yazid Khalid made himself independent. He was followed by a series of emirs with brief reigns until 923; when Ahmad ibn Muhammad restored Saffarid rule in Sistan. After his death in 963; Sistan was ruled by his son Khalaf ibn Ahmad until 1002; when Mahmud of Ghazni invaded Sistan; ending the Saffarid dynasty.

A year later; Sistan revolted. In response; Mahmud brought an army to suppress the revolt. Mahmud's Hindu troops sacked the mosque of Zarang massacring the Muslims inside. Pictures From History