in 588, a nestorian bishopric at pushang is mentioned. in the 650s, the town was captured by the invading arabs. after the abbasid revolution in 750, pushang was under the governorship by mus'ab ibn ruzaiq, an iranian companion of the abbasid general abu muslim. mus'ab's grandson tahir ibn husayn would later play an important role in the affairs of the abbasid caliphate and establish the tahirid dynasty, which would rule pushang and the rest of khorasan until 873, when the saffarid ruler ya'qub ibn al-layth al-saffar wrested khorasan from him. during the decline of the saffarid dynasty in the early 10th-century, the town was captured by the samanids. according to the 10th-century traveler ibn hawqal, the town was half the size of herat. he also states that the town was well-built, being surrounded by three gates. in 998, the town was captured by the ghaznavid ruler mahmud. after the battle of dandanaqan in 1040, the city was seized by the seljuq turks.