A Buddhist scholar decodes the original language of the word Bukhari which is the second most sacred Hadith text in Islam after Quran. Bukhara in Sodgian means ‘A fortunate place’.
The finding of manuscript fragments of the Sogdian language in China’s Xinjiang region sparked the study of the Sogdian language. Robert Gauthiot, (the first Buddhist Sogdian scholar) and Paul Pelliot, (who while exploring in Dunhuang, retrieved Sogdian material) began investigating the Sogdian material that Pelliot had discovered. Gauthiot published many articles based on his work with Pelliot’s material, but died during the First World War.
I think Islam starting spreading in Xinjiang during Rashidun Caliphate.