made a descent upon it with a strong host. The city was built with bricks, one placed on top of the other, without mortar intervening and which were damaged by the snow. The ʿâmil with all those in the city took to flight, and the enemy entered it, putting its mosque to flames, destroying the city and carrying away the movable possessions of the people. When ar-Rashîd became caliph, he rebuilt it.
I was informed by one from Manbij that ar-Rashîd wrote to Muḥammad ibn-Ibrâhîm confirming him in the work he was doing. Thus the erection of the city of al-Ḥadath and its peopling were carried out by him on behalf of ar-Rashîd. Later, Muḥammad was dismissed by ar-Rashîd.
Rahwat Mâlik. In the year 46, Mâlik ibn-ʿAbdallah al-Khathʿami, nicknamed Mâlik aṣ-Ṣawâʾif [summer expeditions] and who was a Palestinian, made an expedition to the Byzantine territory and returned with great booty. On his way back he stopped at a place called ar-Rahwat, fifteen miles from Darb al-Ḥadath. There he spent three days during which he sold the booty and divided its shares. Therefore the place was called Rahwat Mâlik.
Marj ʿAbd-al-Wâḥid. Marj ʿAbd-al-Wâḥid was a pasture-land devoted to the exclusive use of the Moslem cavalry, which after the erection of al-Ḥadath and Zibaṭrah was of no more use and therefore was changed into a sown land.
Zibaṭrah. Zibaṭrah was an old Greek fort that was reduced together with the old Ḥadath[1] fort by Ḥabîb ibn-Maslamah-l-Fihri. The fort stood until it was destroyed by the Greeks in the days of al-Walîd ibn-Yazîd. It was then rebuilt, but not so strongly, therefore the Greeks made another attack on it at the time of the insurrection of Mar-
- ↑ Caetani. vol. iv, p. 60, note 1.
