which they gave it up. But when al-Ḥajjâj became governor of al-ʿIrâḳ, he gathered workmen from all regions, and said to his superintendents, "Take note of what one of the diggers eats per day. If it is the weight of what he digs out, then continue the work." Thus, they spent money[1] on it until it was completed. The mountain excavated was therefore named after al-Ḥajjâj; but the canal, after Saʿd ibn-ʿAmr ibn-Ḥarâm.[2]
Nahr Maḥdûd. Al-Khaizurân, the mother of the caliphs, [umm-al-khulafâʾ] ordered that the canal known by the name of Maḥdûd be dug; and she gave it the name of ar-Raiyân.[3] Her superintendent over the work had divided it into sections, put limits for every section, and put it in charge of a group of men to dig; hence the name Maḥdûd [i. e., limited].
Nahr Shaila. As for the canal known by the name of Shaila, it is claimed by the banu-Shaila ibn-Farrukhzâdân al-Marwazi that Sâbûr [Persian king] had dug it out for their grandfather when he sent him to guard the frontier of the dominion at Nighya in the canton of al-Anbâr. According to others, however, the canal was so called after one, Shaila, who made a contract for digging the canal in the days of the caliph al-Manṣûr; the canal being old but buried, al-Manṣûr ordered that it be excavated. Before the work was brought to an end, al-Manṣûr died and the work was completed in the caliphate of al-Mahdi. According to others, al-Manṣûr ordered that a mouth [only] be dug for the canal above its old mouth; but he did not complete the work. Al-Mahdi completed it.
