larged the mosque and added to it, he ordered that pebbles be strewn in the courtyard of the mosque. The overseers of the work used to oppress those who gathered the peb-bles, saying, "Bring us only this kind which we show you", choosing special samples, and asking for similar ones. By such means, they enriched themselves. Hence, the saying, "It is good to be in authority even over stones."[1] This saying, however, is, according to al-Athram, explained by abu-ʿUbaidah by the fact that al-Ḥajjâj ibn-ʿAtîk ath-Thaḳafi, or his son, had charge of cutting the pillars for the al-Baṣrah mosque from Jabal al-Ahwâz where he discovered a mine. This gave rise to the expression: "It is good to be in authority even over stones."
Abu-ʿUbaidah states that the colonization of al-Kûfah took place in the year 18.
Ziyâd took for himself in the al-Kûfah mosque a maḳṣûrah which afterwards was renewed by Khâlid ibn-ʿAbdallâh al-Ḳasri.
The version of al-Haitham. Ḥafṣ ibn-ʿUmar al-ʿUmari from al-Haitham ibn-ʿAdi aṭ-Ṭâʾi:—After having settled in al-Madâʾin, planned it out and established a mosque, the Moslems found the place too dirty and productive of pestilence. Saʿd ibn-abi-Waḳḳâṣ communicated the fact to ʿUmar who wrote back that they should move westward. Saʿd came to Kuwaifah ibn-ʿUmar, but finding the water all around it, the Moslems left it and came to the site on which al-Kûfah now stands. They hit on the ridge called Khadd al-ʿAdhrâʾ [the virgin's cheek] on which lavender, daisies, broom-plants [shîḥ and ḳaiṣûm] and poppies grew. On this site, they established themselves.
I was told by a Kufite sheikh that the region between al-Kûfah and al-Ḥîrah was known by the name of al-Milṭâṭ.
- ↑ Freytag, vol. ii, p. 917, n. 47.
