The Origins of the Islamic State/Part 9/Chapter 10

by Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá al-Balādhurī

CHAPTER X

Al-Baṭâʾiḥ

Al-ʿAurâʾ. I was informed by certain learned men that the Persians often discussed the future fall of their kingdom and thought that earthquakes and floods would be the sign thereof. Now, the Tigris emptied its water into Dijlat al-Baṣrah, also called al-ʿAurâʾ,^[1] by means of branching streams which drew their water from the main stream which carried the rest of the water and looked like one of those streams.

The formation of al-Baṭâʾiḥ. In the days of Ḳubâdh ibn-Fairûz,^[2] the water at the lower part of Kaskar broke through a great breach which was neglected until its waters drowned large, flourishing tracts of land. Ḳubâdh was a feeble man and cared little for the breach. But when his son Anûshirwân came to rule, he ordered that dams be made and thus the water was stopped and some of the lands flourished again.

When the year came in which the Prophet sent ʿAbdallâh ibn-Ḥudhâfah as-Sahmi to Kisra Abarwîz, which was the year 7 A. H. (others say 6), the waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates rose to a height never reached before or since, causing many great breaches. Abarwîz made special effort to stop the breaches; but the water had the better of him, turned towards al-Baṭâiʾḥ^[3] and overflowed the buildings and plants, drowning many cantons that were there. Kisra^[4] rode out in person to block the breaches; he scattered money right and left, put many workmen to death and, according to a report, crucified on certain breaches forty dam builders in one day; but all that was of no avail against the force of water.^[5]

With the advent of the Arabs into al-ʿIrâḳ, the Persians were kept too busy fighting to mind the breaches which would burst and no one would mind them; and the feudal lords [dihḳâns] failed to block them. Consequently, al-Baṭîḥah was made wider and more extensive.^[6]

ʿAbdallâh ibn-Darrâj. When Muʿâwiyah ibn-abi-Sufyân became ruler, he appointed ʿAbdallâh ibn-Darrâj, his freedman, over the kharâj of al-ʿIrâḳ. ʿAbdallâh, by cutting down the reeds and stopping the water by dams, reclaimed for his master lands in al-Baṭâʾiḥ, the income of which amounted to 5,000,000 [dirhams].

Ḥassân an-Nabaṭi. Then came Ḥassân an-Nabaṭi, the freedman of the banu-Ḍabbah, the builder of Ḥauḍ [reservoir] Ḥassân in al-Baṣrah and the one after whom Manârat [light-house] Ḥassân in al-Baṭâʾiḥ is named. Ḥassân reclaimed certain lands in al-Baṭâʾiḥ for al-Ḥajjâj in the days of al-Walîd and for Hishâm ibn-ʿAbd-al-Malik.^[7]

Al-Janb canal. Before al-Baṭâʾiḥ was formed, there was at Kaskar a canal called al-Janb, along the south bank of which ran the post-road to Maisân, Dastumaisân and al-Ahwâz. When al-Baṭâʾiḥ was formed, that part of the post-road which became a thicket was called Âjâm al-Barîd; and the other part was called Âjâm Aghmarbathi^[8] in which the great thickets lie. The canal is now seen in the al-Jâmidah [solid] lands that have recently been reclaimed and rendered fit for use.

The version of abu-Masʿûd. Abu-Masʿûd al-Kûfi from his sheikhs:—Al-Baṭâʾiḥ was formed after the "flight" of the Prophet and during the reign of Abarwîz over the Persians. Many great fissures were formed which Kisra was unable to block, thus making the rivers overflow and producing al-Baṭâʾiḥ. At the time of the Moslem wars with the Persians, the water overflowed and no one took the trouble to block the fissures. This enlarged the Baṭîḥah and made it wider. The banu-Umaiyah had reclaimed a part of the Baṭîḥah, which part was again sunk in the time of al-Ḥajjâj when new breaches appeared which al-Ḥajjâj did not care to block, trying thereby to injure the Persian feudal lords whom he suspected to be on the side of ibn-al-Ashʿath who had broken off his allegiance to al-Ḥajjâj. Ḥassân an-Nabaṭi reclaimed for Hishâm certain tracts of the Baṭîḥah land.

Abu-l-Asad. Abu-l-Asad, from whom Nahr abu-l-Asad takes its name, was one of the generals of the caliph al-Manṣûr, and one of those sent to al-Baṣrah when ʿAdballâh ibn-ʿAli resided in it. It was this abu-l-Asad who made ʿAbdallâh ibn-ʿAli enter al-Kûfah.

I was told by ʿUmar ibn-Bukair that al-Manṣûr dispatched his freedman abu-l-Asad, who pitched his camp between al-Manṣûr and the army of ʿÎsa ibn-Mûsa as al-Manṣûr was fighting against Ibrâhîm ibn-ʿAbdallâh ibn-al-Ḥasan ibn-al-Ḥasan ibn-ʿAli ibn-abi-Ṭâlib. The same abu-l-Asad dug the canal near al-Baṭîḥah which bears his name.

Others say that abu-l-Asad, reaching the mouth of the canal and finding it too narrow for the ships, widened it; and, therefore, it was named after him.

It is stated by abu-Masʿûd that in the time of the "blessed dynasty" certain breaches were formed which made al-Baṭâʾiḥ larger. Because of the water of the Euphrates, many thickets grew, of which some were reclaimed and made tillable land.

Maslamah reclaims new lands. Abu-Masʿûd from ʿAwânah:—In the days of al-Ḥajjâj, new breaches were made. Al-Ḥajjâj wrote to al-Walîd ibn-ʿAbd-al-Malik stating that he estimated that 3,000,000 dirhams would be required for blocking them. Al-Walîd thought that too much. Maslamah ibn-ʿAbd-al-Malik said to al-Walid, "I offer to pay the expenses provided thou givest me as fief the depressed tracts in which the water remains, after spending 3,000,000 dirhams, which sum shall be spent under the direct supervision of thy counsellor and trusted man, al-Ḥajjâj." Al-Walîd accepted the offer. Maslamah gained possession of lands that had many cantons close together. He dug as-Sîbain^[9] and induced the farmers and tenants to come and hold land. Thus the land flourished; and in order to secure his protection, many landowners voluntarily turned their farms over to him, and then held them from him as fief. When the "blessed dynasty" came and the possessions of the banu-Umaiyah were confiscated, all as-Sîbain was assigned as fief to Dâʾûd ibn-ʿAli ibn-ʿAbdallâh ibn-al-ʿAbbâs, from whose heirs it was bought with its rights and boundaries and was included in the crown-domains [ḍiyâʿ al-khilâfah].

Footnotes

1. The united course of the Tigris and Euphrates before they empty into the Persian Gulf. Yâḳût, vol. ii, p. 745.
2. Thaʿâlibi, pp. 586–603.
3. The great swamp in which water overflowing from the Tigris and Euphrates disappeared. Rustah, p. 94.
4. Anûshirwân; Thaʿâlibi, p. 603.
5. Masʿûdi, vol. i, p. 225.
6. Ḳudâmah, p. 240.
7. Cf. Ḳudâmah, p. 240.
8. "A Nabatean word which means the great thickets;" Ḳudâmah, p. 241.
9. The dual form of as-Sîb.