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

by Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá al-Balādhurī

CHAPTER IX

Wâṣiṭ al-ʿIrâḳ

The first cathedral mosques. ʿAbd-al-Ḥamid ibn-Wâsiʿ al-Khatli-l-Ḥâsib from al-Ḥasan ibn-Ṣâliḥ:—The first cathedral mosque^[1] built in as-Sawâd was that of al-Madâʾin built by Saʿd and his companions. It was later made larger and stronger under the supervision of Ḥudhaifah ibn-al-Yamân who died at al-Mada'in in the year 36. After that, Saʿd established the mosque of al-Kûfah and that of al-Anbâr.

Wâsiṭ built by al-Ḥajjâj. The city of Wâsiṭ was built in the year 83 or 84 by al-Ḥajjâj who also built its mosque, castle and Ḳubbat al-Khaḍrâʾ.^[2] The site of Wâsiṭ having been covered with reeds [ḳaṣab], the city acquired the name of Wâsiṭ al-Ḳaṣab. This city is equidistant from al-Ahwâz, al-Baṣrah and al-Kûfah. Ibn-al-Ḳirrîyah remarks, "He [al-Ḥajjâj] has built it but not in his town, and shall leave it but not for his son."

One of the sheikhs of Wâsiṭ from other sheikhs:—When al-Ḥajjâj completed the erection of Wâsiṭ, he wrote to ʿAbd-al-Malik ibn-Marwân, "I have built a city in a hollow of the ground [kirsh] between al-Jabal and al-Miṣrain, and called it Wâsiṭ [lying halfway between]." That is why the people of Wâsiṭ were called the Kirshîyûn.^[3] Before he erected Wâsiṭ, al-Ḥajjâj had the idea of taking up his abode in aṣ-Ṣîn of Kaskar. He, therefore, dug Nahr [canal] aṣ-Ṣîn and ordered that the workmen be chained together so that none of them might run away as a deserter. After that it occurred to him to establish Wâsiṭ^[4] which he later occupied, then he dug out an-Nîl^[5] and az-Zâbi canals. The latter was so called because it branched off from the old Zâbi. He thus reclaimed the land around these two canals and erected the city called an-Nîl^[6] and populated it. He then turned his attention to certain crown-domains which ʿAbdallâh ibn-Darrâj, a freedman of Muʿâwiyah ibn-abi-Sufyân, had reclaimed (when with al-Mughîrah ibn-Shuʿbah he had charge of the kharâj of al-Kûfah) for Muʿâwiyah. These domains included waste lands, swamps, ditches and thickets. Al-Ḥajjâj built dams^[7] in these domains; uprooted the reeds in them and added them to the domains of ʿAbd-al-Malik ibn-Marwân after populating them.

To his castle and the cathedral mosque in Wâsiṭ, al-Ḥajjâj brought doors from Zandaward,^[8] ad-Dauḳarah, Dârûsâṭ, Dair Mâsirjasân^[9] and Sharabîṭ, whose people protested, saying, "We have been guaranteed the security of our cities and possessions;" but he did not mind what they said.

Al-Mubarak. Al-Mubarak^[10] canal was dug by Khâlid ibn-ʿAbdallâh-l-Ḳasri al-Mubarak and commemorated by al-Farazdaḳ in certain verses.

Khâlid's bridge. Muḥammad ibn-Khâlid ibn-ʿAbdallâh aṭ-Ṭaḥḥân from his sheikhs:—Khâlid ibn-ʿAbdallâh al-Ḳasri wrote to Hishâm ibn-ʿAbd-al-Malik asking for permission to make an arch over the Tigris. Hishâm wrote back, "If this were possible, the Persians would have done it." Khâlid wrote again; and Hishâm answered: "If thou art sure that it is feasible, thou mayst do it." Khâlid built the arch at a great expense; but it was soon destroyed by the water. Hishâm made Khâlid pay the expenses out of his own pocket.

Al-Bazzâḳ. The canal known by the name of al-Bazzâḳ was an old one of which the Nabatean form is al-Bassâḳ, which means that which cuts the water off from what comes after it and takes it over to itself. In this canal the superfluous water from as-Sîb jungles and some water of the Euphrates gather. This name was corrupted into al-Bazzâḳ.

Al-Maimûn. As for al-Maimûn^[11] it was first dug out by Saʿîd ibn-Zaid, an agent of umm-Jaʿfar Zubaidah, daughter of Jaʿfar ibn-al-Manṣûr. The mouth of al-Maimûn was near a village called Maimûn. In the time of al-Wâthiḳ-Billah, the position of the mouth was shifted by ʿUmar ibn-Faraj ar-Rukhkhaji, but the river kept its old name al-Maimûn [the auspicious] , lest the idea of auspiciousness be dissociated from it.

I was informed by Muḥammad ibn-Khâlid that by the order of caliph al-Mahdi, Nahr aṣ-Ṣilah was dug out and the lands around it were entrusted to farmers. The income thereof was used as stipends to the inhabitants of the sacred territories of Makkah and al-Madînah [ahl al-Ḥaramain] and for other expenses there. It was stipulated on the tenants who came to those lands that they should yield two-fifths [?] of the produce, with the understanding that after holding their share for fifty years, they should yield as tax one-half of its produce. This stipulation is still in force.^[12]

Al-Amîr. As regards Nahr al-Amîr, it was ascribed to ʿÎsa ibn-ʿAli and lay in his fief.

Mashraʿat al-Fîl. We were informed by Muḥammad ibn-Khâlid that Muḥammad ibn-al-Ḳâsim presented to al-Ḥajjâj an elephant from as-Sind^[13] which was transported through al-Baṭâʾiḥ [the great swamp] on a ship and was landed at a watering place, which has since been called Mashraʿat al-Fîl^[14] or Furḍat al-Fîl.

Footnotes

1. Masjid jâmiʿ == the chief mosque of the city in which people assemble on Friday for prayer and the khuṭbah.
2. i. e., "the green dome." It was later occupied by al-Manṣûr and called Bâb adh-Dhahab. Le Strange, 31 seq.; Yâḳût, vol. i, p. 683; Yaʿḳûbi, Buldân, p. 240, and Taʾrîkh, vol. ii, p. 450; Ṭabari, vol. iii, p. 326.
3. Tâj al-ʿArûs, s. v. kirsh.
4. Ḳazwîni, pp. 320–321; Ḥauḳal, pp. 162–163.
5. Yaʿḳûbi, Buldân, p. 322.
6. Tanbîh, p. 52.
7. musannayât; Tâj al-ʿArûs, s. v. saniya; Mâwardi, p. 311.
8. Ṭabari, vol. iii, p. 321.
9. Marâṣid, vol. i, p. 439.
10. Ṭabari, vol. iii, pp. 1981, 1985.
11. Ṭabari, vol. iii, p. 1760: "Nahr Maimûn."
12. Cf. Ḳudâmah, pp. 241–242.
13. A country bordering upon India, Karmân and Sijistân; Meynard, p. 324.
14. mashraʿat == wharf; furḍat == harbor.