INFORMATION TO USERS
This dissertation was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted.
The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction.
1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity.
2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a large round black mark, it is an indication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during exposure and thus cause a blurred image. You will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame.
3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., was part of the material being photographed the photographer followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at the upper left hand comer of a large sheet and to continue photoing from left to right in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary, sectioning is continued again — beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete.
4. The majority of users indicate that the textual content is of greatest value, however, a somewhat higher quality reproduction could be made from "photographs" if essential to the understanding of the dissertation. Silver prints of "photographs" may be ordered at additional charge by writing the Order Department, giving the catalog number, title, author and specific pages you wish reproduced.
University Microfilms
300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
A Xerox Education Company
with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BIDDLE, David White, 1942- THE DEVELOFMENT OF THE BUREAUCRACY OF THE ISLAMIC EMPIRE DURING THE LATE UMAYYAD AND EARLY ABBASID PERIOD.
The University of Texas at Austin, Ph.D., 1972 History, medieval
University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUREAUCRACY OF THE ISLAMIC
EMPIRE DURING THE LATE UMAYYAD AND
EARLY ABBASID PERIOD
by
DAVID WHITE BIDDLE
DISSERTATION
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
AUGUST 1972
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUREAUCRACY OF THE ISLAMIC
EMPIRE DURING THE LATE UMAYYAD AND
EARLY ABBASID PERIOD
APPROVED BY SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE:
jUU
*\ C i v C x ^A.cp/V. tvvA_ '
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PLEASE NOTE:
Some pages may have
indistinct print.
Filmed as received.
University Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENT S
I would like to thank the Middle East Center at the
University of Texas for providing the financial support that
enabled me to undertake this study. I wouid also like to
thank Professors Bernard Lewis of the University of London
who directed this work in its early stages, and Archibald
Lewis whose support enabled me to complete it.
May 1972
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUREAUCRACY OF THE ISLAMIC
EMPIRE DURING THE LATE UMAYYAD AND
EARLY ABBASID PERIOD
Publication No. ____
David White Biddle, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 1972
Supervising Professor: Archibald Lewis
During the conquest and early settlement of Irak, the
men who led the Muslim armies and served as governors in the
Muslim settlements were initially from the generation of
leaders who had known the Prophet. As the settlements grew
these men came to be replaced by others who had links to the
tribal groups settled in Irak. Many men from the tribe of
Thaklf served as governors and other officials in Irak and
had particularly close relations with the Umayyad rulers. c — Under the Abbasids the men who governed Irak and
the Empire were drawn from three groups: the descendants c c — of the members of the Da wa ; members of the Abbasid
family; and the men of Khorasan. c — Following the Abbasid Revolution there was an in
crease in the number of men described as Mawall who held
high positions in the empire. This was not the result of a
growth in the power of the Mawall class, but the result of
iv
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. c — — the development by the Abbasid rulers of a system of Wala'
that linked men of all classes who served as administrative
and military officials to the Caliphs by ties of personal
loyalty.
In the Bureaux of the Islamic Empire the change
Q _ from the Umayyad to the Abbasid regime was marked. In the
Umayyad period the men who held posts that required learned
skills were not permitted to hold power in the political c — sphere, while during the Abbasid period men in posts that
required learned skills came to held power in the political
sphere.
v
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABBREVIATIONS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTERS
Military Commanders and Governors During the Early Caliphate and the Umayyad Period
Military Commanders and Governors in Irak During the cAbbasid Caliphate, 132-193 A.H.
The Administrative Cadres of the Islamic Empire
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
vi
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABBREVIATIONS
/ AIEO Annales de I'Institut des Etudes Orientales
AION Annali dell* Istituto Universitario Orientale Napoli
AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures / ' AO Archiv Orientalni
AUTF Ankara Universitesi Dil ve Tarih-Cografaya Fakultesi Dergisi
BAL Baladhuri Ansib Al Ashraf
BCA Bulletin of the College of Arts (3aghdad University) / BEO Bulletin d'Etudes Orientales de I'Institut Francais de Damas / BIFAO Bulletin de I'Institut Francais d'Archeologie Orientale du Caire
BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and Africa Studies
EHR Economic History Review
HJ Historia Judaica
I .A. Tarlkh Medinat Dimashk
I .°ASAKIR T arf ,vh Me din at Dimashk
IC Islamic Culture
ICO International Congress of Orientalists, Proceedings
I .HAB Ibh Habib Kitab al Munabbar
I.K. Ibn Khayyat Kitab al tarlkh
I .SA°D Ibn SaCd Kitab al tabakat
JA Journal Asiatiqut.
JAH Jahshiyarl Kitab al Wuzara
vii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. JAHA Journal of the American Historical Association
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JASB Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal
JESHO Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient
JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
JWH Journal of World History ' / MFOB Melanges de la Faculte Orientale de l'Universite St. Joseph de Beyrouth
MMII Majailat al-MajmaC al-CIlmI al-°lraql
MSOS Mitteilungen des Seminars fur Orientalische Sprachen
MW Muslim World
OLZ Orientalistische Literaturzeitung
RAAD Revue de I'Academie Arabe de Damas / RCEA Repertoire Chronologique d'Epigraphie Arabe
REI Revue des Etudes Islamiques
RH Revue Historique
RIMA Revue de 1'Institut des Manuscrits Arabes
RSO Rivista degli Studi Orientali
SI Studia Isi arnica
SO Studia Orientalia
TAB Tabari , Tarlkh Al Tabari
WZKM Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes
YAK Al Ya°kubl Tarlkh Al YaCkubi
viii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morganlandischen Gesellschaft
ix
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION
1
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2
This study deals primarily with the development of
the military and administrative bureacracy of the Islamic
Empire during the late Umayyad and early Abbasid period.
The first part is a discussion of the family, tribal
and personal ties of the military commanders and governors
in Iraq during the time of the conquests, the Umayyad cali
phate, and the Abbasid Caliphate. The discussion of the wala1
system, developed by the Abbasid rulers, which follows is an
attempt to explain one reason for the difference ir. status
of military commanders and governors under the Umayyad and
Abbasid regimes. The latter part of this study is devoted
to an examination of the offices of rhe Imperial Bureacracy,
the men who held these offices and the nature of their rela
tionships with each other and with the Umayyad and Abbasid
rulers.
Muslim Historiography includes many works devoted
to individual biographies. This information by itself would
not however be sufficient to undertake the type of study I
wished to make. It is only through the use of the extensive
chronicle material in conjunction with the biographical data
that I have been able to carry out this study.
The large number of offices and the long time period
which this study covers provide the background against which
the major differences between the Umayyad and Abbasid regimes
can be seen.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3
This study is part of a larger project that will
include more analysis of the conquest period and the men
involved in the elaboration of Islamic law during the
first two centuries of the Hidjra.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. MILITARY COMMANDERS AND GOVERNORS DURING THE EARLY CALIPHATE AND THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
I. Mesopotamia was conquered by the Arabs in a campaign
concluded at Nihawand, where the Sassanian armies were de
feated and the Persian leaders put to flight in 21 A.H. The
success of these Arab armies far from Arabia was facilitated
by the foundation of two Arab camp cities in Mesopotamia be
tween 16-18 A.H. The towns of Basra and Kufa were founded
to accommodate the Arab tribesmen who were fighting in
Mesopotamia and Persia.
Al-Baladhurl gives us the earliest indication of
this policy. In 19-20 A.H. the Persians gathered together a
great army of 60,000 to 100,000 men. "When cAmmar b. Yasir
communicated this news to the Caliph cUmar b. al-Khattab,
the latter was on the point of leading an expedition in
person against them, but desisted lest the Arabs (bedouin
tribes) should then prevail over Neja and other places. The
advice to let the Syrians lead the attack from Syria and the
Yemenites from al-Yemen was also discarded, lest the Greeks
should return to their former home, and the Abyssinians Q should subjugate that territory near their own. Umar
wrote to the people of Kufa that two-thirds of them should
go out to meet the Persians and one-third remain to defend
Kufa and the surrounding country. He also dispatched a
group from Basra."'*'
^ Baladhurl (Futuh), ed. De Goeje, p. 302.
4
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 5
The establishment of these new settlements in Irak
was closely linked with the military organization of the
Muslim community and this in turn was closely connected to
the tribal system. The men who served as field commanders
of different parts of the Arab army in Irak were tribal
leaders whose troops were drawn largely from their tribe and
its allies. The names of these men occur repeatedly in our
sources. Tabari gives a list of these leaders, when he
describes the separation of Khalid b. al-Walld's army into
smaller groups so that the troops could approach southern
Mesopotamia without being trapped by the Persian forces.
These men were al-Muthanna b. Haritha al-Shaibanl of Bakr
b. Wa'il, Adi b. Hatim al-Tayl of Taiy and Asim b. Amr
al-Tamimi- - of Tamim. - 2 Later these forces were joined by
Jarir b. cAbdallah al-Bajall of Bajlla with a group of his
tribesmen.2
Muthana b Haritha al-Shaibanl of Bakr b. Wa'il in
eastern Arabia, was a prominent leader during the Ridda Wars
just prior to the campaign in Irak. Muthanna appears first
in Tabari1s Annals as one of several important tribal
leaders of Bakr b. Wa'il, who supported the Muslim forces
> ■ I* ' V ^ &
2 Tabari I, pp. 2022 ff.
2 Tabari I, pp. 2183 ff.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 6
during the campaigns to subdue the tribes after the death of 4 _ the Prophet. Later, we are told, he asked Abu Bakr, the
Caliph, to place him at the head of those of his tribe
(Qawm)^ who supported him so that he could fight the g Persians. After this, when Muthanna was in Irak, Abu Bakr
placed him under the command of Khalid b. al-Walld. cAdI
b. Hatim al-Tayl was an early convert from Christianity who • • was sent by Mohammad to oversee the collection of his
tribe's tax payments to the Muslim treasury.^ His position
as leader of the Taiy was consolidated during the period of
the conquests. The Taiy were a tribe of South Arabian
origin that had migrated to the north of Arabia and had
established a relationship with the Persians and the g Byzantines beyond the frontiers of Arabia. After the fall
of Mecca (9 A.H.) to the Muslims Adi went on a mission to
Syria to explore the political situation there. He settled
^ Tabari I, p. 1971.
^ The word Qawm implies a political as well as genealogical link between the leader and his men. It might be best translated by the modern word faction. The Taj al- Arus reflects this usage in stating that a person's qawm is his shi a and his ashlra, his political and tribal affilia tion. r Tabari I, p. 2018.
; Tabari I, p. 1750. Q 1 El s.v. Taiy.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 7
— — 9 C“ m Kufa where he died during Mukhtar's revolt. Asim b.
CAmr al-Tamlml was a companion of the Prophet.^ He is first
mentioned in Tabari as the leader of Tamlm in the army that - - 11 c— Khalid b. al-Walid led to Irak. Later Asim took part in
the" conquests in Sistan and Kirman where he served as 12 governor and died about 29 A.H.
The description of the drawing up of the Muslims'
military arrangements for the battle of Nihawand, and the
appointment of commanders to succeed one another if they
were killed in battle, gives more information on the chain
of command and the changing nature of the Muslim leadership
as the first conquest ended and settlements were made in the 13 c__ newly conquered lands. First in command was al-Nu man b. c — — Amr b. Mukran al-Muzani. A companion of the Prophet, he
had participated in the Battle of the Ditch (5 A.H.)
Following the Prophet's death, he took part in the Muslim
campaign against the Arab tribes (11 A.H.). In Irak he dis
tinguished himself at the Battle of Kadisiyya, which ended
Persian rule in Mesopotamia (14 A.H.). Al-Nu man was also
9 ^ M — ^ Caskel s.v. Adi b. Hatim; Tabari index. 10 c______Ibn Ha jar al- AskalaNl, Isaba, No. 8835.
11 Tabari I, p. 2022.
^ Tabari I, p. 2830. 13 - - Baladhuri (Futuh), ed. Munajjid, p. 371.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 8
— 14 prominent m the campaign to conquer Khuzistan. He is
described as a man of some importance and of good stock.^
When the Caliph Umar asked him to go to Irak as a governor, c - 1 £ Nu.man replied that he would only go as a warrior.""'' He and
his brother led several groups of troops, at least some of
whom were from Muzayna but the composition of these forces 17 c - is not clear in our sources. Nu man was killed at the
Battle of Nihawand. Second in command was Hudhaifa b. al-
Iman, who had also been a companion of the Prophet and was 18 present at the Battle of the Ditch. His real name was
Hudhaifa b. Husail and he belonged to a sub-group of — — c 19 c Ghatafan. He was allied to Banu Abd al-Ashal. Umar
placed him in charge of the Kufans at the Battle of - 20 c - Kadisiyya. After the death of Nu man he led the Muslim
forces at Nihawand. Third in command was al-Mughlra b.
ShuCba al-Thakafi. Mughira later served as governor of the
Arab camp cities in Irak. 21 The fourth in command was
Tabari I,_p. 1467 (DitcbJ; Tabari I, pp. 1876, 1878 (Ridda); Tabari I, p. 2239 (Kadisiyya).
Tabari I, p. 2236.
Baladhurl (Futuh), ed. Munajjid, p. 372.
^ Tabari I, pp. 2455-6.
^ Tabari, p. 1467.
19 Ibn SaCd, Vol. Ill, Pt. 2, p. 17.
^ Tabari I, p. 2238. 21 See infra Chapter 2, p. 2.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 9
al-Ashcath b Kais al-Kindi, an important tribal leaders of a
group that settled in Irak early and had their own quarter 22 in the city of Basra.
The early leaders of the Muslim forces in Irak were
men drawn from the ranks of those who had known the Prophet
and fought with him. These men began to recede into the
background as the Arab tribal settlements in Irak began to
intensify the importance of the tribal affiliations of
individuals who sought to control the,:^ se<-i_±ements. It
became necessary for the gov_rnor~ in these tribally
organized communities to have a link with at least some of
the tribes under their domain. We have seen how the men
disputed to lead the Muslim forces at Nihawand were older
men, who had gained their experience lighting with the
Prophet, whose status in the community rested not on their
place in a tribe but on their association vt- th the Prophet
and his military campaigns. The lower ranking commanders
at Nihawand were men whose primary attribute was their tribal
connection, their place at the head of a tribe which formed
an important constituent of the army they were to lead and
later an important constituent of the population that
settled in the conquered territories.
Tabari I, p. 2596 ff. S.A. Al- CAli, Tanzimat. pp. 40-42, discusses the difficulty of determining when and how many members of a particular tribe settled in Basra.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Basra had been founded in 16 or 17 A.H. by cUtba b.
Ghazwan, who served as governor until his departure in 17 or
18 A.H. CUtba was one of the early converts to Islam who
had been forced to emigrate to Ethiopia from Mecca. He re
turned from exile and went to Medina where he participated
in most of the Muslim military campaigns. He was of the c 23 tribe of Muzayna and was jn ally of the Abd Shams group.
cUtba returned to the Hijaz to make the Pilgrimage shortly
after the foundation of Basra. He nominated a man from the
tribe of Sulaim to take charge of Basra in his absence but ^ c the SulaimI was absent from Basra when Utba set out, so he
designated Mughlra b. Shucba to lead the prayers and act as
governor until the other man returned. The Caliph, informed
by letter of Utba's appointment of a man from the Sulaim as
governor of Basra, was shocked and upset that a man from a
tribe that he considered no better than bedouin, should have
been appointed to such a post. When he learned that Mughira
had been appointed in the SulaimI's absence, the Caliph was
relieved and confirmed Mughlra as governor of Basra after c . 24 Utba's death during the Pilgrimage.
^ Ibn Hajar aI-CAskalani. Isaba, Vol. II, p. 9778. ?4 - - - Baladhuri, Futuh, p. 343.
10
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 11
Mughlra had adopted Islam in the lifetime of the 25 Prophet shortly before the Battle of Hudaibiya. Mughlra
was very young at the time of his appointment as governor of
Basra and was removed from his post after the Caliph was
told of his disreputable behavior with another man's wife.
The Caliph is reported to have corrupted one of the four
witnesses necessary for the conviction in an adultery case
so that Mughlra would not have to suffer the penalty of v 26 stoning, but nevertheless, he removed Mughlra from his post.
Mughlra was succeeded by Abu Musa al Ashcari as
governor of Basra. Abu Musa governed Basra from 17-29 A.H.
He was a companion of the Prophet and a man of high standing
in the community at the time of the first conquests. He
directed the conquest of Khuzistan during his tenure as
governor of Basra, leaving subalterns to take charge of the
affairs of the city while he was campaigning. Abu Musa was
chosen as an arbitrator following the Battle of Siffln be- c T q _ 27 tween All and Mo awiy.a. — — c Abu Musa was followed as governor of Basra by Abd
f* — Allah b. “Amir, a maternal cousin of the Caliph who appointed
him to the post.^ CAbd Allah b. CAmir conquered Fars and
^ Ibn Hajar al-CAskalanI, Isaba, No. 4091.
^ Baladhurl (Futuh), pp. 265, 279, 344-5. 27 Tabari, Index.
Caskel, s.v., CAbd Allah b. CAmir.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 12
advanced into Khorasan. Governor of Basra from 29-36 A.H.
and again after the death of cAlx from 41-44 A.H., he re
covered Khorasan and Sistan, which had been lost to the Arabs
during the second civil war, during his second tenure as 29 governor.
At the end of the civil war in 41 A.H. the system
of central control that had existed before the war was re-
established over the province of Khorasan. v'Abd Allah b.
CAmir returned to his post as governor of Basra with the
control of Khorasan and Sistan. He in turn placed Khorasan
under the control of Qais b. Haitham, a leader of the
qaisite clan of Tamlm, which was at that time the most
numerous of the clans of Tamlm in Khorasan. CAbd Allah b.
Amir was removed as governor of Basra in 44 A.H. because of
his inability to handle the tribal conflicts in Basra and c— among the troops from that cantonment. Mu awiya appointed a
man from Azd to do this task but he was removed after a
short term and replaced by Ziyad b. Ablhl, whom Mu awiya
recognis;ed as his half brother. Ziyad b. Abi Sufyan
governed Basra from 44-57 A.H. In 50 A.H. Kufa was added to
his mandate and the post of viceroy of Irak, with the power
to appoint governors and other officials at Basra and Kufa,
as well as governors of Sistan, Sind, Khorasan, Bahrain,
79 - Tabari I, years 29-36, 41-44 A.H. passim.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 13
Oman, Khuzistan, Fars, Kirman and cities in Persia, was 30 created. Ziyad was regarded as a Thakafi because his
mother was a slave girl from Ta'if and concubine to Abu — c— 31 — c — Sufyan, Mu awiya1s father. Ziyad's son, Ubaid Allah,
succeeded him as governor of Irak and remained in this post
until he was killed in battle, fighting the rebels who c wrested Irak from the Caliph for a decade. Ubaid Allah f 32 was also considered a member of Thaklf.
In Kufa the governorship changed hands more Q frequently than in Basra. The Caliph Umar once is reported
to have said, "What am I to do with the people of Kufa? If
I appoint a strong man over them, they attribute trans- 33 gression to him; if a weak man, they despise him." Kufa
O f) _ _ Khalifa b. Khayyat, Tarlkh, Najaf, p. 197, 216 ff. The title of viceroy of Irak is not used in the Arabic sources describing this appointmentI I am following Lammens in using this title as a convenient means of differentiating between the usual post of governor of a province or city and this post whose holder had virtually all of the eastern Empire under his control. Khalifa b. Khayyat (p. 197) describes the appointment of Ziyad under the events of 50 A..H. , — tr-5* Khalifa then goes on to name the officials uncier Ziyad in charge of Shurat, Rasa'il and his Hajib as if he were describing a smaller version of the Caliph's entourage. From this point on, all the Viceroys of Irak receive the same type of listing that includes the names of the officials in their administration. Thus Khalifa provides a tacit recognition of the status of the new position of the Viceroy of Irak. 31 1 - - -r- EI , s .v. Ziyad b. Abihi.
32 Tabari II, pp. 181, 707 ff. 33 - - - Baladhuri, p. 279, Futuh.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 14
c — — c was founded by Sa d b. Abi Wakkas in 17 or 18 A.H. Sa d con
tinued as governor at Kufa until 20 A.H., when he was removed, — c the Kufans having complained that Sa d had built himself a
mansion; put a wooden door on it; did not lead properly in
prayer and did not dispense justice equitably. Sa d is
reported to have beseeched Allah concerning the people of
Kufa, "0 God, let no ruler be satisfied with them and let 34 c them be never satisfied with a ruler." Sa d was a com
panion of the Prophet, highly regarded by the Muslim c community. He was chosen by the Caliph Umar on his death- 35 c bed to be one of the men to select his successor. Umar c also is reported to have requested that Sa d be given a
governorship again since he had not been removed because of
any wrongdoing and the Caliph did not want Sa d1s reputation
to be stained. 3^
The man who succeeded SaCd in 20 A.H. as governor of
— C “ - — c _ Kufa was Ammar b. Yasir. Ammar's father was a mawla of
Makhzum in Mecca. His family had suffered through the early
days of Mohammad's mission and were highly esteened for this. c — — Ammar's biography is in most of the Tabakat books that deal 37 with lives of the companions of the Propnet. His tenure of
^ Baladhuri, p. 278, Futuh.
33 El\ s.v. SaCd b. Abi Wakkas.
36 Tabari I, p. 2802.
3/ EI^, s .v. CAmmar b. Yasir.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 15
office at Kufa was cut short in 22 A.H., largely because of
his inability to deal with the tribes. There was no group
in Kufa which he could use as a basis for support. He was
opposed by the leaders of both Bajlla and Thakxf. The leader _ _ Q of Thakif, Jarir b. Abdallah, is quoted as describing him as c_ _ 30 politically inept (wa la alim bi siyasa). — c — Al-Mughira b. Shu ba served as governor of Kufa with
the support of his tribe Thakif from 22-23 A.H. He retired C — r only when Uthman came to power. Umar's dying wish that c — — Sa d b. Abi Wakkas be reappointed was carried out when c — c — Uthman became Caliph and Sa d governed Kufa from 24-26
Sa^d was succeeded by Walid b. cUkba, who governed
Kufa from 26-30 A.H. Tabari reports that Walid never put a - 40 t door on his house until he left Kufa. Walid was a brother
38 i- — Tabari I, p. 2677. Siyasa, is the_undertaking of an action to correct a thing (Lisan, s.v. siyasa). As it is used in this context it probably refers to cAmmar b. Yasir's unwillingness to take corrective action toward those men who opposed hiiu. Slyasa was also one of the three elements of political control; Riyasa, Siyasa, Khilafa (Tabari III, p.29).
39 Tabari I, p. 2802.
40 T - - r - Tabari I, p. 2820. Presumably this made Walid more accessible to the tribesmen, both physically and socially. As we have seen above, one of the complaints lodged against Sa d b. Abi Wakkas was that he put a wooden door on his house, undeniably a_luxury in a newly built town on the edge of the desert. Walid's doorless house was more in keeping with the spirit of the tribal frontier community.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 16
C — “** of the Caliph Uthman, who appointed him. Walid was sue- c— C— — ceeded by Sa id b. al- As, who was thrown out of Kufa by the 42 — — c — c_ tribesmen. Abu Musa al-Ash ari followed Sa id as governor _ Q _ of Kufa until the death of Uthman in 35 A.H. During the c — — Civil War, Ali used Kufa as his capital. After the death
of CAlI (41 A.H.), Mo°awiya made Mughlra b. Shucba governor
of Kufa, where he remained until his death in 48 A.H.
Mughlra was succeeded by Ziyad b. Ablhl.
The men who served as governors in Irak in the early
period were at first drawn from those men who had known the
Prophet and fought with him. Men like SaCd b. Abi Wakkas
and '“Ammar b. Yasir were acceptable to the Caliph as governors
because they were part of the group that had directed the
affairs of the community since the death of the Prophet.
They were not, however, successful as governors of Kufa be
cause of their inability to deal with the tribes effectively.
Sa d had no tribal connection that could help him at Kufa
and he seems to have attempted to put himself above the 43 c _ tribesmen by building a large house with a door. Ammar
combined the lack of a tribal connection with political — c ineptitude. Walid b. Ukba on the other hand, did not seek
^ Caskel, s .v. Walid b. CUkba. 42 - - Khalifa b. Khayyat, Tarikh, Najaf, p. 157. 43 c — Mas udi gives a brief account of the houses of the early Arab leaders in Muruj, IV, p. 253-55.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 17
to place himself above the tribesmen but left the door off — c his house. Mughira b. Shu ba was another successful governor
of Kufa because he belonged to a tribal group that was not
only closely linked with Kuraish, the ruling group, but also
had a large group of settlers in Kufa.
As the Islamic Empire grew, the community's leader
ship came to reflect the importance of the tribes in the
settlements in Irak and these towns came to be more often
governed by men who had ties with the tribesmen and some
measure of political acumen.
In the reign of Kucawiya, the administrative
structure of the Islamic Empire changed somewhat as the re
sult of the conquests that had been undertaken from Irak and
the growing size of the Islamic community there. All Irak
came to be administered by a Viceroy appointed by the
Caliph with power to appoint men to govern the cities of
Irak as well as Khuzistan, Fars, Kirman, Sistan, Sind, c — 44 Khorasan, Bahrein and Oman.
44 On the title of Viceroy, see footnote 31.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ill. Among the viceroys and governors of Irak during the
last fifty years of Umayyad rule, the most frequently en
countered nisba is that derived from Thakif, a tribe that
settled in Ta'if in Arabia before the Hidjra. The Banu • • Thakif allied with Hawazin, a northern Arab tribal group that
was powerful in the region around Ta'if. Thakif strengthened
its position in Ta'if through a series of marriages with the
Kuraish group from Mecca, particularly the Umayya branch of • Kuraish.
Bishr b. C Abd al-Duhman — of Thakif, — whose son al- C—Asi
fell at Badr fighting the Muslims, married Safiyya b. Umayya c - 4 5 al-Akbar b. Abd Shams during the Jahiliyya. Bishr's son,
cUthman married a woman from Umayya, Rihaniyya b. Abi . c. -r 46 al- Asi. — C C C — v Rabi a and Amr, sons of Wahb b. Alaj b. Abi Salama
T C of Thakif both married into the Umayyad group. Rabi a, who
was known as Abu Salt, married Umayya al-Akbar's sister 47 c Rukayya, while Amr married Umayya, a daughter of Umayya — 48 c — al-Akbar. Amr b. Wahb's son by this union, Sharik, was a
member of Thakif and also took a wife from Umayya, Khalida
^ Caskel, Table 119 & MusCab al-Zubairl, Nasab Kuraish, p. 99. 46 c______Mus ab al-Zubairi, p. 101. 47 Caskel, Tables 8, 118 & al-Zubairi, p. 98. 48 Caskel, Tables 8, 118 & al-Zubairi, p. 100.
18
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 19
b. Abu al-CAsi, his maternal first cousin. This pattern of
mother's-brother's-daughter marriage was an effective way of
allying these two groups during the pre-Islamic period and
it continued up to the time of the patriarchal Caliphate.
This type of marriage alliance has parallels at other times 49 — — c— — in other cultures. Rihaniyya b. Abu al- Asi and Khalida, c - 50 her sister, were paternal aunts of the Caliph Uthman.
49 Robertson Smith's work on Kinship and Marriage m Arabia (London, 1907) is based on the idea that the evolu tionary progression of kinship is from the reckoning of descent through the female line to the reckoning of descent through the male line. To maintain this position, Smith amassed a wealth of material. A more modern statement on kinship systems that includes a sophisticated discussion of mixed kinship systems that obviates the need for one to prove whether a particular system is matrilineal or patrilineal, is Robin Fox's Kinship and Marriage (London, 1967). His dis cussion of a mixed system among certain Australian aborigines (pp. 184-94) contains some ideas that are helpful in under standing Arabian tribal marriage alliances. The Nuer by E. Evans-Pritchard (London, 1940) contains an interesting description of the interrelations between the lineage structure and the political system (pp. 139-91) among these Sudanese tribesmen. F. Barth's Nomads of South Persia (London, 1964) includes a discussion of the mechanisms in volved in the amalgamation and disintegration of tribal groups (pp. 49-69.
^ Caskel, Tables 8, 118 & MusCab al-Zubairi,p. 98.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 20
During the patriarchal Caliphate and the Umayyad
period, a series of Thakafites held important posts in Irak. • • The background of these men and their connections with the
Umayyad Caliphs, provide some insight into the power struc
ture of the Umayyad regime and the changes it underwent in c — the period preceding the Abbasid revolt.
Al-Mughlra b. Shucba was an early important Thakafite
who adopted Islam. Al-Mughlra's standing in the Islamic com
munity was not initially the result of any close links with
Umayya. His mother was from the Banu Nasr, a small branch - - 51 of Hawazin, settled near Ta'if. He is reported to have
participated in a trading expedition to Egypt with some 52 Kuraishites during which he murdered his companions. Al-
Mughira was used by the Prophet to win the Banu Thakif to
Islam and was sent to destroy the sanctuary of al-Lat at - 53 Ta'if. Later he served as governor of Basra and Kufa. • • When Mo°awiya became Caliph, he served as governor of Kufa 54 from 41 A.H. until his death from the plague in 50 A.H.
As al-Mughlra became an important figure in the Umayyad
state, so his relations with the Umayyads were further
secured. He married a daughter of Abu Sufyan, a woman who
^ Al-Baladhurl, Ansab al-Ashraf, M.S. Reisulkuttap 598, Vol. II, p. 1211.
52 Ibid, p. 1210.
Ibn Hisham, Vol. II, pp. 538-42. 54 - - Al-Baladhuri, op. cit■, p. 1212.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 21
had been the wife of cUrwa b. MasCud, an early Thakafite 55 convert to Islam who had been martyred. Another wife of
al-Mughlra was Umm Ayyub b. CUkba b. Abi MuCait, a first o* c — 56 cousin of Mu awiya and Uthman, the Umayyad Caliphs. This
woman became the wife of Ziyad b. Abini after the death of
al-Mughlra.^7
A nephew of MuCawiya named CAbd al-Rahman b. CAbd
Allah b. °Uthman al-Thakafl governed Mosul and then Kufa in
the latter part of Mocawiya!5 Caliphate. Although he was a _ Q member of Thakif, this man was generally known as Abd al- — 58 Rahman b. Umm al-Hakam. This is indicative of the position
of many of the prominent Thakafites in the Umayyad period.
Their position was due not to the numerical importance of
their tribe in the settlement of conquered territories, but
rather to their status as close kin of the Umayyads. There
fore the Thakafites were most suitable to the Caliphs as
governors in important posts where trustworthy men were re
quired.
The Banu Thakif as a tribe did have a role in the
conquest and settlement of Irak. After a number of Muslim
troops had been sent from Irak to Syria, a group from Thakif
^ Ibn Habld, Kitab al-Muhabbar, p. 106.
56 Caskel, Table 12.
57 Tabari II, p. 27. 58 - c Tabari, index & Ibn Sa d, Vol. 5, p. 380. Umm al-Hakam was Mocawiya's sister.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 22
went to Irak under the leadership of Abu cUbaid b. Mascud, - 59 - c father of al-Mukhtar. After Abu Ubaid fell at the Battle
of the Bridge, seven members of his tribe, who seem to have
been the mainstay of his forces, were killed carrying his
standard in the battle with the Persians.^ — 61 The Banu Thakif settled in Kufa as part of Hawazin.
In Kufa they formed part of the opposition movement that C— deposed Ibn Amir as governor. At the time of the settle
ment of Basra, there were a number of prominent Thakafites
present, two of whom later served as governors in Irak.
The Banu Thakif were not as important in Irak as
other Arab tribes. As a tribal group their strength was in
Ta'if in Arabia where Thakafites governed the affairs of the
city and where Thakafite families closely related to Umayya
had their base. c— — In the reign of Mu awiya the appointment of Ziyad
b. Abi Sufyan as viceroy of Irak in charge of that province
with power to appoint governors there and the rest of the
eastern portion of the Empire, was preceded by MuCawiya's
declaration, in 44 A.H., that Ziyad was the son of Abu
^ Tabari I, pp. 2156, 2164.
60 Tabari I, pp. 2175, 2179.
61 Tabari I, p. 2495.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 23
Sufyan by Sumaiya, a Thakafite slave girl from Ta'if, and
therefore his half brother.0^
The situation at the death of Ziyad shows the pattern
by which his family continued to rule in Irak. Ziyad had
three sons, °Abd al Rahman, cUbaid Allah and CAbbad. CUbaid
- p - Allah is reported to have gone to the Caliph Mu awiya and
asked for a post. Mu°awiya told him that if his father had 6 3 given him a post he would have confirmed him in it. Al
Mada'ini then narrates CUbaid Allah's description of c— Mu awiya's procedure for testing the men he appointed as
governors, giving them one post and then another, increasing 64 their authority if they were successful. After this c — — — c— Ubaid Allah was appointed governor of Khorasan by Mu awiya,
who gave him advice on how to conduct himself in that pest. 0 __ Ubaid Allah's youth, he was only twenty-five, was probably
0 _ part of the reason for Mu awiya's seeming reluctance to
appoint him to a governorship. c — — — Abbaa b. Ziyad was appointed governor of Sijistan, — c— 65 c______after Ziyad's death, by Mu awiya. Abd al-Rahman b. Ziyad
approached Mu awiya for a post also. The Caliph is reported
62 — Tabari II, pp. 69, 71 provides the chronology of these events.
^ Tabari II, p. 166. 64 - Tabari II, p. 167.
Tabari II, p. 189.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 24
c — — to have said, "Al-Nu man is at Kufa and he was a companion of c — the Prophet. Your brother Ubaid Allah is at Basra and in
charge of Khorasan and your brother CAbbad is in charge of
Sijistan. I can only give you a post if you share with your
0 — brother." Abd al-Rahman agreed and was placed in charge of
— — 66 Khorasan in 59 A.H.
Thus the sons of an important Thakafite official
were given the opportunity to show their skill as governors c— c — — under Mu awiya. Ubaid Allah stood the test of Ziyad1s sons
and was finally made Viceroy of Irak. C — —. The final words of Mu awiya to his son Yazid, al- c — though of dubious authenticity, present the views of Awana, 6 7 who lived during the Umayyad period. On his deathbed, C— Mu awiya is reported to have told his executors, in Yazid1s
absence, to tell his son to pay heed to the men of Hijaz be
cause they were the race from which he descended, respecting
those of the Hijaz who supported him and being wary of those
who did not.*’®
The most successful and important of the Umayyad
governors bore the Thakafi nisba. The man who served as 0 governor of Irak for twenty years under Abd al-Malik b.
Marwan and al-Walid b. °Abd al-Malik was al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf
66 — Tabari II, p. 189. 67c— 2 c — On Awana see E.I. , s . v. Awana b. al-Hakam.
6ft — Tabari II, p. 197.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. - - 69 al-Thakafi. Al-Hajjaj was born in Ta'if about 41 A.H. It • • • is reported that his forbears were poor and of lowly origin.
His mother was the divorced wife of al-Mughlra b. ShuCba.
His first appointment was as governor of Tabala in the Tihama. Q In the early years of Abd al-Malik's reign, he went to
Damascus where he drew the attention of the Caliph for his
success in restoring discipline among the troops Abd al- Q Malik was to use against Mus ab b. al-Zubair in Irak. After
the defeat of the anti-Caliph1s brother, al-Hajjaj was sent
to fight CAbd Allah b. al-Zubair in Mecca. After assuring
himself of a base in Ta'if, al-Hajjaj defeated Ibn al-Zubair.
In 73 A.H. CAbd al-Malik appointed him governor of the Hijaz,
Yemen and al-Yamama. In 75 A.H. the Caliph made him Viceroy
of Irak.71
Al-Hajjaj's mother, al-Faric a, was a member of the
Banu Thakif. As his career unfolded, his relationship with
the Umayyad Caliphs became closer. The daughter of al- — c Hajjaj's brother Muhammad, married one of Abd al-Malik's
sons who later became the Caliph Yazid II. The first son of
this marriage was named al-Hajjaj. Al-Hajjaj named his first
three sons after members of the Umayyad house and his
g q 2 ^ The article in E.I. , s .v. al-Hajjaj, is the most complete and recent summary of the life of the Viceroy. To the very full bibiliography given there, should be added the article in the Ansab al-Ashraf, M.S., p. 1217ff. 70 - - Al-Baladhuri, op. cit., p. 1217. 71 - - 2 Al-Baladhuri, op. cit., pp. 1217 ff. E.I. , s .v. al-Hajjaj.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 26
- - 72 daughter married Masrur, a son of al-Walid I.
With the Caliphate of Sulaiman, a faction of the
Umayyads came to power that was not closely tied to the
Thakafite governors. After a quarter century, a Thakafite • * returned to the Viceroyship of Irak in the reign of Hisham.
Yusuf b. Umar al-Thakafi was the nephew of al-Hajjaj.
Times had changed and Yusuf did not have the close personal
ties to the Umayyads that his illustrious uncle had had.
Perhaps the most striking way to illustrate the dif
ference between the climate in which al-Hajjaj had governed
and that in which Yusuf served, is to examine the appoint
ments made by the major Viceroys of Irak to the minor posts
in the cities of Basra and Kufa during the last half century
of Umayyad rule.
The following lists are based on those found in the
Kitab al-Ta'rlkh of Khalifa b. Khayyat (Najaf, 1386/1967).
During his tenure as Viceroy of Irak, al-Hajjaj
appointed the following governors:
BASRA: Al-Hakam b. Ayyub al ThakafI in 75-82 A.H. His
tenure was interrupted by Ibn al-Ash ath's revolt.
Talha b. SaCId al-Juhanl from Damascus, removed and C — C— c — succeeded by Amru b. Sa id al- Audhi, removed and
succeeded by Muhasir b. Suhaim al-Kinanl from Hims, • • • removed and succeeded by Katin b. Mudrak al-Kilabl,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 27
removed and succeeded by Al-Jarah b. CAbd Allah al-
Hakami, who stayed in power until al-Hajjaj and al-
Walld died.
KUFA: CUrwa b. al-Mughlra b. Shu'-'ba al-Thakafi. Some say
Hawshab b. Ruwaim al-Shaibani, succeeded by Al-Bara1
b. Kablsa al-Thakafi, removed and succeeded by CAbd — c — c— — al-Rahman b. Abd Allah b. Ammir al-Hadrami. After Q the revolt of Ibn al-Ash ath, the following were
appointed: cUmair b. Hani al-CAnsi from Damascus,
removed and succeeded by Al-Mughira b. CAbd Allah
b. Abi CUkail (al-Salat) and Ziyad b. Jarir b. CAbd • • Allah (al-Shurat).
During his tenure as Viceroy Khalid al-Kasri
appointed the following governors:
BASRA: Aban b. Dubara b. CUfair b. Saif b. Dhu Yazin from
Hims and CUkba b. CAbd al-ACli al-KilaCI (al-Shurat)
from Damascus, followed by Malik b. al Mundhir b. al- _ O “ Jarud al- Abdi (al-Shurat), removed and succeeded by
Bilal b. Abi Burda al-AshaCri, succeeded by al-Nadr
b. Amru al-Mukarri al-Himayri (al-Salat) from
Damascus. Then in 110 A.H. Bilal b. Abi Burda al- c ^ Asha ri was placed in charge of al-Salat, al-Shurat • • and al-Kudat until 120 A.H. “ c — — KUFA: Abd al-Malik b. Jiza' b. Hadrajan al-Azdi from
Palestine, removed and succeeded by Isma°il b. Awsat
al-Bajali,— removed and succeeded by c Abd Allah — b.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 28
CAmru al-Bajall, removed and succeeded by his brother,
°Asim b. °Amru al-Bajali, removed and succeeded by
Dabis b. °Abd Allah al-Bajall, removed and succeeded • c T ~ by Nuf al-Ash arI, removed and succeeded by Ziyad b.
CUbaid Allah al-Harithl.
Q During his tenure as Viceroy, Yusuf b. Umar al-
Thakafl appointed the following governors:
BASRA: Al-WazaC b. CAbbad al-Kalbi, removed and succeeded by
Kathlr b. cAbd Allah al-Salml, removed and succeeded
by Al-Kasim b. Muhammad (probably a mistake for
Muhammad b. al-Kasim, Ibn Khayyat, Tarlkh, p. 388). * KUFA: Al-Hakam b. al-Salt al-Thakafi, removed and succeeded
by Muhammad b. al-Kasim al-Thakafi, removed and • • succeeded by Muhammad b. CUbaid Allah al-Thakafi,
removed and succeeded by Ziyad b. Sakhr al-Lakhml, c — c — removed and succeeded by Ubaid Allah b. al- Abbas
al-Kindl, removed and succeeded by Abu Umayya b.
al-Mughlra b. cAbd Allah b. Abi cUkail al-Thakafi.
One point that emerges very clearly from this list
of sub-governors at Basra and Kufa is the difference between
the appointments made by these three Viceroys. The men ap
pointed to govern Kufa by the two Thakafites, al-Hajjaj and • • Yusuf, were almost all from Thakif. The HadramI was from a
group whose nisba referred to the Hadramaut region of Arabia,
but this group had settled in Basra and was closely allied
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. - 73 to Thakif. Kufa was traditionally more turbulent than
Basra and for this reason the Viceroys of Irak sought to • • appoint men as governors whom they could rely on, men who
were closely linked to them as well as to one faction in the
city. While this policy was effective in the short run, it
meant that there was always an important faction in Kufa
chaffing at having lost power in a past coup and who would
be seeking to regain their position at the first opportunity.
Indeed, the black banners of the Abbasids were first un
furled in Kufa by the son of the deposed Umayyad Viceroy,
Khali a b. cAbd Allah al-Kasrl.7"^
The appointments made by these three Umayyad
Viceroys at Basra reflect the more stable situation there.
None of the governors appointed by these Viceroys had the
same tribal nisba. In Basra the responsibility of the
governorship could be rotated among the leaders of the im
portant tribes settled there. Although Khalid al-Kasrl did
appoint two men from Syria to govern Basra, he eventually
selected Bilal b. Abi Burda, the grandson of one of the
early governors of Basra.
73 c_ _ On the settlement of this group in Basra see Sam ani, Ansab, s.v. Hadrami. On their alliance'with Thakif see Tabari II, p. 72.*
Tabari III, p. 18. 75 Vide supra, p. 12.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 30
The strength of the Thakafite Viceroys of Irak lay
as much in their personal qualities as leaders, as in their
close personal and family ties with the Ummayad Caliphs.
The Banu Thakif had a long line of marriage connections with
Umayya in the pre-Islamic period. But those Thakafites who
became prominent in Irak in the Islamic period were carefully
screened and as their careers progressed, they came to be
closely tied to the Umayyads by marriage alliances.
Al-Mughlra b. Shu°ba, an early and important convert
to Islam, who helped to bring his tribe to the Muslim side,
was well rev:arded by a marriage alliance with Umayya. Ziyad,
alleged son of Abu Sufyan by a Thakafite woman, forgiven for
his cooperation with C Ali — and adopted by Mu C— awiya, was
placed in Irak at the head of a family that maintained its
position as a branch of Umayya throughout the Umayyad period.
Al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf also derived his strength from a com
bination of close association with Umayya and a tough atti
tude toward his subjects. The career of Yusuf b. cUmar in
Irak was not as successful as that of al-Hajjaj, but he was
caught up in the politics of a Caliphate that changed hands
too swiftly and he lost his post and later his life before
being able to prove himself.
The tribe of Thakif did not play as important a role
in the conquest and settlement of Irak as other tribes, but
the important contingent of governors drawn from this tribe
and the close connection of some of its members with the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 31
Umayyad Caliphs created a situation in which a portion of
Thakif was able to build a valuable holding of property in
Kufa and Basra.
In the reign of al-Mahdi the rights of the branch of
Thakif that was descended from Ziyad b. Abu Sufyan, were
taken away and they were ordered to return to their proper 76 place in the genealogical relationship as part of Thakif.
This annulment of the adoption of Ziyad by MuCawiya marks
the formal end of that special relationship between Thakif
and the Umayyad Caliphs, but it did not bring hardships to
the Thakafites in Kufa. The family of Abu Bakra now looked
back to their ancestor's relationship with the Prophet and
this branch of Thakif continued to prosper in Kufa as c - 77 wealthy landholders during the Abbasids' rule.
76 Tabari III, p. 477 ff. 77 When al-Mahdi enlarged the mosque at Basra, he purchased the houses of a number_of prominent Thakafites adjacent to the mosque (Baladhuri, Futuh,Cairo, 1956, p. 429). Ibn Duraid describes the Thakafites in Basra as many and noble (Al-Ishtiqaq, Cair^, 1958] p. 184).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. MILITARY COMMANDERS AND GOVERNORS IN IRAK DURING THE °ABBASID CALIPHATE, 132-193 A.H.
c - Irak was for the Abbasids a most important part of
their Empire. It was the battles fought in Irak and the
winning over of the tribal leaders there that was decisive
in the cAbbasid victory. Irak had also been the initial • ... focal point for the revolutionary movement that overthrew
the Umayyad regime. From Kufa missionaries of the cAbbasid
cause had gone out to Khorasan to establish the nucleus of
the CAbbasid military force that captured that province for
the house of the uncle of the Prophet. Prior to the final
Umayyad defeat, Abu al-&>bas, heir to the cAbbasid imamate,
sought refuge in Kufa among the Banu Awd.^ Following the c — c — — victory of the Abbasid armies in Irak, the Abbasid Imam
was proclaimed in Kufa as Caliph in a speech that included
praise for the part that the people of Kufa had played in
the °Abbasid movement. "Oh, people of Kufa! You are the
seat of our devotion and the home of our affection. You are
those who have not varied in this. The oppression of the
tyrants did not dissuade you from this until you passed into
our time and God gave you our regime. And you are to us the
best of people, the most revered by us, and we have increased c - 2 your ata one hundred dirhams." From that moment it was
^ Tabari III, p. 27.
^ Tabari III, p. 30.
32
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 33
c _ clear that Irak was to be the focal point of the Abbasid
regime. Q___ _ The period following the Abbasid victory in Irak
(132 A.H.) and preceding the completion of Baghdad (146 A.H.) Q — was one of experimentation as the Abbasid rulers sought to
control their Empire. During this period the cAbbasid
rulers moved their administrative headquarters and living
quarters several times, searching for a suitable site. Out c — of their experiments emerged the pattern of Abbasid govern
ment which was to form the background for the way in which c — the Islamic Empire was controlled under the Abbasid Caliphs.
Q — With the rise to power of the Abbasid dynasty, those
men who had worked for the CAbbasid cause were strong con
tenders to hold the posts that were open in the Empire to be
filled by the Caliph's appointees. The members of the
CAbbasid DaCwa and their descendants continued to play a role
in the CAbbasid state as members of the administrative and
military cadres."^
Another element in the CAbbasid victory was the large
cohesive family of the descendants of the Prophet's uncle,
al-°Abbas. These men had worked in concert for th<=» cAbbasid c — victory and throughout the narratives of the early Abbasid
period, it is apparent that the victory of the party of al-
3 c On the background of the Da wa see F. Omar, The Abbasid Caliphate, Baghdad, 1969, pp. 56-136.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 34
cAbbas was to be shared by the members of the family. Even c — the most solemn of all occasions in early Abbasid history,
the proclamation of the Im7 Abu al-CAbbas al-Saffah as c — Caliph, was shared by the Abbasid Caliph's uncle Daud b.
CAli. Daud acted as master of ceremonies on that occasion
and his speech was closely tied to that of the Caliph1s and
included a number of promises about the nature of the new 4 regime. From reading the description of this ceremony, one
Q — has the feeling that the Abbasid victory was a collective
one and that all the members of the family were intended to c — take part in the establishment and. maintenance of Abbasid
rule.
The third element in the Abbasid victory was the
Khorasanians, those Arabs who formed the core of the CAbbasid
army that swept into Irak under Kahtaba and later his son,
Hasan b. Kahtaba. The Khorasanians were in the early CAbbasid
years, both the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of
the regime. They had provided the military force on which the C _ Abbasid victory was founded but they had been built up under
the aegis of Abu Muslim, a man who as late as 131 A.H. was
described simply as Amir or Amin Al-Muhammad.^ Abu Muslim
4 -r Tabari III, p. 3.
^ R. Guest, "A Coin of Abu_Muslim", JRAS, London, 1932,_pp. 555-56. The title Amir Al-Muhammad is found in Tabari III, p. 60, and on the coin published by Guest. The editors of the Leiden_edition_of Tabari altered the reading of their text from Amir to Amin, relying on the published
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 35
had thus been for the Khorasanians their leader, apparently Q _ a deputy for the family of the Prophet, but that the Abbasids
were to fill that role was only generally revealed in 132 A.H. c — — _ The Abbasids thus had to make use of the Khorasanians as part
of their military forces but they also had to balance the
Khorasanians by other types of military forces and to counter
balance and finally eliminate Abu Muslim as a leader. These c — three elements then; the men who had worked for the Abbasid
Q _ cause; members of the Abbasid family; and the Arabs of
Khorasan were to form the corps from which the political
cadres of the CAbbasid'administration were drawn.
texts of Mas^udi, Muruj, Vol. VI, p. 136, and the anonymous Kitab al- Uyun wa '1 Hada'ik, p. 191. Both are later than Tabari. The editor of the new Egyptian edition of Tabari has accepted the reading Amin without comment.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Sufyan b. MoCawiya b. Yazid b. al-Muhallab was sent
to Basra by Hasan b. Kahtaba to take that city for the • • • • c — 6______Abb a s ids in 132 A.H. Following the proclamation of Abu al- c — — Abbas as Caliph, Sufyan became governor of Basra for a 7 short period in 132 A.H. In 139 A.H. Sufyan was reappointed c 8 governor of Basra following the removal of Sulaiman b. All.
Sufyan remained at Basra and was imprisoned by the rebel — c — Ibrahim b. Abd Allah in the Bar al-Imara during his revolt 9 in 145 A.H. Sufyan was from the Muhallab family that had
had a long history in the eastern portion of the Empire since
the time that al-Muhallab b. Abi Sutra' had fought a successful
campaign against the Khawarij in Iran under the Umayyads.
The fortunes of the Muhallab family came to be closely linked
to the province of Khorasan and Yazid b. al-Muhallab led an
unsuccessful revolt against the Umayyads in 100-101 A.H. in
an attempt to gain control of the eastern portion of the 10 c — Empire. With the development of the Abbasid Revolutionary — c — movement, Sufyan joined the Abbasid cause and moved into Q _ Irak with the Abbasid army that swept away the Umayyad
regime in 131-32 A.H.
8 Tabari III, pp. 21, 72.
^ Ibid, p. 23.
8 Ibid, pp. 126-27.
9 Ibid, pp. 299 ff.
10 Tabari II, pp. 1350, 1379.
36
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 37
Sufyan's son, al-Mughira b. Sufyan was killed in the
struggle with Ibrahim in Basra in 145 A.H.11 but al-Muhallab
b. al-Mughlra b. Sufyan survived to s e r v e the °Abbasids as 12 a governor. Another descendant of an Umayyad governor that c — c served the Abbasids in Irak was Muhammad b. Abd Allah al-
Qasrl, son of Khalid al-Qasri, who had served the Umayyad 13 regime for fourteen years as Viceroy of Irak. During the
last decade of Umayyad rule the family of Khalid al-Qasri
suffered a political eclipse. As the cAbbasid armies ad- — c — vanced on Kufa, the leader of the Abbasid faction in the
city and the first man to unfurl the black flag there was c -r 14 Muhammad b. Abd Allah al-Qasri. Muhammad never served as — c — governor of Kufa for the Abbasids but his support is indica-
Q — tive of the widespread sympathy that the Abbasid movement
found there. Muhammad did serve as governor of al-Medina
under al-Mansur from 141 to 143 A.H.15
Perhaps the most outstandingly successful of all the c — c families descended from early members of the Abbasid Da wa
is the family of Kahtaba b. Shabib al-Ta'I. Kahtaba, whose • • • • • • full name was Abu Abd al-Hamid, Ziyad b. Shabib b. Khalid
11 Tabari III, pp. 299 ff.
^ Ibn Khayyat, Tarikh, Najaf, pp. 497-98. 13 See Chapter 1.
14 Tabari III, p. 18.
15 Ibn Khayyat, Tarikh, Najaf, p. 460.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 38
b. Ma°dan al-Ta'I, was one of the Khorasanls chosen by Abu
cIkrima as Nukaba1 to work for the CAbbasid cause in that
province in 100 A . H . ^ In 124, 127 and 129 A.H. Kahtaba went • • • on the Hadj as a means of visiting the Imim. In 124 A.H. he
encountered Abu Muslim and brought him to meet the Imam. In
127 and 129 A.H. Kahtaba delivered a large quantity of money • • • and goods (al-amwal wa al- arud) to the Imam, Ibrahim b. 17 Muhammad.
On his return to Khorasan in 130 A.H. Abu Muslim
placed Kahtaba in charge of an army and sent him against Nasr • • • • _ __ _ _ *1 Q b. Sayyar, the Umayyad governor of Khorasan, at Nisabur.
After defeating an army led by Nasr's son at Sudhakan, near - - - 19 Tus, Kahtaba proceeded with his army to Nisabur. Nasr had
fled to Kumis (Damghan). From Nisabur Kahtaba moved to • • • • Jurjan where he defeated a large Syrian army under Nubata b. ^ c Handhala that had been sent by Yazid b. Umar b. Hubaira, the 20 Umayyad governor of Irak, to reinforce Nasr. b. Sayyar.
Abu Muslim then ordered Kahtaba to pursue Nasr. Kahtaba sent
^ Tabari II, p. 1358.
'L7 Ibid, pp.
Tabari II, p. 2000 & Akhbar al-CAbbas wa Waldlhi, MS. Higher institute of Islamic Studies, Baghdad, folio 157B (unnumbered manuscript).
^ Tabari II, p. 2001. Akhbar al-CAbbas wa Waldlhi, folio 157B - 158A. 20 — — c — _ _ Tabari II, pp. 2003-06 & Akhbar al- Abbas wa Waldihi, folio 158A & B.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 39
troops under Mukatil b. Hakim al- Akayy to Kumls province • • • while he returned to Nisabur where he remained during Ramadan
and Shawwal of 130 A.H. Nasr had established himself in
Badhash in Kumis province and sent a request for reinforce-
ments to the Caliph Merwan b. Muhammad, declaring that Yazld
b. °Umar had not sent him reinforcements. Kahtaba dispatched
his son, Hasan in 131 A.H. in pursuit of Nasr who had moved
to Khuwar and then toward Rayy. Nasr is reported to have
- 21 died on the road between Hamdhan and Rayy. Kahtaba pro- • • • ceeded to Kumis and then to Rayy, informing Abu Muslim of his
entry into that city. From Rayy Kahtaba sent Hasan to
Hamdhan, who captured the city, which had been deserted by
the Umayyad governor and most of his troops, and proceeded
- 22 to the vicinity of Nihawand. Kahtaba, after defeating an
army led by CAmmir b. Dubara at Isbahan, joined Hasan at the
seige of Nihawand. After three months, the Syrians in the
garrison surrendered under a promise of safety but the
Khorasanis in the city, who had supported the Umayyad gover- 23 nor and fled with him, were executed.
From Nihawand Kahtaba sent Abd al-Malik b. Yazdl
al-Khorasanl to Shahrazur where he defeated an Umayyad force.
Hasan b. Kahtaba dispatched troops under Khazim b. Khazlma • • • •
21 Tabari III, p. 1-4.
22 Ibid, pp. 4-10.
22 Tabari III, pp. 4-10.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 40
to Hulwan, which was taken after the Umayyad governor fled.
After bypassing Yazid b. Umar's forces at Jalula' and
crossing the Tigris at cUkbara', Kahtaba proceeded south, • • • reaching a fording point on the Euphrates on Muharram 132
A.H. Kahtaba led a force across the Euphrates and engaged — c part of Yazid b. Umar's troops. Whether Kahtaba lost his 24 life in the battle or in crossing the river remains unclear.
His son, Hasan, took command of the Khorasanian army 25 and continued the campaign in Irak. Hasan was granted a • • fief in Baghdad by al-Mansur adjoining the Kahtaba road • • • • 26 named for his father. Humayd b. Kahtaba put down the — c — revolt of Ibrahim b. Abd Allah in the reign of al-Mansur • and was also granted a fief in Baghdad that came to be named 27 c after him. A grandson, Abd Allah b. Humayd b. Kahtaba « • • • led a troop of Abna' in the war between al-Amln and al-
Ma'mun.^ During the seige of Baghdad in 197 A.H., CAbd
Ailah and his relatives, including Hasan by. Kahtaba's - 29 family, joined al-Ma'mun's forces.
24 Tabari III, pp. 10-15.
25 Tabari III, p. 14.
This_fief is described by Le Strange in Baghdad during the “Abbasid Caliphate, London, 1900, pp. 140-41.
27 Tabari III, pp. 310, 315, 316. OQ Ibid, p. 840.
29 Ibid, p. 882.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 41
c — The Abbasids also employed a large number of gover
nors drawn from their own family. The sons and grandsons of c — c c — Ali b. Abd Allah b. Abbas were very prominent in the C — C — Abbasid administration in the period between the Abbasid
Revolution and the civil war between al-Amln and al-Ma'mun.
CAbd al-Samd b. CAiI served as governor in the Hijaz under • • ^ c ^ al-Mansur. Daud b. All was instrumental in rallying the c — — c — Abbasids behind Abu al- Abbas al-Saffah and then served for
a short period as governor of Kufa under al-Saffah. Sulaiman c T b. All served as governor of Basra during most of the _ 0 _ Q _ caliphate of Abu al- Abbas. Isma il b. Ali also served as 30 governor of Basra under al-Mansur. • • The men of Khorasan served the CAbbasids primarily — ^ c as soldiers. The "Risala fl al-Sahaba" of Ibn al-Muqaffa
is largely devoted to urging measures to insure that the im
perial soldiers will be well cared for. Of these soldiers - - 31 the most important are the men of Khorasan.
30 See Tables. ■*1 c - - - Ibn al-Muqaffa , "Risala fi al-Sahaba", apud Rasa'il al-Bulagha1, Cairo, 1954, p. 119.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 42
The following tables have been prepared from the
lists in Ibn Khayyat1s Kitab al-Tarlkh, Najaf, 1967.
Governors of Abu al CAbbas al Saffah in Irak • •
Kufa Uncle of the Caliph Daud b. ""All b. CAbd all ah b.
Abbas Daud went on the pilgrimmage and was replaced
by Aisa b. Musa b. Muhammed b. All b. Abd allah
b. CAbbas until the death of al-Saffah.
Basra Sufyan— b. Mo C —awiya was removed and replaced by c — Umar b. Hafs Hazarmard • c ^ he was removed and replaced by Sulaiman b. all — c — b. Abd allah b. Abbas in 133 A.H. who remained until
al Saffah fied.
— c — Governors of Abu Ja far al Mansur in Irak
Basra Sulaiman b. Call b. CAbd allah b. CAbbas
removed he was succeeded by
Sufyan b. MoCawiya b. Yazid b. al Muhallab. 137 A.H.
°Umar L. Ja°far Hazarmard 138-140
removed he was succeeded by COO ♦ Abd al Aziz b. Abd al Rahman al Azdl 140
removed he was succeeded by
Suwar b. °Abd allah who also held the Kuda1
removed he was succeeded by c c — Umar b. Ja far Hazarmard for a second time 142
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 43
he was appointed governor of Sind and replaced by
Abu Al Jamal CAisa b. CAmru al Saksaki 143
removed he was succeeded by
IsmaCil b. °Ali b. °Abd allah b. CAbbas 143
He departed leaving c ^ Muhammed b. Sulaiman b. All in charge
removed he was replaced by
— (2— — Sufyan b. Mo awiya b. Yazid b. al-Muhallab
he went to the caliph leaving his son
Al Mughira b. Sufiyan in charge — C — Sufiyan b. Mo awiya surrendered to Q Ibrahim b. Abd allah in Ramadan 143
Ibrahim departed leaving his son
Al Hasan b. Ibrahim in charge. Ibrahim was killed
and Sulaiman b. Mujahid (Mawla of Banu DubICa)
c — Ja far b. Sulaiman
Salm b. Kutaiba
Muhammad b. Sulaiman or Muhammad b. Abu alCAbbas 146 A.H.
Muhammad departed in 149 A.H. leaving
CUkba b. Salim al Hana'I
He departed leaving his son
NafiCb. cUkba in charge
Governors of Basra under Abu al JaCfar al Mansur
— c c Nafi b. Ukba was removed and replaced by Jabir b. Yazid al Kilabi 152 A.H.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 44
Abu Jamal C aisa b. CAmru (second time 152 A.H.) C — — Abd al Malik b. Ayyub al Numairi c— Al Haitham b. Mo awiya 155 A.H.
Suwar b. °Abd allah (Salat 155 A.H.)
Ibn Du°laj (Ahdath) 155 A.H.
Ubaid allah b. Hasan (replaced Suwar in 156 (Salat) * •
— — c Governors of Kufa under Abu al Ja far al Mansur
CAlsa b. Musa removed in 139
Muhammad b. Sulaiman 139-147 A.H.
CAmru b. Zuhair brother of al Musaib b. Zuhair until al
Mansur died.
Governors of al Mahdl at Basra
CUbaid allah b. Hasan (Salat) and
SaCid b. DuClaj (Ahdath)
were removed and replaced by
°Abd al Malik b. Ayyub al Numairi 158-160 c c c — Muhammad b. Sulaiman b. Ali b. Abd allah b. Abbas 160-165 A.H.
Salih b. Daud who placed his Mawla
Abu Mukatil in charge
then
Ruh b. Hatim until al Mahdl died 169 A.H.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Governors of al Mahdl at Kufa
c — — Amru b. Zuhair al Dabbi was removed and replaced by C “ — Aisa b. Lukman b. Muhammad b. Hatib al Jumahl
succeeded by
— c c— — — — Sharik b. Abd allah al Nakh i al Qadi. Sharik placed
Ishak b. al Subah b. Umran b. Isma II b. Muhammad b. al c — Asha th in charge of the Ahdath al Mahdi removed Sharik and
put Ishak in his place. Ishak was removed and succeeded by
Hashim— b. Sa cid — b. Mansur — son of his uncle (?) he was removed
and Aisa b. Musa governed until al Mahdl died 169 A.H.
Governors of Basra under al HadI
Ruh b. Hatim removed by c — — Aisa b. Musa he was succeeded by
Muhammad b. Sulaiman who governed until al HadI died (170 A.H.)
Governors of Kufa under al HadI
CAlsa b. Musa continued to govern until al HadI died (170 A.H.)
Governors of Basra under Harun
Muhammad b. Sulaiman b. CAlI died in 173 A.H. He was
succeeded by Sulaiman b. Abu JaCfar removed in 174 A.H. he c c — c was succeeded by Aisa b. Ja far b. Abu Ja far he departed
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 46
leaving al Muhallab b. al Mughxra in charge
Khuzaima b. Khazim went to Basra removed CAisa b. Ja°far and
put Jacfar b. Sulaiman b. CAli in charge. JaCfar placed his c son Sulaiman b. Ja far in charge. He then removed him and c — c placed Ja far b. Abu Ja far he was removed in 179 A.H. and
succeeded by Sulaiman b. JaCfar b. Abu JaCfar he was removed
and replaced by cAisa b. JaCfar b. Abu Jacfar he departed and
al Muhallab b. al Mughlra took over. he was removed and
Muhammad b. Zuhair al GhimidI took over.
Then Aisa was removed and
Husain b. Jamil a Mawla of the caliph took over. He was re
moved and Ishak b. CAisa b. CAlI b. °Abd allah b. CAbbas he
remained as governor until Harun died and when he left the c — — city he placed Abd al Malik al Ansari (Imam al Masjid) in
charge of it.
Governors of Kufa under Harun
— c — Musa b. Aisa sent by Harun to Egypt his son
c — — Abbas b. Musa he was removed and succeeded by c — c Ya kub b. Abu Ja 'far who did not go to Basra but sent
Al HajwanI Yahya b. Bishr Hajwan al Harithl removed he was r — succeeded by Musa b. Aisa c — — c — Abbas b. Musa b. Aisa (for two months) succeeded by
Ishak al Subah al Kindi (for three months) succeeded by • • • c c c Ja far b. Ja far b. Abu Ja far who did not go to Basra but
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 47
sent Mansur b. CAta' al KhorasanI a Mawla of Bani Laith
succeeded by Musa b. CAlsa until Harun died 193 A.H.
Governors of the Jazira under Abu al CAbbas al Saffah
CAbd allah b. cAlI after Merwan b. Mohammad was defeated. He
placed Musa b. Ka°b al MurrI in charge of the Jazira _ c — — c Then Abu al Abbas al Saffah put his brother Abu Ja far m
charge of Al Jazira Armenia and Adherbaijan. Then he sent __ C him to Mekka Abu al Ja far left
Mukatil b. Hakim al cAki in charge of Jazira where he remained
until Abu al CAbbas died 136 A.H.
— —. c — Governors of Jazira under Abu Ja far al Mansur
CAbd allah b. CAlI after the death of Abu al °Abbas
°Abd allah b. °Ali besieged Mukatil b. Hakim al CAkki
in Harran until Mukatil capitulated
Abu Ja far sent Abu Muslim to the. Jazira he defeated Abd —. — — c allah in 137 A.H. at Nisibin. Abu al Ja far placed
Mukharik b. alCAkar in charge of the Jazira
then
Humayd b. Kahtaba
then c — c — c — c — al Abbas b. Muhammad b. Ali b. Abd allah b. Abbas
then
Musa b. Sul aim (from Khurasan) Then Musa b. Musa°b Mawla of Yemen
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Governors of al Jazira under al Mahdl
- - c Musa b. Musa b was removed and succeeded by
al Musaid b. Zuhair He was removed and succeeded
CAbd al Samad b. CAlI
then
Al Fadl b. Salih
then c — — 0 — Ali b. Sulaiman b. Ali
then
cAmran b. al Min'nal
then c — » Ali b. Sulaiman (second time) c — Abd al Malik b. Salih (governed Jazira twice)
CAbd allah b. Salih
Governors of Jazira under al HadI
Abu Huraira (a man from Khurasan)
Ibrahim b. Salih
Governors of Harun in al Jazira
Muhammad b. Khalid b. Barmak
Muhammad b. Ibrahim
Khuzaima b. Khazim
Yazid b. Mazld
then
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 49
— — c Sulaiman b. Abu Ja far
then
Muhammad b. Jamil
then
Khuzaima b. Khazim (second time, until Harun fied 193 A.H.
— c — — Governors of Khurasan under Abu al Abbas al Saffah
Abu Muslim
_ c — Governors of Khurasan under Abu al Ja far al Mansur
Abu Daud (of Banu Dhahl) after Abu Muslim,
succeeded by c c — Abd al Jabbar b. Abd al Rahman al Azdi
then
Khazim b. Khuzaima (a.portion)
and
Jabrll b. Yahya (a portion)
then Q Asad b. Abd allah
then
CAbd allah b. Muslim al KhuzaCI
then — c — Abu Awn al Himsi
then
Humaid b. Kahtaba who died there
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 50
he left his son c Abd allah b. Humaid in charge
Governors of Khurasan under al MadhI
Q Abd allah b. Humaid was removed and replaced by — c — Abu Awn al Himsi he was replaced by Q Ma adh b. Muslim in 160 A.H. He was removed and succeeded by
Al Musaib b. Zuhair in 163 A.H. He was removed and replaced
by Abu al CAbbas al TusI in 165 A.H.
Governor of Khurasan under al HadI
Abu al °Abbas at TusI
Governors of Khurasan under Harun
Abu al CAbbas al TusI succeeded by c c Ja far b. Muhammad b. al Asha th
then
Al CAbbas b. JaCfar
then
Al Hasan b. Kahtaba (a few days)
then
Al Ghitrlf uncle of the caliph Harun
then
Hamza b. Malik
then
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 51
Al Fadl b. Yahya b. Khalid b. Barmak who placed C —C— Umar b. Haml al Barbu i in charge
Then al Fadl b. Yahya was removed and
Mansur b. Yazid succeeded him. Then c — Ja far b. Yahya b. Khalid who placed C — C — — — C-r Ali b. Aisa b. Mahan m charge. All was removed m 191 C — — A.H. and Harthama b. A yn became governor until Harun died
193 A.H.
Governors of Mecca under Abu al °Abbas al Saffah
Daud b. cAlI with Medina. He died and left his son
Musa b. Daud in charge. Abu al CAbbas removed him and
placed Ziyad b. cUbaid allah al Harithi his uncle in charge
of Medina, Mecca and Ta'if
Ziyad placed his nephew C ^ ^ Ali b. Rabi in charge of Mecca until Abu al Abbas died
136 A.H.
— c — Governors of Mecca under Abu al Ja far al Mansur •
Q Ziyad b. Ubaid allah al Harithi was confirmed in his
governorship of Mecca and Medina by Abu al JaCfar. He was
removed in 141 A.H.
Al CAbbas b. CAbd allah b. Ma°bad b. CAbbas succeeded by
IsmaCil b. Ayyub al MakhzumI succeeded by
al Haitham b. MoCawiya al CAkkI 141 A.H. - 143 A.H.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 52
Al Sarri b. CAbd allah b. al Harith 143 A.H.
then c c — Abd al Samad b. Ali
then
Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. Muhammad b. cAlI • • then C — — c Muhammad b. Abd allah al Kathiri Until Abu al Ja far died
158 A.H.
Governors of Mecca under al Mahdl
Muhammad b. Abd allah b. Kathir b. Salt was removed by Mahdl • • and Ja far b. Sulaiman was made governor of Mecca and Medina
then
CUbaid allah b. Kutham b. al °abbas b. cUbaid allah b. al
C — Abbas then
Ahmad b. IsmaCIl until al Mahdl died 169 A.H.
Governors of Mecca under al HadI
CUbaid allah b. °Abbas b. °Ubaid allah b. al CAbbas until
HadI died 170 A.H.
Governors of Mecca under Harun
c Ubaid allah b. Kutham was confirmed as governor and then
removed then
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 53
al CAbbas b. Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. Muhammad b. CAlI b. CAbd c — allah b. Abbas. After his removal he was succeeded by — c — c -• Sulaiman b. Ja far b. Sulaiman b. Ali who was succeeded by
Ibrahim b. Musa b. CAisa b. Musa b. Muhammad b. CAlI
whose father held the governorship (Wilaya) but delegated it
to his son.
followed by c ^ Abd allah b. Kutham b. Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. Muhammad b.
cAli b. cAbd allah b. cAbb as
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. AL MAWALI
The term mawla. client or master, and its plural
mawall. have a variety of meanings and it is often difficult
to determine the status of a person described as such in the
early chronicles. CAzz al Din b. al Athlr in his Al Nihaya
fl Gharlb al Hadlth lists sixteen definitions of mawall.
A mawla might be a friend, a confidant, a follower or an
ally by marriage. Originally the term may have meant simply
any relative with no distinction as to the type of tribal 2 association involved. After this a distinction was made
between the mawla garaba, a mawla by blood relation, and a 3 mawla hilf. a mawla by oath. The origin of this system of
clientship precedes Islam. In pre-Islamic times if a master
freed his slave of his own volition, or if a slave were able
to acquire the money to purchase his liberty, the freed
slave would become a client, mawla, of the family and tribe
of his former master. The freed slave would be designated a
mawla and would have a status between that of slave and free
man. The manumitter was also designated by the term mawla.
The freedman was sometimes designated as the inferior mawla
^ Ibn al Athlr, Al Nihaya, s.v. wly. 2 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, p. 101.
^ The distinction between mawla garaba and the mawla hilf is discussed in both the major dictionaries, Ibn Manahur, Lisan al Arab, and Al Zubaidi. Taj al Arus, s.v. wly.
54
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 55
(al mawla al asfal), while the manumitter was described as Q _ ^ the superior mawla (al mawla al a la).
The second type of mawla. the mawla hilf or mawla
yamin. a confederate by oath, also existed prior to Islam
but the coming of Islam and the subsequent conquests altered
the nature of this form of clientship. Before Islam, those
seeking clientship in a tribe were usually Arabs from a
weaker group seeking protection from a stronger group. This
homogeneity of Arab background is reflected in the fact that
both full members of an Arab tribe and the mawall were given
exactly the same rights in customary Arab law.^
At the time of the Islamic conquests of non-Arab
peoples, the term mawla was employed to designate those con
quered peoples who converted to Islam and after obtaining
their freedom remained affiliated to an Arab family or tribe.
The Arab tribe remained the fundamental basis for
the organization of society after the coming of Islam. To
become a Muslim was just the first step, the next was to be
come a member of an Arab tribe. Although a non-Arab, non-
Muslim could become a Muslim, he could not become an Arab,
only a client of an Arab tribe. To be a mawla of an Arab
4 Fagnan, Additions aux dictionaires arabes. Paris, 1923, s.v. wly. Cited by P. G. Forand, "The Relation of the Slave and the Client to the Master or Patron in Medieval Islam", International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 2, 1971, p. 59.
^ Al Wala' Nasab Thabit, cited by Goldziher, Muslim Studies. No. 6, p. 103.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 56
tribe, to bear the nisba of a tribe, was not the same as full
membership in it. The mawla troops employed by Qutayba b.
Muslim in Khurasan during his tenure as governor of that
province (86-96 A.H./705-715 A.D.) were not joined to the
tribal unit from whom they derived their nisba, but were
organized into a special group.^
The employment of tribal leaders directing troops
organized along tribal lines in the conquests led to changes
in tribal alliances and shifts in the relative strength of
different tribes. At an early stage in the Islamic conquests,
some of the tribes underwent important changes. The leader
of the tribe of Bajila, Jarir b. Abd Allah al-Bajall, was
one of the tribal leaders who played an important part in the
conquest of Irak. After Jarxr's acceptance of Islam, he and
his men were sent against the town of Tahala in the Tihama 7 to smash the idol Dhu Khalasa. By his early acceptance of
Islam and his active support of the Muslim cause, Jarir en
hanced his own status as a leader. An interesting passage in
Tabari describes Jarir's call to all those who could claim
some connection with the tribe of Bajila to join him in an
expeditionary force to participate in the Islamic conquests
^ Tabari II, p. 1290. 7 Tabari I, p. 1763.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 57
g north of Arabia. This open recruiting to the banners of
Bajila and the important victories in which this tribe parti
cipated during the campaign of conquest and settlement in
Irak, seem to have resulted in an increase in the numbers of
those who claimed connection to the tribe of Bajila and
added its nisba, Bajall, to their own names. An important
indication of a change in the composition and alliances of
this tribe is its uncertain position in the genealogical
literature. The tribe was considered a Yemenite (southern
Arab) tribe by some genealogists, while others made it a Q _ 0 descendant of Adnan (northern Arab tribe). This uncer
tainty about its ancestry was the basis for verbal attacks
on Bajila.^ The reuniting of groups that had split off from
Bajila and the success of this group in the conquests prob
ably lie behind the tradition in our sources that Bajila
were offered a quarter of the captured lands in Mesopotamia
which they later exchanged for a fixed amount in the
treasury.^
g _ _ Tabari I, pp. 2183-85. Jarir wanted to go to Syria but was only permitted to go on the condition he went to Irak.
^ Ibn al-Athlr, Usd al-Ghaba, I, p. 279.
MasCudI, Muruj. VI, p. 143 and EI^, s.v. Bajila, (M. Watt).
^ L^kkegard, Islamic Taxation, pp. 47, 49. This is probably some sort of pseudo-historical, legal fiction that really was the result of a much longer development over time. This does not invalidate this tradition as evidence of the importance of Bajila's role in the early conquest and settle ment of Irak.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 58
Another incident that illustrates the importance of
the tribal basis of the Muslim armies occurred at the battle
of Dumat al-Jandal in 12 A.H. The Banu Tamim led by CAsim c — b. Amru were engaged with other Muslim forces in a fierce
battle with the Christian Arab tribes of the region. The
chief commander of the Muslim forces, Khalid b. al-walld,
came on the battlefield with reinforcements late in the cam
paign. The Banu Tamim had been able to sow discord among the
Christian Arab tribes by guaranteeing safety to those of the
tribe of Kalb who surrendered. Khalid b. al-Walld put all
the prisoners he captured to the sword and would have done
the same to the Kalb if the Tamim had not intervened and
demanded that their offer to the Kalb be honored. Khalid
was forced to comply and he released the Kalb to the safe
keeping of the Banu— Tamim. -r 1 2
The tribal leaders in charge of the various divisions
within the armies may have been delegated to collect taxes in
the territories occupied by their armies. Such seems to be
the case in Khorasan from 36-43 A.H., before and after the
civil war. At this time the tribal commanders CAbd Allah b. * c ■ — _ Khazim, Al Ahnaf b. Qais, Hatim b. Nu man al Bahill, Qais b.
al Haitham, were in charge of separate units of the Arab
armies, but Qais b. al Haitham was responsible for the des
patch of the tribute to CAbd Allah b. CAmir, the governor of
Tabari I, p. 2066.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 59
Basra and the man with overall responsibility for the con-
quests in the east."1^
We have ample evidence of the growth and importance
of the tribal system from the founding of the camp cities of
Basra and Kufa. When these towns were founded, they were
settled along tribal lines, that is, each tribal group ob
tained a section of the city for their people. In addition
to this, the payment of the military forces was done on a
tribal basis. Tabari provides us with a description of the
setting out of Kufa in 17 A.H. The tribes contended with
each other and disputed over which groups were related so
genealogists were called in to settle the problem. They ac
complished this by establishing seven separate areas for re
lated tribes to settle in, the basis of a system which
remained the model throughout the reign of the first four c— 14 Caliphs and into the reign of Mo awiya. This genealogically
based system was drawn up by a group of genealogists, two of
whom were SacId b. Numran and Mash°ala b. Nu°aim. "They made
Kinana and its allies from the Ahablsh group and others — — c c — (unnamed) and Jadila, that is Banu Amr b. Kais b. Ailan Q __ one branch; Koda a, they were at that time. Ghassan b. Shabam _ Q and Shabila and Khuth am and Kinda and Hadramaut and the Azd,
one branch; Madhij and Himiyar and Hamdhan and their allies
^ Tabari II. p. 65 & Baladhuri, Futuh, p. 403 ff.
Tabari I, p. 2495 & Salah al CAlI, Tanzlmat, pp. 120-22.*
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 60
one branch; Tamim and the rest of the Rabbab and Hawazin one
branch; Asad and Ghatfan and Muharib and Nammlr and DubiCa
and Taghlib one branch; Iyad WaCk and °Abd al-Kais and Ahl
Hajar and al-Hamra, one branch.""^ • • This passage is important apart from the information
on tribal relationships which it provides. The phrase
describing Koda°a that I have translated, "... they were at
i r • that time ( >Xus ? )" , suggests
that the narrator, Shaif b. Umar, may have been aware of
the shifting composition of tribal groups and the changes in 16 — tribal rubrics that accompanied this process. Ziyad was
responsible for an important reorganization of the administra
tion of Iraq and the east. Basra was divided into five
tribal divisions. Each individual unit was known as a khums.
The five akhmas were those of Tamim, Bakr, Azd, Abdulgais c— 17 — — and Ahl al Aliya. Ziyad became Viceroy of Iraq when Kufa
15 Tabari I, p. 2495. 16 An interesting example of the change in appella tion for a tribal alliance is the growth of the use of Nizar to designate a northern Arab tribal group, including Mudar and Rabi a. The use of this designation only becomes common after the battle of Marj Rahit when Mudar and Rabi a become allied. These two groups_had previously been considered un related. Later in Khorasan we find this name quite frequently in the inter-tribal struggles. For a discussion and biblio graphy on the emergence of the name Nizar, see Eli, s.v. Nizar b. Ma ad, (L. de la Vida).
^ S.A. al CAli, Tanzlmat, 1969, pp. 53.54.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 61
was added to his control in 50 A.H. Under his direction,
Kufa was divided into quarters, arbaC . Each of these
quarters was under the control of a highly regarded tribal 18 figure appointed by the government.
In the new organization system, each clan was made
to constitute an independent unit in the distribution of the
Cata'. As part of this administrative reorganization of
Irak, a large number of tribesmen and their families, from
both Basra and Kufa, were sent to Khorasan to maintain and
extend the Arab conquests in that region. 19
Another tribe that was split into several groups and
regrouped after the rise of Islim, was the Azd. Just as the
tribe of Bajila seems to have revived during the Arab con
quests, so the Azd settled in Basra where two of its sub
groups combined during the first century of the Hidjra and
became the rallying point for the southern Arab tribes in
Irak.T V 2 0
Throughout the Umayyad period the support of Arab
tribal leaders was of crucial importance in a military con
flict of any size or duration. In the series of battles be- c — — — tween the Abbasid army from Khorasan and the Umayyad forces,
18 Tabari II, p. 88.
■*" S.A. al CAli, Tanzimat, 1969, pp. 44, 49. 20 2 EI s.v. Azd, (G. Strenziok); C. Pellat, Milieu, pp. 23, 44, 157, 185, 196, 213, 267; S.A. al-CAli, Tanzimat. 2nd ed., pp. 44, 53, 54, 61, 120, 141.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 62
Q _ the Abbasid leaders sought to win the support of the tribes. — c Abu Ja far, seeking to win over the Yemenite tribal leaders,
who were the mainstay of the army of Ibn Hubaira, the Umayyad
governor of Irak, is reported to have written to these men 21 saying that they held the balance of power, c — The Abbasids were careful not to arouse tribal
feeling unnecessarily and when it was felt necessary to
execute Ibn Hubaira, following the defeat of the Umayyad
forces in Irak, they made certain that the execution was
carried out by a man from Ibn Hubaira1s tribe so that the 2 2 execution would not incite one tribe against another. ^
c — After the Abbasids came to power, they sought to
build an army whose first loyalty was to the ruling dynasty
and not to a tribe. To this end Abu Muslim's army was en
rolled by villages and not by tribes. Abu Muslim created a
new order in Khorasan by changing the enrollment of the men
of Khorasan from a tribal basis to one based on villages but
this change was primarily directed to securing the allegiance
of the Khorasanis to Abu Muslim himself, who as late as 131 2 A.H. was the only publicly proclaimed leaders of the movement.
pseudo Ibn Qutaiba, Kitab al-Imama wa al-Siyasa, Cairo, 1964, p. 241. 22 Baladhuri, Ansab, Reisulkuttap 598 MS, folios 789 A and B. 23 Tabari II, p. 1969. Guest, "A C o m of Abu Muslim", JRAS, 1932,*pp. 555-56. See Chapter 2.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 63
In the late Umayyad period Merwan b. Muhammad had
attempted to develop an army that was based on the local
settlements in northwestern Irak, but this attempt to create
a standing army outside the Arab tribal system did not 24 - succeed. Merwan b. Muhammad also is regarded as the man
who changed the battle order of the Muslim army from Sif to
Karaais.xr 2 5
One indication of the change in the basis of the Q _ army in the late Umayyad and early Abbasid period is the
changing background of the men who served as leader of the
sub-divisions of the army, qa1id (plural quwwad). The men
who held this position under the Umayyads are usually listed
with a name that includes a tribal nisba, while the men c — named as holding this post under the Abbasids have a place o g nisba. Another term that is employed to designate the
sub-commanders of the army, is the term Wujuh. This term is
24 - Tabari III, p. 40-42. The names given for the units_of Merwan's army_, al-Sahsahlyya, al-Rashidlyya, al- Muhamirra and al-Dukaniyya, are clearly not tribal rubrics but are derived, perhaps, from the villages in the Mosul region. These men were highly paid by Merwan for their services.
25 Tabari II, p. 1944. 26 c The ,Abbasid Quwwad were originally the leaders of cells of the Da wa in each settlement. When Abu al- Abbas went to Kufa before his proclamation news of his arrival was kept from the Quwwad in Kufa for 2 months. Jahshiyari, Wuzara', p. 85.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 64
usually applied to the leaders of troops in a particular
locality. ^
The system that Abu Muslim employed of registering
the men of Khorasan by villages and by this, seeking to
develop their loyalty as troops to him as commander, was to
characterize the CAbbasid armies up to the time of the civil
war which followed the death of Harun al-Rashid. Jahiz
describes the Mawall as one of the main constituents of the
CAbbasid armies.^® The loyalty of the CAbbasid Mawali
soldiers was to their commander who was in turn linked to the
Caliph as his personal Mawla. During the civil war between
al-Amln and al-Ma'mum, Muhammad b. Yazld al-Muhallabl, who
was governor of al-Ahwaz for al-Amln, is reported to have
been promised by his Mawall that they would go into battle
and die for him for they would curse the world and life after
(his defeat and death).
To a large degree, status in Islamic society in the
early Umayyad period was determined by a person's tribal
origin and the influence of his kin group in the area where
he lived. The chronicles provide a short-hand definition of
status. Those who were sharlf (noble) were those who had ahl
27 The term Wujuh is discussed by N. Fries, Das Heereswesen der Araber, Kiel, 1921, p. 16, who concludes that this term was applied to the leaders of troops from a region or a town. 28 — — — Jahiz, "Manaqib al-Turk", apud Rasa'il, Cairo, 1964, pp. 9-11. 29 Tabari III, p. 854.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 65
(kin) and asl (a prominent tribal origin)."^0 A man might
also be sharlf in relation to his clan if he had a position 31 of leadership within it. c — Those who were not noble were described as the du afa1 32 c - and mas akin. Du afa1 can perhaps be taken to mean weak
genealogically, while masakin might refer to material poverty.
Whatever their exact meaning, it is interesting to note that
these two terms are still in use in Aden where they are ap
plied to those Arabs who come from outside Aden and have no 33 connection with the locally powerful tribes. The mechanism
of which new people were added to tribes was wala1.
In the Umayyad period those men who are described as
mawall of Arab tribes are usually converts to Islam from the
30 t- Tabari II, p. 1883, where the terms ahl and asl are used to describe the influential Syrians in Kufa. Ibn al Kalbi describes the important families of Kufa and Basra by saying, (Jamharat al Nasab, MS British Museum 1202, folio 162B). 31 - In describing $ man of Tayy, al Isfahani says _ _ _ ^ - j i3 \j> o j (Kitab al Aghani, Cairo 1971, Vol. 17, p. 259, line 10).
Ibn ACtham, Futuh, Vol. I, Folio 2R. 33 "Aden Protectorate", paper given by J. Field at the Middle Eastern History Seminar, 15 Jan., 1970, SOAS, unpublished.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 66
34 conquered population. Many of the men who held posts in - - - - 35 the Dawawin are described as tribal mawali. These tribal
mawali are distinct from those whom we find described as
mawall of particular individuals. A man described as a
mawla of an individual in the Umayyad period was usually a 36 c - former slave of that man. During the Abbasid period,
however, mawali who were full blooded, highly placed Arabs
served the caliphs as governors and generals. The category
of CAbbasid mawali are the mawali muwalah. These mawali
were allies or confederates of a patron but their relation
ship to the patron differed from that of the freedman. The
term muwalan signifies that this relationship was a mutual
alliance entered into voluntarily by both parties for mutual
assistance (tanasur). This contract is equated with hilf 3 7 and cahd in the sources.
The development of this system was closely linked
c — — with two other developments under the Abbasids, the Abna'
34 - t- At least some of_the mawali employed as troops_by Qutayba b. Muslim in Khorasan belonged to Tamim (Baladhuri, Futuh, p. 424). 35 See the second part of this study dealing with the bureaux of the Empire.
36 0£. cit. 37 Tyan, Institutions du droit publique musulman, Vol. I, p. 25-26, 36ff. Forand, "The Relation of the Slave and the Client to the Master or Patron in Medieval Islam," Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 2, 1971, p. 59.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 67
and the Wala' systems. The Abna1 were the descendants of the c — c c — members of the Abbasid Da wa who served the Abbasid rulers
as military commanders and governors. These men led troops — 38 who came themselves to be called Abna1. These troops had
an important role in the civil war between al-Amln and al- I _ Mamun, where they were a decisive factor in the success of
the latter. Prior to this in the reign of al-Mansur, some
of the Abna1 were linked to the CAbbasid Caliphs by Wala1
and they are described as Mawla Amir al-Muminln. For the
first time in the reign of al-Mansur coins were struck with
the names of full blooded arabs who were serving the Caliph - 39 as governors describing them as Mawla Amir al-Muminin.
This is the explanation of the passage attributed to al-Mansur
in his testament to his son, Muhammad, who became al-Mahdl.
Al-Mansur claimed that he had gathered together more Mawali 40 than any Calipxi before him.
38 — A£ the time of the civil war, troops of Abna' were ledcby Abd Allah b. Humayd b. Kahtaba and al-Husein b. All b. Asa b-cMahan. Bo£h men were grandsons of important members of the Abbasid Da w a . Tabari III, pp. 840, 844. 39 The British Museum Collection of Oriental Coins contains three coins struck in the name of Humayd b. Kahtaba. a full blooded_Arab and son of a leader of the Dajfa, with the title Mawla Amir al-Muminin. On the basis of style these coins appear to have been struck in the Jazira where Humayd was governor for a short period under al-Mansur.
^ Tabari III, p. 444.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 68
c — The Abbasid Caliphs' employment of men of humble and
non-Arab background as officials and the designation of full-
blooded Arabs so employed as Mawali of the Caliph, was a
reflection of a change in the way in which the Empire was
ruled. The Umayyad Caliphs had had to deal with Arab tribes,
playing one faction off against another and always being
careful not to lose the support of too many tribal groups.
The CAbbasids had to contend with the existing tribal
structure also. An important Umayyad governor could not be
executed by a member of an opposing tribe that supported the Q___ _ Abbasids but had to be eliminated by a member of his own c 41 tribe who supported the Abbasids. In the Caliphate of
al-Mansur, the Army was reformed at one point so that the
different units, some of which were tribal, would form an 42 effective counter to each other.
In spite of this the CAbbasid Caliphs attempted to
develop links of clientship between themselves and the men
who served them as governors, generals and bureaucratic
officeholders. This desire to bring members of the ruling
groups more directly under the control of the Caliph was
^ Vide Infra, p. 1C1. 42 Tabari III, p. 366, "And the army was divided so that_Mudar £>ecame a branch and the Yemeniyya another; the Khorasanis a branch, and Rabi a a branch. Qatham said to Abu al-Ja far_, 'I have divided your army and made it into factions (Ahzab), each fearing to strike against you knowing that it would be struck by another.'"
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 69
accompanied by the construction, in the reign of al-Mansur,
of Madlnat al-Salam, a city wherein the various offices and
officers of the impire lived in close promixity to the Caliph 43 and his court. Even though the number of full-blooded
Arabs employed in positions that had been reserved to them
under the Umayyads did not decline significantly, and the
Arab tribes continued to be important in political affairs,
the Caliphs were seeking to develop a new method of control
for the men that they appointed to high positions.
In the reign of al-Mahdi a number of Mawali of that
Caliph held posts as governors in the Empire. The posts they
held in the Persian Gulf region and Fars were not those that
had traditionally been held by members of the Arab aristoc
racy but were posts that had been filled, in the Umayyad 44 period, by appointees of the Viceroy of Irak. The estab
lishment of the cAbbasid capital in Irak and the CAbbisid
desire for more direct control over the appointment of
officials led al-Mahdi to appoint his Mawali these posts. — c — During the reign of al-Mahdi the Abbasid family
came to feel increasingly discomfitted by the growth of
43 On the foundation and plan of Baghdad see the articles by J. D. Lassner listed in the Bibliography. Lassner has published a^book on the foundation and organization of Baghdad in the wAbbasid period, The Topography of Baghdad in the Early Middle Ages, Detroit, 1970.
44 Tabari III, p. 521.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 70
— — c power of the Mawali, the descendants of members of the Da wa — — c c — and the men of Khorasan. Abd al-Samd b. Ali, a prominent Q _ member of the Abbasid family, is reported to have complained
to al-Mahdi about the power and preferment given to the
Mawali. The Caliph countered by saying that the Mawali were
deserving of the patronage they received for their loyal ser-
vice 4to. vhim. 45
Al Jahiz an essayist who flourished in the Abbasid
court circles at Baghdad in the early decades of the third
century Hijra sprinkled his writings with derisive remarks
about the Mawali. "Hence the mawali say: Because we pre
viously /belonged to/ the non-Arabs we are nobler than the
Arabs, and because we now live among the Arabs we are nobler
than the non-Arabs; the non-Arabs have only the past, and the
Arabs have only the present, whereas we have both properties
at once; and those who have two properties are superior to
those who have only one. God has made the non-Arab maul a
an Arab by virtue of his clientship, as He made the ally of
Quraish* a Quraishite by virtue of his alliance and Ishmael
an Arab after being a non-Arab. Had the Prophet not said:
'Ishmael was an Arab', he could only be a non-Arab in our • eyes, for the non-Arab cannot become an Arab or vice versa;
and we know that Ishmael became an Arab after being a non-
Arab, simply because the Prophet said so. Hence we see how
45 Tabari III, p. 531.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 71
much weight to /325/ attach to the hadlths 'The Maula of a
tribe is a part of it' and 'Clientship is kinship'.
... The mawali express sundry other opinions, which
we have reported in their proper place . . . What could be
more vexing than to find your slave claiming that he is nobler
than you, while in the same breath admitting that he acquired 46 this nobility when you emancipated him!"
The question of whether the Mawali came to be more
prominent in the military and administrative cadres of the
Islamic Empire following the cAbbasid Revolution is therefore
not as straightforward as it seems. On one hand, an impor
tant constituent of the °Abbasid armies were the Mawali.
whose allegiance was to their commander. This was a change
from the situation in the Umayyad period when the word
Mawali was often employed for men who supported one party or
another in a battle, but the word did not always reflect the
servile status and selfless devotion to a particular commander — — c that characterized the Mawali troops in the Abbasid period. c — On another level we find that the Abbasids employed
more men described as Mawali as governors and military com
manders than the Umayyads had. This is the result of two
things: the fact that the Abbasid Caliphs did, indeed,
employ more men who did not have full membership in an Arab
A 0 —______Jahiz "Al Nabita" apud Rasa1il, Cairo, 1964, Vol. II, p. 21 ff.* Translated by C. Pellat The Life and Works of Jahi_z, London, 1970, p. 86.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 72
tribe in positions that had rarely if ever been open to such
men previously; and that the title of Mawla came to be ap
plied to full members of Arab tribes who served the cAbbasids
as governors. In both instances, men who were full members
of Arab tribes and those who were not, became personal
Mawali of the cAbbasid Caliphs.
Therefore, is it possible to speak of a revolutionary
change in the operation of government under the CAbbasids,
the development of a system of personal ties (wala*) between
the caliphs and the men who served them in political posts?
It is not, however, legitimate to speak of the rise of a
homogenous class of men, mawali, to positions of eminence Q _ under the Abbasid regime because, as we have seen, there
were at least three very different groups of men who were
described by this title during the cAbbasid period: the
lowest grade of soldiers; the non-Arab tribal members who
held political posts; and the full-blooded Arab who served c — the Abbasids as governors or military commanders.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE ADMINISTRATIVE CADRES OF THE ISLAMIC EMPIRE
Some of the earliest products of Muslim Histori
ography dealt with a particular battle or those men who
filled particular offices. The Kitab al-Fihrist of Ibn al-
Nadlm contains a list of the writings of al-Mada'ini (a. 215
A.H.). This includes such works as Kitab Umal al-Nabi c — — — c — al? Sadakat and Kitab Umal al-Hind, which were probably
little more than lists of names.^
Although many of these early works have not been
preserved, much of the information they contained has been
used in the compilation of later works, sometimes with
acknowledgement, sometimes without. Tabari's Tarikh con
tains a list of the names of those who served as secretaries
to the Caliphs and as heads of the Dawawin from the Caliphate
- - - 2 of Abu Bakr to that of Harun al-Rashid. No source is given
for this list. Muhammad b. Habib’s Kitab al-Muhabbar is
simply a compilation of lists that defies classification but
was probably intended to supply the educated man with odd
bits of knowledge so that he could show himself to be learned
in many things. Preceding a list of members of the Arab
aristocracy (ashraf) who lost an eye in battle, is a list of
the men who served the Caliphs as Huj jab (chancellors) from
Ibn al-Nadim, Kitab al-Fihrist, pp. 89-115.
^ Tabari II, pp. 836-43.
73
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 74
the time of the Prophet to the Caliphate of al-Mutawakkil 3 _ (232-247 A.H.). Ibn Habib also includes a list of the men
who were in charge of the Caliph's Shurta (police troops) c — from the time of Uthman to al-Mutawakkil and a list of mem
bers of the ashraf who served as secretaries to the Caliphs 4 in the Umayyad period. The author's sources for these lists
are not given. Tabari, whose history is arranged annalisti-
cally, giving each year's events separately, concludes each
year with a survey of the holders of the major governorships,
often mentioning the differences between his sources and
giving the impression that his list is based on a comparison
of all the available sources.^ Except for the list of
secretaries mentioned above, names of minor governors and
most of the heads of the Dawawln are seldom found in the text
of Tabari's Tarlkh.
Yackubl, who arranged his history to include all the
events of a Caliph's reign in one section, included a list
of the men who held the post of Sahib al Shurta, Sahib al-
Haras and Hajib for each Caliph. Khalifa b. Khayyat's Kitib
al-Tarikh is one of the earliest histories arranged on an
_ Ibn Habib, Kitab al-Muhabbar, pp. 258-60. On Ibn Habib and his works see I. Lichtenstadter, "Muhammad Ibn Habib and his Kitab al-Muhabbar", JRAS, 1939, pp. 1-39. 4 - - Ibn Habib, Kitab al-Muhabbar, pp. 373-79.
5 C.f., Tabari II, pp. 1394, 1561, 1563.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 75
annalistic basis.^ Under the year in which each Caliph died,
Ibn Khayyat lists the local governors in the Empire and the
men who held the major posts in the Caliph's entourage; Sahib • • al-Haras, Hajib. Sahib al-Shurta, Sahib al-Khatim, Katib al-
Rasa'il, Katib al-Kharaj wa al Jund, Katib bait al-Mal wa al-
Khaza*in and the local Kudat. Ibn Khayyat1s lists are the
most complete that we have but they are not without gaps.
This work was an important source for later compilations such
as Ibn CAsakir's Tarlkh Dimashq and al-Dhahabi's necrologically
arranged Tarlkh al-Islam. Both these men quote Khalifa b. - 7 Khayyat frequently. Of the remaining gaps, the most impor
tant are the missing lists of officials under Yazld b.
Mu C “awiya and his successor, Marwan b. al-Hakam. 8
Al-Baladhuri, in his still largely unpublished work
Ansab al-Ashraf, provides information on the Caliph's
officials and governors as part of the genealogical article
6 — A unique manuscript of Ibn Khayyat's Kitab al- Tarikh has been recently_discovered and published by two rival editors: Al cUmari, 2 vols., Najaf 1386/1967 and S. Zakkar, Damascus, 1967.
7c-Al Umari in his edition of Ibn Khayyat's - Kitab- al- Tarikh hag filled some gaps in_the text with quotations drawn from ibn Asakir and al-Dhahabi.
® Ibn Khayyat mentions that Yazld b. Mu°awiya's son did not change any of his father's officials, but no names are mentioned, Ibn Khayyat, Kitab al-Tarlkh, Najaf, 1967, p. 250).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 76
9 on each Caliph. Much of the information on officeholders
in the Ansab al-Ashraf is attributed to al-Mada1in i . ^
9 _ A complete copy of Baladhuri1s Ansab al-Ashraf exists in manuscript in Reisulkuttap 597, 598 (Istanbul). This is the manuscript I have used. A table of contents of this manuscript was published by M. Hamidullah in the Bulletin d 1Etudes Orientales, 14, Damascus, 1952-54, pp. 197-211. Another complete manuscript exists in Rabat Jalawl 7, noted by F. Sezgin, Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums, Leiden, 1967, Band I, p. 320. The relationship between these two manuscripts is discussed by M. Hamidullah in Revue de 1'Institut des Manuscrits Arabes, VI, 1960, Cairo, pp. 211- 288. Incomplete manuscripts exist in Paris and Berlin. The Paris manuscript is a nineteenth century copy of the Istanbul manuscript made for C. Schefer. The Berlin fragment was published by Ahlwardt, Anonyme Arabische Chronik, Band XI, 1883 Greifswald, with a tentative attribution to al-Baladhurl.
Editions of portions of this important work were made by S. D. Goitein, Jerusalem, 1936; M. Schlossinger, Jerusalem, 19^8 and 1970. An Italian translation of the portion on Mo awiya was published by 0. Pinto and G._Levi della Vida, II Califfo Moawiya I secondo il Kitab Ansab al-Ashraf, Rome, 1938. The earliest portion of the manuscript, on the life of the Prophet, was published by M. Hamidullah, Cairo, 1959. All of these editions were based on the Istanbul codex.
C.f., Baladhuri. Ansab al-Ashraf, IV, p. 60 (text ed. Jerusalem, 1938) and Ansab al-Ashraf, MS. Reisulkuttap 598, p. 236.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 77
The high degree of agreement between the lists of officials
and governors found in Khalifa b. Khayyat1s Kitab al-Tarlkh
and in Baladhuri's Ansib al-Ashraf and the fact that al-
Mada' ini was one of Khalifa b. Khayyat's teachers suggests
that they both may have drawn their information from al- --11 - c- - - Mada'mi. The Kitab al- Uyun wa al-Hada'ik fi Akhbar al-
Haka' ik contains lists of Kuttab and Hujjib of the Caliphs
from al-Walld b. cAbd al-Milik to al-Muctasim. This work
quotes al-Madi'inl several times as a source. His works may
have been the origin of information in the Kitib al-CUyun c — 12 — on Umayyad and Abbasid officials. The Kuttab listed in — c — the Kitab al- Uyun are those who served as private secretaries
to the Caliphs and not the heads of Dawiwln.
Tabari lists al-Wikidl and al-Madi'inl as sources 13 for his lists of governors. These lists of governors,
judges, secretaries and leaders of the Pilgrimage that are
such an important source for understanding the composition
of administrative cadres in the Islamic Empire during the
first and second century of the Hidjra. may be derived from
^ The_lists of al-Baladhuri do not however include the Caliph's Hajib as do the lists of Ibn Khayyat. 12 . - c Kitab al- Uyun's index lists all the instances where al-Mada'ini is cited. He is never, however, specifi cally cited for information on officials.
Tabari II, pp. 1561, 1563.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 78
14 the archives that we know existed in the Umayyad period.
The Kitab al-Wuzara1 wa al-Kuttab by al-Jahshiyari is
an important source for information on the Kuttab (scribes)
of the Dawawln and the functions performed in these offices.
Jahshiyari's lists are an important check on those of
Khalifa b. Khayyat. Ibn Khayyat provides nothing but a list
of names that sometimes overlaps from one reign to another
without any clear distinction as to when one man's term ends
and another begins. Jahshiyari adds anecdotes about most
individuals and includes information on the heads of the
provincial Dawawln. Jahshiyari was himself a Hajib to two
Wazlrs in the fourth century A.H. Only the portion of his
work concerning the first two centuries of the Hidjra has
survived.
The Akhbar al-Kudat of WakI deals only with the
office of Kadi. It is a list of all the Kudat in the Islamic
Empire up to the time of the author (d. 306 A.H.) and it in
cludes some information on the legal statements attributed
to these men. The desire to compile lists of officials who
held certain offices in the Islamic Empire had led to some
distortion in the sources. Goitein has discussed the tendency
of writers in the third and fourth century A.H. to project the
office of the Wazlr back to the beginning of the CAbbasid
14 References to these archives have been collected by A. Grohmann, Allgemeine Einfuhrung in die Arabischen Papyri, pp. 27-30.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 79
period when the office did not exist.
The terms Hajib and Haras are used to describe the
positions of men who worked with the Prophet in the Kitab al-
Tarlkh of Khalifa Ibn Khayyat. This same author does however
provide information to clarify the real origin of these
offices. 16
Goitein, Studies in Islamic History, p. 173. 16 — — —■ — Ibn Khayyat, Kitab al-Tarikh, Najaf, 1967, pp. 64, 130, 218.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. II. One of the commonplaces of early Islamic history is
the series of stories that depict a sudden and dramatic shift
from Greek or Persian to Arabic as the language used in of
ficial records. The story for the eastern portion of the
Empire is usually told that a certain Persian named Zaidan
Farrukh, who was the head of the Diwan. was very smug about
his ascendancy over the Arabs and their inability to handle
administrative detail through their ignorance of his language — c and his methods of accounting. An Arab named Salih b. Abd
al-Rahman came to be friendly with Zaidan and declared to him
one day that it was possible to convert the Diwan into
Arabic. Zaidan did not believe him. At this point the
stories do not agree but some narrators would have us be
lieve that the Arab was able to demonstrate to the Persian
bureaucrats that the Diwan could be translated into Arabic 17 and the disconsolate Persians were left unemployed.
For the Greek portion of the Empire we have the story
of the scribe who urinated in an inkwell and so infuriated
the Caliph that all the Greeks were put out of work by the — 18 change of the Diwan from Greek to Arabic. These stories
bring out several points. First of all, the change of
17 - - Jahshiyari, Al-Wuzara'wa al-Kuttab, p. 38. Baladhuri, Futuh, ed. de Goeje, pp. 300-01. 18 — — — Baladhuri, Futuh, ed. de Goeje, p. 193. Sprengling, "From Persian to Arabic, AJSL, LVI, 1939, pp. 175-224, 324-36.
80
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 81
language was probably not accomplished so quickly as these
stories would have us believe. The fact that the man who
took over the Diwan from the Persian in the east had been a
good friend of the Persians suggests that perhaps he had
spent some time in the Diwan learning its operation so that
it could be converted to Arabic. The next point to be made
is that this process of Arabisation was probably only a
matter of changing the language of the government records.
The personnel who took over from the Persians and the Greeks
have by and large Arabic names and seem to be Muslims but
they are not linked to tribal groups. In Arabic a man's
name has several parts: the individual's name, his father's
name and usually a nisba or adjective that, in the first
century A.H., was primarily an indication of tribal connec
tion. The officials who held positions in the Piwin after
the language change, do not seem to have a tribal nisba as
part of their name. The other portion of their names is also
interesting since new converts to Islam seem to have sought 19 names that seemed to them very Islamic. An interesting
19 Names that were derived from phrases in the Koran and the nascent body of Hadith seem to predominate among the recently converted in the first century A.H. On the other hand, those whose ancestry was firmly rooted in Arabia seem to have continued to use names that were part of their family tradition. For a discussion of converts' patronymics in the Ottoman Empire see V. Menage, "Seven Ottoman Documents", apud S. Stern, Documents from Islamic Chancelleries, pp. 112 ff. Also L. Caetani, Onomasticon Arabicorun, Introduction G. Gabrieli.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 82
example of this is the man who took over the Diwan in the
eastern portion of the Empire. His name was Salih b. Abd
al-Rahman. The fact that the name given as his father's
name might be considered very Islamic and that he was a
freedman of the Banu Tamlm provide a hint, Baladhuri pro
vides us with the rest. This man's father was a Persian
- - 20 captured at Nashrudh in Sistan and converted to Islam.
He must have been a person of some standing to obtain a place
in Baladhuri's book of conquests. Perhaps he was one of the
Persian Dihkans or notables who served as tax collectors in
the Persian provinces.
Both these stories are excellent examples of the
Muslim historiographical technique of providing one dramatic
incident to explain a change that must have had much more
planning and thought than the chroniclers would have us be
lieve .
The posts in the bureaucracy of the Empire that re
quired training in finance or secretarial skill were of
course usually filled from that group of people, the descen
dants of the bureaucrats of earlier empires, who were willing
to undergo the training necessary to carry out the duties of
such a position. After the conquests, those subject peoples
and their descendants who could not hold positions such as
governorships or army commands, continued to undergo the
20 Baladhuri, Futuh, ed. de Goeje, p. 393.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 83
training necessary to hold posts in the bureaucracy.
An even more important factor in the continued
tenure of such posts by the conquered people and their de
scendants was the fact that it was considered unsuitable for
an Arab to hold such a post. Tabari relates the story of an
Arab that Khalid al-Qasrl had trained to read and write.
The man was then sent to al-Rayy to take charge of the Kharaj
of that town. But the governor of the town refused to accept 21 the man and sent him back to the Viceroy of Irak. The fact
that an Arab was by definition a member of a tribe made it
difficult for a disciplinary action to be carried out
against him if he were a member of the bureaucracy. Ubaid
Allah b. Ziyad is reported to have refused to appoint an Arab
to a post in the bureaucracy because he would have been un
able to punish him if he committed any wrongdoing, without 22 alienating that man's tribe.
^ Tabari II, pp. 1468-71.
^ Baladhuri, Ansab, 1938, Pt IV, 2, pp. 109, 1. 18.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. III. The Hijib
The Arabic verb hajaba means to cover, protect or
seclude. During most of the Umayyad period the Hajib was a
personal servant of the Caliph whose primary responsibility
was to determine who saw the Caliph in his chambers.
Khalifa b. Khayyat and Muhammad b. Habib report that the
Prophet's Hajib was Ansa, his freedman (mawla), and that he - 23 admitted people to the Prophet (adhin). This description
of the Hajib and his function in the time of the Prophet is
the interpolation of historians writing at the end of the
second century A.H., who projected their knowledge of the
function and title of this official back to a much earlier
period. The man listed as Hajib for Abu Bekr has left no
trace in the chronicles. It is only with cUmar and his
Hajib that information becomes available on the men wTho held c c — this post. Ibn Sa d provides information on Umar’s Hajib, 24 Yarfa', and his activities. Another early source, Kitab
al-Amwal by Abu cUbaid al-Kasim b. Sail am (d. 224 A.H.),
quotes Malik b. Aws as the source for a description of the
function of the Hajib in the time of the Caliph CUmar.
During an audience with the Caliph, ". . . 1 was seated in
the presence of the Caliph when his Hajib Yarfa' came and
23 - - Ibn Khayyat, Kitab al-Tarikh, Najaf, 1967^ p. 64; Ibn Habib, KitAb al-Muhabbar, p. 258. E . I . ^ / s.v. Hajib. Ibn *Abd al Rabbih Al cIqd al Farid, Cairo, 1886, Vol. I, p. 20 ff. 24 c - - Ibn Sa d, Kitab al-Tabakat, Leiden, 1905, p. 61.
84
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 85
c — c asked the Caliph, 'Do you wish me to admit Uthman, Abd al- — c c — c Rahman b. Auf, al-Zubair b. al- Awwam and Sa d!1 The
Caliph said yes and they were admitted." After they were
admitted the Hajib- repeated the process for others. 25
During the period of the Rashldun and the Umayyad Caliphs,
the Hajib is always described as the mawla of the Caliph. Q «_ In the Abbasid period there were important changes
in the position of the Hajib in relation to other members of
the imperial bureaucracy and in the personal circumstances
of the men and their relatives holding this post. In the
reign of al-Mansur, the Hajib AcIsa b. Rawda was replaced by —c c — — al-Rabi , who was also a mawla of the Caliph. Al-Ya kubi
adds that al-Rabi— ctook charge of most of the affairs of the
Caliph ( o j } )-26
Al-Mansur actually entrusted al-Rabi with the supervision
of the royal household (nafakatubu) and the act of submitting c — state affairs to himself ( ard alayhi), services that al- - - 27 Jahshiyari described as the "Vizierate".
Al-Rablc,s great-grandfather was named Kaisan, known
as Abl Farwa. He was the mawla of al-Harith al-Hifar, a
25 - c - - Abu Ubaid, Kitab al-Amwal, Cairo, n.d., p. 10.
^ Yaijubi, Tarlkh, Beirut, Vol. 2, p. 390. 27 Goitein, Studies m Islamic History, Leiden, 1966, p. 177.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 86
q _ 0 _ 28 c grave digger, who was the mawla of Uthman b. Affan. Abd — c — — Allah b. Abi Farwa, a companion of Abd al-Malik b. Marwan c and Mus ab b. al-Zubair as a youth, was made secretary to c Mus ab b. al-Zubair on the latter's appointment as governor 29 - - c of Irak. Al-Jahshiyari relates the story of Mus ab's gift
of a valuable jewel to Ibn Abi Farwa and claims that this
gift was the foundation of Ibn Abi Farwa's wealth and that 30 c of his offspring. Abd Allah's son, Muhammad, is also — — 31 Tc mentioned by al-Jahshiyari. Al-Rabi 's father, Yunis, is
described by al-Fakhil as the son of Muhammad b. Abi Farwa.
^ T C Al-Fakhrl adds that al-Rabi was the offspring of Yunis' t C union with a slave woman. Yunis reportedly denied al-Rabi ,
who was then sold into slavery, finally becoming the property
of the CAbbasid family.33
28 — -r — _ Jahshiyari, Al-Wuzara' wa al-Kuttab. p. 44. Ibn al-Tiktaki, Al-Fakhri fl al-Adab al-Sultanlyya wa al-Duwal al-isiamiyya, Beirut, 1960, p. 177. 29 — Jahshiyari, Op. Cit. , p. 144.
30 Ibid, p. 144.
31 Ibid. p. 45. 32 - - Ibn al-Tiktaki, Al-Fakhri, p. 177. Although this information comes from a late source, it might represent a family tradition handed down through the family of al-Juvainl, who was reported to be a descendant of al-Rabi 's son, al- Fadl, and with whose works Ibn al-Tiktaki was familiar.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 87
—c — Al-Rabi and his family held the office of Hajib
from the latter part of the Caliphate of al-Mansur until
that of Harun al-Rashid. During this period they were able
to hold other posts along with the office of Hajib. In the
Caliphate of Harun, the Barmakids held the Wazlrate and also
are reported to have held the post of Hajib. With the sudden —c demise of the Barmakids, the family of al-Rabi returned to
the office of Hajib.
Al-Jahiz (d. 255 A.H.) wrote an essay entitled Kitab
al-Hujab, which is a collection of anecdotes and advice about 33 the Hajibs culled from a wide range of sources. This work
includes information on the function of the Hajib in the
CAbbasid period. Jahiz quotes Sahl b. Harun's advice to his
son Fadl, Wazir of al-Ma'mun, that the Hajib should be one
of the rulers outstanding men so that he would be capable of
dealing with those who came to call on the Caliph. The Hajib
was to arrange them according to their proper places in the
protocol and then to allow them to enter in the proper order.
Thus the Hajib would win the confidence of all those who
called on the Caliph that they would not be put in a place
below their status or kept from any of those things that were 34 the privilege of their rank. This advice, of course,
33 - - Published in Rasa'il al-Jahiz, ed. Harun, Cairo, 1964, Vol. 2, p. 29. 34 - Rasa'il al-Jahiz, ed. Harun, 1964, pp. 38-39.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 88
applies to the end of the second century and the early part
of the third A.H., when the important governorships and other
offices that had been under the exclusive control of the Arab
aristocracy were no longer. And the Hajib, a mawla of the
Caliph, would have been of the same social standing as many
of the Imperial officials.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 89
Men who held the post of Hajib under the Umayyads
Period Ha jib Other Information Source
Muhammad An as a Prophet's freedman (Mawla) I.K. 64 Abyssinian I.K. 678 Abysinian Mother Persian Father Tab.1/1780 A slave, muwallad, brought up among the Arabs of Sarat. He was freed by Muhammad. I.S. 1/2, 180
Abu Bekr Rashid Caliph's freedman I.K. 91
CUmar Yarfa' Caliph's freedman I.K. 130 The Caliph asked him to take money to the treasury on one occasion I.S. V, 61
c — Uthman Humran b. Aban I.K. 157 Mawla of Uthman, from the Christian Banu Nammir of Taghlib I. al-Kalbi Jamh MS. B.M. 232 b
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 90
Hajib - cont.
Period Ha jib Other Information Source
CAlI Kanbar (Abu Yazid) Caliph's freedman I.K. 184 Caliph's servant (ghulam) Tab. 1/3257
Muc awiya Abu Ayyub Caliph's mawla I.K. 218 Sa~d Caliph's mawla Tab. 11/205 Rib ah Caliph's mawla Yak. 11/237 Abu Ayyub Caliph's mawla I. Hab. 259 The sources do not; agree on his name but they all describe him as a mawla of the Caliph.
Yazid b. Muv. c- awiya . Safwan Caliph's mawla I.Hab. 259 Yak. 11/253
Marwan b. Abu Nahshal al-Hakam al-Aswad Caliph's mawla I.K. 259 Abu Sahl al-Aswad Caliph's mawla On the marg: of the MS. of the above, & Yak. 11/258
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 91
Hajib - cont. •
Period Hajib Other Information Source
Abu Manhal al-Aswad Caliph's mawla I. Hab. 259
CAbd al- Malik Abu Yusuf Caliph's mawla I.K. 302 I. Hab. 259
Al-Walld SaCid Caliph's mawla I.K. 317 b. CAbd al Malik Mohammed b. Abl Suhail Caliph's mawla I.K. 317 Khalid C al iph' s mawl a I. Hab. 259
Sulaiman Abu CUbaid Caliph’s mawla I.K. 325 b. CAbd I. Hab. 259 al-Malik Abu cUbaida Caliph's mawla Yak. 11/299
CUmar b. °Abd al- c, . Aziz Habish Caliph's mawla I.K. 332 I. Hab. 259
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 92
Hajib - cont. •
Period Hajib Other Information Source
Yazid b. Khalid Caliph's mawla I.K. 344 CAbd al- Yak. 11/314 Malik Sa°id C al iph' s mawl a I. Hab. 259
Hisham b. Ghalib b. CAbd al- MasCud Caliph's mawla I.K. 370 Malik I. Hab. 259 al-Harlsh Caliph's mawla Yak. 11/327
, c . , Al-Walld A isa b. b. Yazid Muksam none I.K. 386 Katlrl Caliph's mawla I. Hab. 259 Katin C aliph's mawla Yak. 11/334
Yazid b. Text not clear al-Walld possibly Katin. Caliph's mawl a I.K. 389 Katin Caliph's mawla I. Hab. 259 Jablr Caliph's mav/la Yak. 11/335
Yazid b. al-Walld was Caliph for five months.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 93
Hajib - cont.
Period Hajib Other Information Source
Ibrahim Katin Listed as Hajib of Caliph • • • • b. al- Yazid b. al-Walld I. Hab. 259 Walld
Ibrahim b. al-Walid was in control of Damascus for only four months before Merwan b. Muhammad captured the city and became Caliph.
Merwan Saklab, Caliph's mawla I.K. 433 b. known as I. Hab. 259 Muhammad Miklas (Saklab is listed as head of the Haras - Yak. II/ 346-7). Sulaim Caliph's mawla Yak. II/ 346-7
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 94
Men who held the post of Hajib under the Abbasids
Period Hajib Other Information Source
— — c Abu al- Abu Umar Caliph's mawla I.K. 440 c — Abbas al- Saffah Abu Ghassal On the mar gin of the MS. of the above Abu Ghassan Salih b. Haitham Caliph's mawla I. Hab. 259 Abu Ghassan Caliph's mawla Yak. 11/361
Abu JaCfar __ Q al-Mansur A isa b. Najih Caliph’s mawla followed by al-RabIc Caliph's mawla I.K. 467 0 A isa b. Najih Caliph's mawla with Abu al-Khasib, Caliph's mawla who became Hajib on the Q * death of A isa. Associated with Abu _ 0 al-Khasib was al-Rabi , mawla of the family of Abu Farwa. Al-Rablcbecame Hajib on the death of Abu al-Khasib. I. Hab. 259 0 A isa b. Rawda Caliph's mawla followed by — 0 al-Rabi , Caliph's mawla who took charge of most of the Caliph's affairs Yak. 11/389
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 95
Hajib - cont.
Period Hajib Other Information Source
Abu Fadl — C al-Rabi b. Yunis b. Muhammad b. Kaisanl Mawla of al-Mansur Jah. index
Muhammad al-Mahdl al-RabiC Caliph's mawla I. Hab. 259 al-RabiC followed by —c Hasan b. Rabi Caliph's mawla I.K. 475 Al-RabiC Caliph's mawla Yak. 11/401
Musa al- Hadl al-Fadl b. al-RabiC Also served as wazir I.K. 480 al-RabIC I. Hab. 260 al-Fadl b. al-RabiC Also in charge of Musa's affairs Yak. 11/406
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 96
Hajib - cont.
Period Hajib Other Information Source
Harun al Rashid Bashir b. Maimun Caliph's mawla I.K. 502 followed by Muhammad b. Khalid b. Barmak I.K. 502 followed by al-Fadl b. al-RabiC I.K. 502 Bishr b. Maimun Caliph's mawla I. Hab. 260 and with him Muhammad b. Khalid b. Barmak followed by al-Fadl b. al-Rabi° I. Hab. 260 al-Fadl b. al-RabIC Took over the affairs of Harun following the fall of the Barmakids Yak. 11/429
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. IV. The Sahib al-Haras • • • Information about the men who held the position of
Sahib al-Haras during the first and second centuries of the
Hidjra is found in Ibn Khayyat's Kitab al-Ta'rlkh in the
lists of officials given under the year of each Caliph's c — — — death. Al-Ya kubi lists the Sahib al-Haras in his history
at the end of his article on each Caliph. Al-Baladhuri
includes the names of the men who served as Sahib al Haras
in some of the genealogical articles on the Caliphs in his
Ansab al-Ashraf.
The Arabic verb harasa means to guard, to watch or
to control. Ibn Khayyat uses this verb to describe the
action of those who guarded the Prophet during some of the 35 - important early battles. The office of Sahib al-Haras as
part of the Caliph's entourage originated in the Caliphate C— — — c— of Mo awiya. Ibn Khayyat and Tabari state that Mo awiya was 35 the first Caliph to have a Sahib al-Haras. Ibn al-Tiktaki, ^ » • • • C— after stating that Mo awiya was the first to include the
Maksura in a Mosque so the Caliph could pray by himself in • • C— — safety, mentions that Mo awiya had the Sahib al-Haras stand
at his head with a sword because he feared that what had be
fallen CAli would befall him.^7
^ Ibn Khayyat, p. 64.
36 — Ibid, p. 218 & Tabari, Series 2, p. 205.
^7 Ibn Tiktaki: Al Fakhri, p. 106.
97
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 98
The offices of Hajib. Sahib al-Haras and Sahib al- • • • m » « Shurta all came to be part of the retinue of the major
governors as well as the Caliph during the Umayyad period.
The Hajib and the Sahib al-Haras represented the minimum • • • • retinue for a ruler. At the time of the appearance of the
°Abbasid Da°wa in Khorasan al-Mada'Ini describes the low
opinion the Umayyad officials in Khorasan had of Abu Muslim
because he sought to lead a revolt against the Umayyads but — — 38 he himself did not even have a Sahib al-Haras or a Hajib.
Later, when he captured Merw, Abu Muslim appointed a Sahib 39 al-Haras.
That the Haras was a trusted part of the personal
retinue of the Caliph is confirmed by several things. The
last Umayyad Caliph, Merwan b. Muhammad, dispatched two men
from his Haras to search for the body of the rebel leader
al-Dahak b. Kais on the darkened battlefield with lanterns • . and candles so that he could be certain that reports of his 40 c death were true. Earlier Abd al-Malik is reported to have
sent two officials to Irak along with some men from the Haras
to keep the situation there in hand prior to the appointment - 41 of al-Hajjaj as Viceroy of Irak. • .
38 — Tabari, Ojd. Cit. , p. 1965.
39 Ibid, p. 1989.
40 Ibid, p. 1940. 41 - — - — - Al Isbahani: Kitab al-Aghani, Vol. 17, p. 115.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 99
In the early Umayyad period most of the men who held
the post of Sahib al-Haras were Mawali of south Arabian
tribes. This suggests that the corps itself was composed of
south Arabian Mawali at that time and adds support to evi
dence from other sources that the early Umayyad court circle 42 was dominated by south Arabians. C — c Q 0 _ Ibn A sakir tells how Umar b. Abd al- Aziz selected
a man to head his Haras: O'7 43 -J i-1/ Ly-6 O', The Caliph’s selection of one of the outstanding men of the
Haras as its leader implies that those men whose names are
given in our sources as heads of the Haras were probably
representative of the men in the corps or at least acceptable
to them as leaders. 0 In the reign of Abd al-Malik, the Haras came to be
dominated by the Mawali of north Arabian tribes. This may be
connected with that Caliph's struggle with the Yemenite 0 faction in Irak that had joined with Mus ab b. al-Zubair m
a revolt against the Caliph.
During the reign of Yazid b. CAbd al-Malik, Yazid b.
Abi Kabasha al-Saksakl held the post of Sahib al-Haras. This
man was an important figure in the Umayyad administration.
42 - - - Baxhaki: Kitab al-Mahasin, p. 87-88. Cited by Lammens: Etudes*sur le Regne du Calife Omaiyade MoCawiya, p. 49. 43 c — — — Ibn A sakir: Ta'rikh Medinat Dimashk, Vol. V, p. 35.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 100
He had held the post of Sahib al-Shurta under CAba al-Malik 44 and was a full member of an Arab tribe. This may have been
the beginning of a connection between the Caliph's Shurta
troops and the Haras which had been composed largely of
Mawali of Arab tribes and was the Caliph's personal guard.
In the reign of Yazid b. al-Walld two names are given
for the holders of the post of Sahib al-Haras. One of these • • • men is listed as holding several other posts with the Haras.
This suggests that the office may have had two functions; a
ceremonial and a servile one, and a financial one as part of
the bureaucracy, possibly responsible for the payment of the
men of the Haras. However, two things make this unlikely.
First, the two names given appear in different sources, thus
decreasing the probability that they are both correct.
Second, the fact that this Caliph ruled for only five months.
It therefore seems unlikely that any significant change in
the nature of this office occurred in the reign of Yazid b.
al-Walid.
c — — In the Abbasid period, the post of Sahib al-Haras
came to be linked with the office of Khatim in the reign of - - 45 - al-Saffah and al-Mansur. In the reign of Harun the post • • was one of the Caliphal offices that came under the control
of the Barmakids. The holders of this office were for the
44 Caskel: Jamharat al-Nasab, Tab. 243. 45 See Tables.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 101
most part Khorasanians and Abna', descendants of the leaders c — n — — of the Abbasid Da~wa in Khorasan. Even though the post came
to be more closely linked with the rest of the bureaucracy, 46 it did not entirely lose its military character. The
holders of this post continued to represent those groups who
were the strongest supporters of the reigning dynasty. The
men who served as the Sahib al-Haras were usually soldiers,
two of whom, Harthama b. A C yan and C Ali — b. A C —isa played im
portant roles in the civil war between al-Amin and al-Ma'mun - 47 after the death of Harun.
46 0 , See Tables.
^ Tabari III, pp. 733-74.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 102
Men who held the post of Sahib al-Haras under the Umayyads
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Muhammad Several men are described as having guarded (harasa) the Prophet in different campaigns. I.K. 64
Abu Bakr cUmar CUthman None listed °AlI
Mo c- awiya • Abu al-Mukht ar, Mawla of Himyar, a South Arabian tribe I.K. 218 Al-Mukhtar A mawla Tab. 11/205 Malik Abu al-Mukharik Mawla of Himyar Tab. 11/205 Abu al-Mukharik Mawla of Himyar Yak. 11/238
c- Both Tabari and Ibn Khayyat stats that Mo awiya was the first to have a chief of the guard. Sahib al-Haras (Tab. 11/205 & I.K. 218).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 103
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Yazid SaCid Mawla of Banu Kalb, S. Arabian tribe Yak. 11/253
Merwan b. al-Hakam None listed
Abd al- Malik b. Merwan Adi b. cAiyash Mawla of Himyar, S. Arabian tribe Abu_ — d Z C t iz c a Al-Riyan b. Khalid b. al-Riyan Mawla of Muharib, N. Arabian tribe Khalid b. al-Riyan Son of the above I.K. 302 c — Abu A iyash al-Kahanl Abu Zclzca Caliph's mawla Yak. 11/280 Khalid b. al-Riyan al- Muharibi Mawla of Banu Muharib, N. Arabian tribe I.A. V/34
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 104
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Al-Walid b. CAbd al- Malik Khalid b. al-Riyan Mawla of Muharib, I.K. 317 N. Arabian tribe Khalid b. al-Diyan Mawla of Muharib Yak. 11/291 Khalid b. al Riyan Mawla of Muharib I.A. V/34
Sulaiman b. CAbd al-Malik Khalid b. al-Riyan Mawla of Muharib I.K. 325 Khalid b. al-Diyan Mawla of Muharib Yak. 11/299 Khalid b. al-Riyan Mawla of Muharib I.A. V/34
r* '"Umar b. CAbd al- c c — Aziz Ibn Aiyash al ii anx followed by c — Umar b. al-Muhajxr, Mawla of al-Ansar I.K. 331
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 105
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
SaCid b. Akrama al-Khowlanl, Tarlkh Dariya 45
Yazid b cAbd al- Malik Ghilan Son in law (khotan) of Abu Ma°n I.K. 344 Abu Malik al-Saksakl (Ibn Khayyat precedes this by saying, Khatim says, indicating that this name had a different source than the preceding). I.K. 344 Yazid b. Abi Kabasha al- Saksakl Yak. 11/314
Hisham 3. CAbd al Malik Nusair, Caliph's mawla I.K. 379 removed & succeeded by Al-Rablcb. Ziyad Also held the office of al-Khatim I.K. 379
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 106
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Al-Rabl“ b Ziyad b. Sabur Yak. 11/328
Al-Walld b. al-Yazid Ghllan Son in law of Abu Ma°n I.K. 386 Ghllan Tab. 11/182; Katirl Caliph's mawla Yak. 11/334
Al-Yazid b. al-Walld Al-Nadr b. CUmru Also in charge of Al-Kharaj, al-Jund, al-Khatim al- Saghlr as well as the Haras. • S. Arabian (min ahl Yemen) I.K. 389 Sal am Caliph's Mawla Yak. 11/335
Ibrahim b. al-Walld None listed
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 107
Sahib - cont-
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Merwan b.
Muhammad Saklab Caliph's mawla Yak. II/346-7
This man is listed by
Ibn Khayyat as the Hajib,
so the Sahib al-Haras was • • • Sulaim probably Caliph's mawla
Yak. 11/346-7
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 108
— c — Men who held the post of Sahib al-Haras under the Abbasids
_Period _ _ Sahib . 1 Other Information —Source
Abu al- Q _ Abbas al- Saffah Asad b. CAbd Allah b. Malik al-KhusacI Also in charge of al-Khatim I.K. 440 Abu Bakr b. Asad b. CAbd Allah al-KhusacI Yak. 11/361
Abu Jacfar al-Mansur CUthman b. Nihlk succeeded by c — — Aisa b. Nihik succeeded by — c — Abu al- Abbas al-Tusi These three men also in charge of al-Khatim I.K. 467 KaCb b. Malik Yak. 11/389
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 109
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Muhammad al-Mahdi Muhriz Abu al Kasim succeeded by Abu al-CAbbis al-Tusi succeeded by cAbd Allah b. c — Abu al- Abbas al-Tusi I.K. 475 Muhammed b. Ibrahim succeeded by _ c — Abu al- Abbas al-Tusi Yak. 11/401
Musa al-Hadi cAlI b. cAisa b . Mah am I.K. 480 cAlI b. cAisa b . M ah an Yak. 11/406
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 110
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Harun al-Rashid Ja°far b. Muhammad b. al-AshCath succeeded by cAbd Allah b Milik succeeded by cAli b. cAisa b . Mahan. Control of the Haras came to JaCfar b. Yahya b. Khalid and he appointed Salih b. Sahikh b. CUmaira JaCfar, and then appointed Harthama b. A yan, whose appointment was confirmed by Harun after the fall of the barmakids I.K. 502 £ Ja far b. Muhammad b. al-AshaCth succeeded by CAbd Allah b. Malik succeeded by Q Harthama b. A yan Yak. 11/429
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. V. The' Sahib al-Shurta • • • The term shurat derives from the Latin cohort via 48 the medium of the Greek in use in the Eastern Roman Empire.
The cohort which carried out police functions in the new
cities of the Roman Empire, was retained after the Muslim
conquest. Although Muslim writers do not offer a Quranic
origin for this term, two chronicles place the origin of c - 49 the Shurta in the reign of Uthman.
Emile Tyan discussed the Shurta and the functions
that it performed as a police force in the cities of the
Islamic Empire.^ However it is apparent that one of the
most important functions performed by the men who served as Q _ heads of the Shurta in the Umayyad and early Abbasid
periods, was the maintenance and command of a force of troops
that could be deployed anywhere in the Empire at the Caliph's
command.
The institution of a force designated as Shurta and
directly responsible to the Caliph took place in the c — — c — caliphate of Ali. The Shurta al-Khamis of Ali is described
by Tabari as a special corps created from 40,000 Arabs who
48 J. Schacht in a review of Tyan, L 1Organization Judiciare, SO, 1948, p. 517. For a discussion of the_cohort, Pauly-Wissowa, Re alen zyklop ae di e s.v. Cohors and E.I. , s.v. As as. 4 Q _ _ Ibn Khayyat, Tarikh, Najaf, p. 157.
E. Tyan, Histoire de 1' Organisation Judiciare en pays d 1Islam, 2nd ed. Leiden, 1960, p. 573 ff.
Ill
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 112
had sworn allegiance to CAlI until death ( J L f
O jjJI CJ* 4S i ^ I ) * During the Umayyad period, the Sahib al-Shurta
served as head of the Shurta in Damascus and was also sent
out at the head of troops dispatched to other parts of the c — Empire. Abd al-Malik used Shurta troops from Damascus c 52 against Musa b a. al-Zubair in Irak in 72 A.H. The re
lationship between the men who held the post of Sahib al- • • Shurta and the military system of the Empire is evident from c — c — the career of Ka b b. Hamid al- Absi. From the reign of
CAbd al-Malik to that of Hisham, Ka°b served as Sahib al- • • Shurta. During his term in this post he was dispatched
several times on military missions to the Mediterranean, the
Byzantine frontier and the Armenian frontier. He was sent
on these expeditions as the commander of a force drawn from Q the Shurta of Damascus. Each time Ka b was dispatched from
the capital, a man was appointed to take over his post as 53 head of the Shurta of Damascus until his return.
Tabari relates a story that though concerning a pro
vincial commander of the Shurta, provides some insight into
the type of man thought of as an appropriate commander for _ c — that force. Khalid b. Abd Allah al-Kasri engaged as a
^ Tabari II, pp. 1, 7. 52 Baladhuri, Ansab al-Ashraf, MS. Reisulkuttap 598, pp. 1217 ff. Mas udi, Muruj, V, p. 242. t; 3 See Tables. He is not listed as a full member of an Arab rribe in Casket, Table 132-33.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 113
servant, and trained to read and write, an Arab that he en
countered near the entrance of the Caliph's apartments.
Khalid sent the man to Rayy to take charge of the Piwan al-
Kharaj in that region. The governor of Rayy refused to
accept Khalid1s appointment of an Arab to head the Piwan al-
Kharaj and the Arab returned to Irak where he was placed in
charge of the Shurta, presumably a more suitable post for an
Arab. This occurred shortly after Khalid al-Kasri's appoint- 54 ment as Viceroy of Irak in 105 A.H.
Al-Pahak b. Kais al-Fihrl, who served as head of the c- - 55 Shurta under Mo awiya, was governor of Kufa after 55 A.H.
At the time of Mo awiya's death he led the prayer at his 56 — funeral. Pahak was a full member of the northern Arab 57 tribe of Fihr. Yazid b. Abi Kabasha, who served as head
of the Shurta under Abd al-Malik was sent on an expedition 58 -r c o Bahrain by the Caliph in li> A.H. Yazid also served in
Irak as military commander and in Sind, he was in charge of 59 - the Kharaj for a short period. Yazid was also a full mem
ber of Sakasak, a south Arabian tribe.
Tabari II, pp. 1468-71.
55 Tabari II, p. 172.
^ Tabari II, p. 197.
Caskel, Table 34. 58 — — — Ibn Khayyat, Tarikh, Najaf, p. 277.
^ Ibid, pp. 314, 324.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 114
Thus during the Umayyad period the heads of the
Shurta were drawn from both the northern and southern Arab
tribes, but only those chiefs of the Shurta who were full
members of tribes were also employed as governors. The
Umayyads employed men as chiefs of the Shurta whose tribal
connections were such that they could command the support of
troops that were drawn from the Shurta, but whose tribe or
family was not so strong as to constitute a threat to the
commander and his forces' loyalty to the Caliph. c — In the Abbasid period, the heads of the Shurta were
drawn from the same cadres that provided governors and other 0 _ military commanders. Members of the Abbasid family did not,
however, serve as heads of the Shurta. Musaib b. Zuhair had
c — — a brother Amru, who served as governor of Kufa under al-
Mansur.^*"* Musaib himself served as governor of Khorasan
under al-Mahdi. The men who served the Abbasids often had
close connections with Khorasan, as did the men who held the
post of Sahib al-Haras, the other military force at the c — c — — Caliph's command. Abd al-Jabbar b. Abd al-Rahman al-Azdi
became governor of Khorasan after he was removed from the
Shurt a.^
The tribe of Khuza— C whose villages in Khorasan — — had
been a focal point for the development of the CAbbasid DaCw a ,
Ibid, p. 462.
Ibid, p. 463.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 115
provided three heads for the Shurta under the °Abbasids: - - c - ft? Nasr b. Malik, Hams a b. Malik and Abd Allah b. Malik.
Khuzaima b. Khazim al-Tamimi, another CAbbasid chief of the
Shurta. was the son of Khazim b. Khuzaima al-Tamlml, one of Q the early members of the Da wa and governor of part of - - - 63 c t Khorasan under al-Saffah. Ibrahim b. Uthman b. Nahlk who
served as head of the Shurta was also the son of a leader of
the aAbbasid DaCwa. ^ These men were drawn from the cadres c — that were the Abbasid dynasty's most important military
support.
^ Ibid, p. 474. 63 - c Akhbar al- Abbas, folio 104A. Tabari II, p. 2001. 64 Tabari II, p. 2001.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 116
Men who held the post of Sahib al-Shurta under the Umayyads
Period Sahib Other Information Source
'Uthman Abd Allah b. Kunfudh From Banu Taim of Quraish I.K. 157 Yak. 11/173 I. Hab. 373
I. Hab. 373
CAlI MaCkil b. Kais al-Riyahi I.K. 184 Yak. 11/173 I. Hab. 373 and (wa ) Malik b. Habib al-YarbuCI I.K. 184 In charge of the Shurta al-Khamls was Al-Asbagh b. Nabata al-Mujash°aI I.K. 184
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 117
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Muw C“awiya • Yazid b. al-Hurr al- Absi C al iph1 s mawl a I.K. 218 c. Yazid b. al-Hurr al- Ansi I. Hab. 373 After Yazid's death Kais b. Hamra al-Hamdhanl I.K. 218 Kais b. Hamza al-Hamdhanl Tab. 11/205 He was replaced by Dhahl b cAmru al-°Udhri I.K. 218 Zuml b . cAmru al-cUdhri Tab. 11/205 I. Haj. 11/21 Al-Dahak b. Kais al-Fihn Yak. 11/238 Tab. 11/197 Bal. An sab, MS. II, 671
Yazid b. Muw c- awiya . Yazid b. al Hurr Listed as Sahib for Mo C —awiya as * well as Yazid I. Hab. 373 On the death of Yazid b. al-Hurr, Humaid b. Harith b. Bahdal al-Kalbi became Sahib I. Hab. 373 Other sources that mention him as Sahib I. CAsakir IV/460 Bal. Ansab MS. IVb. 60
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 118
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
c — Khalid b. Ma°dan al-Kila°i I. Asakir V/86 C Abd Allah b. C— Amir al-Hamdhani — -r Yak. 11/253
Merwan b. al- Hakam Yahya b. Kais al Ghassani I. Hab. 373 Bal. Ansab MS V, 131 Yak. 11/258
Abd al-Malik b. Merwan Yazid b. Abl Kabasha al-Saksakl I.K. 302 succeeded by — — c Abu Natil Riyah b. Abdah al-Ghassani I.K. 302 succeeded by CAbd Allah b. Zayid al-Hakai I.K. 302 succeeded by KaCb b. Hamid al-°AbsI I.K. 302
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 119
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source — ■ • i "" 1
Ibn Habib gives a different order °Abd Allah b. HanI al-Awdl Yazid b. Abl Kabasha al-Saksakl Yazid b. Abl Bishr al-Saksakl KaC b b. Hamid — al- CAnsi T I. Hab. 373 c — * — Al-Ya kubi gives yet another order Yazid b. Abl Kabasha al-Saksakl C — — Abd Allah b. Yazid al-Hakami Yak. 11/280
Al-Walld b. cAbd al-Malik Riyah b. cAbdah al-Ghassani succeeded by Ka°b b. Hamid al-CAbsI I.K. 317 Ibn Habib differs Ka C b b. Hamid — al- c Ansi — sent off to raid by sea and replaced ! Abu Natil Riyah b. CAbdah al-Ghassani c When Ka b returned, he regained his former post. Then KaCb was sent with c — — Al- Abbas b. al-Walid on the Sa'ifa. c Ka b was replaced by '"'Abd Allah b. Yazid al-Hakami, and when he returned, regained his former post. I .H. 373
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 120
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Al-Ya°kubi lists Abu Natil Ribah b. °Abd al-Ghassani succeeded by Ka°b b. Hamid al-CAbsi Yak. 11/291
Sulaiman KaCb b. Hamid al-CAbsi I.K. 325 I. Hab. 374 Yak. 11/299 Tab. 11/1342 Ka°b b. Hamiz I. Sa°d V/247
CUmar b. CAbd al- c, - Aziz Ka°b b. Hamid al-°Absi al-Khowlanl, Tarikh Dariya 87-88 Yazid b. Bashr b. Yazid b. Bashr al-Kalbl I.K. 331 Ruh b. Yazid b. Bashr al-Saksakl I. Hab. 374 Caliph's mawla Yak. 11/308
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 121
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Yazid b. °Abd al- Malik KaCb b. Hamid al-CAbsI Yak. 11/314 I.K. 343 Ka C b b. Hamid — al- C Ansi -r I. Hab. 374
Hisham b. CAbd al- Malik Kawb b. Hamid c — * — al- Absi Sahib al-Shurta for 13 years I.K. 379 Q When Ka b was placed in charge of Armenia he was succeeded by Yazid b. YCalI b. Dakhm al-CAbsi I.K. 379 Ibn Habib reports that KaCb died after 10 or so years as Sahib al-Shurta and was succeeded by Yazid b. YCalI al-°AnsI I. Hab. 374 — c — Tabari mentions Ka b as Sahib al- • • • Shurta in passing. Tab. 11.1871 c * — c — Ka b b. Hamid al Absi Yak. 11/328 Zayid b. Mundhir al-Nimmrl Takmila Diwan al-Akhtal. cited by alC 'All, "Mawathaf ay1\ 58
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 122
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Al-Walid b. Yazid Abd al-Rahman b. Hanbal al-Kalbi removed, and succeeded by CAbd Allah b. CAmmir al-KilaCi I.K. 385 Q Abd al-Rahman b. Humayd al-Kalbi Yak. 11/334 Khalid b. cUthman b. al-Mikhrash Tab. 11/1803 A. Banu Bahdal I. Hab. 374
Al-Yazid b al-Walid Bukhair b. Shamakh al-Lakhmi I.K. 389 Yazid b. Shamakh al-Lakhmi Yak. 11/335 CAbd Allah b. CAmmir al-Yahsibi I. Hab. 374
Ibrahim b. al-Walid cAbd Allah b. cAmmir al-Yahsibi I. Hab. 374
Merwan b. Muhammad Kuthar b. al-Anwad al-Ghanwi I.K. 433 Yak. 11/346 I. Hab. 374 — c c Rama Hasan Abd al- Aziz b. al- Rama Hasan b. Sakran al-Kinani I . CAsakir V/328
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. — c — Men who served as Sahib al-Shurta under the Abbasids
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Abu al- Abbas al-Saffah °Abd al-Jabbar b. °Abd Allah al-Azdi I.K. 440 CAbd al-Jabbar b. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Azdi I. Hab. 374 Yak. 11/361 Bal. Ansab, MS. 1/640
Abu Jacfar — c — c al-Mansur Abd al-Jabbar b. Abd al- Rahman al-Azdi succeeded by Musaid b. Zuhair al-Dubbai
I.K. 466 CAbd al-Jabbar b. CAbd al- Rahman al-Azdi, when place in charge of Khorasan, succeeded by c c — — Umar b. Abd al-Rahman al-Azdi (brother of CAbd al-Jabbar)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 124
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Musa b. Ka°b al-Tamlml After he died Musaib b. Zuhair al-Dubbai c — (in charge of Adwi) & Hamza b. Malik al-Khuza I (in charge of Harba) I. Hab. 374 Bal. Ansab, MS. 1/640 Then al-Harba was given to Musaib b. Zuhair until Mansur died I. Hab. 374 c — — Al-Ya kubi's list agrees with Ibn Habib Yak. 11/389
Muh aitiiu 3.^ al-Mahdl Nasr b. Malik al-KhuzacI After he died Hamza b. Malik al-KhuzaCI succeeded by °Abd Allah b. Malik al-KhuzaCI I.K. 474 I. Hab. 375 Yak. 11/401
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 125
Sahib - cont. • •
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Musa al- Hadl CAbd Allah b. Malik al-KhuzaCI I.K. 480 I. Hab. 375 CAbd Allah b. Khazim al-Tamlml removed, and succeeded by CAbd Allah b. Malik al-Tamimi Yak. 11/406
Harun al Rashid Khuzaima b. Khazim then Musaib b. Zuhair while Muhammad b. Musaib was in charge of al-Harba Then cAbd Allah b. Malik Another version given by Ibn Khayyat on the authority of Abu al-Hasan is cAbd Allah b. Malik al-Khuza°I removed, and succeeded by Wahb b. Ibrahim, who was renamed Wahb b. cUthman I.K. 502
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 126
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Ibn Habib lists Al-Kasim b. Nasr • • removed, and succeeded by Khuzaima b. Khazim removed, and succeeded by Musaid b. Zuhair removed, and followed by Khuzaima b. Khazim removed, and succeeded by CAbd Allah b. Malik removed, and succeeded by CAbd Allah b. Khazim reioved, and succeeded by c — — Abi b. al-Hajjaj removed, and succeeded by Ibrahim b. cUthman b. Nahlk al-CAkki who was killed. Succeeded by Wahb b. Ibrahim (who was named CUthman b. CUthman) I. Hab. 375 Al-YaCkubI lists Al-Kasim b. Nasr b. Malik • • removed, and succeeded by Khuzaima b. Khazim removed, and succeeded by
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 127
Sahib - cont.
Period Sahib Other Information Source
Musaib b. Zuhair al-Dubbai removed, and succeeded by CAbd Allah 1->. Malik removed, and succeeded by c Ali — b. al-Jarrah — al-Khuza — C —i removed, and succeeded by CAbd Allah b. Khazim Yak. 11/429
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. VI. Diwan al-Khat am
The office of Katib Diwan al-Khatam was instituted
C — — — under Mu awiya after an incident described by Jahshiyari, C — • "Mu awiya was the first to set up the Diwan al-Khatam, the
reason for this was that he had written to Amr b. al-Zubair
requesting one hundred thousand dirhams from Ziyad, his
Viceroy in Irak. CAmr opened the letter and made the figure
two hundred thousand dirhams. When Ziyad sent the Caliph
his accounting, MuCawiya said, 'I requested only one hundred
thousand dirhams', and he wrote to Ziyad telling him this
and ordering him to take the one hundred thousand from him c c ( Amr) and he imprisoned him ( Amr) because of this.
MuCawiya then established the Diwan al-Khatam and placed c 65 Abd Allah b. Muhammad m charge of it."
Each Caliph had a distinctive mark which was placed — c — on the seal of his official dispatches. The Kitab al- Uyun
gives a description of the seals of al-Walid b. CAbd al-
C 6 6 Malik and Sulaiman b. Abd al-Malik.
The men who headed the Pi wan al-Khat am during the
Umayyad period were drawn from the same cadres who filled
the other financial offices. Under CAbd al-Malik, Kablsa b.
Dhu' aib headed the Diwan al-Khat:am and the Buyut al-Amwal wa — 67 — al-Khaza1in. Usamah b. Zaid, who is reported to have been
65 — — — Jahshiyari, Al-Wuzara', p. 24-25.
^ Kitab al-°Uyun, p. 12(Walid) & p. 34 (Sulaiman).
^ See Tables.
128
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 129
in charge of the Diwan al-Khatam under Yazid b. CAbd al-Malik,
had served as governor and finance director in Egypt under
cUmar b. cAbd al-CAziz.^® Usamah also served as head of the 69 Diwan al-Kharap under Hisham. In the Umayyad period the
distinction between the Khatam al-Kablr and the Khatam al- 70 Saghir is often noted in the sources. The keeper of al-
Khat am al-Kabir was always a mawla of the Caliph and had a
status similar to the Hajib, that of a man who performed a 71 ceremonial office for the Caliph. The men m charge of al-
Khat am al-Saghir usually combined this office with another 72 post in the financial bureaucracy.
c — — In the Abbasid period, the head of the Diwan al- — c — c Khatam was usually a member of the Abbasid Da wa or the
descendant of a member (abna1) or a Khorasan!. Many men from —c c — the tribe of Khuza served the Abbasids in this post. The
men who held the chief post in the Diwan al-Khatam under the
68 Miles, G. C. . Early Arabic Glass Weights, New York, 1948, p. 73, where a fuil bibliography of Usamah b. Zaid will be found, to which should be added the references found in Ibn Khayyat1s Kitab al-Tarikh. 69 See Tables.
Jahshiyari, Al-Wuzara', p. 69, Tabari II, p. 839; Ibn Khayyat, Tarikh, Najaf, pp. 389, 433. *
Under Yazid b. al-Walid, Katan is named as the man in charge of the Khat m al-Kabir. The same_mar. is_also described as that Caliph's Hajib (Ibn Khayyat, Tarikh, Najaf, p. 389 & Jahshiyari, al-Wuzara', p. 6977 72 Ibn Khayyat, Tarikh, Najaf, pp. 385, 389.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 130
Q — Abbasids were drawn from the same backgrounds as the men who
headed the Haras and the Shurta in the same period. Three
men held both Haras and Khatam under al-Mansur. Under Harun. • • a former head of Diwan al-Khatam was made governor of
Khorasan, and the Diwan al-Khatam came under the control of c — Ja far b. Yahya al-Barmaki, who placed Muhammad b. Hasan b. • - 73 Kahtaba, an important army commander, in charge of the Diwan.
Under the Umayyads the men who served as heads of the
Pi wan al-Khat am were drawn from the same cadres as those who
filled the other financial offices, while during the cAbbasid
period the men who held this post were drawn from those cadres
which filled the military and political posts of the cAbbasid
Empire, the men of Khorasan and the abna', the descendants of
the members of the Da w a . The shift of the direction of this
office from the bureaucratic to the political and military
cadres of the Empire, was evidence of the increasing centrali
zation and the rising influence of the families who directed
its military forces, and who were themselves closely linked . Q _ HA by ties of marriage and wala1 to the Abbasid family.
73 On Muhammad b. Hasan b. Kahtaba see Chapter 2. 74 c — _ On the marriage relations of the Abbasids and the Barmakids see Chapter 2. On the wala' system see Chapter 3.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 131
Al-Khatam - Umayyad Period
Caliph Official Other Information Source
c- . c — c — — Mu awiya Abd allah b. Amru al-Himayri I.K. p. 218 Q Mo awiya was the first to institute this Diwan I.K. p. 218 Jah. 25
Mu°awiya cAbd allah b. Mihsan al Himyari Tab. 2/205
Yazid b. c — c — Mucawiya Zuml b. Amru al- Uthri I. Haj 2/20
Merwan b. al Hakam None listed
CAbd al-Malik b. Merwan Kablsa b. Dhu'aib al KhuzaCi (Al-Khatim I.K. p. 30; wa Buyut al Amwal wa al Khaza1' in) When he died he was succeeded by Bal. Ansab, Xl/35 C Umar b. al-Harith — Mawla bani C Amir— I.K. p. 302
Al-Walid b, CAbd al-Malik CAmru b. Al-Harith Mawla Bani CAmir I.K. 317 He died and was succeeded by Jannah Caliph's Mawla I.K. 317 ShuC aib al CUmani Caliph's Mawla Tab. 2/838 ShuCaib al Sabi Caliph's Mawla Jah. 47
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 132
Al-Khatam
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Sulaiman Nu^aim b. Ali Salama Mawla li Ahl Yemen I.K. p. 325 Min Filistin Tab. 2/838 Raja'b. Haywa al-Kindl (Wa Klla) Tab. 2/838 •
Q Umar b. c — c °Abd al- Aziz Nu aim b. Salama I.K. p. 331
Yazid b. °Abd al-Malik Mutair Caliph's Mawla I.K. p. 343 and Hatim b. Muslim reports that Usama b. Zayid I.K. p. 343
—c — — Hisham Al Rabi a b. Shabur Mawla Bani ai-Harish I.K. p. 379 Istakhr Abu Zubair Caliph's Mawla was in charge of the Khatim al-Saghir wa al'-Khassa I.K. p. 379
Al-Walid b.
— c — — Yazid Abd al Rahman b. Hanbal al-Kalbi in charge of Al-Khatim wa al-Khaza1in wa Buyut al Amwal with the Snurt I.K. p. 385 Ribah b. Abi cUmara in charge of Al Khatim Al Saghir I.K. p. 385 Bihas b. Zumail Jah. 6a
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 133
Al-Khatam
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Yazid b. al-Walid Abd al-Rahman b. Hanbal al-Kalbi I.K. p. 389 Katan (Caliph's Mawla) another tradition I.K. p. 389 c — — — AMru b. al-Harith Mawla Bani Jumah Tab. 2/839 Jah. 69
r* i w u i * ~ .c — i Kat an o.-u o 1*1 awx a jlii v^iiaj»yc wj. aa.— Khatim al Kabir Jah. 69 Nadar b. Amru (min ahl yemen) he was in charge of al-Kharaj wa al Jund wa al- Khatim al-Saghir and the Haras I.K. p. 389 Tab. 2/839 Jah. 69
Ibrahim None listed
Merwan b. Muhammad Mawla of the caliph I.K. p. 433 c —c — — — Abd al a la b. Maimun b. Mihran in charge of al-Khatim al-Saghir I.K. p. 433
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 134
cAbbasids Al-Khatam
Caliph Official Other Information Source
— c — Abu al- Abbas al-Saffah Asad b. CAbd allah b. Malik al-KhuzaCI I.K. p. 440
— c Abu Ja far al Mansur CUthman b. Nihlk Haras & Khatim I.K. p. 466 • • after he died °Alsa b. Nihlk Haras & Khatim I.K. p. 466 after he died Abu al Abbas al-Tusi Haras & Khatim I.K. p. 466
Abu Mansur al-Katib min ahl Khurasan In charge of Diwan al Khatim
Muhammad al -Mahdi Khalid b. Yazid b. CAbd allah b. Mawhib al HamdhanI I.K. p. 474 he died and was succeeded by CAli b. Yaktin I.K. p. 480 • •
Musa al-Hadi °AlI b. Yaktin I.K. p. 480
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 135
Al-Khatam
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Harun c c Al-Rashld Ja far b. Muhammad b. al-Ash ath I.K. p. 502 Then he was made governor of Khurasan and the Khatim was given to Hamza b. Malik I.K. p. 502 Then the Khatim was given to Abu al-CAbbas al TusI I.K. p. 502 he died and the Khatim was given to Yahya b. Khalid b. Barmak I.K. p. 502 and then to Ja°far b. Yahya I.K. p. 502 then it returned to Yahya b. Khalid I.K. p. 502 then it went to the hand of the caliph
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. VII. Al-Khaza'in wa Buyut al-Amwal
The Buyut al- Amwal held the state monies and the <2 _ *75 Caliphs' purse in the Umayyad and Abbasid period. The
Khaza1in served as a depot for state supplies other than
money. The Kitab al-CUyun gives a list of the contents of
the Khaza1in of the Byzantines in the Umayyad period,
"Money, vessels, silver, silk brocade, jewels, weapons,
embroidery and other things that kings amassed in ages 76 c - past." The Umayyad and Abbasid Khaza1in probably
paralleled this. On the death of Hisham a servant was sent - 77 to fetch a fine cloth to bury him in, from the Khaza1in.
During the reign of al-Amln swords were to be found in the _ -, . 78 Khaza1 m .
Prior to the Umayyad period, the men listed as
directing these offices are reported to have held only one
or the other of these posts, not both. When the seat of the
Caliphate moved to the former Byzantine territory in Syria,
the men listed as heads of these offices directed both
Diwans. In the late Umayyad period, Kablsa b. Dhu'aib al-
KhuzaCi directed the Buyut al-Amwal wa al-Khaza'in and the
Duri, Nuzum, pp. 186-94 & Fischel, "Bait al-Mal", ICO, XIX, 1935, pp. 538-41.
Kitab al-°Uyun, p. 29. 77 Baladhuri, Ansab, Reisulkuttap 598, p. 627.
7 0 Tabari III, p. 839.
136
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. — — c c c — Diwan al-Khatim under Abd al-Malik; Abd Allah b. Amru b.
al-Harith directed the Buyut al-Amwal wa al-Khaza'in wa al-
Rakik wa al-Nafakat under Sulaiman; CAbd al-Rahman b. Hanbal
directed the Buyut al-Amwal wa al-Khaza'in and the Diwan al- — — -j. 7 9 Khatam and the Shurta under al-Walid b. Yazid. This com
bination of offices under one man's control in the late
Umayyad period, foreshadowed the centralization of the — — c — Dawawin under the Abbasids but there was an important dif
ference. In the Umayyad period most of the men who held this
office were mawall of Arab tribes and never had power in the
political spheres. The only man who directed both this
office and the Shurta, a political position, was a full Q _ blooded member of an Arab tribe, Abd al-Rahman b. Uanbal al
Kalbl. In the °Abbasid period information on the men who
directed the Buyut al-Amwal wa al-Khaza'in is not very plenti
ful. From the information that is presented in the tables
appended, it seems that these two offices were not held by
one official. The fact that little information is available
on the men who directed these offices does not mean that they c — did not function under the Abbasids but suggests that these
officeholders held a lower position in the bureaucracy during
Q — the Abbasid period than they did under the Umayyads.
79 See Tables.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 138
Buyut al-Amwal wa al-Khaza'in - Umayyads
Caliph Official Other Information Source
c Abu Bekr Abu Abaida b . Al-Jarrah (Bait al-Mal) I.K. p. 91 •
°Umar CAbd allah b. al-Arkam (Bait al-Mal) I.K. p. 130 Yasar (Khazin) I.K. p. 130
CUthman CAbd allah b. Ark am I.K. p. 157
CAli None listed
Mu awiya None listed
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 139
Buyut al-Amwal wa al-Khaza'in
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Yazid b. C— Mu awiya None listed
Merwan b. al Hakam None listed
CAbd al-Malik b. Merwan Kabisa b. Dhu'aib al-Khuza i (al- Khatim wa Buyut al-Amwal wa al Khaza'in I.K. p. 302 he died and was succeeded by Q — Umar b. al-Harxth I.K. p. 302
Al-Walid b. CAbd al-Malik CAbd allan b. CAmru I.K. p. 317
— c — c — — Sulaiman Abd all ah b. Amru b. al-Harith Mawla bani CAmir b. Lu'I in charge of Buyut al Amwal wa al Khaza'in wa al-Rakik wa al-Na±akat I.I. p. 325 •
cUmar b. CAbd al CAzIz None listed
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 140
Buyut al-Amwal wa al-Khaza'in
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Yazid b CAbd al-Malik Mutair caliph's Mawla also in charge of al Khatim I.K. p. 343
Hisham CAbd allah b. CAmru b. al-Harith I.K. p. 379
Al-Walid b.
Yazid 1Abd al Rahman b. Hanbal al-Kalbi Also held Khatim and Shurt I.K. p. 385 Maslama b. Abd all ah al-Juhani Tarikh Dariya cited by al CAli (p. 90) "MawathafI"
Al-Yazid b. — c — al-Walid None listed but Abd al-Rahman b. Hanbal is listed as being in charge of Khatim al-Khilafa I.K. p. 389
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 141
Buyut al-Amwal wa al-Khaza'in
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Ibrahi 111 None listed
Merwan b. Mohammed CUmran b. Salih Mawla Hudhail I.K. p. 433 • • in charge of Diwan al-Jund wa al-Kharaj wa Buyut al-Amwal wa al-Khaza'in
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 142
c — Abbasids
Buyut al-Amwal wa al-Khaza'in
Caliph Official Other Information Source
c — Abu al- Abbas al Saffah None listed
0 Abu al-Ja far al-Mansur Aban b. Sadaka (Buyut al-Amwal) I.K. p. 466 Sulaiman b. Mujallad (Al Khaza'in) I.K. p. 466 he died and was succeeded by his brother's son Ibrahim b. Salih b. Mujallad I.K. p. 466
Muhammed al-Mahdi Farj b. Fadala (Bait al-Mal) I.K. p. 474
Musa c — c — c al-Hadi Ali b. Aisa Ma al-Haras I.K. 48C
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. VIII. Diwan al-Kharaj wa al-Jund
The Diwan al-Kharaj wa al-Jund were two separate in
stitutions in the early Islamic Empire. The former was the
agency which collected the taxes in the old Byzantine and
Persian Empires and kept its records in the language of those
Empires well into the Umayyad period. The Diwan al-Jund was
founded by the Caliph °Umar in 20 A.H. in order to organize
the pay, regulate the fighting forces and set the treasury 80 — in order. With the translation of the Diwans into Arabic
in the reign of CAbd al-Malik, the direction of these offices c was centralized. This office was held by Sulaiman b. Sa d 31 under six Caliphs in the Umayyad period. Two men who had
served their apprenticeship as treasury officials in Egypt
became heads of the central Diwan al-Kharaj wa al-Jund under
the Umayyads, Usamah b. Zaid and CUbaid Allah b. Habhab.^
Under al-Walid b. Yazid, the Diwan is reported to have been
under the direction of a grandson of al-Hajjaj. This
Caliph's successor, al-Yazid b. al-Walid, appointed al-Nadir
b. CAmru to head the Diwan al-Kharaj and the Diwan al-Khatam
and the Haras. Both these appointments of men whose back
ground as full blooded Arab tribesmen gave them a strong
80 — — ? _ Duri, Nuzumf pp. 186-98 & EI“ Divan. 81 See Tables. 8 ° ^ Miles, G. C., Early Arabic Glass Weights, New York, 1949, pp. 72, 75.
143
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. political position, foreshadowed the situation in the °Abbasid
period. c — — Under the Abbasids a separate Diwan is listed for
— — — — QO _ the army of Khorasan (Diwan Jund Khorasan). This Diwan - - 84 was directed by men from Khorasan.
The Central Diwan al-Kharaj wa al-Jund was headed by
men from the Persian lands of the Empire under the first two c — Abbasid caliphs. Both Khalid b. Barmak, who was married to
the daughter of al-Saffah, and Abu Ayyub al-Muriyani were men • • 85 whose power went beyond the limits of this office. Under
Harun al-Rashid the Diwan al-Kharaj wa al-Jund was held by C— — c— Isma il b. Subih after the fall of the Barmakids. Isma il
had begun his career as a secretary to Yahya al-Barmakl and
was undoubtedly one of the leaders of the group that
engineered the fall of the Barmakid family, profiting thus 86 from both the rise and the demise of that family. The
post of head of the Diwan al-Kharaj wa al-Jund came to be
associated with minor political figures in the late Umayyad
c — period. In the Abbasid period it was the point d'appui for
83 — — — C .f., Ibn Khayyat, Tarikh, Najaf, p. 474. 84 c — c_ See Tables, Abd al-Jabbar from the Azd and Bakr b. Mo awiya from Bahila. Both were important tribes in Khorasan. 8 5 On Abu Ayyub see Goitein, "The Origin of the Vizierate", on^Klialid b._Barmak see Bouvat, L., Les Barmecides. pp. 37-43 & El s.v. Baramika, pt. 2 by D. Sourdel.
86 — — Jahshiyari, Wuzara*, pp. 150, 168, 248 ff.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the more powerful men in the Caliph's entourage.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 146
Al-Kharaj wa al-Jund
Caliph Official Other Information Source
MuW C“ awiya • Sarjun b. Mansur al-Rumi I.K. 218 Jah. 24 Tab 2/837 in charge of C Amru b. Sa C —id b. al- cAs — Diwan al Jund Jah. 24
Yazid b. MuX, C awiya- . Sarjun b. al Mansur al-Rumi Jah. 31 Tab. 2/837
Merwan b. al-Hakam Sarjun b. Mansur al-Rumi Jah. 33
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 147
Al-Kharaj wa al-Jund
Calip Official Other Information Source
CAbd al- Malik Sarjun b. Mansur al-Rumi I.K. 302 When Sarjun died he was succeeded by — c Sulaiman b. Sa d Mawla Khoshln (part of KodaCa) I.K. 302
Al-Walid b. CAbd al-Malik Sul aiman b. SaCd al-Khoshani I.K. 317
Sulaiman b. CAbd al-Malik Sulaiman b. SaCd al-KhoshanI I.K. 325
CUmar b. CAbd al-Aziz Sulaiman b. SaCd al- KhoshanI Jah. 53 Tab. 2/838
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 148
Al-Kharaj wa al-Jund
Caliph Official Other Information Source
CUmar b. °Abd al-°Aziz — o T Sulaiman b. Sa d al-KhoshanI Jah. p. 53 Tab. 2/838 Salih b. Jubair al-Ghadani (or al Tab. 2/838 Ghassani) I.K. 331 CAdI b. al-Sabah Tab. 2/838
Yazid b. CAbd al-Malik Salih b. Jubair al-Ghadani I.K. 343 • • Usama b. Yazid Mawla of Ahl Yemen I.K. 343 Usama b. Zayid al-Salihl Jah. 56 Miles Eagp. 72ff Sulaiman b. SaCd al-Khoshani Jah. 56 restored to his post by Yazid
Hisham b. Usama b. Zayid I.K. 379 removed he was succeeded by CAbd al-Malik CUbaida b. al-Hajab Mawla of Bani Salul I.K. 379 This is probably a copyist's error for CUbaid all ah b. al-Habhab Miles • • E.A.G.p. 75ff C — c — — Sa id b. Ukba Mawla Bani al-Harith b. KaCb I.K. 379
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 149
Al-Kharaj wa al-Jund
Caliph Official Other Information Source
al-Walid — c — b. Yazid Abd al-Malik b. Muhammad b. Al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf I.K. 385 al-Jahshiyari states that he was in charge of the diwan al-jund Jah. 68 he was succeeded by Al-Hajjaj b. CUmar I.K. 385
al-Yazid b. — c al-Walid Al Nadir b. Amru (min ahl Yemen) (ma al-Haras) I.K. 389 (al Khar a j wa al Kh at i m al S aghl r) Tab. 2/839
Ibrahim None listed
Merwan b. c — — Mohammad Umran b. Salih I.K. 433 • • • Mawla Hudhail
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 150
c — Abbasids
Al-Kharaj wa al Jund
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Abu c — al Abbas in charge of Al-Saffah Khalid b. Barmak Diwan al-Kharaj wa al-Jund Jah. 89 Tab. 2/840
Q Abu Ja far al-Mansur Abu Ayyub al-Muriyanl (succeeded Khalid Jah. 99 b. Barmak) Who was made governor of Faris Yazid b. al Paid I.K. 466
al-Mahdi Ibrahim b. Salih I.K. 474 died and was succeeded by Abu al-Wazir CUmar b. Mutrif, I.K. 474 cAbd al-Jabbar b. ShuCaib Diwan Jund Khorasan I.K. 474 Bakr b. MoCawiya al-Bahili Diwan Khorasan I.K. 474
Al-Hadi None listed
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 151
Al-Kharaj wa al-Jund
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Harun al-Rashld Abu Salih Diwan al-Kharaj wa al-Jund I.K. 502 then it was given to c— — Isma il b. Subxh I.K. 502
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. IX. Katlb al-Rasa'il
The sources provide information on two classes of
secretaries. First, the men who headed the Diwan al-Rasa'il
which was responsible for the Caliph's official corres
pondence. Al-Qalqashandl, probably seeking to exalt his own
profession, describes the Diwan al-Rasa'il as the first
Diwan founded in Islam, because the Prophet is reported to
have sent dispatches to the kings of neighboring reg ons 87 — — calling them to Islam. Al-Jahshiyari opens his discussion — c of this Diwan in the section he devotes to the Caliph Abd 88 al-Malik. Second, the men who served the Caliphs as
private secretaries are listed and occasionally confused — 89 with the men who headed the Diwan.
The continuity of this office from father to son is
dramatically illustrated by the story of the Katib Salim,
who on his deathbed recommended his son, Abd Allah, to the — — -r 90 Caliph Hisham in a touching scene related by al-Baladhurl.
In the late Umayyad period the men who served the
Caliph as heads of the Diwan al-Rasa'il were overshadowed by
one man whose literary ability and political intrigues
87 - c - Qalqashandi, Subh al-A sha, Cairo, 1919, I, p. 91
88 — — — Jahshiyari, Wuzara'. p. 35.
^ Ibid, pp. 33, 40. 90 Baladhuri, Ansab, MS. Reisulkuttap 598, pp. 236- 37.
152
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 153
c — portended the state of things to come under the Abbasids.
CAbd al-Hamld b. Yahya obtained the patronage of the last
Umayyad Caliph Merwan b. Muhammad and paid for it with his 91 life after a brief but brilliant literary career.
Under the Abbasids this post was held by men who
were also in charge of the Diwan al-Kharaj wa al-Jund.
Khalid b. Barmak and Abu Ayyub al-Muriyanl held this post
under Abu al-°Abbas and Abu Ja°far. After the fall of the
Barmakids in the reign of Harun the man who became Wazlr,
IsmaCii b. Subih, also headed the Diwan al-Rasa'il.
91 — c Al-Mansur is reported to have considered Abd al- Hamid one of the three great men who served the Umayyads. Jahshiyari, Wuzara', p. 81.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 154
Katib al Rasa'il - Umayyads
Cat i l-il-i Official Other Information Source
c — — Mu™ c- awiay ■ Ubaid b. Aws al-Ghassani I.K. p. 218 Tab. 2/837 Jah. 24 Other secretaries CAbd al-Rahman b. Daraj (Caliph's Mawla) Jah. 24 Tab. 2/837 — C— Sulaiman b. Sa id Jah. 26 c — — Ubaid allah b. Nusair b. al-Hajjaj Jah. 26 • • Tab. 2/837
Yazid b. Mu awiya cUbaid b. Aws al-Ghassani Jah. 31
w c- . Mu awiya b. Yazid C— — b. Mu awiya al-Riyan b. Muslim Jah. 32 Tab. 2/837
Merwan b. al Pi cth am Sufiyan al-Ahwal Jah. 33 _ Q (2 " Abu Zu aizi a another tradition Jah. 33
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 155
Katib al-Rasa'il
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Abd al- Malik b. Merwan Abu Zu°aiziCa Caliph's Mawla I.K. 302 Tab. 2/837 Jah. 35 Other secretaries Kabisa b. Dhu'aibb HalHala Al-KhuzaCi Tab. 2/837 • • • Jah. 34 Ruh b. ZinbaC al-Judhami * —c — Rabi a al-Jurashi J ah. 37 c Sulaiman b. Sa d al-Khushani (Diwan al Rasa'il) Jah. 40
Al-Walid Janah Caliph's Mawla I.K. 317 b. Tab. 2/837 CAbd al Malik Other secretaries Muhammad b. Yazid al-Ansari Tab. 2/1169 Al-KaCkaC b. Khalid al-°absi Tab. 2/8372/i Jah. 47
Sulaiman b. c ~ — Abd al-Malik Laith b. Abu Rakiyya (Mawla um al Hakam bint abu Sufiyan) I.K. p. 325 Tab. 2/838 Other secretaries Jah. 48 — Q . Sulaiman b. Nu aim al-Himan Tab. 2/838 Jah. 48 Ibn al-Batrlk Jah. 48
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 156
Katib al Rasa'il
Caliph Official Other Information Source
cUmar b. c c — — abd al- aziz Laith b. Abu Rakiyya (Mawla um Hakam bint Abu Sufxyan) I.K. p. 331 Tab. 2/838 Jah. 53 Other secretaries Raja' b. Haywa al-Kindl Tab. 2/838 Jah. 53 IsmaCIl b. Abi Hakim (Mawla al Zubair) Tab. 2/838 Jah. 53 Al Sabbah b. al-Muthanna Jah. 54 _ * c — ibn Zinad Abd allah b. Dhakwan Jah. 20. 54
Yazid b. CAbd al- Malik Salih b. Jubair al-Ghadani (al Kharaj • • wa al Jund wa al Rasa'il) I.K. p. 343 Tab. 2/838 Other secretaries Usama b Zayid al-Sulaihl (Mawla li ahl Yemen) I.K. p. 343 Tab. 2/838 Jah. 56 Yazid b. Abd all ah Tab. 2/838 Jah. 56
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 157
Katib al Rasa'il
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Hisham Salim (Mawla SaCId b. °Abd al-Malik) I.K. o. 379 Jah. 62 Other secretaries C — c Sa id b. al-Walid b. Amru b. Jabala al Kalbi al Abrash abu MujashCa Tab. 2/838 Jah. 59 Bushair b. Abl Dalaja Jah. 62 C — — Shu aib b. Dinar (Hisham's secretary at al Rusafa Tab. 2/838
Al-Walid Yazid Salim (Mawla SaCId b. °Abd al-Malik) I.K. p. 385 Tab. 2/838 succeeded by Jah. 68 CAbd allah b. Salim (Son of the fore going) I.K. p. 385 Jah. 68 Other secretaries Bukair b. Shamakh al-Lakhml Jah. 68 Tab. 2/838 CAbd al-Acla b. AbucAmru Jah. 68 Tab. 2/838 Aiyad b. Muslim (secretary to al- Walid before he became caliph) Jah. 68
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 158
Katib al-Rasa'il
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Yazid b. al-Walid Laith b. Abl Sulaiman b. SaCd I.K. p. 389 Thabit b. Abl Sulaiman b. Sa°d al KhoshanI Tab. 2/839 his personal secretary (Kataba lahu) was °Abd allah b. NuCaim Tab. 2/839 Jah. 69
Ibrahim Ibn Abi JumCa Tab. 2/839 Jah. 72
in charge of al Rasa'il CUthman b. Kail (Mawla Khalid al KasrI)Tab. 2/839 Merwan b. Other secretaries Muhammad °Abd al-Hamid al Kabir I.K. p. 433 CAbd al-Hamid b. Yahya (Mawla al°Ala' b. Wahb al °amirl Jah. 72 from Amir b. Luwa'i) Musa°b b. RabICa al-KhuthaCmi Tab. 2/839 J ah. 72 Ziyad b. Abl al-Ward Tab. 2/839 Mukhlad b. Muhaddad b. al-Harith Tab. 2/839
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 159
c — Abbasids
Katib al Rasa'il
Caliph Official Other Information Source
Abu al-°Abbas In charge of the Diwan al Rasa'il al Saffan Salih b. Haitham (Mawla Raita daughter * * * of Abu al " C Abbas) “ Tab. 2/840 Jah. 89 Tabari also describes Khalid b. Barmak as a secretary to al Saffah Tab. 2/840
Abu JaCfar In charge of Diwan al-Rasa'il al Mansur Abu Ayyub al Muriyanl (from a village I.K. p. 466 (Sulaiman b. Makhlad) near Ahwaz) Jah. 97ff. In charge of Rasa'il al-Futuh CAbd al Malik b. Humaid (Mawla Hatim I.K. p. 466 b. NuCman al Bahill min ahl Harran & Tab. 2/840 a friend of Ibn abl Farwa). Jah. 96 Other secretaries — C — c — Hashim b. Sa id al-Ju fi Tab. 2/840 C Abd al A C la ” b. Abi ” Talha (min Bani T Tamim) at Wasit Tab. 2/840 Sulaiman b . Mukhlad Tab. 2/840 Al-RabIC Tab. 2/840
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 160
Katib al-Rasa'il
Caliph Official Other Information Source
— — C C— Mahdi Abu Ubaid Allah b. Mo awiay b. °Ubaid Allah I.K. 474 removed, and succeeded by CUmar b. Rabi°a I.K. 474
Al-Hadi CUmar b. RabiCa I.K. 480
Harun al- Rashld Isma il b. Subih (min ahl harran) I.K. 502 Yahya b. Sulaiman (wa Katab lahu) I.K. 502
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Changes in the nature of government under the
Q — Abbasids were accompanied by other changes. The move away
from Kufa to the newly built city of Madlnat ai-Salim in the
reign of al-Mansu IT W a S part of the centralization of govern
ment in the reign of that Caliph. Under the Umayyads there
had not been a centralization of government offices and
Caliphal residence similar to that which developed in the
CAbbasid period. The Arab historians would have us believe
that Mansur's search for a capital, away from the strife of
Kufa, fortified and garrisoned with loyal troops, and con
taining the chief government dawawln began when the
Rawandlyya almost defeated and captured that Caliph. In c — reality, however, the differences between the Abbasid style
of government and that of the Umayyads had its origin only
partly in the turbulent career of al-Mansur prior to the
founding of Baghdad. The Umayyad Caliphs' policy towards
the administration of the Empire appears at first to defy
description in general terms. Each Caliph had to work out
a new coalition of elements to maintain himself in power.
However, it is possible to delineate certain general threads
that make clear the basic differences between the Umayyad
Q — and Abbasid regimes. First, the Umayyads believed that
there existed an Arab aristocracy and that this Arab aristoc
racy was intended to rule the Islamic Empire by means of
control of all the politically important offices. The
161
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 162
Umayyads employed persons who were not members of the Arab
aristocracy in posts that required learned skills but persons
who held such posts were never able to move into positions
that involved political decisions. As a corollary to their
belief in the existence of an Arab aristocracy and its right
to rule the Empire, the Umayyads believed in the maintenance
of the purity of that aristocracy. To this end the Umayyads 0 excluded Maslama b. Abd al-Malik from succession to the
rule because of his descent from a slave woman.^ The
Umayyads did, however, link with many of their governors by
marriage alliances but these governors were members of suit
able Arab tribes. The CAbbasias on the other hand conceived
of a ruling aristocracy of the Caliph and his men, linked
0 _ through ties of blood and/or loyalty. The Abbasids also
employed members of their family and descendants of the mem-
bers of the Da wa in political positions. They also
employed men of the same background as the Umayyads had used
in positions that required learned skills, but they did not
limit men in these positions who came from non-Arab aristoc
ratic backgrounds to such positions and some of these men
came to have influence in the political sphere. The fact 0 __ that the Abbasids were willing to use men from outside the
Gabrieli, F., "L'eroe Omayyade Maslamah Ibn Abd al- Malik", Rendiconte della Classe di Scienze morali, storiche, e filologiche, Acc. Naz. dei Lincei, 1950, pp. 22-39.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 163
Arab aristocracy in political positions was also reflected
in their willingness to make marriage alliances with non-Arab
families.2
The office of Wazlr has not been included in this
study because the origin and development of this position is
the subject of penetrating and detailed studies by S. D. 3 Goitein and D. Sourdel. The institution of the position of
Wazlr during the CAbbasid period was the culmination of a
process of change in the governance of the Empire. The
career of Khalid b. Barmak typifies this. The Barmakids
were an important family from Balkh, some of whom settled in 4 - Basra in the late Umayyad period. Khalid achieved his
initial position in the cAbbasid administration because of
his skill in the manipulation of the Kharaj and the jjooty c — from the territories conquered by the Abbasid army as it - - 5 c - made its way from Khorasan to Irak. Following the Abbasid
victory Khalid was appointed Katib Diwan al-Kharaj wa al-Jund
and married the daughter of Abu al-CAbbas.^ Although Khalid
2 See Chapter 4, Pt. VIII. 3 Goitein, S. D . , "The Origin of the Vizierate", apud Studies. Sourdel, D . , Le Vizirat, Damascus, 1949. 4 _ 2 - Ei s.v. Baramika, (D. Sourdel).
^ Jahshiyari, Wuzara', p. 87.
6 See Chapter 4, Pt. VIII.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 164
did not actually become a Wazlr. his background and the
development of his career led one chronicler to describe him 7 as a quasi-Wazir. Indeed as the pattern of family ruxe c — c followed by the Abbasids in the reign of Abu al- Abbas and
part of al-Mansur's reign broke down, and men linked to the
Caliphs by ties of personal loyalty rather than those of
blood came to the fore, other men with careers similar to
that of Khalid b. Barmak were appointed Wazir.
Thus, there were differences between the Umayyad and
Abbasid military and administrative bureacracies. Differ
ences that reflected the different origins and conditions
under which these two regimes emerged and flourished.
7 Jahshiyari, Wuzara1, p. 91.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Primary Sources
2. Secondary Sources Books
3 , Secondary Sources Articles
165
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 166
1. Primary Sources
Abu'l Faraj '1 IsfahanI, CAli b. '1 Husayn (d. 356/967) 1. Kitab al-Aqha.nl. Bulaq, 1284-5/1866-8 20 vols.; Vol. 21 Leiden 1306/1888; Index with summary of the contents, Leiden, 1900; Second edition of 21 vols. & 4 vols. index, Cairo 1323/1905; New edition of 17 vols., Cairo 1927 ff. (continuing). 2. Magatil al-Talibiyyin. Najaf 1353/1934; Najaf 1965.
Abu'l Fida', IsmaCIl b. CAli (d. 732/1331) 1. Mukhtasar Tarlkh al-Bashar, 2 vols., Istanbul, 1286/1869. 2. Tagwlm al-Buldan, Paris, 1840.
Abu Nucaim, Ahmad b. ""Abd Allah al-Isbahani (d. 430/1038) 1. Kitab Dhikr Akhbar Isbahan. edited by Sven Dedering, 2 vols., Leiden, 1931-34. 2. Hilyat al-Auliya1 wa Tabagat al-Asfiya', 10 vols., Cairo, 1932-8.
Abu Salih al-Armani (d. 6th century/12th century) 1. The Churches & Monastaries of Egypt, ed. & trans. by B. T. Evetts & additional notes by A. J. Butler, Oxford, 1895, Trans, reprinted Oxford, 1869.
Abu Tammam, Habib b. Aws (d. 232/846) 1. Naga'id Jarir wa al-Akhtal, ed. by A. SalhanI, Beirut, 1922. ■2. Al-Hamasa, ed. by Freytag, Leipzig, 1846.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abu CAbayd al-Kasim b. Sallam (d. 224/838) 1. Kitab al-Amwal, Cairo 1353/1934.
Abu Yusuf, YaCqub (d. 182/798) 1. Kitab al-Kharaj. Cairo, 1302/1885, French trans. by E. Fagnan, Le Livre de 1 1Impot Foncier, Paris 1921.
Abu Zakariyaal-Azdl, Yazld b. Muhammad (d. 334/945) Tarikh Mosul, Baghdad, 1968.
Akhbar al-CAbbas wa Waldlhl MS., Higher Institute of Islamic Studies, Baghdad. On this MS and the information it c — provides on the Abbasid Movement see Durx, A.: "Dawa1 jadid Cala daSwa al-Abbasiyya" in Bulletin of the College of Arts, Baghdad, 1961.
Akhbar MajmuCa Anonymous (9th century A.D.)
Madrid-*-'A ( j_1867* w w « , SeDr''Ran'nrisn-■*-» / —r -1964. -'v-i •
Al-AshCarI, Abu'l Hasan CAli b. IsmaCIl (d. 324/936) Kitab Magalat al-Islamiyyin wa Ikhtilaf al- Musallin, 2 vols., edited by H. Ritier, Istanbul 1929-30. On this see R. Strothman in Islam, XIX pp. 193-242.
Al-AshC arI, SaCd b. CAbd Allah al-Qummi (d. 301/913) Kitab al-Firag wa al-Magallat. Teheran, 1963.
Al-Azraqx, Muhammad b. °Abd Allah (d. 204/819) Akhbar Mekka, edited by Wdstenfeld, Leipzig, 1858, Reprint, Beirut, 1964.
Al-Baghdadi CAbd al-Qahir b. Tahir (d. 429/1037) Kitab al FarqBayn al-Firaq, edited by °Abd
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 168
al-Hamld, Cairo, n.d.; English translation, Pt. 1, K. Seelye, New York, 1919, Pt. 2, A. Halkin, Tel Aviv, 1935.
Bahshal, Aslam b. Sahl al-Wasiti (d. 292/905) Tarlkh Wasit, edited by G. CAwwad, Baghdad, 1967.
Al-BakrI, Abu Ubayd (d. 487/1094) c — c 1. Mu jam ma 1sta jam, 4 vols., Cairo, 1945-51. 2. Al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik, portion on North Afria, edited by de Slane, Reprint, Paris, 1965.
Al-Baladhurl, Ahmad b. Yahya (d. 279/892) 1. Ansab al-Ashraf, only partially edited, First part edited by Muh. Hamidullah, Cairo, 1959; a later portion edited by Max Schlossinger, Jerusalem, 1938, S. D. F. Goitein, Jerusalem, 1936, A. Ahlwardt, Greifswald, 1883. An addi tional portion has been published Jerusalem, 1970 (not seen). For complete information on editions and translations see C. Cahan: Sauvagefs Introduction to the History of the Muslim East, Berkeley, 1965, p. 123. MS...... II (complete in two volumes) Suleymaniye Kutuphanesi Reis 597-8 (598 folios, 634 folios), (Indexed in BEOD, Vol. 14, 1952-4 by M. Hamidullah). Another MS. in Rabat, see article by Hamidullah in Majallat Ma°hd al-Makhtutat, Vol. 6, Cairo, 1960. 2. Futuh al-Buldan, new ed. S. al-Munajjid, Cairo, 1956-60. English trans. Hitti & Murgotten, 2 vols., New York, 1916, 1924; Reprint New York, 1969.
BalC ami, Muhammad b. Muhammad (d. 362/972) Tarjamah i Tarikh i Tabari, MS. from the Library of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the Amir of Bukhara, Nasrallah, (in my possession) Text printed Cawnpore, 1896; French trans. H. Zotenberg, Paris, 1867-74.
Al-BanasI, Jamal al-Din Yunus al-Ansarl (d. 654/1256) Al-AClam bl '1 Hurub fi sadr al-Islam. MS. MaChad al-Makhtutat, Cairo, Tarikh No. 299.
Bashshar b. Burd (d. 168/784) Piwan, Cairo, 1954.
Bevan, A. A . , The Naqa'id of Jarir and al-Farazdaq, Leiden, 1908-12.
Al-Bukhari, Muhammad b. IsmaCIl (d. 256/870) 1. Al-Sahih, ed. by Krehl and Juynboll, Leiden, 1862-1908. 2. Kitab al-Tarlkh al-Kablr. Hyderabad, 1361-77/1941-58.
Al-Dhaliabi, Muhammad b. Ahmad (d. 748/1348) 1. Tarikh al-Islam, 6 vols., Cairo, 1367/1946 ff. 2. Kitab Duwal al-Islam, Hyderabad, 1337/1918-9. 3. Tadhkirlt al-Huffaz. Hyderabad, 1375-77/1955-8 4. Siyar aClam '1 Nubala. 3 vols., Cairo, 1956 ff
Dinawarl, Abu Hanlfa (d. 282/895) Kitab al-Akhbar al-Tiwal, Cairo, 1960.
Dionysius, Chronique de Denys de Tell Mahre, trans. J. B. Chabot, Paris, 1895.
Farazdaq, Tammam b. Ghalib (d. circa 110/728) Diwan Farazdaq, Cairo, 1936.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 170
Ghurar al-Siyar Anonymous (4th century/10th century) Bodleian Library, MS. D'Orville, 542.
Gryzaznevich, P. A., ed., Nubdhad min Kitab al-Tarlkh li Mu'allif Majhul, Arabsky Anonim xi veka, Arabic text and translation, Moscow, 1960; 2nd ed. Moscow, 1967.
Al-Harawl, CAlI b. Abl Bakr (d. 611/1215) Kitab al-lsharat ill ma rifat al-ziyarat, ed. and trans. J. Sourdel-Thomine, Damascus, 1952-7.
Ibn °Abd al Barr, Yusuf (d. 463/1071) Al-Istlcab fl MaCrifat al-Ashab, Hyderabad, 1336-7/1917-8.
c — c — Ibn Abd al-Hakam, Abd al-Rahman (d. 242/856-7) Futuh Misr, ed. by C. Torrey, New Haven, 1922.
Ibn cAbd al-Rabbih, Ahmad b. Muhammad (d. 328/940) Al-CIcrd al-Farld, Cairo, 1940.
Ibn abl '1 Hadid (d. 656/1258) Sharh Nahj al-Balagha. edited by Muhammad Abi '1-Fadl Ibrahim, Pts. 1-20, Cairo, 1959-64.
Ibn Abl Hatim, °Abd al-Rahman (d. 327/929) 1. Taqdimat '1 MCarifat (L'il Jarh wa1 t-TCadil), Hyderabad, 1371/1952. 2. Kitab al-Jarh wa'l TCadil, 4 vols., Hyderabad, 1371-2/1952-3. 3. Kitab B ay an Khata' al-Bukharl fl Tarlkhihl, Hyderabad, 1963.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 171
Ibn CAtham al-Kufl, Ahmad b. °Uthman {d. 314/926) Kitab al-Futuh. MS. Istanbul Ahmat III, No. 2956, 2 vols.
Ibn al-Athlr (d. 630/1233) 1. Kitab al-Kamil fl t-Tarlkh, 12 vols., Cairo, 1303/1885. 2. Usd al-Ghaba fl ma rifat as-Sahiba, 5 vols., Cairo, 1280/1863. 3. Al-Lubab fl Tahdhlb al-Ansab, 3 vols., Cairo, 1357-69/1938-49.
Ibn al-Athlr, cAzz al-Din (d. 606/1209-10) Al-Nihaya fl Gharib al-Hadlth, Cairo, 1885.
Ibn CAsakir; CAlI b. Hasan (d. 571/1176) Tarikh Dimashq, Damascus 1333/1914 ff.
Ibn Duraid, Mihammad b. al-Hasan (d. 321/933) Al-Ishtiqaq, Cairo, 1958.
Ibn al-Faqlh, Al-HamdhanI (d. circa 289/902) Kitab a l - Buid a n , Leiden, 1885.
Ibn Habib, Muhammad (d. 245/859) 1. Kitab al-Muhabbar, Hyderabad, 1942; Reprint Beirut, 1967. 2. Kitab al-Munnamaq fi Akhbar Quraish, Hyderabad, 1964. 3. Asma* al-Mughtaliyln min al-Ashraf in Nawadir al-Makhtutat, Cairo, 1954 ff.
Ibn Hajar al-CAsqalanl, Ahmad b. CAlI (d. 852/1448) 1. Kitab al-Isaba fl Tamyiz al-Sahaba, Calcutta, 1856. 2. Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, Hyderabad, 1325-7/1907-9; Reprint, Beirut, 1969.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 172
3. Lisan al-Mizan, Huderabad, 1329/1911; Reprint Beirut, 1968.
Ibn Hauqal, Abu al-Qasim (d. 367/979) Kitab al-Masalik wa11-Mamalik, Leiden, 1872.
Ibn Hazm (d. 456/1064) 1. Jamharat Ansab al-CArab, edited by Levi- Provencal, Cairo, 1948; New edition edited by CAbd Assalam Muhammad Harun, Cairo, 1962. 2. Kitab al~Fasl fi11 Milal wa '1 Nihal, Cairo, 1317-20/1899-1902; Reprint Baghdad, 1965; English trans. by I. Friedlander in J.A.C.S. 1907-8.
Ibn Hisham (d. 218/833) Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya, ed. M. al- Sakka ct al, 2 vols., Cairo, 1955.
Ibn al CIbrI (Bar-Hebraeus) Gregory Abu al-Faraj (d. 681/1286) 1. Mukhtasar Tarikh al-Duwal, Beirut, 1890. 2. The Chronography of Gregory Abu al-Faraj, ed. & trans. by E. A. Wallis-Budge, Oxford, 1932.
Ibn Isfandiyar, Muhammad b. al-Hasan (early 7th c./ 13th century) Tarikh i Tabaristan, Teheran, 1942; abridged English trans. E. G. Browne, London, 1905.
Ibn Al-Kalbl, Hisham b. Muhammad (d. 3rd century/ 9th century) 1. Jamharat al-Nasab, MS. British Museum No. 1202. 2. Kitab al-Nasab al-Kablr, MS. Escorial No. 1698.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 173
c 3. Nasab Ma ad wa *1 Yam an al-Kabir. M S . British Museum Add. 22376. The first two translated and indexed by W. Caskel & K. Strenziok, Leiden, 1966.
Ibn Kathlr, IsmaCIl b. CUmar (d. 774/1373) Al Bidaya wa Al-Nihaya, Cairo, 1932.
Ibn Khaldun, CAbd al-Rahman b. Muhammad (d. 804/1406) Kitab al CIbar, 7 vols., Beirut, 1957.
Ibn Khallikan, Ahmad b. Muhammad (d. 681/1282) * Q — Wafayat '1 a Yan, ed. by Wustenfeld, Goettingen, 1835-52; English trans. by de Slane j Londonf 1843-71.
Ibn Khayyat, Khalifa (d. 240/854-5) 1. Kitab al-Tarikh, edited by Al °Umari, 2 vols., Najaf 1386/1967; also by S. Zakkar, Damascus, 1967. 2. Kitab al-Tabagat, edited by Al °Umari, Najaf, 1967; also S. Zakkar, Damascus, 1967.
Ibn Khurdadbih, cUbaydallah b. CAbd Allah (d. circa 300/912) Kitab al Masalik, Leiden, 1889.
Ibn Manzur, Muhammad b. al-Mukarraml (d. 711/1311) — Q Lisan al Arab, Beirut, 1955-6.
Ibn Al-MuqaffaC , °Abd Allah Rozbih (d. 139/756) 1. "Al Adab al-Kabir" apud Rasa'il al-Bulagha1 , edited by M. Kurd CA lI, Cairo 1374/1954. 2. "Al-Adab al-Saghlr" apud idem. 3. "Al Risala fi'1 Sahaba" apud idem.
Ibn al MuCtazz, CAbd Allah (d. 296/905} Tabagat al-Shu^ara '1 Muhdathln, ed. by A. Eghbal, London, 1939; New edition, Cairo, 1955.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ibn al-Nadlm, Muhammad b. Ishaq (d. 377/987) Kitab al-Fihrist, Leipzig, 1371-2; Reprint, Beirut, 1964.
Ibn Qutayba, °Atd Allah b. Muslim (d. 276/889) 1. Kitab al MaCarif, ed. by S. Okasha, Cairo, 1960 2. CUyun al-Akhbar, 4 vols., Cairo, 1925. 3. Kitab al-ShiCf wa al-ShuCara. Leiden, 1904. 4. Adab al-Katib, Leiden, 1900. — c — — 5. Kitab al Arab apud Rasa'il al-Bulagha1 . 6. Ikhtilaf '1 Lafz wa '1 Radd CAla Jahmiyya wa'l Mushabbiha, Cairo, 1349/1930.
Attributed to Ibn Qutayba 1. Kitab al-Imama wa '1 Siyasa, Cairo, 1964; also MS. in Royal Asiatic Soceity, London. 2. Risala fl '1 Radd °Ala MuCtazila, MS. S.O.A.S., Sg. V. 411.
Ibn Rustah, Ahmad b. CUmar (d. circa 310/922) Al AClaq '1 Naflsa, Leiden, 1892.
Ibn SaCd, Muhammad (d. 230/845) Kitab al-Tabagat, Leiden, 1905-40.
Ibn Shaddad, CIzz al-Din (d. 684/1288) c — — Al-A lag al-Khatira, Damascus, 1953.
Ibn Sufyan, YaCqoub (d. 277/890) Kitab al-MaCrifa wa 'l-Tarikh, MS. Sarayi Revan Kosk 1554 (Vol. II, 254 folios); Esad 2391 (Vol. Ill, 335 folios). See C. Cahen, R.E.I., 1936
Ibn faifur, Ahmad b. Abi Tahir (d. 280/893) Kitab Baghdad, Leipzig, 1904.
Ibn Taghri Blrdl, Abu al-Mahasin Yusuf (d. 874/1469) Al Nujuia al-Zahira, Cairo, 1929 ff.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 175
Ibn Tiqtaqa, Muhammad b. CAli b. Tabataba (d. 709/1309) Al Fakhrl, Beirut, 1964; English trans. by C. Whitting, London, 1947.
Ibn Tulun, Shams al-Dln Muhammad (d. 953/1546) 1. Umara1 Misr fil Islam, Beirut, 1963. 2. Qudat Dimasha, Damascus, 1956.
Al-Isfahani, Abu CAba Allah Hamza (d. 360/970) Kitab Tawarikh SinI Muluk al-Ard wa 11 Anbiya1, Leipzig, 1844.
Istakhrl Ibrahim b. Muhammad (late 4th century/lOth c.) Kitab '1 Masalik wa '1 Mamalik, Leiden, 1927.
Ai-Jahiz, °Amr b. Bahr (d. 255/868) 1. Rasa* il , ed. by Harun, Cairo, 1964. 2. Al-Hayawan, Cairo, 1905-7. 3. Al-Bayan wa 1l-Tabyln, ed. by Harun, Cairo, 1968. 4. Al-Bukhala1, Cairo, 1958. 5. Al-CUthmanIyya, Cairo, 1955. 6. "Nafyy al-Tashblh" apud Al Mashriq, 1953. 7. "Risala ll Jahiz apud Al Mashriq, 1953. 8. "Min Kalam al-Jahiz" apud Lughat al'Arab, Vol. 2. 9. "Risala fi Ithbat Imamat Amlr'l Muminln 'All b. Abl Talib" apud Lughat al CArab, Vol. 7. 10. "Risala ila Abl CAbd Allah" apud Lughat al °Arab, Vol. 9. 11. "Traite de Djahiz sur les Nabita" apud I.O.C., Paris, 1897, pp. 115-123. 12. "Risala fl '1 Hakamvn" apud Al Mashriq, 1908, pp. 417. 13. "Kitab Mukhtarat min Fusul al-Jahiz" apud Al Mashriq, 1953.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 176
Attributed to Al Jahiz 1. Kitab al-Tabassur bi *1 Tijara. Cairo, 1933. 2- Kitab al-Taj fi Akhalag al-Muluk. Cairo, 1914.
Al Jahshiyari, Muhammad b. CAbdus (d. 331/942) Al Wuzara1 wa '1 Kuttab. Cairo, 1938.
Jarir b. CAtiyya (d. 110/728-9) Piwan Jarir. Cairo, 1353/1935; Cairo, 1379/1960.
Al Khatlb al-Baghdadi, Abu Bakr Ahmad b. CAlI (d. 463/1071) Tarikh Baghdad. Cairo, 1349/1931.
Al Khawarzimi, Muhammad b. Ahmad (d. 376/895) Mafatih al CUlum. Leiden, 1895.
— — c — Al-Khowlani, Abd al-Jabbar Tarikh Dariya. ed SaCid al-Afghani, Damascus, 1369/1950.
Al Kindi, Muhammad b. Yusuf (d. 350/961) Kitab al Wulat wa al-Qudat. Leiden, 1912.
Kitab al CUyun wa '1 Bada'ig Anonymous, ed. by de Goeje, Leiden, 1869.
Al Kumait b. Zayd (d. 126/743) Al-Hashimiyyat, Leiden, 1904.
Al Kutubi, Muhammad b. Shakir (d. 764/1363) F aw at al - W af ay at. Cairo, 1283.
Al Maqdisi, Muttahar b. Tahir (d. 355/966) Al Bad1 wa '1 Tarikh, 5 vols., Paris, 1899-1906.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 177
Al Maqrlzl, Ahmad b. CAlI (d. 845/1442) 1. Al Khitat. Cairo, 1270/1853; MS index by Rhuvon Guest in my possession. 2. Al Niza— c wa '1 Takhasum bain Bani — Umayya wa Ban! Hashim. Najaf. 1368/1948. c — c — 3. Al Bayan wa 11 I rab an ma bi Ard Misr Min al ACrab, Cairo, 1961. 4. Al Dhahab al Masbuk fl Dhikr man Hajja min al-Khulafa1 '1 Muluk, Cairo, 1955
MasCudx, °AlI b. al-Husayn (d. 345/956) 1. Muruj al-Dhahab, Paris, 1861-1877. 2. Kitab al-Tanblh wa al Ishraf. Leiden, 1894.
Michael the Syrian (d. 1199 A.D.) Chronique, trans. and ed. by J. B. Chabot, Paris, 1904.
Al Mubarrad, Muhammad b. Yazid (d. 285/898) Al Kamil, 4 vols., Cairo, 1956.
Al Muqaddasi, Shams al-Din, Muhammad b. Ahmad (d. 4th century/lOth c.) Kitab Ahsan al-TaqasIm fl Ma'rifat al- Aqalim, Leiden, 1906.
Al Narshakhi, Muhammad b. JaCFar (d. 348/959) Tarikh i Bukhara, Teheran, 1939, English trans. by R. H. Frye, Cambridge, Mass., 1954.
Nawadir al Makhtutat, ed. by Harun, Cairo, 1951-4.
Al-NawbakhtI, al-Hasan b. Musa (d. 300/912) Kitab Firaq al-ShICa, Najaf, 1959.
Al-Nuwairi, Ahmad b. °Abd al-Wahab (d. 732/1331-2) Nihayat al-Arab fl Funun al-Adab, Cairo, 1923 ff.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 178
Al-Qalqashandi, Ahmad b. CAbd Allah (d. 821/1418) Subh al-A°sha, 14 vols. Cairo, 1919-20.
Al-Qiftl, °AlI b. Yusuf al ShaybanI (d. 646/1248) Tarikh al-Hukama1, Leipzig, 1320/1902.
Qudama b. JaCfar (d. 337/948) Kitab al-Kharaj, Leiden, 1889; English trans. by A. Ben Shemesh, Leiden, 1966.
Al-QummI, Hasan b. Muhammad (d. 9th century/15th c.) Tarikh i Qumm, Teheran, 1935.
Al-Sabi', Hilal b. Muhassin (d. 448/1056-7) 1. Rusum dar al-Khilafa. Baghdad, 1964. 2. Al-Wuzara', Cairo, 1958.
Al-Safadi, Khalil b. Aybak (d. 764/1363) 1. Al-Wafi bi'l Wafayat, 4 vols., Istanbul, 1931-59. 2. Umara1 Dimashq fl '1 Islam, Damascus, 1955.
Al-SamCani, CAbd al-Karlm b. Muhammad (d. 562/1167-8) Kitab al-Ansab, London 1912; New edition Hyderabad, 1962 ff.
Al-Shahrastani, Muhammad b. CAbd al-Karim (d. 548/1153) Kitab al-Milal wa al-Nihal, ed. by W. Cureton, London 1842; Reprint, Leipzig, 1923; German trans. by T. Haarbrucker, Halle, 1850-1, 2 vols.
Ai-Suli, Muhammad b. Yahya (d. 335/916) 1. Adab al-Kutrab, Cairo 1341/1923. 2. Akhbar al-Shu^ara1 al-Muhdathin, London, 1934. 3. AshCar Awlad al-Khulafa', London, 1936.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 179
Al-SuyutI, CAba al-Rahman (d. 911/1505) Tarikh al-Khulafa', Cairo, 1964, English trans. by H. S. Jarrett, Calcutta, 1881.
Tabari, Abu JaCfar Muhammad b. Jarir (d. 310/923) Tarikh al-Rusul wa 11 Muluk, 10 vols., Cairo, 1960-9. Preserves the pagination of the Leiden edition. Al-TanukhI, Abu CAlI al-Muhassin (d. 384/994) 1. Kitib Nishwar al-Muhadara wa Akhbar al- Mudhakara, Part 1 edited and trans. by D. S. Margoliouth, London, 1921; Part 2 R.A.A.D.. X, 1 ff., 138 ff., 201 ff., 291 ff., 490 ff., XII, 367 ff. A translation of Parts 2 & 8 in Islamic Culture, 1932 ff.; Reprinted Hyderabad, 1934. 2. Al-Mustadjad min FaCalat al-Adjwad, ed. by Muh. Kurd Ali, Damascus, 1946. 3. Al-Faradj baCd al-Shidda, 2 parts, Cairo, 1955.
Tarikh i Sistan Anonymous, Teheran, 1314.
Tarikh i Pawlat i Abbaslyya Anonymous, MS. (6th century/12th c.) Bayazid Library, Istanbul, No. 2360.
ThaCalabI, °Abd al Malik b. Muhammad (d. 429/1037-8) 1. Lata1if al-MaCarif. Cairo, 1960. — 0 2. Yatimat al-Dahr fi Mahasin Ahl al Asr, Damascus, 1304/1886.
Waklc , al-Qadi Muhammad b. Khalaf (d. 306/918) Akhbar al-Qudat, 3 vols., Cairo, 1947-50.
Yahya b. Adam al-Qurashl (d. 203/818) Kitab al-Kharaj. Leiden, 1958.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 180
Al-Ya°qubl, Ahmad b. Abl YaCqub Ishaq (d. 284/897) 1. Tarikh YaCqubI, 2 vols., Beirut, 1379/1960. 2. Kitab al-Buldan, edited by M. J. de Goeje, 2nd edition, Leiden, 1892. 3. Mashakalat al'nass li1 Zamanihim, Teheran 1323.
Yaqut sl-HamawI (d. 626/1229) 1. MuC jam al-Buldan. ed. by F. Wustenfeld, 6 vols., Leipzig, 1866-70; Reprint, Teheran, 1965. 2. Irshad al-Arlb ila MaCrifat al-Adlb, ed. by D. S. Margoliouth, 7 vols., London, 1909-31.
Al-Zabidl, Muhammad Murtada (d. 1205/1791) Taj al CArus, 10 vols., Cairo, 1306-7/1889-90.
Al-Zubair b. Bakkar (d. 256/870) 1. Jamharat Nasab Quraish wa Akhbariha, ed. by Mahmud M. Shakir, Cairo 1381/1961.
Al-Zubairi, MusCab ibn CAbd Allah (d. 236/851) Kitab Nasab Quraish, ed. by Levi-Provencal, Cairo, 1953.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2. Secondary Sources - Books
Abbot, N. 1. Two Queens of Baghdad, Chicago, 1946. 2. The Rise of the North Arabic Script, Chicago, 1939. 3. The Kurrah Papyri, Chicago, 1938. 4. Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri, Vol. Chicago, 1959; Vol. II, Chicago, 1967.
Ahmad, M. H. Al-Khilafa wa '1 Dawla fl '1 CAsr al °AbbasI, Cairo, 1959.
°AlI, M. K. Rasa'il al-Bulagha1. Cairo, 1954.
Akel, Nabih Social Life as portrayed in the Kitab al-Aghani, S.O.A.S. Thesis 326, 1961.
Al CAlI, S.A. 1. Al Tanzlmat al-1jtima°Iyyah wa *1 lgtisadiyyah fi '1 Basrah fi '1 Qarn al-Awwal al-Hijrl, Baghdad, 1953; 2nd edition, Beirut, 1969. 2. CIlm al-Tarlkh CAhd al-Muslimlh, A Translation of F. Rosenthal's Muslim Historiography, Baghdad, 1963.
Baraniq, M. A. Al-Wuzara1 al-CAbbasiyun, Baghdad, 1948.
Al-CAmilI c — —c A yan al-Shi a , Damascus, 1936.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Al-Ashqar, A. H. Al-Saffah wa al-Mansur, Beirut, 1960.
Baghdad Millenary Volume, Leiden, 1962.
Barth, H. Nomads of South Persia. London, 1964.
Barthold, W. Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion, 3rd Edition, London, 1968.
uell, G. L . Ukhaidir, Oxford, 1914.
Bouvat, L. Les Barmecides d'apres les auteurs arabes et persans. Paris, 1909.
Brockelmann, C. Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, 5 vols., Leiden, 1942-9.
Browne, E. G. A Literary History of Persia, 4 vols., Cambridge, 1909-30.
Caetani, L. and G. Gabrieli Onomasticon Arabicorum, Rome, 1915.
Chejne, A. G. Succession to the Rule in Islam, Lahore, 1960.
Christensen, A. L'Iran sous les Sassaniaes, Copenhagen, 1936; Arabic trans., Cairo, 1957.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 183
Creswell, K. A. C. 1. Early Muslim Architecture. Vol. I, 2nd edition, London, 1969; Vol. II, London, 1940. 2. Fortification in Islam before A.D. 1250, London, 1952. 3. A Short Account of Early Muslim Architecture, London, 1958; Reprint, Beirut, 1969.
Dennet, D. C. 1. Conversion and the Poll Tax in Early Islam, Cambridge, Mass., 1950. 2. Merwan b. Muhammad, Harvard Ph.D. Thesis, 1939.
Donaldson, D. M. The ShicIte Religion, London, 1933.
Dunlop, D. M. The History of the Jewish Khazars, Princeton, 1954.
Duri, A. 1. Al-CAsr al-CAbbasI 'l-awwal, Baghdad, 1945. 2. Tarikh al- CIrag al-Iqtisadi, Baghdad, 1948. 3. Mugaddima fl Tarikh Sadr al-Islam, Baghdad, 1949. 4. Al-Nuzum al-Islamiyya, Baghdad, 1950 5. Al-Judhur al-Tari'khiyya li 1 l-shuCubiyya, Beirut, 1962. 6. Al-Judhur al-Tarikhivva li 11-Qawmiyyat al-CArabiyya, Beirut, 1960. 7. Bahth fl Nash°at CIlm '1 Tarikh °Inda '1 CArab, Beirut, 1960.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 184
Encyclopedia of Islam. 1st edition, Leiden, 1913; 2nd edition, London, 1956 ff.
Fahmy, A. M. Muslim Sea Power in the Eastern Mediterranean, 7th to the 10th Century A.D., London, 1950.
Farrukh, U. 1. CAbdallah b. al-MuqaffaC , Beirut, 1941. 2. Bashshar b. Burd, Beirut, 1946.
Fattal, R. La statut des non-musulmans en pays d' Islam an Moven Age, Beirut, 1958.
Fischel, W. J. The Jews in the Economic and Political Life of Medieval Islam, London, 1937.
Flugel, G. Die Grammatischen Schulen der Araber, Leipzig, 1862.
Fox, Robin Kinship and Marriage, London, 1967.
Fries, N. Das Heereswesen der araber zur Zeit der Omayyayeden nach Tabari, Kiel, 1921.
Gibb, H. A. R. 1. The Arab Conquests in Central Asia, London, 1923. 2. Studies on the Civilization of Islam, London, 1962.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Goitein, S. D. Studies in Islamic History and Institutions. Leiden, 1966.
Goldziher, I. Muhammedanische Studien, 2 vols., Halle 1889- New edition, Hildesheim, 1961.
Grohmann, A. II Allegemeine Einfuhrung in die Arabischen Papyri, Vienna, 1924.
Grohmann, A. Arabic Papyri in the Egyptian Library, 6 vols., Cairo, 1934-60.
Grunebaum, G. E. Medieval Islam, Chicago, 1946.
Hamdi, Sidiqi The Civil War between Amin and Ma'mun, S.O.A.S. Thesis, 1948.
Hamilton, R. W. Khirbat al-Mafjar, Oxford, 1959.
Heer, F. J. Die historischer. und geoqx~aphischen _ _ II Quellen in Yaqut's geographischen Worterbuch, Strassbourg, 1898.
Honigman, E. Die Osbgrenze des Byzantinischen Reiches, Bruxelles, 1935; Reprint, 1961.
Horovitz, J. Aus den Bibliothek von Kairo, Damaskus, und Konstantinopel (Arabische Handschriften
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 186
geschichtlichen Inhalts), M.S.O.S., Xpt. 2, 1907, pp. 1-68.
Al-Jumard, A. — c — Abu Ja far al-Mansur, Beirut, 1963.
Kahhala, U. M. MuCjam qaba'il al-CArab, Damascus, 1949.
Kashif, S. I. Misr fl fajr al-Islam, Cairo, 1965.
Von Kremer, A. Orient under the Caliphs, trans. by K. Bukhsh, Calcutta, 1920; London, 1917.
Lambton, A. K. S. Landlord and Peasant in Persia, Oxford, 1953.
Lammens, Henri 1. Etudes sur le Regne du Calife Omaiyade Moc awia Ier, London, 1908. 2. Etudes sur le Siecle des Omayyades, Beirut, 1930.
Lane Poole, S. 1. Catalogue of Oriental coins in the British Museum, Vols. I, IX, London, 1875. 2. Catalogue of the Mohammadan coins preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, Oxford, 1888. 3. The Mohammadan Dynasties, Paris, 1225.
Le Strange, G. 1. The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, Cambridge, 1930. c — 2. Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, Oxford, 1924.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3. Palestine under the Moslems. Reprint, Beirut, 1965.
Levi-Provencal, E. Histoire de l'Espagne Musulmane. 3 vols., Paris, 1950-3.
Lewis, Bernard 1. The Origins of Isma'lism, Cambridge, 1940 2. The Arabs in History, London, 1950.
Lewis, H. and Holt, P. M . , eds. Historians of the Middle East, London, 1962.
L^ckkegarrd, F. Islamic Taxation in the Classical Period, Copenhagen, 1950.
Marcais, G. La Berberie Musulmane, Paris, 1946.
Margoliouth, D. ,c. Lectures on Arabic Historian?, '"alcutta, 1930
Massignon, L. 1. La passion d1al Hallaj, martyr mustigue de 'llslam, Paris, 1922. 2. Salman Pak at les premices spirtuelles de I 1Islam Iranian, Paris, 1934.
McGovern, W. M. The Early Empires of Central Asia, Chapel Hill, 1939.
Melikoff-Sayer, I. Abu Muslim le "porte-Hache" du Khorasan, Paris, 1962.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 188
Mez, A. Die Renaissance des Islam, Heidelberg, 1922; English trans. K. Bukhsh, The Renaissance of Islam, Patna, 1937.
Miles, G. C. 1. Early Arabic Glass Weights ana Measures, New York, 1948. 2. Early Arabic Glass Weights and Stamps, a supplement, New York, 1951. 3. Contributions to Arabic Metrology I , New York, 1958. 4. Contributions to Arabic Metrology II, New York, 1963. 5. Rare Islamic Coins, New York, 1950.
Miles, S. B. The Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf, London, 1919.
Al-Munajjid, S. AC1am al-Tarlkh wa 11 Jughrafiya CInda 11 CArab. Pts. I, II, III, Beirut, 1959-63.
Nader, A. Le Systeme Philosophigue des Muctazila. Beirut, 1937.
Al-Najar, Mohammad al-Tayyib Al-Mawali fi '1 CAsr al-Umawi, Cairo, 1949.
Al-Naqshabandi. N. M. Al-Dinar al-Islaml fl '1 Mathaf al-CIraki, Vol. I, Baghdad, 195 3.
Nicholson, R. A. A Literary History of the Arabs, Cambridge, 1953.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 189
Noldeke, Th. Sketches from Eastern History. English trans. by J. S. Black, London, 1892.
Omar, Farouk The Abbasid Caliphate 132/750-170/786. Baghdad, 1969.
Ostrogorsky, G. History of the Byzantine State, English trans. by J. Hussey, Oxford, 1956; New edition, Oxford, 1968. •
Pauly-Wissowa, G. Realenzyklopaedie des Klassischen Altertums, Stuttgart, 1894-
Pell at, Ch. 1. Le Milieu Basrien et le Formation du Gahiz, Paris, 1353. 2. Life and Works of Jahiz, London, 1970.
Petersen, E. L. C Ali — and Mu c— awiya, Copenhagen, 1964.
Al-Rayes, M. D. Al-Kharaj fi *1 dawla '1 Islamiyya. Cairo, 1957.
Rif a'I A. F. CAsr al-Ma.1 mu n , Cairo, 1928.
Rosenthal, F. 1. A History of Muslim Historiography, Leiden, 1952; Arabic trans. by al-CAlI, Baghdad, 1964. 2. Technique and Approach in y.uslim Scholarship, Rome, 1947.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Sadighi, G. H. Les mouvements religieux Iraniens du lie et llle siecles de l'Hegire, Paris, 1938.
Salem, E. A. Political Theory and Institutions of the Khawarij, Baltimore, 1956.
Sauvaget, J. Introduction a l'Histoire de I 1Orient Musulman, 2nd ed. C. Cahen, Paris, 1961.
Sayyid, F. Fihrist al-Makhtutat al-Musawar ah,3 vols., Cairo, 1954-59.
Schacht, J. 1. The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence, Oxford, 1950. 2. An Introduction to Islamic Law, Oxford, 1964.
Schwarzlose, F. W. Die Waffen der alten Araber aus Dichtern dargesteut, Leipzig, 1886.
Sezgin, Fuat Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums, Vol. I to 430 A.H., Leiden, 1967.
Al-Shayyal, J. Tarlkh Misr al-Islamiyya, Alexandria, 1967.
Smith, W. Robertson Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, London, 1907.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Sourdel, D. c — Le vizirat Abbaside. Damascus, 1959-60.
Spuler, B. Iran in fruh-Islamischer Zeit. Weisbaden, 1952,
Storey, C. A. Persian Literature, London, 1935 ff.
Thabit, N. _ c — Al-Jundiyya fi '1 dawla al- Abbasiya, Baghdad, 1956.
Tritton, A. S. 1. Muslim Theology, London, 1947. 2. The Caliphs and Their Non-Muslim Subjects, Oxford, 1930.
Tyan, E. 1. Institutions du Droit public Musulman, 2 vols., Paris, 1954, 1957. 2. Histoire de 1 1 organisation Judiciara er. Pays d 1Islam. 2nd edition, Leiden, 1960.
Van Vloten, G. 1. De opkomst der Abbasiden in Chorasan, Leiden, 1890. 2. Recherches sur la Domination Arab, Amsterdam, 1894.
Vasiliev, A. A. 1. Byzance et les arabes. 3ruxelles, 1935. 2. History of the Byzantine Empire, Madison. 1964, 2 vols.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 192
Vasmer, R. Chronologie der arabischen Statthalter von Armenien unter den Abbasiden. von as-Saffach bis zur Kronunq Aschots I. 750-887., Wien, 1931.
Von Pawlikowski-Cholewa Die Heere des Morgenlandes, Berlin, 1940.
Walker, J. 1. A Catalogue of the Arab-Sassanian Coins, London, 1941. 2. A Catalogue of the Arab-Byzantine and Post- Reform Umayyad Coins, London, 1956.
Watt, M. 1. Islamic Survey I, Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Edinburgh, 1962. 2. Free Will and Predestination, Edinburgh, 1962. 3. Muhammad at Mecca, Oxford, 1953. 4. Muhammad at Medina, Oxford, 1956.
Weil, G. Geschichte der Chalifen, Vol. I, II, Mannheim, 1846, 1848.
Wellhausen, J. 1. The Arab Kingdom and its Fall. Calcutta, 1922. 2. Die religios-politischen Opposition parteien im alten Islam. Berlin, 1901.
Wensinck, A. J. 1. The Muslim Creed, Cambridge, 1932. 2. Concordances et indices de la tradition Musulmane, 7 vols., Leiden, 1936-70. 3. Handbook of Islamic Tradition, Leiden, 1927.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 193
Wustenfeld, F. Die Geschichtschreiber der Araber und Ihre Werke, Reprint, New York, 1964.
Zaehner, R. C. The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism. London, 1960.
Zaki, A. K. Al-Hayat al-adabiyya fl '1 Basra ila nihayat al-Qarn al-thanl al-hijrl, Damascus, 1961.
De Zambaur, E. Manuel de Genealogie et de Chronologie pour l'histoire de l 1Islam. Hanover, 1927; Reprint, Bad Pyrmont, 1955.
Zaydan, J. 1. The Umayyads and the CAbbasids, English trans. by D. S. Margoliouth, London, 1907. 2. Abu Muslim al-Khurasani, Cairo, 1933.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 194
3. Secondary Sources - Articles
Abbot, N. "Review of M. Jones' Edition of the Kitab al-Maghazx of al-Waqidl", JAHA, May, 1968.
CAlI, J. "Mawarid Tarlkh al-Tabari", MMII, 1954, pp. 16-56, 1961, pp. 162 ff.
CAlI, M. K. "Mumayyizat BanI Umayya", RAAD, XV, pp. 408-21.
Al-CAll, S. A. 1. "Khitat al-Basra", Somer, II, 8, 1952, pp. 72-83. 2. "Istltan al-cArab fl Khurasan, BCA, 1959, pp. 36-83. 3. "Mintaqat al-Hira" , BCA, 1962. _ c C 4. "Al-Mu1alllfat al- Arablyya an al-Madina wa '1-Hijaz", BCA. 1965. 5. "Muwathafayy Bilad al-Sham fl '1-Cahd al- Umawl", Al-Abhath, Vol. 19, 1966, pp. 44-79. 6. "Baghdad in the time of al-Mansur", The Islamic City, ed. A. Hourani & S. M. Stern, Oxford, 1970, pp. 87-101.
Amedroz, H. F. "On the Meaning of the Laqab al-Saffah", JRAS. 1907, pp. 660-663.
Amelineau, M. E. "Les derniers jours et la mort du Khalifa Merwan", JA, II, 1914, pp. 660-63.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ashtor, E. "Essai sur les prix et les salaires dans 1'empire Califien", RSO, Vol. 36, 1961, pp. 16-69
c„ - .. Awwaa, M. "Al-qism al-da C —ci min al-Wuzara' — wa 'l-Kuttab", — RAAD, Vol. 18, 1943, pp. 318-20, 435-38.
Belaev, V. I. "The Leningrad Manuscript of the History of the CAbbasid Caliphate by al-SulI", ICO, Moscow, 1957 pp. 292-97.
Bosworth, C. E. "The Rise of the Karamiyyah in Khurasan", M W . Vol. 50, 1960, pp. 5-14.
Brooks, E. W. 1. "Byzantines and Arabs in the Time of the Early CAbbasid", EHR. XV, 1900; XVI, 1901. 2. "The Arabs in Asia Minor from Arabic Sources", JHS. Vol. 18, 1898.
Cahen, C. 1. "Points de vue sur la Revolution CAbbaside", R H . Vol. 230, 1963, pp. 295-338. 2. "Fiscalite, Propriete, Antagonismes sociaus en Haute-M^sopotamie au temps des Premiers CAbbasides d'apres Denys de Tell-Mahre, Arabica, I, 1954, pp. 136-52. 3. "Mouvements populaires et autonomisme urbain dans l ’Asie Musulmane du Moyen Age", Arabica, V, 1958, pp. 225-50; VI, 1959, pp. 25-56, 233-65.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 196
4. "Fiscal Survey of Medieval Yemen", Arabica. IV, 1957, pp. 25-29. 5. "Les chroniques Arabes concernant la Syria, l'Egypte et la Mesopotamie de la conquete arabe a la conquete ottomane dans les bibliotheques d 1Istanbul, REI, X, 1936, pp. 333-62.
Deitrich, A. "Das politische Testament des Zveiten CAbbasiden Kalifen al-Mansur", Der Islam, 1952, pp. 133-65.
Al-DiwajI, S. "Khitat al-Mausil", Somer, VII, 1951, pp. 222-36.
Durl, A. 1. "Al-Zuhrl", BSOAS. XIX, 1957, pp. 1-12. 2. "Daw1 Jadld °ala '1 daCwa 11-Abbasiyya, B.C.A., 1961, pp. 64-82. 3. "Nizam al-Dara'ib fl Khurasan fi Sadr al- Islam", BCA. 1964.
Fateh, M. Kh. "Taxation in Persia", BSOAS. IV, 1926/28, pp. 723-43.
Fischel, W. J. 1. "Bait al-Mal al-Khassa", ICO. XIX, 1935, pp. 538-41. 2. "The Jews of Central Asia (Khorasan) in Medieval Hebrew and Islamic Literature", HJ, VII, 1945, pp. 29 ff.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Friedlaender, I. "The Heterodoxies of the Shlcites in the presentation of Ibn Kazm", JAOS, Vol.28, 1907, pp. 1-80; Vol. 29, 1909, pp. 1-183.
Frye, R. N. 1. "The Role of Abu Muslim", MW, Vol. 37, 1947, pp. 28-38. Q _ 2. "The Abbasid Conspiracy and Modern Revolutionary Theory", Indo-Iranica, III, 1952-53, pp. 9-14. 3. "Turks in Khurasan and Transoxania at the Time of the Arab Conquest", MW, Vol. 35, 1945, pp. 308-15. 4. "History of Bukhara, a Review", RSO, Vol. 30, 1955. 5. "City Chronicles of Central Asia and Khurasan", Avicenna Commemoration Volume. Calcutta, 1956, pp. 89-92.
Frye, R. N. and Sayili, A. M. "Turks in the Middle East before the Seljuqs", JAOS. Vol. 63, 1943, pp. 194-207.
Fyzee, A. A. A. Q _ "Qadi an-Nu man, the Fatimid Jurist and Author" JRAS, 1934, pp. 1-32.
Gabrieli. F. C Q * 1. "Al-Ma mun e gli Alidi", Morgendlandische Texte und Forschungen, II, 1929, Leipzig. 2. "La succession di Harun al-Rashid e la guerre fra al-Amln e al-Ma'mun", RSO, XI, 1928, pp. 341-97. 3. 'L!opera di Ibn al-MuqaffaC ", RSO, XIII, 1931-2, pp. 197-247.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1376
Gabrieli, F. "L'eroe Omayyade Maslamah Ibn Abd al-Malik", Rendiconte della Classe di Scienze Morali, Storiche, e Filolcgiche. Acc. Naz. dei Lincei, 1950, pp. 22-39.
Ghanlma, Y. "Al-Nuqua al-°Abbasiyya", Somer, IX, 1953, pp. 98-131.
Ghazi, M. F. "Remarques sur l'Armee chez les Arabes, Ibla, 1960, pp. 209-22.
Gibb, H. A. R. Q 1. "The Argument from Design, a Mu tazilite Treatise Attributed to Jahiz", I. Goldziher Memorial Volume, I, Budapest, 1948, pp. 150-62. 2. "Chinese Records of the Arabs in Central Asia", BSGS, II, 1922, pp. 613-22. 3. "Government and Islam under the early CAbbaids", L 1 Elaboration de l 1Islam, Paris, 1961, pp. 115-27. 4. "The Fiscal Rescript of cUmar II", Arabica. II, 1955, pp. 1-16. 5. "The Evolution of Government in Early Islam", SI, IV, 1955, pp. 5-17.
Goitein, S. D. 1. "The Origin of the Vizierate and its true Character", Studies in Islamic History and Institutions, Leiden, 1966, pp. 168-96.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 198
2. "A Turning Point in the History of the Muslim State", Studies in Islamic History and Institutions, Leiden, 1966, pp. 149-67. 3. "The rise of the Middle Eastern Bourgeoise in Early Islamic Times", Studies in Islamic History and Institutions, Leiden, 1966, p. 217-41. (Review and reply by A. Belyaev, JWH, IV, 1957, p. 233, ei.'ui>led "Observations on S. D. Goitein's article "The Rise of the Middle Eastern Bourgeoise in Early Islamic Times"). 4. "The Place of Baladhuri's Ansab al-Ashraf in Arabic Historiography", ICO, XIX, 1935, pp. 603-06. 5. "A Plea for the Periodization of Islamic History", JAOS, Vol. 88, 1968, pp. 224 ff.
Goldziher, I. "Sllih b. CAbd al-Kuddus", ICO, 1893, II, pp. 104-29.
Grabar, 0. 1. "Umayyad 'Palace' and the CAbbasid Revolution", SI. XVIII, 1963, pp. 5-18. 2. "A Small Episode of Early cAbbasid Times and Some Consequences", Eretz Israel, VII (L. A . Mayer Memorial Volume), 1964, pp. 44-47. 3. "Islamic Art and Byzantium", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 18, 1964, pp. 67-88.
Gregoire, H. "Les Armenians entre Byzance et L'lslam", Byzantion, X, 1935, pp. 665-67.
Grun baum, G. E. c — 1. "Three Arabic poets of the early Abbasid Age", Orientalla. Vol. 17, 1948, pp. 160-204; Vol. 19, 1950, pp. 53-80; Vol. 22, 1953, pp. 266-83.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1S9
c — 2. "Muslim Civilization in the Abbasid Period", Cambridge Medieval History, New Edition, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, 1966, pp. 662-95.
Guest, R. 1. "Relations between Persia and Egypt under Islam", A Volume of Oriental Studies presented to E. G. Browne, Cambridge, 1922, pp. 163-74. 2. "A Coin of Abu Muslim", JRAS, 1932, pp. 554-56.
Hamidullah, M. 1. "Le Livre aes Genealogies d'al Baladhuriy", BEOD, Vol. 14, 1952-54, pp. 197-211. 2. "A New Manuscript of Baladhurl's Ansab al- Ashrif, (Arabic), Rima, VI, 1960, pp. 211-88.
Hodgson, M. G. S. — C "How did the early Shi a become a Sectarian?", JAOS. Vol. 75, 1955, pp. 1-13.
Jaffar, S. M. "The Arab Administration of Sind", IC, Vol. 17, 1943, pp. 119-29.
Kurat, A. N. "Abu Muhammad Ahmad b. ACtham al-Kufl's Kitab al-Futuh, AUTF, Vols. 6-7, 1949, pp. 255-82.
Lambton, A. K. S. 1. "An Account of the Tarikh i Qumm", BSOAS, Vol. 12, 1948, pp. 586-96. 2. "Quis custodiet custodes? Some reflections on the Persian Theory of Government, _SI_, V, 1956, pp. 125-48; VI, 1956, pp. 125-46.
Lammens, H. "Ta'if a la veille de l'Hegire", MFOB, VIII, 1922, pp. 115-327.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 200
Lassner, J. 1. "Notes on the Topography of Baghdad", JAOS, Vol. 83, 1963, pp. 458-69. 2. "Some Speculative Thoughts on the Search for an CAbbasid Capital", Part 1, MW, Vol. 55, 1965, pp. 135-214, 203-10, Part 2, MW, Vol. 56, 1966. 3. "Why did Caliph al-Mansur build ar-Rusafa?", JNES, XXIV, 1965, pp. 95-99. 4. "The Caliph's Personal Domain", The Islamic City, ed. A. Hourani & S. M. Stern, Oxford, 1970, pp. 103-18. 5. "Massignon and Baghdad: The Complexities of Growth in an Imperial City", JESHO, IX, 1966, pp. 1-27.
6 .
Lewis, B. 1. "An Apocalyptic Vision of Islamic History", BSOAS, Vol. 13, 1950, pp. 308-38. 2. "Some Observations on the Significance of Heresy in the History of Islam", _SI_, I, 1953, pp. 43-63. 3. "Government, Society, and Economic Life c — under the Abbasids and Fatimids", Cambridge Medieval History, New Edition, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, 1966, pp. 639-61.
Lichtenstsder, I. 1. "From Particularism to Unity: Race, Nationality and Minorities in the Early Islamic Empire", IC, Vol. 23, 1949, pp. 251-80. 2. "Muhammad Ibn Habib and his Kitab al-Muhabbar", JRAS, 1939, pp. 1-27.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 201
Margoliouth, D. S. "On Mahdis and Mahdism", Proceedings of the British Academy. 1915-16, pp. 213-33.
Massignon, L. 1. "Explication du Plan de Basra", Abhandlungen R. Tschudi, Wiesbaden, 1954, pp. 155-74. 2. "Explication du Plan de Kufa, Melanges Maspero, Vol. Ill, Cairo, 1940, pp. 336-60.
Moscati, S. 1. "Studi su Abu Muslim", Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei. Ser. VIII, 4, 1949-50, pp. 323-35, 474-95; 5, 1950-51, pp. 89-105. 2. "La rivolta di ^Abd al-Gabbar contro il Califfo al-Mansur", Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Ser. VIII, 2, 1947, pp. 613-16. 3. "Studi Storici sul califfato di al-Mahdl", Orientalia, N.S. 14, 1945, pp. 300-54. 4. "Nuovi studi storici sul Califfato di al- Mahdi", Orientalia. N.S. 15, 1946, pp. 155-79. 5. "Le Califat d ’al-Hadl", SO, XIII, 4, 1946, pp. 1-28. 6 . "II testaiuento di Abu Hisim", RSO. XXVII, 1952, pp. 28-46. 7. "Le massacre des Umayyades dans l'histoire et dans les fragments poetiques", Archiv Orientalni. Vol. 18, Pt. 4, 1950, pp. 88-115. 8 . "Per una storia dell1 Antica SiCa", RSO, XXX, 1955, pp. 251-67.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 202
Nadvi, S. S. "The Origin of the Banrtakids", JDC, VI, 1932, pp. 13-28.
Nallino, C. 1. "Sul nome di Qadariti", RSO, VII, 1916-18, pp. 461-66. 2. "Sull' origin de nome di MuCtazili", RSO, VII, 1916-18, pp. 429-54.
Al-Naqshabandi, N. 1. "Al-Dinar al-Abbasi", Somer, II, 1946, pp. 235-56. 2. "Al-Dinar al-Islami", Somer, II, 1945, pp. 115-35; III, 1947, pp. 270-75.
Neale, J. E. "The Biographical .Approach to History", History, N.S. 36, 1951, pp. 193-203.
Nyberg, N. S. "Zum Kampf zwischen Islam und Manichaismus, OLZ, XXXII, 1929, pp. 426-34.
Omar, F . 1. "Haru.n al-Rashld" , El2 . 2. "Ibrahim al-Imam", El2. 3. "Ibn al-Nattah", El2 . 4. "The Composition of the CAbbasid Support in the early CAbbasid Period", BCA, 1968. 5. "The Political Attitude of the Early c. c — Mu tazilites towards the Abbasids", (Arabic), Majallat al-Aklam, 1968. 6. ,|CAbd al-Jabbar al-Azdl ..., Sahib Shurtat al-Mansur", (Arabic), Majallat al-Shurta, 1968. 7. "YaCqub b. Da'ud, the Wazlr of al-Mahdl", (Arabic), BCA, 1969.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 203
Pellat, C. 1. "La 'Nabita' de Diahiz", AIEO, X, 1952, pp. 302-25. 2. "Gahiz a Baghdad et a Samarra, RSO, XXVII, 1952, pp. 47-67. 3. "Le culte de Mu C “awiya au IIIe siecle /s de l'hegire", SI_, VI, 1956, pp. 53-66. 4. "La Imamat dans la Doctrine de Gahiz", SI, 1961, pp. 23.53. 5. "Essai d'inventaire de 1'oeuvre Gahizienne", Arabica, I, 1954, pp. 84-88.
Poliak, A. N. / "L1Arabisation de 1'Orient Semetique", REI. XII, 1938, pp. 35-63.
Al-Qazzaz, W. "Al-Dirham al-°Abbasi", Somer, Vol. 18, 1962, pp. 128-40.
Quatremere, M. "Avenement des CAbbasides au Khalifat", Nouveau Journal Asiatigue, XVI, 1835.
Rabino, H. L. "Les prefets du califat au Tabaristan, de 18 a 328/639 a 939-940", JA, Vol. 231, 1939, pp. 237-74.
Rehatsek, E. "Notes on some old arms and instruments of war chiefly used among the Arabs", Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, XIV, 1873.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reinaud, J. T. "De 1'art Militaire chez les arabes au Moyen Age J A , IV, 9, 1848, pp. 12 ff.
Rogers, E. T. "Notes on the Dinars of the °Abbasid Dynasty", JRAS. 1875, pp. 281-82.
Scarcia, G. "Lo scambio di lettres tra Harun al-Rashid e Hamza al-Harigi secondo il 'Ta'rih i Sistan'", AION, XIV, 1964, pp. 623-45.
Schacht, J. 1. "A Revaluation of Islamic Traditons", JRAS, 1949, pp. 143-54. 2. "Review of Tyan: L 1 Organization Judiciare", S O . 1948, p. 517.
Serjeant, R. B. "Haram and Hawtah, the sacred enclave in Arabia" Melanges Taha Husayn. Cairo, 1962, pp. 41-58.
c~ Sha ira, M. A. "Al-Murabitun fl '1 thughur al-Bariyya O w '1- Arabiaj a al-Rumiyya, Melanges Taha Husayn, Cairo, 1962, pp. 147-68.
Al-Shlbi, K. M. "Al-Taqiyya", Majallat JamiCat *1 Iskandariyya, XVI, 1962-63.
Somogy, J. de "The Tarlkh al-Islam of adh-Dhahabi", JRAS, 1936, pp. 595-604.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 205
Sourdel, D. 1. "Baghdad, capitale du nouvel empire CAbbaside", Arabica, IX, 1962, pp. 251-65. 2. "La biographie d'Ibn al-Muqaffa' d'apres les sources anciennes", Arabica, I, 1954, pp. 307-25. 3. "Nouvelles recherches sur la deuxieme partie du Livre des vizirs d 1 al-Gahsiy Sprengling, M. "From Persian to Arabic", AJSL. LVI, 1939, pp. 175-224, 324-36. Traini, R. "La corrispondenza tra al-Mansur e Muhammad an- Nafs as-Zakiyya", AION, XIV, 1964, pp. 773-98. Vaglieri, L. V. 1. "L'Imamato Ibadita dell' COman", AION, III, 1949, pp. 245-82. 2. "Le vincende del harigismo in epoca abbaside", RSO, XXIV, 1949, pp. 31-44. 3. "Sulla denominazione Hawarig", RSO, XXVI, 1951, pp. 41-46. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 0 6 Vajda, G. "Les Zindiqs e.i pays d'Islam au debut de la periode CAbbaside", RSO, XVII, 1938, pp. 173-229. Van Vloten, G. 1. "Zur °Abbasiden Geschichte", ZDMG, Vol. 52, 1898, pp. 213-26. 2. "Schusmus und Motazilisma in Basra", ZDMG. Vol. 53, 1899. Vasmer, R. "Die Eroberung Tabaristans durch die Araber zur Zeit des Chaiifen al-Mansur", Islamica, III, 1927, pp. 86-150. Walker, H. "Jahiz on the Exploits of the Turks", JRAS, 1915, pp. 670-78. Watt, M. c 1. "Shi ism under the Umayyads", JRAS, 1960, pp. 169 ff. 2. "Kharijite Thought in the Umayyad Period", Der Islam, 1961, pp. 215-31. 3. "The Rafidites", Oriens. XVI, 1963, pp. 110-21. 4. "The Political Attitudes of the Mvctazilah", JRAS, 1963, pp. 38-57. 5. "The Reappraisal of CAbbasid Shicism", Arabic and Islamic Studies in Honour of H. A. R. Gibb, Leiden, 1965. Wellhausen, J. "Die Kampfe der Araber mit Romaern in Zeit der Umaijiden", Nachrichten per Konglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaft zu Gottingen,"1501, Heft 4, pp. 414 ff. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 207 Wiet, G. "L1empire neo-Byzantin des Omayyades et 1'empire Q — neo-Sassanide des Abbasides", Cahiers d*Histoire Mondiale, I, 1953, pp. 63-71. Wright, E. M. "Babak of Badhdh and al-Afshln during the years A.D. 816-841. Symbols of Iranian Persistence against Islamic Penetration in North Iran", MW, Vol. 38, 1948, pp. 43-59, 124-31. Wuestenfeld, F. "Das Heerwesen der Muhammedaner und die Arabische Uebersetzung der Taktik des Aelianus", Abnandlungen der Geschichte der Wissenschaften in Gottingen, XXVI, 1880. Zenghelis, G. "Le feu gregois et les armes a feu des Byzantins", Dyzantion, VII, 1932. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. VITA David White Biddle was born in Mt. Holly, New Jersey, on January 2, 1943, the son of Charles M. Biddle and Priscilla VI. Biddle. After completing his work at Westtown School, Westtown, Pennsylvania, in 1960, he entered Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. During 1962 he was employed by the R.C.A. Service Company, Riverton, New Jersey. In the fall of 1962 he returned to Wesleyan University. During 1964 he attended the University of Madrid, Spain. In the fall of 1964 he entered The University of Texas. In the summer of 1965 he attended the University of Michigan. He received the degree of Bachelor of Arus from The Univer sity of Texas in June 1966. During the summer of 1966 he attended the American University in Cairo, Egypt. In the fall of 1966 he entered the Graduate School of The University of Texas. He was awarded the degree of Master of Arts in June 1967. In January 1971 he was appointed instructor in the Department of History of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Permanent address: Box 262 Moorestcwn, New Jersey 08057 This dissertation was typed by Joan K. Taylor Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.