BATTLE OF JALOLA--REDUCTION OF MESOPOTAMIA--KUFA
AND BUSSORA FOUNDED.
A.H. XVI. A.D. 637.
[Sidenote: Battle of Jalôla.]
OMAR was satisfied, as well he might be, with the success achieved. His
old spirit of caution revived, and, beyond rendering Mesopotamia and
the border-lands within the Persian mountain range secure, he strictly
forbade any forward movement. The summer of the sixteenth year of the
Hegira was, therefore, passed by Sád in repose at Medâin. The king,
with his broken troops, had fled into the mountains, and thence into
the plains of Persia. And the people on either bank of the Tigris,
seeing opposition vain, readily submitted themselves to the conqueror.
In the autumn, however, the Persians, resolving again to try the chance
of arms, flocked in great numbers to Yezdegird, and an army was formed
at Holwân, a fortress on the stream of that name a hundred miles
north of Medâin. From thence Mehrân, with part of the force, advanced
to Jalôla, a stronghold on the mountain range half-way to Medâin.
[Sidenote: Persians advance. A.H. XVI. Autumn, A.D. 637.]This place,
capable of accommodating an army, and almost impregnable to such an
enemy as the Moslems, was defended by a deep trench, and all outlets
or accessible places guarded by _chevaux de frise_ and spikes of iron.
The movement was reported to the Caliph, and, with his sanction, Sád
pushed forward Hâshim and Cacâa at the head of 12,000 men, including
the flower of Mecca and Medîna; and they sat down in front of the
citadel. The garrison, reinforced from time to time by the army at
Holwân, made an obstinate defence, and in frequent sallies attacked
the besiegers with desperate bravery. Fresh troops had to be despatched
from Medâin, and the siege was prolonged for eighty days. At length, on
the occasion of a vigorous sally, a great storm darkened the air; and
the Persian columns, losing their way, were pursued to the battlements
by Cacâa, who seized one of the gates. Driven thus to desperation, they
turned upon the Arabs, and a general engagement ensued, which ‘was not
surpassed by the _Night of Clangour_, excepting that it was shorter.’
[Sidenote: The Persians routed, and Jalôla taken. Dzul Cáda, A.H. XVI.
December, A.D. 637.]Beaten at every point, many of the enemy in the
attempt to flee were caught by the iron spikes. They were pursued to
some distance,[297] and the fields and roads were strewn (tradition
tells us) with 100,000 corpses. Followed by the fragments of his army,
Yezdegird fled to his northern capital, Rei, in the direction of the
Caspian Sea.[298] Cacâa then advanced to Holwân, and defeating the
troops which still held it, took possession of that stronghold, and
left it garrisoned with Arab levies as the farthest Moslem outpost to
the north.
[Sidenote: The spoil.]
The spoil was again rich and plentiful, for it embraced much that had
been hastily carried off as most precious from Medâin, and (what was of
the highest value to the army) a vast number of fine Persian horses.
A multitude of women also, many of whom must have been of gentle and
princely birth, unable to effect escape into the plains beyond, fell a
welcome prize into the conquerors’ hands, and were distributed partly
amongst the warriors on the spot and partly amongst the troops left at
Medâin. The booty was valued at Thirty millions of dirhems, besides the
horses, of which nine fell to the lot of every combatant. [Sidenote:
Ziâd deputed to Medîna with the Fifth.]In charge of the Fifth, Sád
despatched to Medîna a youth named Ziâd, of doubtful parentage,[299]
but of singular readiness and address. In presence of the Caliph, he
harangued the citizens, and recounted in glowing words what had been
won in Persia, rich lands and cities, endless spoil, with captive maids
and princesses. Omar praised his speech, and declared that the troops
of Sád had surpassed the traditions even of Arab bravery. But next
morning, when about to distribute the booty, the rubies, emeralds, and
vast store of precious things, he was seen to weep. ‘What!’ exclaimed
Abd al Rahmân; ‘a time of joy and thankfulness, and thou sheddest
tears!’ ‘Yea,’ replied the simple-minded Caliph; ‘it is not for this
I weep, but I foresee that the riches which the Lord hath bestowed
upon us will become a spring of worldliness and envy, and in the end a
calamity to my people.’
[Sidenote: Omar will not sanction advance on Persia.]
Ziâd was also the bearer of a petition from the leaders in Irâc,
who chafed at the limit placed on their progress, and now asked for
leave to pursue the fugitives into Khorasan and to the Caspian shore.
But Omar, content with what had been already gained, forbade the
enterprise. ‘I desire,’ he wrote in reply, ‘that between Mesopotamia
and the lands beyond, the hills shall form a barrier, so that the
Persians shall not be able to get at us, nor we at them. The fruitful
plains of Irâc suffice for all our wants; and I would rather the safety
of my people than spoil and further conquest.’ The conviction of a
world-wide mission for Islam was yet in embryo; and the obligation to
enforce its claims by a universal crusade had not yet dawned upon the
nation. And, in good truth, a dominion embracing, as Islam now did,
Syria, Chaldæa, and Arabia, might have satisfied the ambition even of
an Assyrian or Babylonian monarch. The sound and equal mind of Omar,
far from being unsteadied by the flush and giddiness of victory, cared
first to consolidate and secure the prize he had already gained.
[Sidenote: Operations in Mesopotamia. A.H. XVI. Summer, A.D. 637.]
The Persian frontier, for the time, was safe. A son of Hormuzân made
an inroad from Masbazân, a fortress in the mountains, two days south
of Holwân; but he was defeated and beheaded; and the place, strongly
guarded, became one of an established line of frontier posts. There
being no further attempt upon the peace of Medâin, the ambition of Sád
and his generals, checked northwards by the Caliph’s interdict, was
for the present confined to the reduction of Mesopotamia. For this
end, troops were sent up the verdant banks of the Tigris as far as
Tekrît--a stronghold on the river, about a hundred miles above Medâin,
held by a mixed garrison of Roman troops and Christian Bedouins. These
bravely resisted the attack. But after forty days the Romans thought to
evacuate the place, and, deserting their native allies, escape by their
boats. The Bedouins, on the other hand, were tampered with, and went
secretly over to Islam; so that, when a final assault was delivered,
they seized the water-gate, and the Romans, taken on both sides, were
put to the sword.[300] The newly converted allies then joined the
force, and pressed enthusiastically forward to Mosul, which, hearing
of the fall of Tekrît, at once surrendered, and became tributary. On
the Euphrates, the Moslem arms had already met with equal success. The
Bedouin tribes in Upper Mesopotamia having been urged by the Byzantine
Court to make an attack on the invaders, who were threatening Hims,
Sád was charged by Omar to effect a diversion from Irâc. [Sidenote:
Hît and Kirckesia taken. A.H. XV. A.D. 636.] The fortress of Hît on
the Euphrates was accordingly besieged; but they found it too strong
to carry by assault. Leaving, therefore, half of the force before the
town, the commander marched rapidly up the river to Kirckesia,[301] at
the junction of the Khabûr, and captured it by surprise. The garrison
of Hît, when they heard of this, capitulated on condition of being
allowed to retire. Thus, all the southern portion of Mesopotamia, from
one river to the other, was reduced; the strongholds were garrisoned,
and the Bedouins either converted to the faith or brought under
subjection.
[Sidenote: Delta of the _Shât al Arab_ occupied. A.H. XIV. A.D. 635.]
Towards the south also, the rule of Islam was established from the
junction of the two rivers, along the Shât al Arab down to the shores
of the Persian Gulf. This tract, with varying fortune, had been exposed
to the raids of the Arabs ever since the first invasion of Mothanna.
On one occasion, an expedition was worsted, and the leader killed.
Omar saw that, to secure Irâc, it was needful to occupy in strength
the head of the Gulf as far as the range of hills on its eastern side;
about the period, therefore, of Sád’s appointment he deputed Otba, a
Companion of note, with a party under Arfaja from Bahrein, to capture
the flourishing sea-port of Obolla. The garrison was defeated, and the
inhabitants, Indian merchants and others, escaped in their ships to the
Gulf. The Persians then gathered in force on the eastern bank of the
river, and many encounters took place before the Arabs succeeded in
securing their position. In one of these, the women of the Moslem camp
turned their veils into flags, and, marching in martial array to the
battle-field, were mistaken for fresh reinforcements, and contributed
thus at a critical moment to the victory. At last, in a great and
decisive action, the enemy was routed, and the girdle of the leader,
a Persian noble, sent as a trophy to the Caliph. The messenger who
carried it, in answering the Caliph’s questions, confessed that the
Moslems were becoming luxurious in foreign parts:--‘The love of this
present life,’ he said, ‘hath increased upon them; gold and silver have
dazzled their sight.’ Concerned at the revelation, the Caliph summoned
to his presence Otba, who came, having left a Bedouin chief in charge
of his government. The arrangement was highly distasteful to Omar:
‘What!’ he said, ‘hast thou placed a Man of the desert over Men of the
city and Companions of the Prophet? That can never be!’ So Moghîra
was substituted for the Bedouin; and Otba dying on the journey back,
Moghîra became governor in his stead. Thus early arose the spirit of
antagonism between the Bedouin chiefs and the men of Mecca and Medîna.
[Sidenote: The Delta subdued. A.H. XIV. A.D. 635.]
On the ruins of Obolla a small town arose of huts constructed of
reeds, with a Mosque of the same material; and the settlement grew
in size and importance by constant accessions from Arabia. But the
climate was inhospitable to the new settlers. The tide here rises close
to the level of the alluvial plain, which, irrigated with ease, is
surpassingly fertile, and stretches far and wide a sea of verdure. The
country abounds with groves of pomegranates, acacias, and shady trees;
and a wide belt of the familiar date-palm fringing the river might
reconcile the immigrant of the Hejâz to his new abode. But the moisture
exhaled by a soil so near the water was ill-suited to the Arabian
humour; pestilential vapours followed the periodical inundations,
and gnats settled around them in intolerable swarms.[302] [Sidenote:
_Bussorah_ founded. A.H. XVII. A.D. 638.] Three times the site was
changed; at last the pleasant spot of BUSSORAH, near the river bank,
and supplied with a stream of water running through it, was fixed upon;
and there a flourishing city rapidly grew up. It was laid out about the
same time, and after the same fashion, as its rival Kûfa. But, partly
from a more congenial climate, partly from being more largely endowed
with conquered lands, the sister city took the lead, as well in numbers
as in influence and riches.
[Sidenote: _Kûfa_ founded. A.H. XVII. A.D. 638.]
The founding of KÛFA was on this wise. The Arabs had been in occupation
of Medâin for some months, when, a deputation visiting Medîna on
certain business, the Caliph was startled by their sallow and
unwholesome look, and asked the cause. They replied that the city air
did not agree with the Arab temperament. Thereupon, search was ordered
for some more healthy and congenial spot; such as, approaching nearer
to the desert air, and also well supplied with wholesome water, would
not be cut off (so the watchful Ruler stipulated) from ready help in
any time of need.[303] They looked everywhere on the desert outskirts,
and found no place answering these conditions so well as the plain of
Kûfa, not far from Hîra, on the banks of the western branch of the
Euphrates. Omar confirmed the choice, and left it in each man’s option,
either to remain at Medâin, or transfer his habitation thither. The
new capital suited the Arabs well, and to it accordingly they migrated
in great numbers. The dwellings, as at Bussorah, were made at first
of reeds.[304] [Sidenote: October, A.D. 638.]But fires were frequent;
and, in the autumn, after a disastrous conflagration, the Caliph gave
permission that both cities might be built of brick. ‘The flitting
camp,’ he wrote, ‘is the only place for the crusader. But if ye must
have a more permanent abode, be it so; only let no man have more
houses than three, nor exceed the modest exemplar of the Prophet’s
dwelling-place.’ So the city was rebuilt, and the streets laid out
in regular lines. The centre was kept an open square for the chief
Mosque, which was constructed with a portico for shade, and ornamented
with marble pillars from the palaces at Hîra.[305] Another square
was left clear for the market; and to every man was allotted ground
proportioned to the number of his household. Sád built for himself a
spacious edifice, with materials carried from the royal buildings at
Hîra, and he reared in front of it a gateway to prevent intrusion from
the market-place, which was hard by. The rumour of ‘the Castle of Sád’
troubled the simple-minded Caliph, and he sent Mohammed ibn Maslama
with a rescript commanding that the gateway should be pulled down.
Arrived at Kûfa, the envoy was invited by Sád to enter his mansion as
a guest, but he declined. Sád therefore came forth, and received the
letter at his hands, which ran thus:--‘It hath been reported to me that
thou hast builded for thyself a palace, and people call it _The Castle
of Sád_; moreover, that thou hast reared a gateway betwixt thee and the
people. It is not thy castle; rather is it the castle of perdition.
Whatsoever is needful to secure the treasury, that thou mayest guard
and lock; but the gateway which shutteth out the people from thee, that
thou shalt break down.’ Sád obeyed the order; but he protested that
his object in building the portal had been falsely reported, and Omar
accepted the excuse.
[Sidenote: Irâc settled with the _Felaheen_. The SAWÂD.]
The settlement of the land was the next concern. The SAWÂD, or
rich plain of Chaldæa, having been taken, with some few exceptions, by
force of arms, was claimed by the Arab soldiery as prize of war. The
judgment and equity of Omar is conspicuous in the abatement of this
demand. After counsel held with his advisers at Medîna, the Caliph
ordered that cultivators who had fled during the operations in Irâc
from fear, as well as those who had kept to their homes throughout,
should be treated as _Zimmies_, or protected subjects, and
confirmed in their holdings on payment of a moderate tribute. The royal
forests and domains, the lands of the nobles, and of those who had
opposed the Moslem arms, and also endowments of the Fire-temples, were
all confiscated; but the demand for their division as ordinary prize
was denied. Equitable distribution was impossible, and the attempt
would but breed bad blood amongst the people. The necessities also of
the great system of canals, and of the postal and other services, as a
first charge upon the revenues, demanded that the public lands should
be kept intact. Such were the ostensible reasons. But a profounder
cause underlay the order. Omar would maintain the martial spirit of
his followers at any cost, and render it perpetual. With him it was
of first necessity that the Arabs should not settle anywhere but in
camp, or other place of arms, nor engage at all in husbandry, lest
they became fixed to the soil, and so the spirit militant decline.
The people of Arabia must in every land be men of arms, ready at a
moment’s notice for the field, a race distinct and dominant. Therefore,
much to the discontent of the claimants, not only were the confiscated
lands held undivided, but, from the border of the Syrian desert to the
mountain range of Persia, the sale of any portion of the soil, whether
confiscated or not, was absolutely forbidden. Thus there arose a double
protection to the native tenantry, who under no pretext could be
evicted from their lands. The country also, remaining in the hands of
its own cultivators, was nursed, and became a rich and permanent source
of revenue.
[Sidenote: Crown lands and endowments of Bussorah and Kûfa.]
The confiscated lands scattered over the province were administered by
agents of the State, and the profits shared between the captors and
the Crown. The prize domains of Kûfa--conquered, that is to say, by
the armies of Khâlid and of Sád--were much more extensive than those
of Bussorah. Shortly after it was founded, the inhabitants of Bussorah
sent a deputation to urge that its endowments should be increased, and
its income made more adequate to their responsibilities. ‘Kûfa,’ said
Ahraf, the spokesman from Bussorah, ‘is a well-watered garden which
yieldeth in season its harvest of dates, while ours is a brackish land.
Part bordereth on the desert, and part upon the sea, which laveth it
with a briny flood. Compared with Kûfa, our poor are many, and our rich
are few. Grant us, therefore, of thy bounty.’ Recognising the justice
of the demand, Omar made a substantial addition to the endowments of
Bussorah from the Crown lands of the Chosroes. But, although Kûfa
was richer, it had heavier obligations to discharge than the sister
city. Its government had a far wider range; and the charges of four
lieutenants, posted with strong garrisons at Holwân and Masbazân in the
east, at Mosul in the north, and at Kirckesia in the west, had to be
provided from the resources at the command of Sád.
[Sidenote: Kûfa and Bussorah hotbeds of faction and sedition.]
Kûfa and Bussorah, thus unique in their origin, had a singular
influence on the destinies of the Caliphate and of Islam itself. The
vast majority of the population came from the Peninsula, and were of
pure Arabian blood. The tribes which, with their families, scenting
from afar the prey of Persia, kept streaming into Chaldæa from every
corner of Arabia, settled chiefly in these two cities. At Kûfa the
races from Yemen and the south predominated; at Bussorah, from the
north. Rapidly they grew into two great and luxurious capitals, with
an Arab population each of from 150,000 to 200,000 souls.[306] On
the literature, theology, and politics of Islam, these cities had
a greater influence than the whole Moslem world besides. Service in
the field was desultory and intermittent. The intervals of rest were
spent in ennui. Excepting when enlivened by the fruits of some new
victory, the secluded harems afforded their lords but little variety
of recreation or amusement. Otherwise the time was whiled away in
the converse of social knots; and in these, while they discussed the
problems of the day, they loved still more to live in the past, and
fight their battles over again. Hence tradition. But the debates
and gossip of these clubs (to which we owe the two great schools of
Bussorah and Kûfa) too often degenerated into tribal rivalry and
domestic scandal. The people became petulant and factious; and both
cities grew into hotbeds of turbulence and sedition. The Bedouin
element, conscious of its strength, was jealous of the Coreish, and
impatient at whatever checked its capricious humour. Thus factions
sprang up which, controlled by the strong and wise arm of Omar, broke
loose under weaker Caliphs, eventually rent the unity of Islam, and
brought on disastrous days, which, but for its marvellous vitality,
must have proved fatal to the Faith.