EXPULSION OF JEWS AND CHRISTIANS FROM ARABIA. THE CIVIL
LIST OF OMAR. SLAVES OF ARAB BLOOD MADE FREE.
A.H. XIV., XV. A.D. 635, 636.
[Sidenote: Domestic events. A.H. XIV., XV.]
I must now revert to one or two matters of domestic interest, which,
not to break the story of external conquest, I have refrained from
noticing before.
[Sidenote: Expulsion of Jews and Christians from Arabia.]
Arabia, as the nursery of the legions destined to wage the wars of
Islam, must be purged of strange religions. And accordingly, so soon as
victory was secured in Syria and Irâc, Omar proceeded to signalise his
reign by an act of harshness, if not of questionable equity.
[Sidenote: Christians removed from Najrân,]
In the centre of Arabia lies the province of Najrân, inhabited from
of old by a Christian people. Mahomet had concluded a treaty with
their chiefs and bishops, by which the annual tribute of 2,000 suits
of raiment secured them safety in the undisturbed profession of their
ancestral faith. Throughout the rebellion they remained loyal to their
engagements, and Abu Bekr renewed the treaty. Worthy descendants of
a martyr race, they resisted the blandishments of Islam; and as a
penalty they must now quit their native soil, consecrated, in the
persecution of Dzu Nowâs, by the ashes of their forefathers.[345]
They were ordered to depart and receive lands in exchange elsewhere.
Some migrated to Syria; but the greater part settled in the vicinity
of Kûfa, where the colony of Najrânia long maintained the memory of
Mahometan intolerance. The rights, however, conferred upon them by
the Prophet’s treaty, so far as their expatriation might admit, were
respected by successive rulers; and their tribute, with decreasing
numbers, lightened sensibly from time to time. [Sidenote: and Jews from
Kheibar.]After their removal, no long time elapsed before the Jews of
Kheibar, a rich vale two or three days’ journey north of Medîna, met a
similar fate. Their claim was not so strong as the Christians’; for,
conquered by Mahomet, they had been left on sufferance in possession
of their fields at a rent of half the produce. In return for this
partial right from which they now were ousted, they received a money
payment, and then departed for Syria. Various pretexts are urged for
the expatriation in either case. But behind them all we find the
dogma--supposed dying behest of Mahomet--_In Arabia there shall be
but one religion_. The recruiting field of Islam must be sacred
ground.[346]
[Sidenote: The Arabs as a nation share the spoils of war.]
The Arabian nation was the champion of Islam; and to fight its battles
every Arab was jealously reserved. He must be the soldier, and nothing
else. He might not settle down in any conquered province as cultivator
of the soil; and for merchandise or other labour, a busy warlike life
offered but little leisure. Neither was there any need. The Arabs lived
on the fat of the conquered lands, and captive nations served them.
Of the booty taken in war, four parts were distributed to the army in
the field; the fifth was reserved for the State; and even that, after
discharging public obligations, was shared among the Arabian people. In
the reign of Abu Bekr this was a simple matter. But in the Caliphate
of Omar the spoil of Syria and of Persia began in ever-increasing
volume to pour into the treasury of Medîna, where it was distributed
almost as soon as received. What was easy in small beginnings, by equal
sharing or discretionary preference, became now a heavy task. And there
began, also, to arise new sources of revenue in the land assessment
and the poll tax of subject countries, which, after defraying
civil and military charges, had to be accounted for to the Central
Government;--the surplus being, like the royal Fifth, the patrimony of
the Arab nation.
[Sidenote: New rule of distribution by classes of merit.]
At length, in the second or third year of his Caliphate, Omar
determined that the distribution should be regulated on a fixed and
systematic scale. The income of the Commonwealth was to be divided, as
heretofore, amongst the Faithful as their heritage, but upon a rule of
precedence befitting the military and theocratic groundwork of Islam.
For this end three points only were considered: priority of conversion,
affinity to the Prophet, and military service. The widows of Mahomet,
‘Mothers of the Faithful,’ took the precedence with an annual allowance
of 10,000 pieces each; and all his kinsmen were with a corresponding
liberality provided for.[347] The famous Three Hundred of Bedr had
5,000 each; presence at Hodeibia and the _Pledge of the Tree_[348]
gave a claim to 4,000; such as took part in quelling the Rebellion had
3,000; and those engaged in the great battles of Syria and Irâc, as
well as sons of the men of Bedr, 2,000; those taking the field after
the actions of Câdesîya and the Yermûk, 1,000. Warriors of distinction
received an extra grant of 500. And so they graduated downwards to 200
pieces for the latest levies. Nor were the households forgotten. Women
had, as a rule, one-tenth of a man’s share. Wives, widows, and children
had each their proper stipend; and in the register, every infant, as
soon as born, had the title to be entered with a minimum allowance of
ten pieces, rising with advancing age to its proper place. Even Arab
slaves (so long as any of that race remained) had, strange to say,
their portion.
[Sidenote: All other nations a lower class.]
Thus every soul was rated at its worth. But the privilege was confined
most strictly to those of Arab blood. A few exceptions, indeed, were
made of distinguished Persian chiefs; but the mention of them only
proves the stringency of the general rule.[349] The whole nation,
every man, woman, and child of the militant Arab race, was subsidised.
In theory, the rights of all believers were the same. ‘Ye are one
brotherhood,’ said Mahomet at the Farewell pilgrimage; and as he spake
he placed two fingers of one hand upon his other hand, to enforce the
absolute equality.[350] But in point of fact, the equality was limited
to the Arab nation. The right of any brother of alien race was a dole
of food sufficient for subsistence, and no more.[351]
[Sidenote: Principle adopted by Omar disarms Arabian jealousies.]
A great nation dividing thus amongst them their whole revenues, spoil,
and conquests, first on the principle of equal brotherhood, and next
on that of martial merit and spiritual distinction, is a spectacle
probably without parallel in the world. The rule itself was well
conceived. In no other way would it have been possible to reconcile
the jealous susceptibilities of tribal rivalry.[352] Safwân, Soheil,
and other great chiefs of the Coreish, who fell into a lower class
because they had not joined the Prophet till after the capture of
Mecca, refused at first any allowance but the highest: ‘We know of none
nobler than ourselves,’ they said; ‘and less than any other we will not
take.’ ‘Not so,’ answered Omar; ‘I give it by priority of faith, and
not for noble birth.’ ‘It is well,’ they replied; and no reason but
this, unanswerable because already axiomatic among the Moslems, would
have satisfied them. Apart from tribal jealousy, there were two other
sources of danger: first, the rivalry between the Bedouin tribes, on
the one hand, and the ‘Companions,’ or men of Mecca and Medîna, on the
other; and, second, between the Beni Hâshim (the Prophet’s family),
the Omeyyads, and the Coreish at large;--jealousies which by-and-by
developed into large proportions, and threatened the very existence
of the Caliphate; but which, held in check by the strong arm of Omar,
were now for a time avoided by assuming a spiritual test as the main
ground of precedence.
[Sidenote: Omar perpetuates military organisation of Arabs.]
The Arabian aristocracy thus created was recognised by the whole Moslem
world. The rank and stipend now assigned descended in the direct line
of birth. Even rewards given for special gallantry in the field were
heritable.[353] By making thus the revenues of Islam the heritage of
the nation militant, their martial genius was maintained, and their
employment perpetuated as the standing army of the Caliphate. The
ennobled nation, pampered by indulgence, factious and turbulent when
idle, were indeed too often a serious element of sedition and intrigue.
But they were nevertheless the backbone of Islam, the secret of its
conquests, and the stay of the Caliphate. The crowded harems multiplied
the race with marvellous rapidity; and the progeny were, by Omar’s
organisation, kept sedulously distinct, so as never to mingle with
the conquered races. Wherever they went they formed a class distinct
and dominant--the nobles and rulers of the land. The subject peoples,
even if they embraced Islam, were of a lower caste; and as clients of
some Arab chief or tribe, courted their patronage and protection. Thus
the fighting nation was set apart for the sacred task of subjugating
nations and of propagating Islam; and even after the new-born zeal
of the Faith had to some extent evaporated, the martial fire of the
Arabs as a whole and undivided people was, owing mainly to Omar’s
foresight, kept alive in full activity for two centuries and a half.
The nation was, and continued, an army mobilised; the cantonment, not
the city, their home; their business, war and the camp;--a people whose
hereditary calling it was to be ready to march on warlike expeditions
at a moment’s notice.
[Sidenote: Register of all Arabs entitled to a stipend.]
To carry out this vast design, a Register had to be drawn and kept
up of every man, woman, and child, entitled to a stipend from the
State--in other words, of the whole Arab race employed in the
interests of Islam. This was easy enough for the higher grades, but
a herculean task for the hundreds of thousands of ordinary fighting
men and their families who kept streaming forth from the Peninsula;
and who, by the extravagant indulgence of polygamy, were multiplying
rapidly. But the task was simplified by the strictly tribal composition
and disposition of the forces. Men of a tribe, or branch of a tribe,
fought together; and the several corps and brigades being thus
territorially arranged in clans, the Register assumed the same form.
Every soul was entered under the stock and tribe and clan whose lineage
it claimed. And to this exhaustive classification we owe in great
measure the elaborate genealogies and tribal traditions of Arabia
before Islam.
[Sidenote: The _Dewân_ of Omar.]
The Register itself, as well as the office for its maintenance and
for pensionary account, was called the DEWÂN or Department
of the Exchequer. The State had by this time, as we have seen, an
income swollen by the tribute of conquered cities, the poll-tax of
subjugated peoples, the land and other regular assessments, the spoil
of war, and the tithes. The first charge was for the revenue and civil
administration; the next for military requirements, which began soon
to assume a sustained and permanent form; the surplus remained (as
has been now set forth) for pensionary and eleemosynary distribution.
The whole revenues of Islam were thus expended as soon, almost, as
received; and Omar took a special pride in seeing the treasury, in
accord with this principle, emptied to the last dirhem.[354] The
accounts of the various provinces were at the first kept by natives
of the country in the character to which they were accustomed--in
Syria by Greeks, and in Irâc by Persians. At Kûfa the use of Pehlevi
was maintained till the time of Hajjâj, when, an Arab assistant having
learned the art from the chief treasurer, the Arabic system of record
and notation was introduced.
[Sidenote: Vast extent of Arab exodus.]
We are not told the numerical result of the Dewân of Omar, but the
population of Kûfa and Bussora may give us a standard to judge of the
vast exodus in progress from Arabia, and the rapid strides by which the
crowded harems multiplied the race. Arab ladies, as a rule, married
only Arab husbands; but the other sex, besides unlimited indulgence
in servile concubinage, were free to contract marriage with the women
of conquered lands, whether converts or ‘people of the Book;’ for
marriage is lawful between a Moslem and females of the Jewish and
Christian faith. And although the wives of Arab blood took precedence
in virtue of rank and birth, the children also of every Arab father,
whether the mother were slave or free, Moslem, Jew, or Christian, were
equal in legitimacy. And so the nation multiplied. Looking to these
considerations and to the new drain upon Arabia to meet the conquests
in Egypt and Persia (of which anon), we shall not greatly err if we
assume that before Omar’s death the number of Arabs beyond the limits
of Arabia proper, reached to Half a million, and eventually doubled,
perhaps quadrupled.
[Sidenote: Provincial administration.]
Civil administration followed in the wake of conquest. In Chaldæa, the
great network of canals was early taken in hand. The long-neglected
embankments of the Euphrates were placed under charge of a special
officer, and those of the Tigris under another. Syria and Irâc were
measured field by field; and the assessment of the lands, both crown
and provincial, established on a uniform system. In Irâc, the agency of
the Dihcâns, or great landholders, was taken advantage of, as under the
Sassanide dynasty, to aid in the police and revenue administration.
[Sidenote: Reserves of cavalry.]
In addition to the armies in the field, Omar arranged that a reserve
of cavalry should be maintained at the head-quarters of the several
provinces, in proportion to their resources, ready to be called out
upon emergency. The corps at Kûfa numbered 4,000 lances, and there were
eight such centres. Reserves for forage were also everywhere set apart;
and the cost of these measures formed a first charge upon provincial
revenue.
[Sidenote: Corân; how ‘collected.’]
The various Suras and fragments of the Corân had by this time been
compiled into a single volume. The ‘collecting’ of these was begun in
the reign of Abu Bekr, at the suggestion of Omar, who was alarmed at
the loss of so many of those, who had the Revelation by heart, in the
battle of Yemâma. ‘I fear,’ he said to Abu Bekr, ‘that slaughter may
again wax hot amongst the Reciters of the Corân in other fields of
battle, and that much may be lost of the divine text; now, therefore,
give orders speedily for its collection.’ The commission was given to
Zeid ibn Thâbit, who, as the Prophet’s amanuensis, had written down
much of the revelation from the Prophet’s lips. At first he scrupled to
do what Mahomet himself had left undone. At last he accepted the task;
and seeking out the Suras and scattered fragments and verses from every
quarter, ‘gathered them together from date leaves, shreds of leather
and parchment, shoulder blades, tablets of white stone, and the breasts
of men.’ By the labours of Zeid, these confused materials were reduced
to the comparative order and sequence in which we now find them; but
in its obscurity and incoherence, the collection still bears traces in
almost every page of the haphazard way in which the pieces, thus rudely
dovetailed, were compiled. The original copy was committed to the
custody of Haphsa, Omar’s daughter, one of the Prophet’s widows; and
during Omar’s Caliphate this exemplar continued to be the standard and
authoritative text of the Corân.[355]