Chapter XVIII

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.