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.
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.
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.
CHAPTER XIX.
CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN SYRIA.
A.H. XV. A.D. 636.
Abu Obeida’s advance on Northern Syria. End of A.H. XIV. A.D. 635.
To recover the thread of events in Syria, it is necessary to go back so far as the battle of Fihl. At the close of the fourteenth year of the Hegira, Abu Obeida, leaving Amru to follow up the victory in Palestine, and Yezîd as governor to hold Damascus, marched with the remainder of his forces northward upon Hims, from whence the emperor had been watching the progress of his enemies. He carried with him Dzul Kelâa, who, posted with his Himyar column beyond Damascus, had been, ever since the siege, covering the city from attack by the Romans on the north. They had advanced but a little way, when they were stopped by two Roman armies under Theodore and Shanas.[307] Dividing his forces, Abu Obeida took Shanas himself in hand, and left Khâlid to deal with the other. Damascus no longer covered, Theodore thought to make a sudden dash upon it. But Yezîd, with his garrison, was ready to confront him; and Khâlid, with a flying column, was immediately in pursuit. Taken thus before and behind, Theodore’s army was cut to pieces, but few escaping. Abu Obeida had meanwhile engaged Shanas and put him to flight. Meeting no further opposition, the Arabs continued their march, and attacked Báalbek, which after a short siege capitulated.
Hims [Emessa] besieged.