Page:Baladhuri-Hitti1916.djvu/448

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432
THE ORIGINS OF THE ISLAMIC STATE

Masʿûd and Saʿd, who were my neighbors, used to cultivate their lands for one-third and one-fourth [of the produce]."

Al-Walîd ibn-Ṣâliḥ from Mûsa ibn-Ṭalḥah:—The first one to give out al-ʿIrâḳ in fiefs was ʿUthmân ibn-ʿAffân who gave out pieces of land appropriated by Kisra, and others evacuated by their owners. Thus, he assigned to Ṭalḥah as fief an-Nashâstaj; to Wâʾil ibn-Ḥujr al-Ḥaḍrami, the land bordering on Zurârah's; to Khabbâb ibn-al-Aratt, Asbîna; to ʿAḍi ibn-Ḥâtim at-Ṭâʾi, ar-Rauḥâʾ, to Khâlid ibn-ʿUrfuṭah, a piece of land near Ḥammâm [bath] Aʿyan; to al-Ashʿath ibn-Ḳais al-Kindi, Ṭîzanâbâdh; and to Jarîr ibn-ʿAbdallâh al-Bajali, his land on the bank of the Euphrates.

Ajamat Burs. Al-Ḥusain ibn-al-Aswad from al-Ḥasan ibn-Ṣâliḥ:—The latter said, " I was informed that ʿAli assessed on the owners of Ajamat [forest] Burs 4,000 dirhams; and to that end, he wrote them a statement on a piece of parchment.[1]

I was told by Aḥmad ibn-Ḥammâd al-Kûfi that Ajamat Burs lies in the vicinity of the Namrûdh [Nimrod] palace in Bâbil [Babylon]. In this forest, there is a precipice of great depth, which, according to some, is a well from the soil of which the bricks of the palace were made, and which, according to others, is a landslide.

Nahr Saʿd. I learnt from abu-Masʿûd and others that the landlords [dîhḳâns] of al-Anbâr asked Saʿd ibn-abi-Waḳḳâṣ to dig for them a canal which they had previously asked the Persian magnate [king] to dig[2] for them. Saʿd wrote to Saʿd ibn-ʿAmr ibn-Ḥarâm, ordering him to dig the canal for them. Accordingly, they dug until they reached a mountain which they could not cut through, upon

  1. Âdam, p. 18.
  2. Cf. Masʿûdi, vol. i, p. 225.