Page:Baladhuri-Hitti1916.djvu/452

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436
THE ORIGINS OF THE ISLAMIC STATE

the west side beyond the boundaries fixed for the mosque, leaving what was fenced in within the marks for the mosque and the governor's residence. Later, al-Mughîrah ibn-Shuʿbah enlarged the mosque; and Ziyâd[1] [ibn-Abîhi] rebuilt it strongly and rebuilt the governor's residence. Ziyâd often repeated, "On every one of the pillars of the mosque at al-Kûfah, I spent 1,800 [dirhams]." Another building was established by ʿAmr ibn-Ḥuraith al-Makhzûmi, whom Ziyâd used to leave in his place over al-Kûfah whenever he absented himself in al-Baṣrah. Ziyâd's agents erected many buildings which made the place crowded and thickly set.[2]

The lane called Kuḳâḳ ʿAmr in al-Kûfah takes its name from the banu-ʿAmr ibn-Ḥuraith ibn-ʿAmr ibn-ʿUthmân ibn-ʿAbdallâh ibn-ʿUmar ibn-Makhzûm ibn-Yaḳaẓah.

The Yamanites. Wahb ibn-Baḳîyah-l-Wâsiṭi from ash-Shaʿbi:—The latter said, "We (the Yamanites) were 12,000 men; the Nizâr were 8,000; from which you can easily see that we constituted the majority of the settlers of al-Kûfah. Our arrow went to the east side of the mosque. That is why we hold the pieces we now hold."

The mosque. ʿAli ibn-Muḥammad al-Madâʾini from Maslamah ibn-Muḥârib and others:—Al-Mughîrah enlarged the mosque[3] of al-Kûfah and rebuilt it. Ziyâd later enlarged it still more. Pebbles were spread in this mosque and in that of al-Baṣrah, because when people prayed their hands were covered with dust, which they used to remove by clapping their hands. This made Ziyâd say, "I am afraid that in course of time, the clapping of hands will be taken for a part of the religious ceremony." When he, therefore, en-

  1. Yâḳût, vol. iv, pp. 323–324.
  2. Athîr, vol. ii, pp. 410 seq.
  3. Hamadhâni, pp. 173–174.