Episode 26: The East

Having securely established his position in Syria, Abdulmalik relied on his dependable governor al Hajjaj to keep the Iraqis in line. Ruling them with an iron fist unsurprisingly led to more rebellions than calm, and despite the many thwarted movements we discussed last time it seems like the East remained a diffident and dangerous land. Our sources have a lot to say about Iraq and the lands to its East during Abdulmalik’s reign.

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Images

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Glossary

• Al Hajjaj: the commander who took care of ibn il Zubayr became a fast favorite of Abdulmalik, and was the new vice-regent of the East, a position briefly attained by the capable dahiya Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan. This governor’s method was very different though, he seemed intent on squeezing out as much rebellion from his subjects as possible in order to crush them into submission. 
• Muhallab ibn Sufra: the great general is finally unleashed in this episode, and he goes around conquering the East like it was nobody’s business. He did sometimes lose battles, but never in a way where he actually incurred any appreciable losses. He was comfortable in battle, and his use of stirrups, creative offensive maneuvers, and rapid retreats made him a force to be reckoned with. He had fought for the Umayyads, then the Zubayrids, and now the Umayyads once again. Although it was al Hajjaj who deputized him, his success on the battlefield meant many saw him as the legitimate governor of Khurasan, where conquest and pacification was all the Arabs ever did, and none as well as Muhallab.
• Abdulrahman ibn il Ash’ath: I felt bad for ibn il Ash’ath when I read about him getting swept up in something he couldn’t control, though I have little sympathy for the Iraqi tribal elders to begin with. They’d wasted their opportunity at being the leading tribes of the caliphate by showing less unity than the Syrians when push came to shove back during the battle of Siffin, and that was despite winning the battle. Another irony of early Arab history is how ibn il Ash’ath failed because he couldn’t control his armies, when his grandfather had been the agitator who caused Ali’s armies to disobey him during that critical battle of the first fitna. Maybe more karmic than ironic though.
• Sufyan al Kalbi: Sufyan wasn’t just any amazing Syrian general, he was from Kalb, the chief tribe of the region. He basically spends his entire career rendering impressive services to the Umayyads then retires in honor in Damascus.
• Ratbil / the Zunbil: the leader of Zabulistan, whom our sources name variably as ‘Ratbil’ or ‘the Zunbil’. Zabulistan was a mountainous region in west Afghanistan peopled by either turkic, Bactrian, or hunnic people, I’m not entirely sure.
• Yazid ibn Muhallab: al Muhallab’s son took over for his father after the latter’s death. As governor of Khurasan he appointed his brothers and loyalists to some positions and went about raiding much as his father had, albeit less successfully. 

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