"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [و‎‎١‎٧‎٣] (٨٦٢/٣٥٠)

S into Syria
slemfiands,
ed (P'^
rushed tie
Aon. The
st Sassanid
dems over
used into
supied the
zdagirdin
ibylonia,
rat from
aliph, to
ion there
1 those of
nere grew
Shia, and
wn to the
dedina by
iin of the
■ two sur-
nd at the
als, but a
57, on the
m made
n 661 he
rijites or
hey dis-
) human
aliph hy
urned the
nYazidas
d by Mi’ 5
Tom
; d with his
the
THE ARAB CALIPHATES 241
of the Shia sect, and their tombs at Najaf and Karbala became the
centres of the Shia faith (p. 328).
Numerous Moslem tribesmen settled and multiplied in Iraq, where
the great Arab centres were Basra and Kufa. These originated at the
Fig. 54. The eastern provinces of the Omayyad and Ahhasid Caliphates
time of the conquest as military camps in which the Moslem Arabs
were supposed to be segregated aloof from the mass of the population,
owning no land and supported by the tribute of their subjects. The
detailed administration of the empire was carried out in Byzantine
or Persian forms and was left in the hands of Byzantine or Persian
minor officials. This segregation gradually broke down. The main
changes took place in the Caliphate of Abd al Malik (685-705), who
made Arabic the language of public business instead of Pahlavi or
Greek and created an Arabic coinage. Hajjaj, his viceroy in Iraq,
took the notable step of abolishing the exemption from land-tax
(kharaj) hitherto enjoyed by converts to Islam among the subject
peoples. This, however, caused a rift between the converts and the
true Arab Moslems. Converts were regarded as clients, Mazvali, and
in desire for equality tended to support unorthodox sects.
The immigrant Arab population increased until Kufa and Basra
A 5195
R