# The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall/Chapter 51

CHAPTER LI
CALIPHATE OF AL-WELĪD. CONQUESTS IN CENTRAL ASIA, SIND, ASIA MINOR, AFRICA, SPAIN. DEATH OF AL-ḤAJJĀJ
86–96 A.H. 705–715 A.D.
Welīd, 86 A.H. 705 A.D.Having performed the funeral service over his father's grave, Al-Welīd returned to the Great Mosque of Damascus, and ascending the pulpit, delivered an address lamenting the loss of his father and blessing his memory.
ʿOmar beautifies the Holy Cities.Al-Welīd, reposing the same trust as his father in Al-Ḥajjāj, maintained him in the Viceroyalty of the Fast. But Arabia he made over to his own cousin, the pious ʿOmar, son of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, under whom, for several years, Mecca and Medīna enjoyed, in marked contrast to the rule of Hishām ibn Ismāʿīl, a mild and beneficent administration. Aided by a council of learned citizens, his government of Medīna was also popular. He beautified and enlarged the Mosque by embracing within its court the apartments of the Prophet's wives, and others, originally built around it. Artificers were furnished by Syria; and the Emperor, informed of the pious undertaking, sent a gift of gold, forty camel-loads of mosaics, and 100 Byzantine masons. Under Al-Welīd's instructions, ʿOmar also had the roads and passes on the Pilgrim routes made easy, wells dug about the desert ​stations, and fountains to play at Mecca and Medīna. It was all for ʿOmar a labour of love; and so well did he carry out these useful and ornamental works, that the Caliph, some time after, when on pilgrimage to the Holy Cities, expressed his delight and thankfulness at all he saw.
Severity of Ḥajjāj.The attractions of ‘Omar’s beneficent rule drew away from the heavy hand of Al-Ḥajjāj great numbers of the men of Al-ʿIrāḳ who in Mecca and Medina thus escaped his tyranny. This irritated Al-Ḥajjāj all the more, and ʿOmar felt bound to inform the Caliph of his increasing severity. Al-Ḥajjāj,on the other hand, complained bitterly of the shelter given to his malcontent subjects in the Holy Cities; and Al-Welīd, yielding to Al-Ḥajjāj, recalled ʿOmar In his room, separate governors were appointed to Mecca and Medīna, who ruthlessly expelled the immigrants, and threatened with death any citizen who dared to give them shelter. One of such refugees, Ibn Jubeir, who had been paymaster of Ibn al-Ashʿath's army was, after an affecting interview with his family, executed with heartless cruelty by Al-Ḥajjāj. This was a couple of years before his own death, and remorse for it affected his mind. At night he would awake with the vision of his victim clutching the bed-clothes, and crying out, O Enemy of the Lord, for what hast thou slain me? whereupon the wretched man would keep calling aloud, What have I to do with thee, thou son of Jubeir!
Yezīd ibn Muhallab escapes from him to Suleimān, 90 A.H.His treatment of Yezīd and his brothers, sons of Al-Muhallab, was equally cruel and vindictive. Against these, it will be remembered, Al-Ḥajjāj had a grudge on account of their Yemeni leanings. After the fall of Ibn al-Ashʿath they were the only stumbling-block in his path. They were now imprisoned on the convenient charge against retiring ​governors, of embezzlement.Escape of Yezīd. Having to set out on a campaign against the Kurds, he took them with his camp, under a Syrian guard. Yezīd was subjected to torture, which he bore with fortitude; but on one occasion the instrument of torture pierced his leg, and he cried aloud. His sister, one of Al-Ḥajjāj's wives, alarmed at the cry, screamed, whereupon the tyrant divorced her on the spot. The prisoners were fortunate enough to effect their escape; and Al-Ḥajjāj, thinking they had fled to Khorāsān, warned Ḳoteiba of the danger. But they had taken horse in the opposite direction, and fled to Ramleh in Palestine, where they took refuge with Suleimān, the Caliph's brother. Al-Ḥajjāj was instant with the Caliph that Yezīd should be delivered up; whereupon Suleiman sent him, and his own son with him, to Damascus, both in chains, with a letter supplicating mercy. Al-Welīd, touched at the sight, let them depart in peace, and forbade Al-Ḥajjāj to interfere. Yezīd continued to live with the heir-apparent as his intimate and, as we shall see hereafter, favourite courtier. His tribe, the Azd, was also that of the mother of Suleimān.
Death of Ḥajjāj, 95 A.H. 714 A.D.During the remainder of his life we do not hear much of Al-Ḥajjāj, and it was well for him that he died before Al-Welīd, for he had given mortal offence to Suleimān, whose right of succession Al-Welīd desired to set aside in favour of his son, and the design was encouraged by Al-Ḥajjāj. But the wrath of Suleimān, though escaped by the father, fell, as we shall see, with terrible severity on his family and adherents, Al-Ḥajjāj stands out in the annals of Islām as the incarnation of cruelty. But the Caliphate owed much to him. For twenty years, the absolute ruler of the East in times of trouble and danger, with anarchy abroad, perversity and fickleness at home, rebellion and wild fanaticism at his doors, Al-Ḥajjāj, by his bravery and resolution, maintained the strength and restored the prosperity of the Empire in Al-ʿIrāḳ, ʿArabia, and Khorāsān. Severity was no doubt often justified in quelling the turbulent elements around; but nothing can excuse the enormous bloodshed and inhumanity which have handed down his name as that of one of the ​cruellest tyrants the world has ever seen. When, after twenty years of fighting he had pacified his provinces, he turned his attention to the arts of peace, developing the canal system, reclaiming land, and doing his best to prevent the peasantry from flocking from the country into the towns. He and Ziyād were the two great ministers of the Umeiyads, without whom the dynasty would not have survived, In one respect Ziyād was the greater of the two, since he did not use force in the shape of Syrian soldiers, but played off one faction against another, and so gained his end.
Wars of Ḳoteiba in Khorāsān, 86–96 A.H. 705–715 A.D.An indirect advantage has by some been attributed to the tyranny of Al-Ḥajjāj, in that his reign of terror drove many from their homes to swell the armies in the field, and so help forward the conquests for which the Caliphate of Al-Welīd is famous. A brief outline of these will now be given, beginning with the campaign of Ḳoteiba ibn Muslim in Central Asia. That great warrior, who was of Bāhila, a neutral tribe, advanced every summer into the provinces beyond the Oxus, retiring, as autumn advanced, to winter in Merv. Up to this time the Muslim campaigns appear to have been of the nature of ghazawāt, or raids, bringing the subdued lands into the category of allied, protected, or tributary, rather than of conquered and subject, states. The proceedings were now of a more permanent nature. Ḳoteiba's first advance was against Balkh, Tukhāristan, and Ferghāna. At Balkh, among the captives, was the wife of Barmek a physician, who was taken as a slave-girl into the ḥārīm of ʿAbdallah, Ḳoteiba's brother. Soon after, peace being made, the lady, as a matter of grace, was restored to her husband; but the result of the short union with ʿAbdallah was a son, acknowledged by him, and known in after-days as Ḳhalid the ​Barmeki. The next campaign was against Peikund, a trading emporium of Bokhārā, beyond the Oxus. The Turkomans of Soghd and other hordes swarmed in such multitudes around Ḳoteiba for the defence of this rich city, as to cut off his communications. For two months Al-Ḥajjāj received no tidings, and had prayers offered up for him in the mosques throughout the East.Bokhāra taken, 88 A.H. At last the city fell. The fighting men were put to the sword, their families taken captive, and vast stores of arms and "spoil such as never before seen in Khorāsān." In 88 A.H. another advance was made on Bokhāra, and many places of note were taken. A heavy battle was fought with a vast host from Soghd and the surrounding districts, commanded by "a nephew of the Emperor of China," who after a determined resistance was put to flight.89 A.H. Next year, Ḳoteiba again advanced through Soghd and Kish, against Werdān, king of Bokhārā, who after two days' fighting took to flight; but the city, resisting every attempt, was left unstormed. Al-Ḥajjāj upbraided Ḳoteiba with the failure, and bade him renew the attack on a plan furnished to him of the defences. This he did with a strong force,90 A.H. which mainly through the bravery of the Beni Temīm (for the Azd at first gave way before the fierce onset of the Turks), routed the enemy. Bokhārā thus taken, the surrounding province was completely subdued.
Rising in Tukhāristān, 91 A.H.On the approach of winter, the Muslim troops being withdrawn for the season, Nizak, minister of the Prince of Tukhāristan, formed a conspiracy with the surrounding powers to cast off the foreign yoke too evidently now settling down heavily upon them. To prevent his Sovereign, who opposed the design, from interfering, and ​yet give an appearance of respect, he placed links of gold upon him.Rising in the East. He then expelled the resident, and proceeded to enlist against Islām the potentates all around, from the Murghāb to the Oxus. Beyond posting a column under his brother, to guard the frontier, Ḳoteiba could do nothing to oppose this combination till the following year, when, largely reinforced from Persia, he again broke ground. Carrying all before him, he found Nīzak strongly posted in Khulm, at the entrance of a pass guarded by a fort. Bribing a deserter, he was shown a route to turn the pass, and so fell upon the rear of the enemy, who effected escape across the valley of Ferghāna. Here Nīzak was again taken in a defile guarded on one hand by Ḳoteiba and on the other by his brother. Thus hemmed in for months, he suffered the extremity of want. But the season again forcing a return to winter quarters, Ḳoteiba, unwilling to leave Nīzak still abroad, beguiled him into his camp with promise of safe-conduct. Reporting the capture to Al-Ḥajjāj, he asked for leave to put him to death. After a long delay permission came; and so, with 700 of his followers, Nīzak was slain and his head sent to Al-Ḥajjāj. The Prince of Tukhāristān was with his retinue sent to Damascus, where he was kept till Al-Welīd's decease. The perfidy of Ḳoteiba towards Nīzak was so gross, that the Muslim public, though not unused to guile in war, was scandalised, and upbraided him for it. Another painful, but less inexcusable, incident occurred about the same time. On Nīzak's defeat, the king of Jūzajan, a member of the coalition, sought terms of peace, which. being granted, Ḳoteiba invited him to his camp, sending one Ḥabīb as a hostage, and taking hostages in return. The king died while in Ḳoteiba's camp; and his subjects, suspecting foul play, put Ḥabīb to death; upon which Ḳoteiba retaliated by slaying the native hostages to a man. Having pushed his conquests still further into ​Soghdiana, Ḳoteiba returned by Bokhāra to Merv.92 A.H. Next year he proceeded to Sijistān against Zunbīl, but was set free by the conclusion of peace with that potentate.
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Ḳoteiba's last campaign on the borders of China, 91–96 A.H.During the next two or three years, aided by large contingents of horse from the tribes he had subdued (the favourite policy in the East of using subject peoples to rivet their own chain), Ḳoteiba pushed his conquests forward, taking Khojanda, Shāsh, and other cities of Ferghāna, till he reached Kāshghār and the confines of China. A curious tale is told of an interview with "the King of China,"—probably a border Mandarin,—who, to release Ḳoteiba from an oath that he would take possession of the land, sent him a load of Chinese soil to trample on, a bag of Chinese coin by way of tribute, and four royal youths on whom to imprint his seal. Ḳoteiba had now reached the limit of his conquests. While on this campaign he received tidings of the Caliph's death: suddenly the scene is changed and his future, as we shall see, all overcast.
Campaign of Ibn Ḳāsim on the Indus, 89–96 A.H. 708–715 A.D.Like Ḳoteiba in Central Asia, Moḥammad ibn al-Ḳāsim of the Thaḳīf tribe, cousin of Al-Ḥajjāj and governor of Makrān, was the first great conqueror on the Indian border. With a well-appointed army of 6000 men, he advanced on Sind and laid siege to its capital, Deibul. A catapult named the Bride, worked by 500 men, laid waste the city, and a stone shot from it overthrew the pinnacle of the famous temple of Al-Budd [Buddha], from which flaunted its great red flag. The omen struck terror into the enemy; the King fled, and Ibn al-Ḳāsim, leaving a garrison in the city, pursued him across the Mihrān (Indus), where, surrounded by his elephants, he was slain in a severe engagement. His wife and maidens, rather than suffer ‘dishonour, set fire to their palace, and were consumed with ​all their treasure. Then the conqueror took Brahmanābād by storm, and having made terms with Rōr, crossed the Bayās and invested Al-Multān,Multān taken. which after a prolonged siege, the water having failed, surrendered at discretion. The fighting men were put to the sword, and their families, with the crowd of attendants on the shrine of Buddha, made captive. Al-Multān was then a centre of pilgrimage, people coming from all quarters to worship the idol. It was "the Gateway of India and the House of Gold." The spoil was incredible, and double the whole cost of the expedition, which was estimated by Al-Ḥajjāj at sixty million pieces. While Ibn al-Ḳāsim rested here, enjoying the fruits of his splendid conquests, tidings of Al-Welīd's decease arrested his further progress eastward. He was recalled to Al-ʿIrāḳ, where, with certain other adherents of Al-Ḥajjāj, he was put to the torture and died.
Progress of Muslim arms in India, 100–125 A.H. 718–742 A.D.With Ibn al-Athīr, we may here anticipate a few years further the Muslim rule in India. Ḥabīb, one of Al-Muhallab's family (on which now shone the sun of courtly favour), as governor of Sind, fixed his court at Rōr, and allowed the princes displaced by Ibn al-Ḳāsim to return, as protected, to their several States. The pious ʿOmar II. summoned them to embrace Islām, on which they received Arabian names. In the days of Hishām, a little later, Juneid pushed the Muslim bounds still farther east. But the prestige of Islām again waned for a time. Most of the princes relapsed into heathenism, and to hold them in check, the fortified camp Al-Maḥfūẓa (the Protected) was founded, from which expeditions, both naval and military, were sent forth. "Things, however," says our Historian, "remained in India on a weak and feeble footing until the blessed accession of the ʿAbbāsids."
Heathenism and idolatry tolerated in India.It should be noted here that in India there was an altogether new departure in the treatment of the subject races. Idolatry was tolerated. Temples were left standing, and their worship not disallowed. By Moḥammadan law, Jews and Christians might continue to profess their faith under Muslim rule; and even Parsees were, by a ​strained interpretation, brought within the exemption, as followers of the "Book" of Zoroaster. But idolaters were to be pursued to the bitter end, and utterly rooted out. Such, the plain teaching of the Ḳorʾān, had been the habitual policy hitherto—the policy still, as we have seen, pursued in Central Asia. But in India a new leaf was turned. As Weil remarks—"It no longer was a holy war—with the view, that is to say, of the conversion of the heathen. That object was now dropped. Side by side with Allah, idols might be worshipped, if only tribute were duly paid." And thus, even under Moḥammadan rule, India remained largely a pagan land.
Progress in Armenia and Asia Minor.Throughout this reign Muslim armies, commanded generally by leaders of the royal blood, made yearly inroads into Armenia and Asia Minor, which the Greeks, from reverses nearer home, were little able to withstand. In the year 89 A.H. a campaign against the Turks on the Caspian was undertaken with notable success. But all other conquests of this reign fade before the conquest of Spain. That was a victory which, though demanding a separate chapter for itself, we must be here content to treat in briefest outline.
Campaign of Mūsa in Western Africa, 89 A.H. 708 A.D.Mūsa ibn Noṣair, a Yemeni, was, in 89 A.H., appointed governor of the Mediterranean coast to the west of Egypt, by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, uncle of the Caliph and ruler of Egypt, of which "Africa" was a dependency. His predecessor had already retrieved the disasters that successively befell the Muslim army at Ḳairawān: and Mūsa, having consolidated his power in the older districts, now, with the aid of his two sons, pushed the Muslim conquests to the Farthest West. In successive engagements at Sūs and Tlemsen, he completely overthrew the Berbers, took incredible multitudes prisoners, and at last brought the native population, even to the bounds ​of Morocco, under his authority. Opposition ended, "Readers of the Ḳorʾān" were appointed to instruct the people in the faith. Naval expeditions were also set.on foot, and successful descents made on Majorca and Sardinia. Having established his freedman Ṭāriḳ at Tangier, as lieutenant over the newly conquered districts in the west, Mūsa returned to his headquarters at Ḳairawān.
Mūsa's designs on Spain, 90 A.H. 709 A.D.The kingdom of Spain was at this period ruled by Roderic, a usurper, to whom Count Julian, ruler of the coast lying over against Tangier, was bitterly opposed. Ceuta, on the African side, was part also of Julian's domain. It occurred to him that with the help of the invaders from the East, he might now drive the usurper from the throne.{{Left sidenote|90 A.H. Entering therefore into friendly relations with Mūsa, he explained at an interview, the ease with which the narrow strait might be crossed; and Mūsa, nothing loth, was lured by the inviting prospect of a campaign in Spain. The Caliph, fearing the sea, at the first hesitated; but when it was explained how close was the opposite shore, he gave consent.Descent of Ṭarīf, x. 91 A.H. July, 710 A.D.; Next year, by way of trial, Mūsa sent a few hundred men in four ships under command of Ṭarīf, a Berber slave of his, who made an easy descent on the near coast at the Cape that still bears his name, and returned with a spoil so rich that the army longed to repeat the attack upon a larger scale. Mūsa, thus emboldened, placed a force of 7000 men, chiefly Berbers and freedmen, with some Arabs, at the disposal of Ṭāriḳ,and of Ṭāriḳ, vii. 92 A.H. April, 711 A.D. who, crossing the straits, took possession of the fortress called after him, Gibraltar. From thence he ravaged ​the adjacent country of Algeciras, when Roderic, receiving tidings of the descent, hastened to repel the invader. Ṭāriḳ, apprised of this through Julian and his followers, appealed for additional troops to Mūsa, who sent him 5000 Arabs. Thus reinforced, Ṭāriḳ was able now, with 12,000 men, to hold his ground against the great army of Roderic. They met on the banks of the Guadalete, to the north of Medīna Sidonia. For a week the issue was uncertain. But there was treachery in the Spanish camp. The numerous party opposed to Roderic, buoyed with the hope that the Arabs, satiated with spoil, would soon recross the sea and leave the throne to its proper claimant, fought feebly, and at last gave way. The Spanish force was routed, and Roderic in his flight drowned.Ṭāriḳ's victories, end of ix. 92 A.H. But the spoil had not the effect expected. Instead of retiring, the Arabs, flushed with victory, stormed Ecija; and, daily swelled by fresh contingents scenting from afar a rich reward, spread themselves over the land. Malaga and Granada were captured and the province overrun. The people everywhere fled to the hills and fortresses, vainly fancied impregnable; and all the quicker, at the fearful report spread by the conquerors themselves that they fed on human flesh. Leaving Cordova besieged by one of his generals, Ṭāriḳ, guided still by Julian, hastened to Toledo,Toledo taken. the capital, which to his astonishment he found deserted by all but Jews. These, delivered from Christian thraldom, now threw in their lot with the invaders (how different from the days of Moḥammad!), and were placed in charge of cities which the conquerors found themselves too few to occupy. The inhabitants had all fled in terror, some as far even as Galicia. But it was by no means the policy of the Arabs to make the land a desert. And so the people were gradually tempted back by promise of security, toleration for their religion if only preached unostentatiously, and the establishment of Christian courts. In a city beyond the hills, carried there perhaps for safety, a relic beyond all value fell into Ṭāriḳ's hands,Table of Solomon, 93 A.H. the famous Table of Solomon, set with pearls and rubies and all manner of precious stones, and having 360 feet. With this priceless jewel ​Ṭāriḳ returned to Toledo, having within the short space of two years reduced the greater part of Spain, and put every enemy to flight that dared to meet him in the field.
Descent of Mūsa, ix. 93 A.H. June, 712 A.D.The splendid exploits of his lieutenant aroused the jealousy of Mūsa. To rival his success, he set out himself with a large force and many warriors of note, and landed in Spain, 93 A.H. Guided in a course which Julian promised him would eclipse the glory of Ṭāriḳ, he struck out a new line of victory, stormed Sidonia, Carmona, and the ancient capital Seville.Merida, 94 A.H. Merida was laid siege to, and the walls battered by engines. It resisted many months, and the garrison fought with desperate bravery. A spot, our Historian tells us, was still in his day called the "Martyrs' bastion," where a column of Muslims was cut to pieces by a party issuing from a hole beneath the wall. At last the city fell, and Mūsa, on the way to Toledo, met Ṭāriḳ at Talavera. He received him angrily, struck him on the head with his whip, and demanded an account of the booty. Friendly relations restored, the famous table was given up to Mūsa. The generals then separated, Ṭāriḳ for Saragossa, and Mūsa for Salamanca and Astorga.Saragossa. Saragossa held out long, and it was not till Mūsa had rejoined his lieutenant there that by their united efforts it was stormed. Mūsa then continued his victorious progress to the extreme north-east of Spain, and occupying Tarragona and Barcelona, reached as far even as to Gerona, on the border of France. There, tradition says, he was confronted by an image with the words engraved, "Sons of Ismāʿīl hitherto and no farther—Return!" and so he turned back. Ṭāriḳ, taking a more southerly course, overran the entire coast, reducing Tortosa on the Ebro, Valencia, and other leading cities on his way.
​Mūsa recalled, 95 A.H. 713 A.D.The tidings of Ṭāriḳ's ill-treatment by Mūsa had meanwhile reached the Caliph, who, displeased at it, and not unlikely jealous of his viceroy’s independent attitude, sent a messenger to recall him to Damascus. The summons met him on a new campaign to the West. Bidding the messenger fall into his train, Mūsa continued his progress of victory and devastation, till entering Galicia, he came in sight of the blue waves of the northern sea. A second messenger followed him to Lugo, with a sterner and immediate mandate. He was turned out of the camp by the imperious conqueror, who now, however, felt that the summons could no longer be disobeyed. Carrying Ṭāriḳ therefore with him, he turned his face southward; and so, marching through the scenes of their unparalleled achievement, the two conquerors made their way back to the straits of Gibraltar. Before quitting Spain, Mūsa placed his son ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz at the head of the government. Two other sons were also put in command, the one at Ḳairawān, the other over Western Africa. Perhaps no family ever enjoyed a wider fame, or power more uncontrolled, than that of Mūsa at the moment.
Mūsa's fall, 96 A.H. 714 A.D.The marvellous achievements of Mūsa—with but few parallels in history—were sufficient to have disturbed the equilibrium of any mind. But this will hardly excuse the indiscretion which led the recalled conqueror to make his return through Africa a royal and triumphal progress, and thus justify the suspicions which had no doubt already marked him out at Court as a subject of danger. He carried with him countless store of rare and precious things, laden on endless lines of waggons and camels. At Cairo he stayed some time, and distributed rich marks of favour among his friends, especially the family of his patron ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, the late governor of Egypt, to whom he owed his rise. Progress was thus so slow that he did not reach Damascus till after the death of Al-Welīd. The new Caliph, Suleimān, received him coldly, deposed him from all his commands, cast him into prison, and laid such heavy ​demands upon him, that he was reduced to poverty, and when released, forced to beg from his friends the means of living.Mūsa's son murdered, 97 A.H. 715 A.D. To add to his misfortune, his son ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, whom he had left to succeed him in Spain, was assassinated, as is supposed, but without sufficient grounds, by secret orders from Damascus; and the heartless Suleimān sent his head to the father with an insulting message:—"a grievous error on the Caliph’s part," justly adds the Arabian annalist. Ṭāriḳ also must have retired into private life, for we hear no more of him. It is sometimes said that Al-Welīd leaned towards Ḳeis and Suleimān towards the Yemenis; but their treatment of Mūsa and his son, who were Yemenis, shows that their partisanship was not very deep. The fall of both resembles that of Khālid—an ungrateful end for the three great conquerors of their age.
The era of Al-Welīd was glorious both at home and abroad. There is no other reign, not excepting even that of ​ʿOmar, in which Islām so spread abroad and was consolidated.Grandeur of Welīd's reign. We may safely accept the judgment of the impartial Weil, who tells us that, "although Muslim historians, because of his supporting Al-Ḥajjāj, call Al-Welīd a tyrant, he is in our eyes the greatest, and in every respect the most powerful and illustrious, ruler amongst all the Commanders of the Faithful." From the borders of China and the banks of the Indus to the Atlantic, his word was law. In his reign culture and the arts began to flourish. He enlarged the Mosque of Damascus by taking in the Church of St John from the Christians. From a church in Baalbek he took a gilded dome of brass and set it over the rock in ʿAbd al-Melik's Mosque in Jerusalem. He rebuilt and enlarged the Mosque of Medīna and the Aḳṣā Mosque in Jerusalem. He established schools and hospitals, and made provision for the aged, blind, and lame. He frequently visited the markets; and so encouraged manufacture and design, that people began to take an interest in their advancement. Roads, with wells at convenient stations, were made throughout the kingdom, and the comfort of travellers, notably of pilgrims to the Holy Places, specially cared for. More perhaps than any other Caliph, he knew how to hold the balance between the Arabian tribal rivalries, and ruled at large with a powerful hand. If Al-Ḥajjāj be an exception, Al-Welīd, at the least, held him in better check than did his predecessor. Looking at it from first to last, we shall not find in the annals of the Caliphate a more glorious reign than that of Al-Welīd.
Welīd mild and condescending. As a proof of his mildness and consideration, it is told of him that when in 91 A.H. on pilgrimage, he visited Medīna and made large presents to the people, the court of the Mosque was cleared of worshippers, that in company with ʿOmar he might inspect at leisure the improvements he had made. One old man alone would neither rise up nor salute the Caliph. ʿOmar tried to divert the attention of his cousin from the uncourtly worshipper; but Al-Welīd saw, and at once recognised him, "How art thou, Saʿīd?" cried the Caliph. Without the slightest movement or salutation, the aged man replied:—Very well, I am thankful to say, and ​how doth the Commander of the Faithful?" "The last of his race!" exclaimed Al-Welīd, in admiration of the fast vanishing homeliness and simplicity which others might have rebuked as uncourtly rudeness.
Death of Welīd, vi. 96 A.H. Feb., 715 A.D.It has been already noticed that Al-Welīd wished to displace his brother Suleimān from being heir-apparent, in favour of his own son. He died before the change could be accomplished; but the effect was, not the less, to create an intense feeling of resentment in the mind of Suleimān, especially towards Ḳoteiba and the adherents of Al-Ḥajjāj, both of whom had encouraged Al-Welīd in his design.
Al-Welīd was about forty years old at his death, and he had reigned nearly ten years.
Naval affairs.By this time the Naval Administration of the Caliphate was fairly well organised. The fleet was divided into five squadrons, those of Syria with headquarters at Laodicea, Africa (that is, Tunis), Egypt (with Alexandria as starting-point), the Nile (with headquarters at Babylon), and a special squadron to guard the mouths of the Nile from descents upon the coast by Byzantines. For Egypt the chief arsenals and shipbuilding yards were at Babylon and Clysma. The superintendents of Alexandria, Rosetta, and Damietta were, at the end of the first century, Christians. The ships' companies were divided into sailors and marines. They were all Muslims. The former, who comprised the rowers and helmsmen, were mostly Mawāli or native converts to Islām, both Copts and Greeks. The latter were Arab settlers in the country, mainly of Ḳoreish and the Anṣār. Both were conscripts, but the latter certainly, and the former probably, received pensions out of the public revenues. It is noteworthy that the expeditions were made in winter.
Arab rule in Egypt.Arab rule in Egypt appears to have come as a relief to the country as a whole. No doubt taxation was heavy, but it was probably less so than under Byzantine rule, and Egypt is capable of bearing heavy taxation. Moreover, when an Arab governor is denounced as rapacious and tyrannical, it is often, as the papyri show, because he vindicated the rights of the poor as against the great. This is especially shown to be so in the case of Ḳurra ibn Sharīk, who was governor about this time. The Arab historians themselves also, writing as they are under the ʿAbbāsids, ​are apt to paint Umeiyad rule in dark colours, The insurrection of the Copts in the year 725–726 (107 A.H.) was due to a defect in the system rather than to harshness in its administration. For as the Copts went over one by one to Islām, and so became legally exempt from taxation, the number of tax-payers was always dwindling whilst the amount to be raised was steadily increasing. The tolerance of the Arabs appears from the fact that the governor's rescripts are still written in Greek (as well as Arabic) and replies made in Coptic. Many of the Pagarchs were Christians and all the subordinate officials. The government clerks were not required to use Muslim formulæ in their letters, and the sign of the Cross was allowed. Indeed, how little the Arabs cared for the letter of their religion appears from the fact that the seal of ʿAmr bore the impress of a steer. There was no religious persecution; the raids of external foes from without ceased; and the cornering of wheat was made impossible.
* ↑ The Emperor presented 100,000 mithḳāls of gold. It all reads somewhat oddly immediately after the following:—"In the same year, Maslama, the Caliph's brother, warred against the Greeks, took three fortresses, one being the Fort of Constantine, and slew of the mongrel Arabs 1000, carrying off at the same time heavy spoil." But we are also told that in the year 90 A.H. (708 A.D.) the Muslim admiral was taken prisoner, and as a matter of grace restored to the Caliph.
* ↑ There was need of some such supply at Mecca, for the multitude of pilgrims was now so great that in a dry season the water fell altogether short. In fact, one year the want was so pressing that ʿOmar bade the people join him in prayer; and shortly after rain fell in such torrents that the City was inundated. Such pious traits of ʿOmar are a popular subject with the traditionists. The governor succeeding ʿOmar was profane enough to praise Al-Welīd at the expense of Abraham,—the former having brought sweet water into Mecca, whereas Abraham only gave them the brackish well of Zemzem.
* ↑ Suleimān was so much attached to Yezīd that whenever he received some special rarity, or beautiful slave-girl, he would send them to his friend.
* ↑ Tradition puts the number of lives sacrificed by Al-Ḥajjāj (apart from carnage on the field of battle) at 120,000,—mere guess-work of course. He was fond of making copies of the Ḳorʾān with his own hand, and as a work of merit making distribution of them; but he was bitterly opposed to Ibn Masʿūd's text,—declaring that he would behead anyone who followed it. Many savage sayings are attributed to him. The odium attaching to his name has no doubt magnified his demerits, which, however, with every allowance for exaggeration, were preeminently bad.
* ↑ Weil thinks the story was invented to give the Barmekide family a status they would not otherwise have had as mere natives of Balkh. There is, however, nothing unlikely in the incident. It was altogether in accord with law and habit, only in this case the lady was given back,—an act which, even with the dishonour, must be regarded as merciful in a Muslim conqueror.
* ↑ The Muslim women from the camp rushed out screaming at the retreating column, and, beating their horses on their heads, forced them back upon the enemy. So even in these advanced and exposed campaigns we see that the Muslims carried their women and families with them.
* ↑ The countries named as furnishing help and joining in the rising, are—Ispahbād, Bādhan, Merv ar-Rūd, Tāliḳān, Fāryāb, and Jūzajān.
* ↑ Some traditions say 12,000; but these reports must be taken cum grano. The popular voice ran strongly against Ḳoteiba's treachery, and would be inclined to exaggerate.
* ↑ The King of Shumān had expelled the Muslim resident, thinking his fortress impregnable. It was stormed by catapults, which must have been very effective, as the missiles entered the king's chamber. Kish and Nasaf were overrun; Fāryāb offering opposition, was ravaged and set on fire, so that it was called "the burned land." The males were all put to death, and the women taken captive.
* ↑ Two Jewish tribes removed from Medīna, Life of Moḥammad, pp. 281 ff., 318.
* ↑ One of the idols was held so sacred that anyone who touched it would immediately die. Ḳoteiba seized a torch, and with a loud Tekbīr set it on fire; the golden nails in it weighed 50,000 mithḳāls. A grand-daughter of Yezdejird, taken captive here, was sent to Damascus, and taken into the royal ḥarīm. Al-Welīd had a daughter by her.
* ↑ In 95 A.H., 20,000 native levies are said to have followed Ḳoteiba from Bokhārā, Kish, Nasaf, and Khwarizm.
* ↑ Sind is only old Persian for Hind. Deibul was at this time the Indian port best known to the Arabs at the principal mouth of the Indus. It now lies far inland, 45 miles E.S.E. from Kurāchi.—Le Strange, p. 331.
* ↑ Two parasangs from the later Al-Manṣūra "the Victorious." Spoken of as in the hilly country of Belūchistān.
* ↑ Life of Moḥammad, p. 456 f.
* ↑ "Africa" was the name for the Muslim conquests stretching westward from Egypt to the Atlantic. More strictly Ifrīḳiya denotes the Roman province of Africa or Tunis.
* ↑ The fifth of the captives, the share of the state, amounted to 60,000;—the entire number being thus 300,000—the greatest, our historian adds, ever known. But the traditions regarding Mūsa are liable to a touch of romance.
* ↑ A few years further on we are told that by 100 A.H. "the whole of the Berbers were converted to Islām."
* ↑ A long account is given of the capture of its harbour, 92 A.H.; of the recovery of treasure cast into the sea, and secreted in the roof of the great church; and of the riches of the spoil. Other descents are mentioned 135 and 323 A.H., and finally in 400, when, however, the Muslim fleet of 120 ships was discomfited; after which no attempts were made on the island.
* ↑ The daughters of the Spanish nobles used to be sent to Court to be educated; and Roderic, we are told, had taken advantage of it to dishonour Julian's daughter, which was the cause of this bitterness. Gibbon rejects the story, and Hallam also is so inclined; but for our story it is immaterial.
* ↑ Jebel-Ṭāriḳ, the hill of Ṭāriḳ.
* ↑ Al-Jezīra, Arabic for peninsula.
* ↑ Tab. ii. 1254.
* ↑ On the Muslims in Europe, see S. P. Scott, History of the Moorish Empire in Europe.
* ↑ One of the feet was wanting, supplied by a golden substitute. More of this in note below.
* ↑ The tradition is curiously proleptic, and shows how fable often enters our annals. The words given are: "Sons of Ismāʿīl! here is your limit. Go back! And if ye ask why, I tell you, that otherwise ye shall return to discord among yourselves, so that ye shall slay and behead one another."
* ↑ "Carrying the messenger with him he passed on to new parts, slaying and taking captive, pulling down churches and breaking up their bells, till he reached the high lands overlooking the green ocean, When the second messenger arrived in the city of Lugo, he seized the reins of his mule and marched him out of the camp," etc.
* ↑ Another, but more romantic, and less likely, narrative is as follows:— Mūsa reached Damascus while Al-Welīd was yet alive (which, if we look only to the dates, is not improbable). He vaunted himself at court, in depreciation of Ṭāriḳ, as the conqueror of Spain; and among the spoils belonging to himself and as such presented to the Caliph, was "Solomon’s table." Ṭāriḳ upon this claimed that the prize was his, which Mūsa denied. "Ask him, then," said Ṭāriḳ, "what has become of the lost foot" (see former note). Mūsa could not tell; whereupon Ṭāriḳ (who had kept it by him for just such an occasion) produced the wanting piece. And so Al-Welīd was satisfied that Mūsa had really treated Ṭāriḳ badly. A curious account is also given of the death of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Mūsa's son. Himself an excellent man, he fell under the influence of Roderic's widow, who persuaded him to adopt the princely habits of the country. His followers being slow to make courtly obeisance (as resembling prostration at prayer), she had a low threshold made, through which all had to stoop as they approached the throne. She also made him wear Roderic's jewelled crown. His followers on this conspired to slay him as a renegade, 97 A.H. Others held that Suleimān, probably fearing that ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz might assume regal and independent power, sent orders for his death at the time his father came to grief at court, and that his enemies fell upon him as he was praying in his chamber with the Ḳorʾān before him. "When the head was sent to his father with the Caliph's cruel question, 'Dost thou recognise it?' he exclaimed—'Welcome to thy martyrdom, my son; for truly they did slay thee in thy piety and uprightness.' And it was counted as one of Suleimān's chief misdeeds."
* ↑ See Le Strange, Palestine under the Muslims, p. 557; Greek Papyri in the British Museum, vol. iv., by H. I. Bell, No. 1403.
* ↑ This is a rather awkward fact for the critics of the Old Testament. The Arab governors, no doubt, made use of the seals of their Greek predecessors. A common representation is that of (apparently) a wolf, facing towards the right, with a star in front or above. See H. I. Bell, Greek Papyri in the British Museum, vol. iv., p. 432; Karabacek, Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer: Führer durch die Ausstellung, p. 148.
* ↑ See Greek Papyri in the British Museum, by H. I. Bell, vol. iv., pp. xxxii ff.