ADMINISTRATIONAlthough the existence of three subdivisions along the Nahrawan canal
cannot be confirmed, the town of Nahrawan itself was an adminis-
trative center in the late Sasanian period.
The remainder of this province formed the kura of Shadh Qubadh
around the town of Jalula' between the Nahrawan canal system and
Hulwan. Although the geographers list up to eight subdistricts,76 all
that may be said with reasonable certainty with regard to the Sasanian
period is that Jalula', Daskara, and Babil Mahrudh were subdistricts
at the time of the Islamic conquest. At the end of the campaign of
Sa'd ibn AbI Waqqas who conquered this part of Iraq, JarIr ibn
'Abdullah al-Bajali was left at Jalula' with a force of four thousand
cavalry to prevent the return of the Persians'?? Since Yaqiit also says
that Jalula' was the qa~aba (Ar. capital) of a kura called Khusraw
Shadh Hurmuz,78 the post-reform mint of Khusraw Shadh Hurmuz
in the ustan of Shadh Qubadh?9 is likely to have been associated with
Jalula'. Daskara (Dastagird) had become the royal residence under
Khusraw Parvlz, and we hear of a dihqan of Daskara at the time of
the conquest in 637.^80 At the same time, the dihqan of Babil Mahrudh
made peace for this subdistrict with Hashim ibn 'Utba,81 and we hear
of a dihqan of Babil Mahrudh called Madhriiasb in 695.^82
Although parts of Mada'in had served as local administrative centers
for parts of this province, one of the major changes wrought by the
Islamic conquest was the transformation of the eastern half of this
metropolis from the capital of the Sasanian empire to the provincial
capital of Ard Jukha. Although early Muslim governors at Mada'in
resided in the White Palace and used the great Sasanian audience hall
(iwan Kisra), they were subordinated to governors at Kufa. The stra-
tegic importance of Mada'in in the early Islamic period lay in its control
of the hinterland of Kufa and of the main road to the east. It was
considered the key to Kufan territory, and the garrison stationed there
was responsible for keeping watch over Ard Jukha and Ard Anbar.83
The districts (kuwar) of Ard Jukha created in the late Sasanian period
do not appear to have survived as distinct administrative units in the
76 Ibn Khurradadhbih, Masalik, p. 6; Yaqiit, Buldan, Ill, 227.
77 BaladhurI, Futu~, p. 264; DInawarI, Akhbar at-tiwal, pp. 136-37.
78 Yaqiit, Buldan, n, 442.
79 Walker, Arab-Sassanian Coins, pp. cxxxiii, cxl-<:xli.
80 BaladhurI, Futu~, p. 265.
81 Ibid.; TabarI, Ta'rtkh, I, 2461; Yaqiit, Buldan, IV, 700.
82 TabarI, Ta'rtkh, n, 916.
83 Ibid., 11, 929, 980, 982.