ADMINISTRATIONHurmuzjird was east of Furat Sirya and between Zandaward, in the
territory of Kaskar, and Ullays on the Euphrates. The people of Hur-
muzjird are also said to have made peace with Khiilid.^154 Rudhmistan
appears to have been near Hurmuzjird. Khiilid is said to have sent
Una ibn Abi Una to collect the tribute of Rudhmistan, where he resided
near a canal called the Nahr Una, named after him.155 Nistar may
have been north of Furat Sirya, along the stretch of the Nahr Sura
called the Great Sarat canal, below the Bridge of Qamighan. Khiilid
is said to have appointed Suwayd ibn Muqarrin al-Muzani over Nistar.
Suwayd resided at al-'Aqr, which was called 'Aqr Suwayd after him.156
The tentative identification of 'Aqr Suwayd with 'Aqr BabiJ157 would
place Nistar on the Great Sarat canal.
There is little evidence that this configuration of subdistricts survived
for long after the conquest. Nor did Furat Sirya survive as an admin-
istrative jurisdiction. Although Hurmuzjird, Rudhmistan, and Nistar
continued to be listed by the geographers as subdistricts of Lower
Bihqubadh,158 there appears to be no evidence that they actually served
as such in the form of appointments or the presence of officials after
the conquest. The subdistricts of Saylahin along the Nahr Saylahun
below Hira and of Furat Badaqla along the canal of the same name
between Hira and Ullays are also included in lists of the sub districts
of Lower Bihqubadh,159 but it seems best to regard them as belonging
to the immediate territory of Hira. Although Yiiqiit includes Hira and
Kufa among the subdistricts of Lower Bihqubadh,160 Hira does not
seem to have been part of Veh-Kavat in the late Sasanian period. It
was the center of a frontier district on the south-west border of Iraq.
The inclusion of Kufa, Hira, Saylahin, and Furat Badaqla among the
sub districts of Lower Bihqubadh may reflect later conditions, when
the lower end of Bihqubadhat appears to have been rotated to the
154 Baladhurl, Futu~, p. 242.
155 S. A. al-'Ali, "Mintaqat al-Kiifa," Sumer 21 (1965),251; Tabari, Ta'rlkh, I, 2052;
Yaqiit, Buldan, IV, 834-35.
156 Tabari, Ta'rlkh, 1, 2052; Yaqiit, Buldan, IV, 780.
157 Altheim and Stiehl; Asiatischer Staat, p. 150; Tabari, Ta'rlkh, 1,1043. The Persian
princes were confined at 'Aqr Babil in the early seventh century.
158 Ibn Khurradadhbih, Masiilik, p. 8; Yaqiit, Buldiin, 1, 770. However, it is strange
that Ibn Khurradadhbih would record the amount of taxes due from these subdistricts
if they had not been functioning at some time.
159 S. A. al-'Ali, "Mintaqat al-l:Iira," Majallat 5 (Jami'at Baghdad Kulliyat al-Adab,
1962), 27; idem, "Mintaqat al-KUfa," pp. 248-49; rbn Khurradadhbih, Masiilik, pp.
8, 11; Yaqiit, Buldiin, I, 770; Ill, 218-19.
160 Yaqiit, Buldiin, I, 770.