ADMINISTRATIONseventeen years and his jurisdiction included the frontier posts and
their Persian cavalry.166 AI-I:Hra remained an administrative center
under the Muslims until the foundation of Kufa three miles away in
638.
It is possible to identify some of the administrative subdivisions of
the territory of Hira. The rustaq or tassuj of Saylahin along the Nahr
Saylahun south of Hira was granted to an-Nu'man ibn al-Mundhir
for his support by Khusraw Parvlz and was the location of one of the
Persian frontier posts (Ar. masali~). As we have seen, it was later
considered to be one of the subdistricts of Lower Bihqubadh.^167 Sinnin,
nearby, on its own canal, was the location of a Lakhmi residence, and
at the time of the conquest the lord (Ar. ~a~ib) of Sinnin was a member
of the highest Persian aristocracy. Sinnin does not appear to have
served as an administrative jurisdiction after the conquest, but the
caliph 'Uthman purchased a farm there from Tall),a ibn 'Ubaydul-
lah.^168 Furat Badaqla also belonged to this group of sub districts near
Hira. The city or fortress called Amghishiya, located where the Furat
Badaqla canal reentered the Hira branch of the Euphrates, was a major
defensive center in the late Sasanian period and either belonged to this
'configuration of subdistricts south of Hira or was at the southern end
of Veh-Kavat. The town of Ullays was one of its frontier posts and
the Persian general, Jaban, whom Khalid defeated there, was called
the ~a~ib of Ullays. Afterwards, Khalid destroyed Amghishiya and
made peace with the people of Ullays.169
In the late Sasanian period, the desert border south and west of
Hira was protected by a highly developed system of watchtowers and
garrison posts (Ar. masali~) served by one or more canal systems,
which provided water and served as a barrier. What was probably a
series of canal systems and oases is presented in the sources as a single
moat-canal called the khandaq (M.P.) created by Shapiir 11 (309-79)
and restored by Khusraw Aniishirvan (531-79). It stretched along the
166 Baladhuri, Futu~, pp. 242-43; l;iamza, Ta'rfkh, p. 96; Tabari, Ta'rfkh, I, 2019,
2037-39.
167 AI-'Ali, "Minraqat al-Kiifa," pp. 248-49; idem, "Minraqat al-l;iira," p. 27; Ibn
Khurradadhbih, Masiilik, p. 11; Kister, "AI-l;iira," p. 152; Musil, Middle Euphrates,
p. 295; Tabari, Ta'rfkh, I, 2232; Yaqiit, Buldiin, Ill, 218-19. The Nahr Saylahun was
taken from the Euphrates, and Saylahin contained Khawarnaq and Tizanabadh, one
mile from Qadisiyya.
168 Tabari, Ta'rlkh, I, 2232-33; Yaqiit, Buldiin, Ill, 430.
169 AI-'Ali, "Minraqat al-Kiifa," pp. 249-51; Musil, Middle Euphrates, pp. 293-94;
Tabari, Ta'rlkh, I, 2019,.2037-38, 2167. Al-'Ali locates Amghishiya near modern al-
Ghamas and ash-Shanafiyya.