ARABS: NATIVESlibi encampments in central Mesopotamia. Abii Yiisuf claims that
Khalid took as many as five thousand captives between Hira and
Damascus.^70 The captives taken at 'Ayn Tamr were regarded as the
first "foreign" captives (Ar. min ai-'ajam) to arrive at Madina. Among
them were Abii 'Amra, who became the mawiii of Shabban; Abii
'Ubayd, who became the mawiii of al-Mu'al1a of the Banii Zurayq
of the An~ar; Abii 'Abdul1ah, who became the mawiii of Zahra; Khayr,
who became the mawiii of Abii Da'iid al-An~ari; Yasar, the grand-
father of Mul).ammad ibn Ishaq, who became the mawiii of Qays ibn
Makhrama; Aflal)., who became the mawiii of Abii Ayyiib al-An~ari;
and I:Iumran ibn Aban, who became the mawia of 'Uthman ibn 'Af-
fan?! One of the captives taken at Thani was Umm I:Iabib, the daugh-
ter of Rabi'a ibn Bujayr the TaghlibI, who was purchased by 'All ibn
Abi Talib. By bearing him two children, 'Umar and Ruqiyya, she
became an umm waiad.72 Among the women taken captive at Zumayl
were Bint Mu'thin an-Namari, Layla bint Khalid, and Rayhana bint
al-Hudhayl ibn Hubayra, who were all part of the fifth of the booty
sent back to Madina for Abii Bakr?3 The fact that these captives were
Arabs may have made their social adjustment in the Hijaz less difficult,
but they do not seem to have been treated any differently from non-
Arab captives. However, it is worth noting that several of the children
taken at 'Ayn Tamr and their descendants became wel1-known figures
in early Islamic history.
Eventual1y, some Iraqi Arab captives or their children made their
way back to Iraq, as a number of Persian captives were also able to
do. I:Iumran ibn Aban is one of the best examples. He was a Jewish
child named Tuwayd who was taken captive by al-Musayyab ibn
Najba al-Fazari at 'Ayn Tamr and carried off to Madina, where he
was sold to 'Uthman and became his mawiii. After 'Uthman became
caliph, he sent I:Iumran to Kufa to investigate complaints against the
governor, but when I:Iumran gave him a false report, 'Uthman revoked
his rights of protection. I:Iumran then settled in Basra where he is said
to have held 'Abbadan as a land grant (Ar. qa{i'a). He was occa-
sional1y involved in local administration and married a woman of the
70 Abii Yiisuf, Khariij, p. 228.
71 Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 2077, 2122. This account is on the authority of MuJ:!ammad
ibn Ishaq, who was himself descended from one of the captives.
72 Ibid., I, 2072-73. Umm I:Iabib was one of those people with a ruddy complexion,
and a variant account says that she was taken captive at 'Ayn Tamr (ibid., I, 3471-
72).
73 Ibid., I, 2073.