PEOPLEto nearby Kufa shortly after its foundation.^112 No real evidence exists
for such mass settlement in the seventh century, however, and, in fact,
it seems to have been discouraged unless the inhabitants converted to
Islam.m There was a great deal of traffic between Hira and Kufa and
settlement occurred in both directions. Sawad, the son of Zayd ibn
'Adi, moved to Kufa even though he remained a Christian, and the
place called Sawwariyya at Kufa was named after his son, the poet
Sawwar ibn Zayd al-'Ibadi.^114 However, Mustawrid ibn 'Ullifa settled
next to the Qasr 'Adasiyyin of Kalb at Hira when he fled from Kufa
in 663.!15 Nevertheless, the 'Ibadis of Hira preferred not to settle in
Kufa,116 and Hira remained a town of respectable size, inhabited by
Jews and Christians at least until the end of the seventh century. In
the eighth century Yiisuf ibn 'Umar found it worthwhile to establish
a market called Siiq Yiisuf there.!!? Hira was still a Christian town
and larger than Hulwan in the ninth century,1J8 and according to
Mas'iidi, it declined gradually until the beginning of the reign of al-
Mu'ta<;lid (892-902).119
By coming to terms with the Muslims, in early Islamic Iraq, the
sedentary Arabs, like their Persian counterparts, were able to survive
and found it possible to continue their own customs among themselves
and transmit their way of life to the Muslim Arab immigrants. The
familiarity of Iraqi Arabs with local conditions, their bilingual abilities,
and their knowledge of administrative methods made them as impor-
tanta factor for continuity in the life of early Islamic Iraq as other
pre-Islamic groups. Native Arabs continued their activity as merchants
and caravan guidesl20 and were employed as administrators.^121 Bajala
ibn 'Abda of the Banii 'Anbar served as scribe for Jaz' ibn Mu'awiya
when the latter collected taxes in Manadhir and Dast-i Maysan in
641.^122 Jufayna the 'Ibadi received a stipend of two thousand dirhams
112 Ibn l:Iawqal, Surat ai-art;!, p. 249; Ibn Khallikan, Biographical Dictionary, I, 189;
I~~akhrI, Masiilik, p. 82; Mas'iidI, Muru;, II, 230.
113 Khadduri, Islamic Law of Nations, pp. 277-78.
114 Horovitz, "'Adi Ibn Zeyd," p. 68; Ibn al-FaqIh, Buldiin, p. 182.
115 TabarI, Ta'rtkh, II, 29.
116Ibn Rustah, A'liiq, p. 207.
117Ibn al-FaqIh, Buldiin, p. 181.
118 Horovitz, '''Adi Ibn Zeyd," p. 68; IgakhrI, Masiilik, p. 87.
119 Mas'iidI, Muru;, I1, 230.
120 TabarI, Ta'rtkh, II, 102.
121 Ibid., I, 3446.
122 Abii Yiisuf, Kharii;, p. 119; BukharI, Sii~i~, V, 238; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqiit, VII(l),
94; Ibn Sallam, Amwiil, p. 44. Bajala settled in Basra, where he was living in 689-90.