ARABS: IMMIGRANTS'Ubaydullah, was born and where his family had its compound (AI.
diir).67 Ziyad's half-brother, Abii Bakra, like him a native of Ta'if in
the Hijaz, also settled in Basra. He had been a slave in Ta'if; when
he accepted Islam he was freed and became a mawlii of MuQammad.
His eldest son, 'Abdullah, was born while the party was in Bahrayn
before they settled at Basra; but his second son, 'Abd ar-RaQman,
was the first child born in Basra when the group was at Khurayba.^68
The family of Abii Bakra was among the notables of the city and
especially flourished under the governorship of Ziyad when, in about
672, 'Ubaydullah ibn Abi Bakra was Ziyad's 'iimil at Basra.^69
The real founders of Basra in terms of numbers were Arabs of the
tribe of T amim who began to arrive after the fall of Ubulla. They
settled around two of the ruined dasiikir and provided at least ten to
twelve thousand of the fighting men by 656.^70 For much of the seventh
century, the leader of the Tamim at Basra was al-AQnaf ibn Qays. He
first came to notice as a young man in 638, when as chieftain of the
Banii Tamim he was a member of a delegation of Basran dignitaries
(Ar. §ulabii') to 'Umar at Madina.7^1 During the first fitna, the clan of
the Banii Sa'd remained loyal to him at the time of the Battle of the
Camel in 656,72 and in 657 he led the Tamim who fought on the side
of 'An at the Battle of Siffin.7^3 He was still the head of the Tamim in
Basra as late as 683.7^4 The Tamim at Basra were divided among the
clans of the Banii Sa'd,75 Banii 'Amr,76 and Banii I:Ian~ala,77 and the
clan of the Banii Qabba of the Zayd Manat was attached to them.7^8
The 'Abd al-Qays who migrated from eastern Arabia at the time
Basra was founded were less numerous there than the Tamim. Several
of their leaders who had been members of the tribal delegation sent
to MUQammad had accepted Islam and returned to their tribe and
67 Tabari, Ta'rikh, Il, 433.
68 Baiadhuri, Ansiib, I, 496; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqiit, VII(1), 8-9, 138.
69 Ya'qiibi, Ta'rtkh, Il, 276. For Abii Bakra and his sons, see Baiadhuri, Ansiib, I,
489-506.
70 Baiadhuri, Futu~, pp. 342, 350; Ibn ai-Faqih, Buldiin, p. 188; Pellat, Milieu ba~rien,
pp. 23-24; Tabari, Ta'rtkh, I, 3417.
71 Ibn ai-Faqih, Buldiin, p. 170; Tabari, Ta'rtkh, I, 2544. His mother belonged to the
tribe of Awd (Ibn Qutayba, Ma'iirif, p. 81).
72 Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 3179.
73 Dinawari, Akhbiir at-tiwiil, pp. 182-83.
74 Ibid., p. 295; Tabari, Ta'rtkh, 11, 461.
7S Tabari Ta'rikh, I, 3120, 3131, 3179, 3210.
76 Ibid., I, 3122-23, 3179.
77 Ibid., I, 3179.
78 Pellat, Milieu ba~rien, p. 24; Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 3179.