ARABS: IMMIGRANTSARAB SETTLEMENT OUTSIDE THE GARRISON CITIES
One important way in which the post-conquest Arab presence in
Iraq was able to spread beyond Kufa and Basra was by the assignment
of officials and garrisons to local administrative centers. In 654 'Uth-
man dispersed the leaders of the Arab army in Kufa by reassigning
them to provincial positions in Iraq.10l There were garrisons at 'Ayn
Tamr, Anbar, Mada'in, and Hulwan. Arabs replaced the Persians at
Sinjar^102 and became an important element in the population of Mada'in.
The garrison of Mada'in was rotated from Kufa and remained in close
touch with the Kufan people. The main tribal group to settle at Mada'in
were the Azd, and the Arab notables at Mada'in included the tribal
leaders of the Azd, ashriif from Kufa, and leading early Muslims (Ar.
buyutiit an-niis). In 695 a garrison of one thousand horsemen was at
Mada'in.lo3 I:Iudhayfa ibn al-Yaman is a good example of a Kufan
notable who settled at Mada'in where his descendents continued to
live.lo4
Muslim Arabs from Basra and Kufa also founded, in 641, a new
garrison town at Mawsil on the Tigris opposite Nineveh. Although
'Utba ibn Farqad was responsible for the conquest of northern Iraq
and for the first settlement at the site of Mawsil, he was recalled almost
immediately by 'Umar. Harthama ibn 'Arfaja al-Bariqi was given the
task of "founding" this city, which he did by building a congregational
masjid, laying out boundaries for the districts, and settling the Arabs
in their houses.lOs Towards the end of the seventh century, Azd tribes-
men and people who migrated from Anbar to escape the exactions of
its governor resettled the town of Haditha near Mawsil.^106 The Azd
also became an important element in the population of Mawsil.
The Arabs who settled in these urban centers were never confined
to them. Back-and-forth movement was common, whether it was re-
quired by the state or was of a personal nature. With the conquest of
Iran, Arabs also began to be sent out of Iraq on campaigns to the east
and north, and then were posted as garrisons and as officials through-
out Iran. The first permanent emigration organized by the state oc-
curred in 665, when Ziyad sent twenty-five thousand men from Basra
101 Tabarl, Ta'r"ikh, I, 2928.
102 Baladhuri, Futu!;, p. 177; Ibn I:Iawqal, $urat al-arq., pp. 220-21.
103 TabarI, Ta'r"ikh, I, 2499; I1, 504, 899, 980.
104 Ibn Sa'd, TabaqJt, VI, 8; TabarI, Ta'r"ikh, I, 3372; I1, 504, 561.
105 BaladhurI, Futu!;, p. 332; Ibn I:Iawqal, $urat al-arq., p. 215.
106 Baladhurl, Futu!;, p. 333; Fiey, Assyrie chretienne, I, 104.