PEOPLEThe composite nature of this elite is reflected in the different terms
used for its members. They were outstanding people (Ar. wujuh),
upright people (Ar. $ula~a'), leaders (Ar. ru'asa), notables (Ar. ashraf),
and elders (Ar. shuyukh).
The division of the Arab Muslim population of the garrison cities
into an elite group (Ar. kha$$a) and the general population (Ar. 'amma)
was underway by the 650s and had been achieved by the time of
Mu'iiwiya. The governor's majlis became the meeting place of the
notables under Ziyiid and his son 'Ubaydulliih. By the 680s, the tribal
ashraf had developed their own group identity and a degree of soli-
darity among themselves vis-a.-vis the majority of their nominal kins-
men, in addition to their attitudes towards their own mawalt and
slaves.^14
SOCIAL STATUS, MATERIAL CULTURE, AND ASSIMILATION
The members of this emerging Arab Muslim elite found convenient
symbols for their status among the traditions of the native Iraqi no-
tables, which had survived from the Sasanian period. They were able
to follow a life style comparable to that of the native notables partly
because their social position was similar, partly because the high so-
ciety of Hira had set the example, partly because elements of this
cultural tradition that had penetrated pre-Islamic Arabia prepared
them for it, and partly because they could afford to do so. They
duplicated the pattern of great households run by slaves and servants
and surrounded themselves with retinues of relatives and mawalt. AI-
Ash'ath ibn Qays, himself descended from the kings of Kinda, is said
to have been the first to have men walk in front of him, Persian-
fashion, when he rode on horseback.15 Ibriihlm ibn al-Ashtar is de-
scribed riding to the house of al-Mukhtiir with a retinue of mawalt
and servants.t^6 The practice of providing noble women with a retinue
or escort of women of lower status serves as a good example of the
kind of customs adopted by the new Arab elite. At the time of. the
conquest, the daughter of Aziidhbih, the marzbiin of Hira, was escorted
to her new husband by thirty women of the dahaqtn.^17 This custom
already had been adopted by Arabs at Hira where I:Iuraqa, the daugh-
14 Dlnawari, Akhbiir ar-tiwiii, p. 252; Tabari, Ta'rlkh, n, 649-50.
15 Tha'iilibi, Latii'if, p. 17.
16 Dlnawari, Akhbiir at-tiwiii, p. 297.
17 Tabari, Ta'rfkh, I, 2233; Ya'qiibi, Ta'Tlkh, n, 163.