Iraq after the Muslim Conquest - Michael G. Morony

PEOPLE

Some Zun and Sayiibija were serving in the Sasanian army at the
time of the conquest, along with another group of Indian mercenaries
called Indighiir located in eastern Kirman. Members of all three groups
who were captured in the early campaigns converted to Islam when
they heard about the Asawira and settled in Basra when Abii Miisii
al-Ash'ari was governor. At first the Zun and Sayiibija were a source
of contention among the clans of Tamim at Basra, who wanted these
valuable mercenaries as allies. Eventually these Indians allied them-
selves with the Banii I;Ian~ala. They formed their own military unit
in Basra and in 656 a guard of forty or four hundred of the Sayiibija
under Abii Siilim az-ZuW was in charge of the Basran treasury. When
they refused to turn it over to Tall,ta and az-Zubayr, they were mas-
sacred in a dawn attack led by 'Abdulliih ibn az-Zubayr. This act
forced the Zun and Sayiibija into 'All's camp, and at the Battle of the
Camel they appear in the catalogue of 'All's army led by a certain
Dinwar ibn 'All.31
Nonmilitary Zun and Sayiibija probably migrated to lower Iraq
when the mercenaries settled in Basra. Their association with 'All
during the first fitna probably prompted Mu'iiwiya to transport some
of them to the Syrian coast near Antioch. They seem to have been
neutral during the second fitna but supported the revolt of Ibn al-
Ash'ath along with everyone else in Basra, so al-I;Iajjiij disbanded
them. However, al-I;Iajjiij patronized civilian Zun and settled some of
them with their water buffaloes in the lower parts of the district of
Kaskar. The Zun were instrumental in land reclamation there and
were probably responsible for the spread of large-scale rice cultivation.
They began to multiply and, according to Ibn Rustah, continued to
occupy Sartaghan, Tastakhan, and 'Aqr Sayd in the middle of the
swamps.32

AFRICANS

The Sasanians did not import African labor. By the end of the

seventh century, however, there were black east African slaves (Zanj)

in the vicinity of Basra. They were probably employed as labor on the

newly developed estates. They raided the region around Furat in 689

31 Baladhuri, Ansab, IVb, 106; idem, Futub, pp. 373-76; Tabarl, Ta'rlkh, I, 3180-

81.

32 Baladhurl, Futub, pp. 375-76; Ibn Rustah, A'laq, p. 95.