ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY AND PRACTICEMakka had been the guardianship of the keys to the Ka 'ba, early
Islamic /Jiijibs were neither military officers nor intermediaries but
basically doorkeepers who controlled the access of visitors to Com-
manders of the Faithful, governors, and even private people. According
to traditional accounts, some form of regulated access was introduced
in the time of 'Umar I at Madina in order to avoid crowding and to
expedite the conduct of business. With the introduction of more formal
audience procedures in the time of Mu'awiya, Ziyad appears to be
the earliest Muslim governor who was served by /Jiijibs: his mawlii Fil
at Basra^183 and the more famous 'Ajlan. Thereafter governors in Iraq
and the East were normally served by a /Jiijib, armed guard, gatekeeper
(Ar. bawwiib) or announcer (Ar. iidhin), who was usually a person of
low status.^184
One result was that admission to the presence of a ruler or governor
became a means of recognizing existing status or of creating it. Both
theory and practice reflected the tension between the ideal of general
accessibility and the practical reality of selective admission. The trust-
worthy men who were stationed at the gate of the Sasanian palace on
days of public audience at Nawriiz and Mihrajan were supposedly
ordered to forbid no one to enter the king's presence.^185 The ruler was
at least to be kept informed of who wanted to see him. 'Abd al-Malik
is said to have described the perfect /Jii;ib as one who tells his master
whenever a free man comes to the gate, so he can decide whether or
not to admit him. Likewise, Khalid ibn 'Abdullah al-Qa~ri, governor
of Iraq from 724 until 738, is said to have ordered his /Jiijib not to
keep anyone from him (with three exceptions) when he held his au-
dience.^186 Ziyad himself, in a much-quoted anecdote attributed to al-
Mada'ini, is said to have told 'Ajlan that there were four kinds of
persons who should never be kept waiting: one who announces the
time for worship, one who comes at night, a messenger from a frontier
governor, or the cook.^187
In practice, beginning in the time of Mu'awiya, the order of ad-
183 Baladhurl, Futii~, p. 354.
184 The advice given by 'Abd al-Malik to his brother 'Abd al-'Aziz assumes that the
governor of Egypt was likely to have a ~ajib by the end of the seventh century if not
earlier Oa4i~, Rasa'il, n, 38, 40).
185 Taj, p. 160.
186 Ja4i~, Rasa'il, n, 36, 38.
187 Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, 'Iqd, 1,71, V, 12-13; Ja4i~, Rasa'il, II, 36. A promise to admit
night visitors is also included in Ziyad's khutba at Basra in 665 (Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi,
'Iqd, IV, 112).