ARABS: NATIVESalong the desert border southwest of the Euphrates, in the uncultivated
land in lower Iraq, and in central and upper Mesopotamia, while other
Arabs had settled down in the cities and towns closest to the bedouin
concentrations at 'Ayn Tamr, Nasibin, Anbar, and Hira. Such sed-
entary Arabs were already undergoing acculturation to the other ethnic
groups present in Iraq, particularly in mixed Arabic, Persian, and
Aramaean towns such as Anbar, Nasibin, and Hira. Consequently,
these sedentary, partially assimilated Arabs, some of whom were urban
notables and dahaqfn, proved to be an important means for the trans-
mission of Iraqi culture to the new Muslim Arab settlers. But the fact
that they had managed to preserve their own identity and had begun
to write their own language is an important indication of their re-
sistance to total assimilation.
DISLOCATIONS DUE TO THE CONQUEST: DEATH AND
CAPTIVITY
In many ways, the immediate effects of the Islamic conquest on the
native Arab population were analogous to its effects on the Persians.
Those who resisted were killed and their dependents were taken cap-
tive. Those who came to terms paid tribute and those who joined the
conquerors became part of the new ruling group. Some of the most
bitter and destructive fighting during the conquest of Iraq took place
between the native Christian Arabs, who at first remained loyal to the
Persians, and the Muslim Arab invaders from the peninsula. In the
early stages of the conquest, Iraqi Arabs fiercely defended their ter-
ritory against their neighbors in northern Arabia who were being
mobilized to raid Iraq as Muslims. Khalid is said to have collected
eighteen thousand men between the Yamama and lower Iraq, including
five or eight thousand Muc;lar and Rabi'a tribesmen who also served
under Abii 'Ubayd.^46 Once they arrived in Iraq, they were joined by
Sa'id ibn Murra al-'Ijli, who commanded one of the two sides of the
ambush laid by Khalid for the Persians at Walaja in the territory of
Kaskar in 633.47 They were also joined by Muthanna ibn I:Iaritha the
Shaybani at Hira.^48 Donner points out that the local pastoral Arab
groups that joined Khalid in Iraq only operated with him in the regions
they had already begun to raid; he suggests that Khalid's arrival gave
46 Tabari, Ta'Ttkh, I, 2021; Ya'qiibi, Ta'rtkh, Il, 164-65.
47 Tabari, Ta'Tlkh, I, 2030.
48 Dinawari, Akhbiir at-tiwiil, p. 117.