ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY AND PRACTICEBasra and Kufa and their dependencies were united only in the person
of Ziyad, and two separate sets of bureaus continued to exist when
he was governor, one in each city. Ziyad spent half of each year in
either place-the summer in Kufa and the winter in Basra-while he
left a vice governor in the other city during his absence.1S? His solution
seems natural and, although the circumstances of combining the two
previously separate groups of provinces under his sole rule certainly
required some such arrangement, it seems fair to suggest that the
seasonal way Ziyad divided his time was inspired by Sasanian royal
customs and that he was the first to adapt the practice of keeping
separate summer and winter capitals to the needs of early Islamic
administration in Iraq.
In fact, the spring and autumn festivals of Nawriiz and Mihrajan
were the pivots of the Sasanian administrative and ceremonial year.
Nawriiz marked the beginning of the fiscal year when appointments
took effect, new coins were struck, proclamations were issued, and
the fire temples were purified. Public audiences were held and gifts
were presented to the monarch on both occasions.15S The requirement
for gifts at Nawriiz and Mihrajan was revived by 'Abdullah ibn Darraj,
perhaps in his capacity as a royal agent, who added ten million dirhams
in gifts to the income from taxes.1S9 These festivals were also the
occasions when winter clothing was exchanged for summer clothing
in the spring and back again in the fa:: under the Sasanians, so it is
noteworthy that those who wore unseasonal clothing were barred from
Ziyad's audience.16o
Masjid and PalaceSasanian royal ideology also had an impact on aspects of Islamic
public architecture in Iraq. In a general way, the juxtaposition of
religious and administrative structures or the performance of religious
rites and secular functions in or near the same building was merely
an expression of the relationship between religion and the state in
Late Antiquity that was shared by pre-Islamic Arabs and early Muslims
in the Hijaz. Most of the common public activities of the Muslim
settlers in Iraq were carried out in their place of worship (Ar. masjid),
157 DinawarI, Akhbiir at-tiwiii, p. 236; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, VII(l), 70; TabarI, Ta'rlkh,
11,87.
158 Tiij, p. 146; Ya'qiibI, Ta'rlkh, I, 199.
159 Jahshiyari, Wuzarii', p. 21.
160 Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, '[qd, I, 67; V, 12.