58 • 5 THE EARLY ARAB CONQUESTSwarriors, especially if their commanders did not come from their own
tribe. What would happen when civilization's centers fell under the sway of
these bedouin? Would they wreck the palaces and libraries first, or would
the wine shops and dancing girls sap their martial skills and religious zeal?
Military Discipline
For centuries, nomads and foreign armies have overrun the settled parts of
the Middle East, only to fall under the influence of their own captives.
Umar did not want his Muslims to become corrupted in this way. It was
no mere quirk of character that made him stride through the streets and
bazaars of Medina, whip in hand, ready to scourge any Muslim who
missed the prayers or violated the Ramadan fast. Umar may have admired
the military leader Khalid's skill at beating the Romans and Persians in
battle, but he resented his illegally contracted marriages. That and Khalid's
hiring of poets (the publicity agents of the time) to sing his praises led
Umar to dismiss him, the "sword of Islam," as an example to other Arabs.
When the troops were not fighting, they had to be kept under strict dis¬
cipline. Umar's policy was to settle them on the fringe between the desert
and the cultivated lands in special garrison towns, notably Basra and Kufa,
both in Iraq, and Fustat, just south of what is now Cairo, Egypt. His pur¬
pose was to keep the Arabs and the settled peoples apart. The Arab sol¬
diers were forbidden to acquire lands outside Arabia. Their right to seize
buildings and other immovable war booty was restricted. One-fifth of the
movable prizes of war had to be sent back to Medina, where Umar set up a
diwan (register) that carefully divided the spoils into shares for members
of the umma, ranging from Muhammad's widows and associates to the
humblest Arab soldier.
Civil Government
Although Arab generals and Meccan merchants usually took the top posts
of the newly won provinces, their civil administration was left almost un¬
touched. That hypothetical person in the streets of Damascus would not
have found life in 650 much different from what it had been in 625. Local
administrators went on running affairs just as before. For those towns and
provinces that had not resisted the Arab conquests, land and house taxes
were lighter than before, but they now went to Medina rather than to
Ctesiphon or Constantinople. Governmental languages did not change:
Greek and Coptic were used in Egypt, Greek and Aramaic in Syria, Persian
and Syriac in Iraq and Persia. Conquered peoples went on speaking the