The Basra Bathhouse Permissions

إذن الحمامات بالبصرة

Muslim ibn Abi Bakra drew a thousand dirhams and much food daily from his bathhouse; sick, he willed it to his brother Abd al-Rahman and told him the yield — who disclosed it and asked the Sultan's leave to build his own, baths being built at Basra only by the governors' permission. Leave followed for Ubaydallah ibn Abi Bakra, al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As, Siyah al-Uswari, al-Husayn ibn Abi al-Hurr al-Anbari, Rayta bint Ziyad, Lababa bint Awfa al-Jarashi for two, and al-Munjab ibn Rashid; Muslim recovered to find his yield ruined and kept saying 'may God cut his mercy'.

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Era: The Umayyad Period
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Overview

al-Baladhuri relates that Muslim ibn Abi Bakra used to take a thousand dirhams a day from his bathhouse, and a great deal of food. When he fell ill, he entrusted to his brother Abd al-Rahman the bathhouse and its revenue. ¹

Disclosing the revenue

Abd al-Rahman spread the news and asked the sultan's permission to build a bathhouse, and he was granted it. Bathhouses could not be built in Basra except with the permission of the governors. Other notables then asked, among them Ubayd Allah ibn Abi Bakra and al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As, and they were granted it. ¹

Muslim recovered from his illness to find that the revenue of his bathhouse had been spoiled, and he began to blame his brother. ¹

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant: Muslim ibn Abi Bakra· Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakra
Occurred at: Basra

People and things also explored

Digging of the Ubulla Canal· Abu Bakra Nufay' ibn al-Harith· Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakra· Basra· Great Mosque of Basra· Qasr Qubadh / the Hajjaj palace at Basra· The Asawira's Settlement at Basra· The Basrans' Cry to Abdallah ibn Ali

Sources

Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition)

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The Basra Bathhouse Permissions”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/basra-bathhouse-permissions/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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Digging of the Ubulla Canal

Dijlat al-Awra's tidal rain-channel ran a farsakh, its Basra-side basin called al-Ijana; Umar ordered Abu Musa to dig the Basrans a canal — he began at al-Ijana, led it three farsakhs to Basra, making the Ubulla canal four — then the reach toward al-Hayri silted up. Ziyad, on the diwan under Abdallah ibn Amir, urged completing the dig and was stalled till Ibn Amir left for Khurasan; he resumed Abu Musa's channel to Basra with Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakra in charge, who opened the water racing his horse as it nearly outran him. Ibn Amir returned angry — 'you meant to carry off the canal's fame' — and the estrangement held between their houses for life; before the canal, folk drank from Dayr Qawus on the Tigris, a spot the spirits haunted.