The Conquest of Isbahan

فتح أصبهان

In al-Baladhuri: Umar sent Abdallah ibn Budayl ibn Warqa' al-Khuza'i to Isbahan in year 23 — or wrote Abu Musa ordering his dispatch — and Abdallah took Jayy by treaty after fighting: its people to pay kharaj and jizya, secured in their persons and wealth save the arms in their hands; al-Ahnaf ibn Qays of his army was sent to al-Yahudiyya, which treated on the same terms, and Ibn Budayl mastered Isbahan's land and tasasij, governing until a year of Uthman's caliphate passed, when Uthman made al-Sa'ib ibn al-Aqra' governor. Ibn Ishaq relates that Isbahan's marzban, an old man called al-Fadhusfan, was besieged and the cityfolk betrayed him; choosing thirty trusted archers he slipped out toward Kirman to join Yazdgard. Word reached Ibn Budayl who pursued with heavy horse; the Persian turned on a height: 'hold yourself — not one of you drops without an arrow; charge and we shoot; or grant us a champion and we will duel.' They duelled — a blow fell on his saddle-bow breaking it and cutting the girth-straps — then Ibn Budayl said: 'I would not love your death, for I see you wise and brave; what say you to returning with me that I treat with you for your townspeople's jizya — who stays is dhimmi, who flees is unmolested — and you surrender the city?' He returned, opened Jayy and kept his word, saying 'O people of Isbahan, I saw you slackening for days — you earned what I did to you.' Ibn Budayl traversed Isbahan's plain and mountain, mastering it, treating its kharaj as al-Ahwaz had been treated — the conquest falling in parts of years 23 and 24. Another version has Umar sending Ibn Budayl to join Abu Musa — Qumm and Qashan taken — and together raiding Isbahan, al-Ahnaf on Abu Musa's vanguard, both taking al-Yahudiyya then Jayy, mastering the land — the soundest report being Abu Musa took Qumm and Qashan and Ibn Budayl Jayy and al-Yahudiyya. Isbahan's nobles held strongholds at Jafrabadh in Greater al-Thaymara rustaq at Bahjawarsan and a fortress called Marbin; when Jayy fell they entered obedience paying kharaj, and scorning the jizya, they embraced Islam.

Overview

al-Baladhuri relates that Umar sent Abd Allah ibn Budayl al-Khuza'i to Isfahan in 23 AH. It is also said that he wrote to Abu Musa al-Ash'ari ordering him to send him with an army. ¹

Jayy and the Jewish quarter

Ibn Budayl took Jayy by treaty after a fight, on condition that its people pay the kharaj and the jizya, and that they be granted safety for their lives and property, except for weapons. He sent al-Ahnaf ibn Qays to the Jewish quarter, and its people made peace with him on the same terms. ¹

The account of the marzban

On the authority of Muhammad ibn Ishaq, the marzban of Isfahan was an aged elder named Fadusfan. He fled toward Kirman, and Ibn Budayl followed him and challenged him, then offered him peace on the jizya. He came back with him and handed over the city. ¹

Other accounts

al-Baladhuri gives a report that Umar sent Ibn Budayl with an army, and he met Abu Musa, who had conquered Qum and Qashan, and they raided Isfahan together. He then says that the most sound account is that Abu Musa conquered Qum and Qashan, and that Ibn Budayl conquered Jayy and the Jewish quarter. ¹

The conquest of Isfahan was in one of the years 23 and 24 AH. The nobles of Isfahan had strongholds, and when Jayy was taken they entered obedience on payment of the kharaj, and they disdained the jizya and so became Muslims. ¹

al-Ahnaf's Petition to Umar for Basra

Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays came to Umar with the Basrans; Umar heard them one by one while al-Ahnaf sat silent in a corner till asked — then: 'our brothers of the garrison towns dwell between sweet waters and tangled gardens, and we in a reeking marsh whose dew never dries nor pasture grows, the briny sea eastward, the waste westward, no tillage no milk, our due reaching us like an ostrich's gullet; the weak man walks two farsakhs for sweet water and the woman miscarries her child going — lift our misery and mend our poverty or we are a people lost'. Umar joined Basra's children to the stipend and wrote Abu Musa to dig them a canal.

The Conquest of Isbahan

At a glance

Overview

Jayy and the Jewish quarter

The account of the marzban

Other accounts

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Time

al-Ahnaf's Petition to Umar for Basra