Digging of the Ubulla Canal

Al-Baladhuri reports that Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him) ordered Abu Musa al-Ash'ari to dig a canal for the people of Basra, and the digging began from a place called al-Ijana. The length of the canal of al-Ubulla reached four farsakhs. ¹

There was a creek of the blind Tigris in which rain water ran, and its water receded at high tide and dried up at low tide, and it was a farsakh long. Its end on the side of Basra was a hollow called al-Ijana. Abu Musa led the canal three farsakhs until it reached Basra. Then the part between Basra and al-Hayri, about a farsakh, was blocked up. ¹

Ziyad was in the register under Abd Allah ibn Amir, and he advised that the digging be carried out, but was rebuffed. When Ibn Amir went out to Khurasan, Ziyad dug the canal from the point of blockage to Basra, and entrusted the work to Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakra. When the water was let in, he began to race his horse with the water almost outrunning it. Ibn Amir was angry when he came and told Ziyad that he had meant to take the credit for the canal from him. The two drew apart until both died, and the distance between their children grew. ¹

Al-Baladhuri says that people used to drink from the monastery of Qawaws on the Tigris, and that spirits used to bury it. ¹