The Garrisoning of Sur man Ra'a (Samarra)

Al-Baladhuri reports that al-Mu'tasim left the City of Peace for al-Qatul, and lodged in the palace of al-Rashid. Then he saw the founding of Samarra (Samarra), so he laid it out and moved people to it. ¹

Al-Rashid had built the palace when he dug his canal, which he called the father of the army. Al-Mu'tasim built there, gave the palace to his client Ashinas al-Turki, and began a city which he left. ¹

Al-Mu'tasim built the congregational mosque at the edge of the markets, named the city Samarra, and settled Ashinas in Karkh Firuz. ¹

Al-Suyuti reports that al-Mu'tasim acquired Turks and paid large sums to buy them, and they harmed the people of Baghdad. The people of Baghdad said that they would fight him with the arrows of the dawn, and that was the cause of the building of Samarra. He is the first caliph to bring the Turks into the register. ²

Al-Mas'udi reports that al-Mu'tasim asked the people of a Christian monastery about the name of the place, and they said that they found it in the old books as the City of Sam ibn Nuh. He bought their land for four thousand dinars and founded his palace, and gave the Turks estates. ³