The Founding of Wasit

تأسيس واسط

In al-Baladhuri: al-Hajjaj founded the city of Wasit in year 83 or 84, building its mosque, palace and Green Dome — it was reed-land, whence 'Wasit al-Qasab', equidistant from al-Ahwaz, Basra and Kufa; Ibn al-Qirriyya quipped 'he built it in a land not his own and will leave it to sons not his own.' A Wasit shaykh related that when finished al-Hajjaj wrote Abd al-Malik: 'I have founded a city in a karsh of land between the mountain and the two garrison towns and named it Wasit' — hence the Wasitis are called al-Karshiyyin. Before founding it he had meant to move al-Sin's people from Kaskar and dug Nahr al-Sin, then reconsidered, founded Wasit, dug the Nil and Zabi canals, revived their lands and founded the city called al-Nil. He seized Abdallah ibn Darraj's estates — reclaimed deadland, stagnant waters, springs and reed-beds marked with milestones under his Kufa kharaj office with al-Mughira — cleared their reeds and took them for Abd al-Malik, cultivating them; and he stripped doors from Zantaward, al-Dawqara, Dar Awsat, Dayr Masarjasan and Sharabit for his palace and Wasit's congregational mosque — those cities protested 'you have preferred us over our own cities and wealth,' and he paid them no heed.

Overview

Al-Baladhuri reports that al-Hajjaj founded the city of Wasit in 83 or 84 AH, and built its mosque, its palace and the Green Dome. ¹

The name and the site

It was a land of reeds, so it was called Wasit al-Qasab (Wasit of the reeds). It lies at an equal distance from Ahvaz, Basra and Kufa. Al-Baladhuri quotes Ibn al-Qarya: "He built it in a land not his own, and left it to someone not his heir." ²

A shaykh of the people of Wasit relates that al-Hajjaj wrote to Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan that he had made a city in the belly of land between the mountain and the two garrisons, so its people were called the Karshiyya. ²

Rivers and estates

Before Wasit, al-Hajjaj wanted to bring China's wealth from Kaskar, so he dug the River of China, then changed his mind to another. He dug the Nil and the Zabi and revived the lands on them. He took the estates that Abd Allah ibn Darraj had brought out, and held them for Abd al-Malik. ²

He carried doors from other cities to his palace and the mosque, and its people cried out, but he paid no attention. This is what al-Baladhuri relates. ²

Abd al-Malik's Coinage Reform

Heraclius's dinars and the Persian Baghliyya dirhams reached Jahiliya Mecca and traded only as bullion: their mithqal twenty-two qirats less a fraction, ten dirhams seven mithqals, the ratl twelve uqiyyas of forty dirhams — weights the Prophet confirmed, and Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, and Mu'awiya after him. Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr struck a few dirhams under Ibn al-Zubayr, later broken; then Abd al-Malik asked and tested, wrote al-Hajjaj to strike dirhams at fifteen qirats of the dinar-qirats, and struck the Damascene dinars — which came to Medina with Companions and Followers there and none objected. Al-Hasan ibn Salih: the Ajam dirhams ran great and small — twenty, twelve, ten qirats — and when Islam needed the mean for zakah they summed forty-two and struck the third, fourteen qirats, so ten Arab dirhams weigh seven mithqals. Quraysh's weights: the dirham for silver, the dinar for gold, ten dirham-weights to seven dinar-weights, the sha'ira a sixtieth of a dirham, the uqiyya forty dirhams, the nashsh twenty, the nawa five — all confirmed when the Prophet entered Mecca. And Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab, asked who first struck engraved dinars, said 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan — dinars came Byzantine, dirhams Kisrawi and few Himyari'.

The Founding of Wasit

At a glance

Overview

The name and the site

Rivers and estates

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Time

Abd al-Malik's Coinage Reform