Islam Museum Islam Museum islam.museum
Search ⌕ ARENUR
Accessibility
Text size 100%

Saved on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere.

al-Hajjaj's Punishment of the Asawira

عقوبة الحجاج للأساورة

Basra

The asawira stood aside at the Camel and Siffin and all the Muslims' civil wars till Yawm Mas'ud, then witnessed al-Rabadha and the Ibn al-Ash'ath affair — for which al-Hajjaj razed their houses, cut their stipends and exiled some, citing their own clause: 'it was in your compact not to aid one of us against another'.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Umayyad Period
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

In space

Basra

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Overview

The source reports that the Asawira (Persian cavalry in Muslim service) did not fight with the Muslims at the Battle of the Camel or at Siffin, nor in any of their wars until the day of Mas'ud. They did fight after it at al-Rabadha, and took part in the affair of Ibn al-Ash'ath with al-Hajjaj. 1

The punishment

Al-Hajjaj demolished the houses of the Asawira, cut their stipends, and expelled some of them. He said to them, according to the source: "It was in your agreement that you would not help one another against us." This took place in Basra. 1

What is not covered here: the date of the event is not fixed; an additional source is needed.

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi· the Asawira
Occurred at
Basra

People and things also explored

The Asawira's Settlement at Basra· The Basra Dar al-Imara Saga· Great Mosque of Basra· Qasr Qubadh / the Hajjaj palace at Basra· Abd al-Malik's Coinage Reform· The Sibayn Reclamation and Maslama's Estates· The Arabization of Iraq's Kharaj Diwan· The Asawira's Conversion Compact

Sources

  1. Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “al-Hajjaj's Punishment of the Asawira”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/hajjaj-punishes-asawira/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · JSON

Wing

Time

Eras, timelines, this day in history, any year in the Islamic world. Related

The Asawira's Settlement at Basra

At Tustar's siege the asawira showed no treachery; Abu Musa told Siyah 'you are not what we supposed' — Siyah answered 'our insight is not yours, and we hold no sacrality over you to fear for and fight: we entered this religion at its dawn seeking refuge, and it may be God's generous provision'. Granted top-tier stipends, they asked at Basra which clan was nearest the Prophet's kin — 'Banu Tamim' — so they allied them (the Azd having turned them away), took their plots, and dug the canal still called Nahr al-Asawira. Shirawayh had wished Bakr ibn Wa'il; Siyah refused, they settled with Tamim; the Sayabija and Zutt joined and Tamim contested for them — the asawira ending in Banu Sa'd, the Zutt and Sayabija in Banu Hanzala — fighting the polytheists and riding with Ibn Amir to Khurasan.