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Mu'awiya's Marsh Grant

قطيعة معاوية السبخة

Basra

The marsh between the rivers was a salt-flat Mu'awiya granted one of his nephews; when the lad came to inspect it Ziyad had water released into it — 'the Commander of the Faithful granted me a waterfowl-marsh I have no use for' — so Ziyad bought it for two hundred thousand dirhams, dug its canals and parceled grants from it.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Umayyad Period
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In space

Basra

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

Overview

Al-Baladhuri relates in "Futuh al-Buldan" that the island between the two rivers was salt marsh, and Mu'awiya granted it to one of his nephews. When the young man came to look at it, Ziyad ordered water sent into it. 1

The purchase

The young man said that the commander of the faithful had granted him a marsh he had no need of. Ziyad bought it from him for two hundred thousand dirhams, dug its channels and granted land from it. 1

Place and date

The page data places the event near Basra. No date for the event is given in the data, and there is no page number; this needs an additional source.

Connections

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Had participant
زياد بن أبي سفيان
Occurred at
Basra

People and things also explored

Digging of the Ubulla Canal· Digging of the Ma'qil Canal· Nafi' ibn al-Harith's Walking Grant· Great Mosque of Basra· Qasr Qubadh / the Hajjaj palace at Basra· The Asawira's Settlement at Basra· The Basra Bathhouse Permissions· The Basrans' Cry to Abdallah ibn Ali

Sources

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

islam.museum contributors. “Mu'awiya's Marsh Grant”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/muawiya-marsh-grant/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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Digging of the Ubulla Canal

Dijlat al-Awra's tidal rain-channel ran a farsakh, its Basra-side basin called al-Ijana; Umar ordered Abu Musa to dig the Basrans a canal — he began at al-Ijana, led it three farsakhs to Basra, making the Ubulla canal four — then the reach toward al-Hayri silted up. Ziyad, on the diwan under Abdallah ibn Amir, urged completing the dig and was stalled till Ibn Amir left for Khurasan; he resumed Abu Musa's channel to Basra with Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakra in charge, who opened the water racing his horse as it nearly outran him. Ibn Amir returned angry — 'you meant to carry off the canal's fame' — and the estrangement held between their houses for life; before the canal, folk drank from Dayr Qawus on the Tigris, a spot the spirits haunted.