Faraj ibn Sulaym

Overview

Faraj ibn Sulaym, a eunuch and one of the leading servants and agents of the Abbasid state. Al-Baladhuri reports that al-Rashid put him in charge of building Tarsus. Abu Sulaym brought him to the City of Peace, and he fixed the two boundary marks and measured the land between the river and the river, four thousand plots, each twenty cubits long by the same width. He then allotted the plots to the people of Tarsus. ¹

The Thughur (Frontier Marches)

The Thughur — in al-Baladhuri: the Muslims' Syrian marches in Umar's and Uthman's days were Antioch and the cities al-Rashid later called the 'Awasim, the Muslims raiding beyond them as they now raid beyond Tarsus; between Alexandretta and Tarsus lay Byzantine forts and watchposts that their people sometimes abandoned in flight or filled with fighters, Heraclius reportedly removing their people with him on leaving Antioch so the Muslims could not settle the land between; the Umayyads raided the Byzantines with the people of Syria and the Jazira summer and winter, posting coastal watchmen and keeping raiding ships, then Abu Ja'far al-Mansur went through the coastal fortresses and cities, restoring, fortifying and building what needed building and doing likewise for the march cities, al-Mahdi completed what remained and reinforced them, Harun carried fortification and raiding to a pitch unmatched before him and disbursed funds through the marches, and al-Mutawakkil in year 247 ordered ships stationed on every coast manned with fighters; among its famous strongholds are Masisa, Tarsus, Mar'ash, al-Hadath, Sis and Qanqara.

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The Thughur (Frontier Marches)