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Fil, Ziyad's Mawla

فيل مولى زياد

Basra

Fil, Ziyad's mawla and chamberlain, owner of Basra's second bathhouse; his hamlaaj-nag beside Abu al-Aswad's and Anas ibn Zunaym's poor mounts bred the riddle 'two-thirds of Fil's bath — by your father, Kisra's bath is naught' and Abu al-Aswad's answer that they would not flaunt among the mawali on the Prophet ﷺ's sunnah.

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

Fil, client and chamberlain of Ziyad, and owner of the second bathhouse in Basra. Al-Baladhuri reports that Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali and Anas ibn Zunaym rode with him. He was on a pacing palfrey while the two were on poor horses, and envy seized them. Anas posed Abu al-Aswad a riddle, saying that two-thirds of the bath of Fil were better than the bath of Khosrow. Abu al-Aswad answered him with a verse about the clients. 1

He lived in Basra, in the Umayyad period.

Connections

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Lived in
Basra

People and things also explored

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· Building of al-Mughitha· The Bukharans' Settlement at Basra· The Basra Dar al-Imara Saga

Sources

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

islam.museum contributors. “Fil, Ziyad's Mawla”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/fil-mawla-ziyad/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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Wing

People

Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story. Related

Great Mosque of Basra

Basra's congregational mosque; Utba ibn Ghazwan built it of reeds in 14 AH — its layout claimed for himself, Nafi' ibn al-Adhra' al-Bahzi, Nafi' ibn al-Harith, and al-Aswad ibn Sari' who first judged in it — Abu Musa rebuilt it in mud-brick with mushab roofing, then Ziyad enlarged and rebuilt it in fired brick and gypsum with teak roofing, a stone minaret, the first maqsura, and columns hauled from Ahwaz's mountain by al-Hajjaj ibn Utayk and his son; he had pebbles strewn lest hand-dusting pass for sunnah, and the enforcers' harshness bred the saying 'lovely the governorship, even over stones'. Al-Mahdi bought the houses of Nafi' ibn al-Harith, Ubaydallah ibn Abi Bakra and Rabi'a ibn Kallada into it, and the governor's palace was taken in under al-Rashid.