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THE ORIGINS OF THE ISLAMIC STATE

in it and make it a fortified boundary town[1] between the two countries. Harthamah did so, putting the work, in accordance with ar-Rashîd's orders, in charge of Faraj ibn-Sulaim al-Khâdim. Faraj put someone in charge, went to Madînat as-Salâm[2] and sent the first garrison, numbering 3,000, whom he chose from among the people of Khurâsân. The garrison came to Ṭarsûs. He then sent the second garrison that numbered 2,000 men, 1,000 of whom were from al-Maṣṣîṣah and 1,000 from Antioch, promising each man an increment of ten dînârs on his original stipend. The second garrison camped with the first at al-Madâʾin near Bâb al-Jihâd, from the beginning of Muḥarram in the year 172, until the construction of the city of Ṭarsûs with its fortification and mosque was completed. Faraj measured the land between the two rivers and found it to be 4,000 lots, each lot being twenty dhirâ's square. These lots he gave as fiefs to the inhabitants of Ṭarsûs. In Rabîʿ II, 172, the two garrisons settled in the city.

Yazîd ibn-Makhlad governor of Ṭarsûs. ʿAbd-al-Malik ibn-Ṣâliḥ appointed Yazîd ibn-Makhlad al-Fazâri as âmil over Ṭarsûs. Those of the inhabitants who came from Khurâsân were afraid of him, because he belonged to the clan of al-Hubairîyah, and drove him from the city. He appointed abu-l-Fawâris to succeed him and ʿAbd-al-Malik ibn-Ṣâliḥ confirmed abu-l-Fawâris in his position. This took place in the year 173.

Sîsîyah. Muḥammad ibn-Saʿd from al-Wâḳidi:—In the year 194 or 193, the inhabitants of Sîsîyah [or Sîs, later Little Armenia] evacuated their homes and went as far as the mountainous region of the Greeks.[3] This Sîsîyah was

  1. Ar. miṣr.
  2. City of peace, i. e., Baghdad.
  3. Yâḳût, vol. iii, p. 217, gives the date 93 or 94 and reads aʿâli ar-Rûm instead of aʿla ar-Rûm.