The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

122 'OATAR [chap. XVI.
A.H. i6. SaVl's campaign, he deputed 'Otba ibn Ghazwan, a Companion
of note, with a party from Al-Bahrein, to capture the
flourishing seaport of Ubulla. The garrison was defeated,
and the inhabitants, chiefly Indian merchants, effected their
escape by sea. The Persians rallied in force on the eastern
bank of the river, and many encounters took place before
the Arabs succeeded in securing their position. On one
occasion, the women of the Muslim camp turning their
veils
into flags, and marching in martial array to the battlefield,
were mistaken thus for fresh reinforcements, and contributed
at a critical moment to victory. 'Otba remained at Ubulla
as governor ; and, as we shall see, carried on successful
operations during the next three years, against Khuzistan
and the Persian border. Meanwhile Ubulla gave place to
the new capital of Al-Basra.
Basra On the ruins of Ubulla when first captured, there had
17"" arisen a H
small town of huts constructed of reeds, with a
638 A.D.,
•
Mosque of the same material. The settlement grew in size
and importance by constant arrivals from Arabia. But the
climate was inhospitable. The tide rises close to the level
of the alluvial plain, which, irrigated thus with ease, stretches
far and wide a sea of verdure. Groves of pomegranate,
acacia, and shady trees abound
;
and a wide belt of the
familiar date-palm fringing the river might reconcile the
immigrant of the Hijaz to his new abode. But the moisture
exhaled by so damp a soil was ill-suited to the Arabian
humour
;
pestilential vapours followed the periodical inundations,
and gnats everywhere settled in intolerable swarms.^
Three times the site was changed ; at last the pleasant spot
of Al-Basra, near the river, which supplied a stream of
running water, was fixed upon ; and here a flourishing city
rapidly grew up. It was laid out about the same time, and
after the same fashion, as its rival Al-Kufa. But, partly
from a better climate, partly from a larger endowment of
conquered lands, the northern city took the lead, as well in
numbers as in influence and riches,
and Kufa, The founding of Al-Kufa was on this wise. The Arabs
had been in occupation of Al-Medain for some months, when
a deputation visited Medina. The Caliph, startled by their
'
The traveller of to-day still complains of the pest of mosquitoes
issuing from the groves of the Delta in gigantic swarms.