al-Mubarak Canal and the Tigris Pontoon

حفر نهر المبارك وقنطرة دجلة

In al-Baladhuri: Khalid ibn Abdallah al-Qasri dug al-Mubarak canal — al-Farazdaq praised it ('al-Mubarak, like its name, waters Sawad's ploughland and the tyrant's lush domain; Tigris at its flood seems a fang stretched out on a caravan rope'). Khalid wrote Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik asking leave to build a pontoon on the Tigris; Hisham answered 'if this were possible the Persians would have preceded us,' and when pressed, 'if you are certain it will hold, do it.' He built it at enormous cost; the water soon cut it, and Hisham made him repay all he had spent.

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al-Junayd's Khurasan and the Turkish War

In 112h Hisham gave Khurasan to al-Junayd ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Murri; his vanguard caught the Khaqan's son drunk hunting — sent to Hisham — and he fought on till the Turks were driven off. Reinforced by Amr ibn Muslim with ten thousand Basrans, Abd al-Rahman ibn Nu'aym with ten thousand Kufans, thirty thousand spears, thirty thousand shields, and an open stipend for fifteen thousand men, his raids prospered — while the Hashimi da'is spread and grew strong in his rule. He died at Marw; Hisham then gave Khurasan to Asim ibn Abdallah al-Hilali. Abu Ubayda notes the Tukharistan districts al-Junayd had breached were returned to their sulh.

al-Mubarak Canal and the Tigris Pontoon

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al-Junayd's Khurasan and the Turkish War