The Asawira's Conversion Compact

إسلام الأساورة وشروطهم

Siyah al-Uswari led Yazdgard's vanguard; sent to Ahwaz he camped at al-Kalbaniyya while Abu Musa besieged al-Sus — then seeing Islam's ascendancy he offered: we enter your religion, fight your enemies among the Persians, fight none of you in your internal disputes, you defend us if Arabs attack, we settle where we wish among you and rank in the highest stipend — compact sealed with the amir. Abu Musa countered 'you have what we have and owe what we owe'; they refused, so he wrote Umar, who wrote back: grant them all they asked.

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The Asawira's Settlement at Basra

At Tustar's siege the asawira showed no treachery; Abu Musa told Siyah 'you are not what we supposed' — Siyah answered 'our insight is not yours, and we hold no sacrality over you to fear for and fight: we entered this religion at its dawn seeking refuge, and it may be God's generous provision'. Granted top-tier stipends, they asked at Basra which clan was nearest the Prophet's kin — 'Banu Tamim' — so they allied them (the Azd having turned them away), took their plots, and dug the canal still called Nahr al-Asawira. Shirawayh had wished Bakr ibn Wa'il; Siyah refused, they settled with Tamim; the Sayabija and Zutt joined and Tamim contested for them — the asawira ending in Banu Sa'd, the Zutt and Sayabija in Banu Hanzala — fighting the polytheists and riding with Ibn Amir to Khurasan.

The Asawira's Conversion Compact

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The Asawira's Settlement at Basra