Umar's Appropriation of the Sawafi

إصفاء عمر صوافي السواد

c. 18 AH

In al-Baladhuri via Abd al-Malik ibn Abi Hurra from his father — the most knowledgeable man on the Sawad — Umar appropriated ten lands of the Sawad, of which he memorized seven and three escaped him: the marshes and water-sinks, Khusraw's land, every monastery of Yazid, the land of those killed in the battle, and the land of those who fled; in his fuller recension — land of those killed in the war, of those who fled, all Khusraw's land and all his family's, every water-sink, every monastery of Yazid, and every safiyya Khusraw had appropriated — reaching seven million dirhams' revenue; when they sufficed and the Jamajim broke out, the people burned the register and each took what adjoined them.

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Abu al-Mukhtar's Satire on the Ahwaz Officials

Abu al-Mukhtar Yazid ibn Qabs al-Sa'iq raised his poem against the Ahwaz officials to Umar: 'Tell the Commander of the Faithful, God's trustee in command and ban — leave not the rustaq-folk and villagers who gulp God's wealth; send to al-Hajjaj and learn his account, to Juzz and to Bishr, forget neither Nafi', nor Ibn Ghallab of Nasr's lords, nor al-Nu'man, nor the Banu-Ghazwan son-in-law, ask Shibl for the money and Ibn Muharrish.' Umar mulcted every named man of half his wealth — till he took a sandal and left a sandal — and when Abu Bakra objected 'I left you nothing' came 'your brother holds the treasury and Ubulla's tithes and lends you capital': ten thousand was taken, or half his estate.

Umar's Appropriation of the Sawafi

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Abu al-Mukhtar's Satire on the Ahwaz Officials