al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba al-Ta'i

الحسن بن قحطبة الطائي

al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba al-Ta'i of Kufa, commander of the Khurasani army and da'i of the Abbasid da'wa; in al-Baladhuri: he raided Byzantine lands in year 162 with the men of Khurasan, Mosul and Syria, Yemenite reinforcements and the volunteers of Iraq and the Hijaz, fighting so well and harrying the Byzantine land until they named him the Shaytan, with him Mandal al-Anazi al-Haddathi al-Kufi and Mu'tajir ibn Sulayman al-Basri; coming out he camped at Tarsus's meadow, circled its ruined city and reckoned its capacity at a hundred thousand, describing it to al-Mahdi and so rousing him to build it — the origin of its settlement.

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The Thughur (Frontier Marches)

The Thughur — in al-Baladhuri: the Muslims' Syrian marches in Umar's and Uthman's days were Antioch and the cities al-Rashid later called the 'Awasim, the Muslims raiding beyond them as they now raid beyond Tarsus; between Alexandretta and Tarsus lay Byzantine forts and watchposts that their people sometimes abandoned in flight or filled with fighters, Heraclius reportedly removing their people with him on leaving Antioch so the Muslims could not settle the land between; the Umayyads raided the Byzantines with the people of Syria and the Jazira summer and winter, posting coastal watchmen and keeping raiding ships, then Abu Ja'far al-Mansur went through the coastal fortresses and cities, restoring, fortifying and building what needed building and doing likewise for the march cities, al-Mahdi completed what remained and reinforced them, Harun carried fortification and raiding to a pitch unmatched before him and disbursed funds through the marches, and al-Mutawakkil in year 247 ordered ships stationed on every coast manned with fighters; among its famous strongholds are Masisa, Tarsus, Mar'ash, al-Hadath, Sis and Qanqara.

al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba al-Ta'i

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The Thughur (Frontier Marches)