Sawad was the name used in early Islamic times (7th–12th centuries) for southernIraq. It means "black land" or "arable land"[1] and refers to the stark contrast between thealluvial plain ofMesopotamia and theArabian Desert. Under theUmayyad andAbbasid Caliphates, it was an official political term for a province encompassing most of modern Iraq except for theSyrian Desert andUpper Mesopotamia in the north.
As a generic term inArabic,sawād (سواد) was used to denote the irrigated and cultivated areas in any district. Unmodified, it always referred to southern Iraq, thesawād ofBaghdad. It replaced the earlier and more narrow termRādhān.
The termsawad eventually came to refer to the rural district around a particular city; thus, contemporary geographers made references to the Sawad ofBaghdad, ofBasra, ofKufa, ofWasit, ofSamarra, or ofAnbar. This usage was exclusive to Iraq.[2]: 16
The enormous economic potential of the Sawad is reflected in early Abbasid revenue lists: the Sawad produced four times as much tax revenue as the second-highest-producing province,Egypt, and five times as much asSyria andPalestine combined.[3]
During the medieval period, the lower Tigris followed a different course than it does today. It had shifted further west due to the floods of the early 7th century (before this, its course was the same as it is today). It passed the city ofWasit and entered theBatihah at the town ofQatr.[4] According toDonald Hill, after about 1200, the Tigris and Euphrates started to gradually shift toward their present courses, which they finally reached during the 1500s.[4] On the other hand,Stephen Hemsley Longrigg described the shift as taking place in the period between 1500 and 1650.[5][note 1]
In Sasanian times, the Euphrates likely entered the swamps close to the site of the modern town ofShinafiya.[6]: 210
TheBatihah (plural:Bata'ih) or great swamp was the medieval name for the vast marshlands of southern Iraq, along the lower courses of the Tigris and Euphrates.[2] In the northwest, it stretched almost up toKufa andNippur, while in the northeast it began atal-Qatr, downstream fromWasit on the Tigris.[2] Suhrab lists four great lagoons (Ḥawr) in the Batihah: Bahassa, Bakhmasa, Basriyatha, and finally al-Muhammadiyah, which was the largest.[2] Below the Hawr al-Muhammadiyah, the channel called the Nahr Abi'l-As'ad finally carried the waters of the Batihah to the head of the Dijlah al-`Awra', or "one-eyed Tigris".[2] The hydrography of the Bata'ih was not static.[2]
Ibn Rustah described the Bata'ih as covered by reed beds crossed by water channels, where enormous amounts of fish where caught, then salted and exported to neighboring provinces.[2] The water level was too shallow for most river boats to pass through, and only special pole-propelled vessels calledmashhuf could be used for transport.[2] Most of the marshes were covered by water, but there were some areas with good soil, where people formed settlements, grew crops, and dug canals for irrigation.[2]
In Iraq, there are two very distinct seasons: summer and winter.[2] Spring and autumn are very short.[2] Summer, which lasts from May through October, is intensely hot and dry, with the sky mostly cloudless and rain extremely rare.[2] The prevailing northwest wind (theShamal) is a hot wind and is strong during the day but dissipates at night.[2] Winter lasts from November until April, and the northwest winds are weaker and often interrupted bydepressions coming from theMediterranean.[2] The southeast winds (calledSharqi) are accompanied by cold temperatures, cloudy skies, and rain.[2] Average winter rainfall is about 5 inches.[2]Frost may occur anywhere in Iraq during the winter, except for the southernmost parts, and they come in the wake of the depressions, after the rain.[2]Snow sometimes lays on the ground for several days.[2]
According toHusam Qawam El-Samarraie, the climate of Iraq during the Abbasid era was probably similar to today, although the greater abundance of date palm orchards then "may have mitigated the violence of the winter winds and prevented the occurrence of thesandstorms that now sweep all over the country."[2]: 24
The main crop-growing season in this region comes during the winter, and irrigation is needed at least monthly. However, neither the Tigris nor the Euphrates reaches its high water mark during the winter when farmers need water the most: the Tigris is fed by several tributaries in the Zagros mountains, and melting snows in the mountains lead to high water in April. The Euphrates, on the other hand, mostly consists of water from the Anatolian highlands, and melting snow reaches lower Mesopotamia later, in early May. This is too late to help with growing crops for the May and June harvest season.[6]: 3
The timing of the flooding in the Euphrates was less helpful than the Tigris. The Tigris, however, is prone to flooding, since winter and spring storms in the Zagros mountains lead to highly destructive floods. The most destructive flood on the Tigris in modern times was in 1954, when there was a flow of 16,000cumecs, whereas the worst flood on the Euphrates was in 1929 with only 5,200 cumecs. The Euphrates was therefore more manageable, while settlements along the Tigris had to be built away from the river to avoid being destroyed by flooding. Additionally, the Tigris's banks were so deep that canals had to be extended far down thebackslope of the protective levees built along the river in order to keep a high enough water level. Yet these labor-intensive canal offtakes were directly exposed to the floods and could be suddenly buried under a deep layer of silt.[6]
Later on, however, a vast canal system came to use the flow of the Tigris to supplement the Euphrates: during the winter growing season, when the Tigris was less prone to intense flooding, Tigris water was brought in, and then its headworks closed off and protected as much as possible, while now the greatly enlarged Euphrates was used to support irrigation efforts. This massive reshaping of the natural relationship between these rivers, which reached its peak during the Sasanian period, led to a mushrooming population and the rise of many new cities.[6]
The vast, complex systems that emerged during the Sassanid period ultimately made local self-sufficiency impossible. Lack of maintenance on canals could have a strong adverse effect on faraway regions. This made state supervision of the infrastructure absolutely necessary to maintain this degree of settlement and cultivation.[7]: 82
Settlement in Iraq reached its apex during the late Sassanid period. The tumult surrounding the Islamic conquest led to a sudden, steep decline.[8]: 93 Fairly quickly, however, the Muslims were able to restore much of the Sassanid establishment. However, from the mid-800s onward, political instability in the Abbasid Caliphate led to a neglect of the rural economy and more corrupt exploitation of the peasantry in search of short-term profits.[7]: 84 This led to a long period of decline in population and in cultivated area over the centuries until the Mongol conquest.[8]: 93 The destruction accompanying the Mongol conquest was the dramatic final blow to the patterns of settlements in Iraq.[8]: 93 [7]: 84
From as early as the latefourth millennium BCE, southern Mesopotamia was home to an urban civilization built upon irrigation agriculture. This enabled the security, stability, population density, and complex social organization that characterized this urban setting.[6]
Warfare with theRoman Empire sometimes threatened the security of the region, particularly the areas to the west of theTigris. There was widespread destruction of major urban centers as well as rural agricultural infrastructure that was necessary for recovery. For example, even the area of the Nahr al-Malik, deep within Sassanid territory, was devastated by the Roman emperorJulian's invasion of Mesopotamia. The Persians destroyed dikes, which caused extensive flooding, while simultaneously damming up major waterways to prevent the Romans from being able to use them for transport. The Romans, meanwhile, burned small towns and villages in the countryside while also destroying farms and killing livestock.[7]: 70
Since the destruction largely occurred west of the Tigris, the Sassanid emperors focused on developing the region ofCtesiphon and its hinterlands east of the Tigris, while investing less in the regions on the west bank. Thus, settlement retracted west of the Tigris from its peak during Parthian rule.[7]: 70 In the Diyala valley east of the Tigris, however, settlement reached its peak, with over twice as many settlements and over twice the built-up area as during the Parthian period. In this region, human settlement was as much as 35 times denser and more extensive than it had been under the Achaemenid kings.[7]: 72–3
During this period, both large cities and small villages increased in number and in size, while medium-sized towns decreased in percentage of all settlements compared to the Parthian era. This indicates that the growing population in large cities consisted of people who originally had come from the medium-sized towns, rather than rural population moving to large urban centers.[7]: 73
Under the Sassanids, the area in cultivation in the Diyala basin reached an extent that had never been attained before, and never would be again. During this time, almost 8,000 square kilometers were brought into cultivation, almost totally covering the region with farmland.[7]: 75 A two-fieldcrop rotation system was likely employed during this period,[7]: 75 just as it was in Islamic times.[2]: 88–9
TheBata'ih first formed during the Sasanian era. According toal-Baladhuri, during the reign ofKubadh (r. 488–531), the Tigris overflowed its banks and flooded large areas of productive farmland. Kubadh was unable to do anything about it, but after his sonKhusraw I Anushirvan succeeded him, he ordered the reconstruction of dykes and was able to reclaim part of the flooded land. UnderKhusraw II, however, the Tigris continued to rise even higher. He spent huge sums of money to finance the restoration of the systems, but in vain. In the final years of the Sasanian empire, these projects were abandoned due to war, and local dihqans couldn't finance such major undertakings.[3]
Archaeological evidence indicates that there was "a precipitate retreat from a vast central area of the Sawad" during this period, only reversing itself in modern times.[6]: 214 After the golden age of theAbbasid Caliphate during the reign ofHarun al-Rashid from 786 to 809, imperial revenues from the Sawad plummeted from 100 million dirhams to only 20 million by the early 10th century. The sharpest decline took place between the records ofIbn Khurdadhbeh in the mid-9th century andAli ibn Isa in 915: in many formerly prosperous districts, a drop by 90% or more took place "in this period of less than a single human life span."[6]: 215 In the intervening years, there had been several decades of rural unrest and conflict, provoked by years of increasing tax burdens and abuses by state officials, as well as outright looting by Turkish mercenaries.[6]: 215–6 The single greatest precipitating event was theAbbasid civil war and siege of Baghdad in 865, which "wiped out any notion that the government's reciprocal function of protection could be honoured".[9][note 2] TheZanj rebellion lasted for 15 years before finally being quelled in 883, and theQaramita movement that followed it was even larger and longer-lasting, leading to the area under state control shrinking dramatically and "prospects for any constructive, long-term approach to the agrarian economy diminished to the vanishing point."[6]: 216 Contemporary sources report this as a time of administrative and economic collapse, with many villages destroyed, communications disrupted, robbery and brigandry were rampant, and cultivation was made practically impossible.[2]: 71 By the early 10th century, 62% of settlements in the area around Baghdad had become abandoned.[7] Yet at the same time, a movement of popular nostalgia emerged, "glorifying indigenous 'Nabataean' achievements, especially those connected with the spread of civilization and the improvement of agriculture. Even as actual conditions were deteriorating intolerably, exhaustively detailed compendiums were appearing with elaborate botanical nomenclature and careful specifications of all the procedures and requirements of good husbandry."[6]: 216
The intentional breaching of the Nahrawan canal byIbn Ra'iq in 937 led to a severewater shortage in the region, leading to widespread emigration. The repercussions were felt heavily in Baghdad, since there was a desperate lack of grain leading to starvation.[7]: 86
The lands of the Sawad were among the most fertile in the Islamic world, but this productivity was almost totally dependent on artificial irrigation: dry farming requires 200 mm of rainfall per year, an amount reached in almost nowhere in the Sawad. Basra, for instance, has 60 mm of rainfall per year. Without irrigation, agriculture here would fail.[3]
The amount of water used in irrigation was crucial: excessive irrigation would cause a dangerous rise in thewater table, as well as enablingcapillary action to bring saline water up to the surface. Too little irrigation, on the other hand, left no extra water to leach the salts that had been deposited from previous irrigation.[2]: 93 Robert M. Adams suggested that, after the opening of the Katul al-Kisrawi made water readily available to farmers in the lower Nahrawan region, over-irrigation caused the water table to rise dramatically. Today, much of this region's soil is too saline for irrigated agriculture, and the area is largely abandoned.[7]: 81
A similar phenomenon occurred in the Sawad ofBasra. Insufficient gradient in local irrigation systems resulted in poor drainage of salts from the soil. To counter this, laborers, including the Zanj, were tasked with removing the salty topsoil and piling it up by the sides of the canals. As many as 45 million tons of soil were moved in this manner, but even this was insufficient. After Basra itself was sacked by the Zanj and then again by the Qarmatians, much of the fields were abandoned and never brought into cultivation again.[3]
At its apex under the late Sasanian period, the irrigation system of the Sawad must have diverted virtually the entire flow of both the Tigris and Euphrates to agricultural purposes.[10] Regarding the Euphrates, Robert M. Adams wrote that, "with a whole series of massive diversions upstream, it is not unlikely that in Sasanian times the Euphrates entered the swamps [at its lower end]... with very little if any residual flow."[6]: 210 [note 3]
Throughout its history, the Sawad was crisscrossed by many canals. In the Islamic period, most canals ran west to east, from theEuphrates to theTigris, since water level in the Tigris was lower than that of the Euphrates.[2]: 29 AsYa'qubi observed, the Tigris watered the area to the east of the river, whereas the area to the west of the Tigris was irrigated with waters from the Euphrates.[7]: 74
Due to gravity, the canals of the Sawad had to be elevated slightly above the ground. This came with significant risk: if there was a breach in the canal's banks, the water would flood surrounding fields.[3]
The most detailed account of Islamic canals is that of Suhrāb, orIbn Serapion.[2]: 30
A canal could become the center of urban activity: for example,Bilal ibn Burda lined both sides of his canal with shops and moved the localsuq there. Fishing may have been done in some canals, with at least two canals being named after types of fish that lived in them. Canals could also be used to power mills or forfulling cloth.[3]
Construction of canals was very expensive. It was often financed by private investors who expected to turn a profit out of the deal. Usually, all the governor did was provide land for irrigation projects.[3]
The 3rd-century AH authoral-Khatib al-Baghdadi listed some 30weirs in Iraq, although most of them were no longer extant or operational at the time he wrote.[2] The most extensive archaeological work done on one of those weirs has been done on the Abbasid-eraash-Shadhirwan al-Asfal weir in 1957–58, which al-Khatib al-Baghdadi mentioned as serving the Nahrawan canal and which serves as a model for our understanding of how weirs were built during that period.[2] It served to raise the water level in front of it (i.e. upstream) to a height 3 meters above the area downstream, and it supplied 11 branch canals.[2] It consisted of aspillway, 37.56 meters wide and 30 meters deep, and made of a well-cemented mixture of lime, pebbles, limestonecherts, and small pieces of brick, all built on top of a stepped brick platform.[2] Twoabutments were built in front of the spillway, one on each side, to contain the water even during a flood.[2] The right abutment was built more solidly than the left, and it also served as aclosing wall for the pool.[2] It was buttressed with a tower at each end and built on a raised platform at the same height as the spillway.[2] In front of the abutments were two guide banks: the one on the right, as with the abutment on that side, helped serve as a closing wall, and the one on the left ended in a tower.[2] The closing walls served to preventwave action from eroding the sides of the pool to a point where the water could spill around the weir on the other side.[2] Finally, 140 meters upstream from the spillway, there were tworegulators, designed to relieve the weir during floods.[2] The regulators were made of brick and date from the 9th century, although the arch on the right bank appears older and was probably built by the 8th century at the latest.[2] Both regulators have vertical lines of holes, which were designed so that wooden beams could be inserted into them to hold the structures' planks in place when the sluice needed to be partially or fully closed.[2]
Buzjani outlined five main mechanical devices used for irrigation purposes in the Sawad. The first, thenā'ūr, was awaterwheel powered by the flow of the stream itself. They were used extensively in the area of theNahrawan Canal, in the region ofAnbar on theEuphrates, and in the western part of theBaduraya district, west ofBaghdad. The second, thedūlāb, was another type of waterwheel; it was powered by animals (typicallyhorses oroxen, although in the area of Anbar they were powered bycamels) instead of water thrust. These were commonly used around Baghdad and Anbar. The third was thedaliya; it was a waterwheel powered by human labor. The fourth, theshādūf, was a bucket operated by four people; it was in use in the area of theSarsar canal. Finally, thebakra was a simple animal-powered device used to transport water taken from wells.[2]: 46–51
The government ministry responsible for the construction and maintenance of irrigation projects was theDiwan al-Kharaj, which was based in the capital and had branches in the provinces. It employed land surveyors and civil engineers for both construction of new projects and their maintenance.[2]: 45–6
Maintaining the vast irrigation systems of Iraq required a large number of workers. In addition to the surveyors and engineers mentioned above, there were alsoqaīyāsun, who supervised water levels, flow, and capacity of rivers and canals;naqqālūn, who disposed of unneeded waste;razzāmūn, who bound reeds for use in building dams;haffārūn, who dredged canals; and workers (no name given) who carried loads of soil to reinforce structures such as dams and weirs.[2]: 45–6
Ibn Wahshiyya wrote a detailed book onagronomy calledKitab al-filaha al-Nabatiyya, orThe Nabataean Agriculture, which documents many of the agricultural practices of the Sawad in the 3rd century AH.[2]: 110–1
The techniques used by farmers in the medieval Sawad were mostly the same as those used by twentieth-century Iraqi farmers.[2]: 110 Buzjani and Ibn Wahshiyya both wrote extensively on such practices. Several differentploughs were in use, including thesikkah, or ironcoulter. An instrument called themijrad was used to level a field after it had been ploughed.[2]: 122–3
Grafting was practiced extensively: mostfruit trees were grown this way rather than from seeds. Ibn Wahshiyya wrote a detailed description of the practice.Layering was done with vines if there was enough space for it.[2]: 107–8
Ibn Wahshiyya described two general types ofmanure used to fertilize crops in the Sawad. The first was "natural" manure, which consisted of either dried plant matter,feces (both animal and human), or ash and cinders. Ibn Wahshiyya preferred this kind. The second kind was "composite" manure, which consisted of a mixture of several types of "natural" manure along with earth and water, and was left to decompose after mixing. Different crops called for different kinds of manure, and some needed no fertilization at all. Manure was traded and sold locally, according to several sources, including Ibn Wahshiyya,Ibn Bassam, andYaqut al-Hamawi.[2]: 109–10
The Abbasid government played a role in supervising cultivation. It would sometimes loan money to farmers to help them buy seed and livestock. Some poorer farmers were directly given seeds. The government expected repayment in full after the harvest.[2]: 156
At the maximum extent under the late Sasanian dynasty, the Iraqi countryside would have been under "virtually continuous cultivation", supporting a much larger population than in previous periods.[6]: 180 During the time of the caliphsHarun al-Rashid andal-Ma'mun, the total winter acreage for cereal crops has been estimated at 3 millionhectares in cultivation during a single winter.[10] (Since land was fallowed every other year, the actual amount of land set aside for grains would have been twice that.)[10]
Wheat andbarley were grown in every district of the Sawad. In most of these districts, thekharaj tax was paid mostly in the form of those two grains.Tabari described the four districts surrounding Baghdad as extremely productive, which is partly why the caliphal-Mansur chose Baghdad for the site of his new capital.[2]: 121–2
Breads made from wheat and barley formed the main food for most Iraqis, especially in major urban areas such as Baghdad, Wasit, Basra, and Kufa. An especially popular dish wasal-tharīd, which consisted of pieces of bread with either vegetable soup or a combination ofolive oil andvinegar. Dishes such asburghul,habbīya, anddisheesh were made from boiled and peeled wheat. Other dishes consisted of a paste made from mashed meat and pearl wheat. Most Iraqi peasants ate more barley-based breads, which were often made with millet and beans mixed in. Additionally, a kind of alcoholic beverage was prepared from a mixture of barley and millet.[2]: 125–6
According to Ibn Wahshiyya, six different kinds of wheat were grown in the Sawad.[2]: 125 The most important wheat-growing areas were located aroundKashkar andAnbar, although both districts experienced a steep decline in wheat production by the end of the 3rd century AH.[2]: 123–4
Perhaps due to its greater resilience to the increasing soil salinity,barley was a more common crop than wheat in the medieval Sawad.[2]: 124 Ibn Hawqal notes the region surroundingWasit in particular as an important barley producer.[2]: 122–3
Rice was grown in the parts of the Sawad that were warm and humid – two conditions necessary for it to thrive.Qudama noted that four districts paid taxes in barley and rice instead of the usual barley and wheat, indicating that rice was a particularly widespread crop there. These districts were Sura and Barbisama, Furat Badaqla, Nistar, andKashkar. The rice plantations aroundJamida, as described byQadi Tanukhi, constituted some of the richest rice-producing areas in the Sawad, which enticed government officials to compete for the control of the region.[2]: 126–8
Ibn Wahshiyya wrote a detailed description of the cultivation of rice in the Sawad. There were two growing seasons for rice in the Sawad: a summer season, which was entirely dependent on irrigation, and a winter season, which was supported by rainfall. Summer rice was planted during the second half of July (Tammuz) and harvested in December (Kanun al-Awwal). Winter rice, meanwhile, was planted at the beginning of January (Kanun al-Akhir) and harvested in May (Ayyar and June (Haziran). Rice farming required meticulous preparation, fertilization, irrigation, and labor for harvesting and threshing.[2]: 128
Rice, and particularly rice bread, was a dietary staple in southern Iraq, especially in theBata'ih andBasra regions. Rice was often served with fish and/or vegetables. Various recipes called for rice to be cooked withmilk,butter,oil, orfat, and seasoned withsalt. Rice-based pastries were also eaten, and a type ofrice wine callednabīdh was produced in many districts, includingAbdasi,Badaraya,Bakusaya, andJunhula.[2]: 128–9 Rice bread, like barley, was cheaper than wheat bread, which resulted in it gaining a reputation as being food for poor people. Nonetheless, rice remained the single most important food for many people, especially the poor, in southern Iraq due to its low price.[2]: 129
Described as a summer crop by Ibn Wahshiyya,sorghum (dhura) was grown in large quantities throughout Iraq. Bread made from sorghum flour, especially when mixed with wheat and barley flour, was regarded more highly by Southern Iraqis than rice bread. Sorghum was also grown for use asfodder; Ibn Wahshiyya considered it the ideal fodder for livestock, especiallycows andgoats.[2]: 130
Oats,rye, andmillet were also grown for use as fodder in the Sawad. Ibn Wahshiyya recorded thenahiyahs ofSaqī dijla,Asfal iqlīm Bābil,Jūkhī, andal-Jarāmiqa as producing these crops in large quantities.Ibn Khordadbeh wrote that, in theRustuqbadh district, millet was used alongside barley to pay taxes, indicating its local importance.Alfalfa andclover were also grown as fodder as well as to replenish soils, but their importance appears to have declined after the second century AH.[2]: 130–1
The most important textile crop in Iraq,cotton was especially cultivated in the Sawad of Basra. Ibn Wahshiyya considered the ideal soil for growing cotton to beclayey and free of salt. It was sown between late April and late May, and harvested in June and July.[2]: 131
Flax (kattān) was especially grown in the central part of the Sawad, where, besides being used for textiles, it also formed a dietary staple;flaxseed flour was used to make bread.Flaxseed oil was also used to lightlamps.[2]: 131–2
Hemp was grown both for its textile use as well as forhashish. It was planted in late February and in March, and harvested in June. Hemp was woven into a rough but durable cloth; its fibers were also used to makeropes.[2]: 132
In much of the Sawad, thedate was a crucial crop, almost as important as cereals like wheat, barley, and rice. Basra alone grew 300 varieties at the time of CaliphAl-Mu'tasim. In the Sawad of Basra, dates were the main dietary staple for much of the population. Dates were not only eaten plain: they were used in producing a strong type ofvinegar as well as various beverages, and, despite Islamic prohibition, they were used to make a type of intoxicant. Ibn Wahshiyya praises the myriad uses of the date palm, remarking that every part of the tree was useful – it provided timber for construction, its fronds could be used to makefurniture as well asboats, and it produced a sweet syrup that was highly valued.[2]: 128
Contemporary financial records seem to imply that the palm trees themselves were exceptionally spread out in early Islamic orchards. The tax schedules say that date orchards paid 5–10 dirhams per jarib in taxes, which at a rate of 1/2 dirham per ordinary tree and 1 dirham per finer "Persian" tree implies a density of about 95 date palms per hectare. Today, on the other hand, the typical practice in the area around Basra is to pack 450 trees into a hectare. The Neo-Babylonian standard of 227 trees per hectare is also much denser. The apparent low density of early Islamic date palm orchards remains an unsolved problem. It's possible, however, that this is just an artifact of how the contemporary taxes were set: they may have been intentionally set low in order to encourage more date palm production, and that in practice the actual density was much higher.[6]: 217, 351
These were used to produceraisins andcurrants.[2]: 138
At first only thecitron was grown in Iraq, with Ibn Wahshiyya and al-Dinawari each distinguishing between two varieties of citron: sweet (aṭrunj ḥulū) and bitter (aṭrunj ḥāmuḍ). Later, in the early 4th century AH, citrus trees such as thelemon,orange, andbitter orange were introduced to Iraq fromIndia.[2]: 140
According toIbn Miskawayh,melons andwatermelons were the most popular fruit in Iraqi markets. Ibn Wahshiyya wrote that they were widely cultivated in Iraq and listed eight different varieties of them, but said that it would be difficult to list all the varieties grown at the time.[2]: 140
Figs were another commonly grown fruit. The district ofHulwan was especially known for growing figs. Al-Dinawari distinguished between four basic types of figs:bustānī, grown in gardens and orchards;barrī, or wild;sahlī, grown in flat areas; andjabalī, grown in the mountains. He also described ten different specific varieties of fig, with varying size, taste, and color.[2]: 139
Ibn Wahshiyya listed the following as fruits grown widely in most parts of Iraq during his lifetime:apricots,peaches,pears,prunes,damsons,quinces,apples,pippins,bananas,mulberries,black mulberries,raspberries,blackberries, andolives.[2]: 139–40
These includedmint,chicory,capers,fennel,dill,parsley,sage,basil, etc.[2]: 135
Plants grown for use indyes includedmadder (fuwwah), which produced a red dye,saffron (za'farān), which produced a yellow-orange dye,indigo (nīla), which produced a deep blue dye, andhenna, which produced a dark orange dye and was also used forcosmetics.[2]: 133
Asparagus was introduced to Iraq from theJordan valley, and was grown in the regions ofBājarmā,Saqī Jūkhā,Bābil, andKhaṭarnīyya.[2]: 133
Sesame was grown to makesesame oil, which in Iraq was far more widespread thanolive oil. Ibn Wahshiyya warned that sesame should not be grown in back-to-back years because doing so would deplete the soil's nutrients.Al-Muqaddasi described the environs ofTikrit as ideal for sesame cultivation.Wasit was also an important sesame producer in the early 4th century AH.[2]: 133–4
Various types of flowers were grown, mainly for use in medicine. Ibn Wahshiyya singled outroses in particular; they were used to makerose oil androsewater.[2]: 141–2
Ibn Wahshiyya also enumerates 35 different kinds of "unfruitful trees" which were planted to supply wood.[2]: 142
In order to protect against excessive salt or water buildup in the soil, farmers would leave fields uncultivated for a while, allowing deep-rooted weeds likeshuk andaqul to grow there naturally. These weeds would draw out water from the soil and cause it to dry out, thus creating a dry subsoil below the root area and above the water table. When the field was irrigated the next year, the water would seep down into the dry layer and take any salts from the surface with it. Down there, the salts would become "trapped" and prevented from being brought up to the surface by capillary action. Another method farmers used involved planting a field with barley and then, after the harvest, havingritab[2]: 58–60 (clover)[11] grow there without irrigation. This also had a similar effect, and had the added benefit ofnitrogen fixation. However, this could not be repeated indefinitely — eventually, the salt concentration would become too high, preventing any plants from growing, and that land would have to be abandoned (although this was far from the only reason that land was abandoned in medieval Iraq).[2]: 58–60
Much of the meat consumed in Baghdad would have come from the steppes of northern Iraq, but some would also have come from the Sawad as well.[10] Southern Iraq does not have any natural pastures, so the livestock raised here had to be fed grain.[10] In addition, they could partly be fed withstubble or fallow lands, as well as some limited and tightly controlled grazing from young barley shoots.[6]: 213 Another important source is uncultivated land, but as the total cultivated area expanded under the Sasanians to reach almost the maximum potential capacity, the availability of this land for grazing shrank, likely bringing people and livestock into direct competition for resources.[6]: 213–4
During the Sasanian period, and probably continuing into the Early Islamic period, large-scale industrial operations were carried out even in the countryside, far from the major cities.[6]: 211–2 For example, one newly-dug Sasanian canal in the area north ofUruk was studded with sites that specialized inglass manufacturing. At these sites today, there are vast mounds, hundreds of meters long, consisting mainly of glass slag. There are also numerous remains of what were once glass furnaces. This indicates the large scale of the glass industry here. Where the raw materials serving this industry came from is unknown, but Robert M. Adams provided one possible explanation: by late Sasanian times, the area to the south of this canal was increasingly becoming part of the great swamp. Here, there would have been large numbers ofsnails as a source ofcalcium carbonate (they are still found in swampy areas around here today in "almost unbelievable numbers").[6]: 211 Plants native to the area may have suppliedsodium carbonate, and sand may have been supplied from here as well, deposited by the water.[6]: 211
In the year 105 AH (723–4 CE), the caliphYazid II commissionedUmar Ibn Hubayra to undertake a general land survey of the Sawad, in order to make the taxation of the Sawad more centralized. Taxpayers resented this land survey.[12]: 254
In practice, tax collectors often took far more than the official rate. According toJahshiyari, in some cases, tax farmers demanded a payment greater than a farmer's entire harvest for the year, driving them to seek protection from higher officials.Abu Yusuf condemned the injustices against taxpayers in the Sawad, saying that tax farmers were breaking the law for their own financial benefit. He said that they "rob the taxpayer by imposing on them taxes they do not owe and punish them in repulsive ways to secure their own profit". Tax farmers often tortured people who refused to comply with their demands. Abu Yusuf describes some of these tortures. Tax farmers would severely beat taxpayers, or make them stand out in the hot sun on one foot for a long time. The punishments for defaulters were even more severe: tax collectors would hang heavy stones or buckets filled with water around their necks, or tie them up with ropes and left to starve. Yet, despite these condemnations, the punishments and torture continued for a long time thereafter, sometimes even with official sanction. In 847,Muhammad ibn Abdul-Malik al-Zayiyat, the vizier for the caliphal-Mutawakkil, introduced a "furnace of iron which had protruding nails inside it" to be used to punish tax evaders.[2]: 256–8
At first, the terms that would come to be used for various types of taxes were not clearly distinguished. The wordsjizya,kharaj,sadaqa, andzakat were often used interchangeably in early Islamic writings. At one point in theQur'an, the termkharāj is used to refer towages. The early caliphUmar I at one point used the term "jizya lands" to refer to the concept that would later become known as kharaj lands, and in one instance, the farmers of the Sawad apparently requested that their tax payments be changed from jizya to sadaqa. Over the centuries, however, a distinction emerged between these terms.[2]: 205–6
The main forms ofland tax at the time were thekharaj and theushr.[2]: 207 Thejizya tax was also important for non-Muslim peasants in the Sawad.[2]: 212
Originally, the kharaj tax was supposed to represent a tax on the land of non-Muslims. However, over time, as the dihqans either sold their lands to Muslims or themselves converted to Islam, the status of kharaj land also applied to Muslims. The Umayyad caliphUmar II established a policy that, if a landlord converted to Islam, he would no longer have to pay thejizya tax but would still have to pay kharaj. (Abbasid-period writers attributed this policy to the Rashidun caliphUmar I, as a way of giving it more legitimacy, since the Umayyads had become infamous under the Abbasids.)[12]: 252–4
From the time of the caliphal-Mahdi, the standard implementation of the kharaj tax in the Sawad came in the form ofsharecropping, with the tax rate being 50% of the crops grown on kharaj land. This rate was maintained by the caliphHarun al-Rashid, although his advisorAbu Yusuf urged him to lower it. It was lowered to 40% under the caliphal-Ma'mun, but it appears that this reduction's implementation was highly flawed, as many farmers filed complaints over the matter. This 40% tax rate was maintained at least nominally, but in practice, new taxes were introduced that cancelled out the reduction.[2]: 213–4
The ushr tax was a tax on the agricultural output of lands owned by Muslims. The rate on this tax was usually lower than that of the kharaj, at 10% to 25%, but under the caliphsal-Wathiq andal-Mutawakkil, it rose to as much as 50%. The ushr tax was regarded as illegitimate by Islamic jurists at the time, but nonetheless it remained an integral part of the government's tax policy.[2]: 214–5
Most of theBasra Sawad was classified as ushr land because it had beenreclaimed by Muslims shortly after the conquest of Iraq. In the Batiha area, the land had been reclaimed via drainage, and in the Ṣibākh area, it had been reclaimed by clearing the silt. Much of this process was described in detail byal-Baladhuri.[2]: 214
Over time, the distinction between kharaj lands and ushr lands became blurred, and eventually the two categories were merged into one category, which kept the name kharaj.[2]: 215 This merger appears to have taken place during the reign of the caliphal-Mu'tasim.[2]: 217
Thejizya was a tax collected from all adult male non-Muslims in the Sawad. Only inBaghdad, however, did the jizya constitute a separate tax. In other parts of Iraq, the jizya was collected as an addition to the ordinary kharaj tax.[2]: 218
Thehadāyā, or "gifts", had originated underSasanian rule. It had been collected from the peasants twice a year and spent to buy gifts for the king during the festivals ofNowruz andMihrijan. This tax was abolished byUmar I, but it was restored byUthman and maintained byAli ibn Abi Talib. Under the caliphMu'awiya I, its value rose to as much as 50 million dirhams annually. The hadaya was abolished a second time byUmar II; prior to this, its value was estimated to be as much as that of all other taxes combined. However, it appears that this tax was again reinstated at some point, sinceAbu Yusuf urgedHarun al-Rashid to abolish it. The governors of eastern Abbasid provinces gave hadaya to the caliph in the form of rare and valuable items made by local artisans from their province. For the festival of Nowruz in 282 AH,Abshihi records a gift-giving of this nature to the caliphal-Mu'tamid, indicating that the hadaya may have continued even through this period.[2]: 220–1
A new system of taxation was introduced under the Abbasid caliphal-Mahdi, at the behest of the Muslims of Iraq. Under this new system, which was calledmuqāsama, people paid taxes in the form of a portion of their crops, rather than a fixed amount of money or crops. The rate was 50% for land irrigated by flooding, 33% for land irrigated by waterwheels, and 25% for land irrigated by animal-powered wheels. According toal-Tabari, the caliphal-Ma'mun introduced a temporary reduction of the rate, from the common 50% to 40%. The muqāsama system was introduced with the support ofAbu Ubayd Allah, the vizier under al-Mahdi who authored the first book onkharaj. Abu Ubayd Allah stressed the importance of keeping in mind the financial needs of the taxpayers, and argued that a fixed tax would cause problems for taxpayers due to changes in prices. A key reason he and other officials supported this new system of taxation was that, this way, landlords would share the risk with the government in case of a bad harvest, thus reducing conflict between the state and the landed elite. Another reason was because, under the 'alā l-misāḥa system, independent grain merchants had a great deal of control over prices; by switching to the muqāsama system, the state could increase its control of the grain market in Iraq, where it needed to supply the most important cities in the caliphate.[12]: 257–64
The accounts ofQudama ibn Ja'far andIbn Khordadbeh describe the general administrative setup of the 9th-century Sawad. It was divided into 12 districts (astān; there were only 10 at Ibn Khordadbeh's time), each of which consisted of several sub-districts (tassūj). There were 60 tassujs in total (48 at Ibn Khordadbeh's time). Many of these divisions bear Sasanian names, indicating that they had originally been established before the Islamic conquest of Iraq.[2]: 61–4
| Astan | Tassujs |
|---|---|
| Shadh-Fayruz (akaHulwan) | |
| Shadh Hurmuz | |
| Shadh-Qubadh | |
| Bazijan-Khusraw (akaal-Nahrawan) | |
| Shadh-Sabur (akaKaskar) | |
| Shadh-Bahman | |
| al-ʽAli | |
| Ardashir-Babakan | |
| Bih-Dhiumasufan (akaal-Zawabi) | |
| Bih-Qubadh al- Aʽla | |
| Bih-Qubadh al-Awsat |
|
| Bih-Qubadh al-Asfal |
|
_LACMA_M.2002.1.82.jpg)
The total rural population of the medieval Sawad can be calculated from the extent of the farmland.[10] Assuming 3 million hectares of winter cereal crops in the late 8th/early 9th century, and the ability of a person to reap 3 hectares during the 2-month-long harvest season using contemporary technology, the total labor requirement would have been 1 million people.[10] Assuming an average family size of 4 people, the total agricultural population of rural Iraq at that time would have been 4 million people.[10] This is in addition to an assumed non-agricultural population in Iraq (also including cities) of 1.8 million.[10]
Under this model, the hypothetical annual net output per worker would be 2757 kg of grain.[10] An average agricultural family of 4 is assigned a subsistence income of 1000 kg of grain per year, which would be equivalent to 154 dirhams per year, or 13 per month.[10] This means that out of net production, 36% was kept by the peasants, while taxes were 26% and rents were 38%.[10] Thus almost 2/3 of the Sawad's total net production went to supporting the urban population and upper classes.[10]
From the Sasanians to the Abbasids, the peasants of the Sawad formed "a legally subordinate class, working the estates of large landlords, and from which surplus in the form of taxes, rents, and labor were extracted".[12]: 252
The juristSharik wrote that "the inhabitants of the Sawad are servants and slaves."[2]: 65
Most of the inhabitants of the Sawad were called "Nabataeans". Although they converted to Islam, they maintained many pre-Islamic traditions and spoke a distinct dialect ofArabic.[2]: 77–8
According to Ibn Wahshiyya and Sabi, almost all the landlords of the Sawad lived in larger cities and towns, with their representatives, calledal-quwam oral-wuhata maintaining the landlord's rural properties. These agents were responsible for overseeing daily work, providing necessities like seed and farm tools, and potentially hiring additional workers if needed.[2]: 78–9 Alfred von Kremer compared this system with that of the Romanlatifundia.[7]: 85
Slavery was practiced extensively in the Sawad. According to Umar's policy, any freeman was allowed to sell his Nabataean neighbor as a slave if they were in dire financial straits; this policy was upheld by the caliphal-Ma'mun.[2]: 83–5 According toAbu Ubayd, however,Umar I banned the purchase of dhimmi serfs because they wereahl al-karaj: subject to payment of the kharaj land tax.[12]: 252
Thedihqans, or village chiefs, formed the lowest rung of the Sasanian landed elite.[2]: 79–80 They remained after the Islamic conquest, with their village estates formed "the prevailing form of land-tenure in post-conquest Iraq."[12]: 251 The government frequently consulted them on matters concerning land and irrigation, as well as for help with collecting taxes; the dihqans' local knowledge made them essential for this purpose.[2]: 79–80 In return, they were allowed to collect a special tax on local cultivators.[2]: 79–80 However, their importance began to decrease with the rise of new Arab landowners,[2]: 79–80 including Sasanian urban and military converts to Islam and their descendants; this process happened gradually, over the course of 60 or 70 years.[6]: 204
Under Persian rule, the Persian settlement had been heaviest in the area east of the Tigris, as well as in certain garrison cities.[6]: 204
Contemporary writers did not provide any extensive descriptions of rural villages.[2] Ibn Wahshiyya gave only some details: he wrote that villages should be built on elevated ground such as hillocks, and if this was not naturally available then he said an artificial elevation should be built from wood and mud.[2] This served two purposes: the first, he said, was for better health, and the second was to provide an elevated lookout point over the surrounding fields.[2] Houses were built from either baked or sun-dried bricks, with high walls and many openings to provideventilation andlet sunlight in.[2] (The walls were high to make space for all the openings.)[2] Tree trunks were used either forcolumns or asrafters to support the ceilings, and the ceilings themselves were lined with wood fromtamarisk,cypress,pine, andwalnut trees and then covered with a mixture of mud and straw.[2] Ibn Wahshiyya also described howplaster was used to cover walls and floors, especially in rooms and buildings used for storage.[2] He said that isolated, independently standing houses were best, but if space was tight then they could be built adjoining each other as long as the necessary ventilation was provided.[2] He also stressed the necessity of ablacksmith,carpenter, andpotter in each village to supply residents with everyday items or building materials.[2]
Ibn Wahshiyya disapproved of the unsanitary methods of obtainingdrinking water that were prevalent in the Sawad: people would dig holes or use natural slopes to collect rainwater in ponds without making sure that either the ground or the water itself was clean — cattlemanure was even used to cement the sides of the ponds.[2] He said that these practices should be abolished and prescribed that drinking water should instead be provided by being collected on clean roofs of houses, and then directed down the sides of the houses into acistern by woodengutters.[2]
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