![]()
p.27
Part I
THE SEATS OF GOVERNMENT
The Twelfth Purpose On its Established Seats of Government133 Which are three that became proximate and combined as if one
Note
133 “Qawā῾id,” (sing. qā῾ida), which means “base,” and denotes the seat of government of a kingdom, state or region.
![]()
p.29
THE FIRST SEAT OF GOVERNMENT
The City of Fustat
[The name] is pronounced “fusṭāṭ.” [The city] is also called “fustāṭ” and “fussāṭ.”134Al-Jawharī135 said: Pronouncing the “f ” as [“fi,” not “fu”] is [acceptable] linguistically.136 It is the city known among the commone`rs as “Miṣr,” and its ancient name is “bāb alyūn“ (Babylon).137 Abū al-Sa῾ādāt b. al-Athīr138 stated “alyūn”139 [as the pronunciation] in his Nihāya.140
p.30
Al-Qaḍā῾ī141 said: This is its name in the languages of the Byzantines (Rūm) and the Sudanese (Sūdān), thus, the palace in the east is known as Bāb Alyūn. It is located in the Third of the Seven Regions.142
The author of Kitāb al-Aṭwāl (The Book of Lengths)143 said: It is 111.286 km long and 110.855 km wide.144
The author of al-Qānūn (The Canon)145 said: It is 111.317 km long and 110.851 km wide.146
p.31
Ibn Sa῾īd147 said: It is 111.301 km long and 110.851 km wide.148
The author of Rasm al-Ma῾mūr (The Picture of the Inhabited Countries)149 said: It is 111.317 km long.150
The norm used by the people nowadays, in their employment of instruments and other means, is a length of 111.323 km long and 110.852 km wide.151
Different reasons are given for calling it “al-Fusṭāṭ” (Fustat). Ibn Qutayba152 said: Every city is called “al-fusṭāṭ”; therefore Miṣrwas called “al-Fusṭāṭ”.153
p.32
Al-Zamakhsharī154 said: “Al-Fusṭāṭ” is the name given to a kind of a structure that is less in size than a pavilion (surādiq).155 Most [scholars] agree that it was called “al-Fusṭāṭ” after the tent (fusṭāṭ) of ῾Amr b. al-῾Āṣ,156 for when ῾Amr conquered and captured the fort known as “Qaṣr al-Sham῾” in the year 21 ah/641 ad, he pitched his tent nearby. When he set off to conquer Alexandria, he ordered the dismantlement of his tent, but when a pigeon’s nest with its hatchlings was surprisingly found inside the tent, ῾Amr said: “It has sought a sanctuary from us here,” and commanded that his tent remains in its place and the pigeons be taken care of. He proceeded to Alexandria and conquered it, then returned back to settle in his tent, and the people settled around it. ῾Amr built his smaller house,157 which is near the Old Mosque,158 in place of his tent, and people started marking-out [areas of land] around him.159 The tribes competed for locations and marking-out land, so, to administer the division of the marked-out areas (khiṭaṭ), ῾Amr appointed Mu῾āwiya b. Ḥudayj al-Tujībī, Sharīk b. Sumayy al-Ghuṭayfī, ῾Amr b. Qaḥzam al-Khawlānī, and Ḥayūyal b. Nāshira al-Ma῾āfirī.160 They resolved the disputes among the tribes, and settled the people in their lots. So [the people] marked out the neighorhoods (khiṭaṭ) and built houses and mosques. Each neighborhood (khiṭṭa) was named after the tribe, group, or person that marked it out.
p.33
The Neighbourhoods of Fustat
As for the neighbourhoods (khiṭaṭ) and houses named after the tribes and groups, [they included]:
The Neighbourhood of the People of the Banner (Khiṭṭat Ahl al-Rāya),161 who were a group from [the tribes of] Quraysh, al-Anṣār, Khuzā῾a, Aslam, Ghifār, Muzayna, Ashja῾, Juhayna, Thaqīf, Daws, ῾Abs b. Baghīḍ, Jurash of Banū162 Kināna, and Layth b. Bakr. Each of these [tribes] did not have a large enough number to be assigned a single bestowal163 from the register (dīwān);164 therefore ῾Amr b. al-῾Aṣ assigned them a banner that he had not ascribed to anyone. He said: You are to stand beneath it [at times of assembly], so it was like a collective ascription to them. Their register was [assigned to] it;165 therefore, they were known as the People of the Banner (Ahl al-Rāya). They had their own individual neighbourhood, which was one of the grandest and widest.
The Neighbourhood of Mahra (Khiṭṭat Mahra), who are Banū Mahra b. Ḥaydān b. ῾Amr b. Ilḥaf b. Quḍā῾a b. Mālik b. Ḥimyar, of the tribes of Yemen.
The Neighbourhood of Tujīb (Khiṭṭat Tujīb), who are the sons of (banū) ῾Adiy and Sa῾d, themselves the sons of al-Ashras b. Shabīb b. al-Sakan b. al-Ashras b. Kinda. Tujīb was the name of their mother, after whom the tribe was known.
The Neighbourhood of Lakhm (Khiṭat Lakhm), which were three [Neighbourhood]: the first [for] Banū Lakhm b. ῾Adiy b. Murra b. Udad, and those who mingled with166 them from Judhām; the second [for] Banū ῾Abd Rabbih b. ῾Amrb. al-Ḥarth b. Wā’il b. Rāshida b. Lakhm, and the third [for] Banū Rāshida b. Adhabb b. Juzayla b. Lakhm.
The Neighbourhood of al-Lafīf (Khiṭat al-Lafīf),167 which was a group of tribes who hastened to [attack] the ships of the Rūmas soon as the news reached ῾Amr that they arrived in Alexandria, at the time of its conquest. Finding them so many, ῾Amr told them: “You are just as Allah said: ‘when there comes the promise of the Hereafter, We will bring you forth in [one] gathering.’”168 Then they were called “al-Lafīf ” (the Gathering) from that day onwards.
p.34
The Neighbourhood of Ahl al-Ẓāhir (Khiṭaṭ Ahl al-Ẓāhir),169 who were a group of tribes that came back from Alexandria after ῾Amr‘s return to find that people had taken over their settlements. They sought the arbitration of Mu῾awiya b. Ḥudayj, whom ῾Amr had appointed in charge of the neighbourhoods. Mu῾awiya told them: I suggest that you build to the rear of those tribes and build your own houses. Their settlement was, therefore, called al-Ẓāhir (the Rear).170
The Neighbourhood of Ghāfiq (Khiṭat Ghāfiq), who are Banū Ghāfiq b. al-Ḥārīth b. ῾Akk b. ῾Udthān b. ῾Abd Allah b. al-Azd.
The Neighbourhood of al-Ṣadif (Khiṭat al-Ṣadif ), pronounced “ṣadif,” who are Banū Mālik b. Sahl b. ῾Amr b. Qays b. Ḥimyar, of the tribes of Yemen, also said to have been Banū Mālik b. Muraqqa῾ b. Kinda. He171 was called al-Ṣadif because he turned his face away from (ṣadafa) his people when they were hit by al-῾Arim torrent.
The Neighbourho...
