Basra

Location of Basra

Basra (also spelled Başrah or Basara; historically sometimes written Busra, Busrah, and the early form Bassorah; Template:Lang-ar, Al-Basrah) is the second largest city of Iraq with an estimated population of c. 2,600,000 (2003). It is the country's main port. Basra is the capital of the Basra province. The city is located along the Shatt al-Arab (Arvandrood) waterway near the Persian Gulf. Basra is 55 km from the Persian Gulf and 545 km from Baghdad, Iraq's capital and largest city.

The area surrounding Basra has substantial petroleum resources with many oil wells. The city also has an international airport, which recently began restored service to Baghdad with Iraqi Airways - the nation's flag airline. Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, millet, wheat, dates, and livestock. The city's oil refinery has a production capacity of about 140,000 barrels a day (22,300 m³).

Muslim adherents of the area are primarily members of the Jafari Shi`a sect. A sizeable number from the Sunni sect also live in Basra as well as a small number of Christians. Living among them are also the remnants of the pre-Islamic gnostic sect of Mandaeans, whose headquarters were in the area formerly called Suk esh-Sheikh.

A network of canals flowed through the city, giving it the nickname "The Venice of the Middle East" at least at high tide. The tides at Basra fall by about 9 feet (2.7 m). For long, Basra grew the finest dates in the world.

A Canal in Basra circa 1950

Early history

An earlier settlement in the immediate vicinity was known by the Syriac name Perat d'Maishan. The present city was founded in 636 as an encampment and garrison for the Arab tribesmen constituting the armies of amir `Umar ibn al-Khattab, a few miles south of the present city, where a tell still marks its site. While defeating the Sassanid forces there, the muslim commander Utba ibn Ghazwan first set up camp there on the site of an old Persian settlement called Vaheštābād Ardašīr, which was destroyed by the invading Arabs. (according to Encyclopædia Iranica, E. Yarshater, Columbia University, p851). The name Al-Basrah, which in Arabic means "the over watching" or "the seeing everything", was given to it because of its role as a Military base against the Sassanid empire. Other sources however say its name originates from the Persian word Bas-rāh or Bassorāh meaning "where many ways come together". (See Mohammadi Malayeri, M. Dil-i Iranshahr).

`Umar established this encampment as a city with five districts, and appointed Abu Musa `Abd Allah ibn Qays al-Ash`ari as its first governor. Abu Musa led the conquest of Khuzestan from 639 to 642. After this, `Umar ordered him to aid `Uthman ibn Abu al-`As, then fighting Iran from a new, more easterly misr at Tawwaj.

In 650, the amir `Uthman reorganised the Persian frontier, installed `Abdallah ibn `Amir as Basra's governor, and put the invasion's southern wing under Basra's responsibility. Ibn `Amir led his forces to their final victory over Yazdegird III, king of Persia. Basra accordingly had few quarrels with `Uthman and so in 656 sent few men to the embassy against him. On `Uthman's murder, Basra refused to recognise `Ali ibn Abu Talib; instead supporting the Meccan aristocracy then led by `Aisha, al-Zubayr, and Talha. `Ali defeated this force at the Battle of the Camel. He first installed `Uthman ibn Hanif as Basra's governor and then `Abd Allah ibn `Abbas. These men held the city for `Ali until the latter's death in 661.

The Sufyanids held Basra until Yazid I's death in 683. Their first governor there was an Umayyad `Abd Allah, who proved to be a great general (under him, Kabul was forced to pay tribute) but a poor mayor. In 664 Mu`awiyah replaced him with Ziyad ibn Abu Sufyan Sufyan, often called "Ibn Abihi (son of his own [unknown] father)", who became famed for his Draconian methods of public order. On Ziyad's death in 673, his son Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad became governor. In 680, Yazid I ordered Ubayd Allah to keep order in Kufa as a reaction to Hussein ibn `Ali's popularity there; Hussein had already fled, and so Ubayd Allah executed Hussein's cousin Muslim ibn Aqeel.

In 683, Abd Allah ibn Zubayr was hailed as the new caliph in the Hijaz. In 684 the Basrans forced Ubayd Allah to take shelter with Mas'ud al-Azdi and chose Abd Allah ibn al-Harith as their governor. Ibn al-Harith swiftly recognised Ibn al-Zubayr's claim, and Ma'sud made a premature and fatal move on Ubayd Allah's behalf; and so `Ubayd Allah felt obliged to flee.

Ibn al-Harith spent his year in office trying to put down Nafi' ibn al-Azraq's Kharijite uprising in Khuzestan. Islamic tradition condemns him as feckless abroad and corrupt at home, but praises him on matters of doctrine and prayer. In 685, Ibn al-Zubayr required a practical man, and so appointed Umar b. Ubayd Allah b. Ma'mar. (Madelung p. 303-4) Finally Ibn al-Zubayr appointed his own brother Mus`ab. In 686, the self-proclaimed prophet Mukhtar led an insurrection at Kufa, and put an end to Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad near Mosul. In 687, Mus`ab defeated Mukhtar, with the help of Kufans whom Mukhtar had exiled. (Brock p.66)

`Abd al-Malik reconquered Basra in 691, and Basra remained loyal to his governor al-Hajjaj during Ibn Ash`ath's mutiny 699-702. However Basra did support the rebellion of Yazid ibn al-Muhallab against Yazid II during the 720s. In the 740s, Basra fell to al-Saffah of the `Abbasids.

Wael Hallaq notes that by contrast with Medina and to a lesser extent Syria, in `Iraq there was no unbroken Muslim population dating back to the Prophet's time. Therefore Maliki (and Azwa`i) appeals to the practice (`amal) of the community could not apply. Instead the people of `Iraq relied upon those Companions of the Prophet who settled there, and upon such factions of the Hijaz whom they respected most.

Basra in Islamic theology and scholarship

Shirazi's "Tabaqat", which Wael Hallaq labels "an important early biographical work dedicated to jurists", covered 84 "towering figures" of Islamic jurisprudence; to which Basra provided 17. It was therefore a center surpassed only by Medina (22) and Kufa (20). Among the Companions who settled in Basra were Abu Musa and `Anas ibn Malik. Among its jurists, Hallaq singles out Muhammad ibn Sirin, Abu `Abd Allah Muslim ibn Yasar, and Abu Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani. Qatada ibn Di`ama (680-736) attained respect as a traditionist and Qur'anic interpreter. In the late 750s, Sawwar ibn Abd Allah began the practice of paying salaries to the court's witnesses and assistants, ensuring their impartiality. Hammad ibn Salama (d. 784), mufti of Basra, was a teacher of Abu Hanifa. Abu Hanifa's student Zufar ibn al-Hudayl later moved from Kufa to Basra. Basran and Kufan law, under the patronage of the early `Abbasids, became a shared jurisprudence called the "Hanafi Madhhab"; as opposed to others, like the practice of Medina which became the Maliki Madhhab.

Sufyan al-Thawri and Ma`mar ibn Rashid collected many legal and other teachings and traditions into books, and migrated to the Yemen; there 'Abd al-Razzaq included them into his Musannaf during the 9th century CE. Back in Basra, Musaddad b. Musarhad compiled his own collection arranged in "Musnad" form.

Basra also spawned heterodox interpretations of Islam. Rabi`ah al-`Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya (born 717), lived there and became popular as poet, mystic, and teacher. It was also among the first bases of the Qadariyya.

Qadarism in Islam corresponds to the doctine of human free will in Christianity, as opposed to such doctrines of predestination as later proposed by, e.g., John Calvin. The traditionist Yahya ibn Ya`mar attributed the introduction of Qadari doctrines into Basra to a Ma`bad al-Juhani (d. 80). Al-Hasan developed a moderate form of this in his Risala: God may command, forbid, punish, and test; but He does not force ordinary mortals to evil or good despite that He has the power. According to al-Dhahabi (Siyar A`lam al-Nubala 6:330 #858), al-Hasan's student Abu `Uthman `Amr ibn `Ubayd (d. ~144) left al-Hasan's teaching circle and "isolated" himself by taking these doctrines further. In Syria, the reigning Marwanids relied on predestination to justify their hold on secular authority. Imam Malik in his Muwatta recorded (with approval!) that caliph `Umar ibn `Abd al-Aziz had recommended putting Qadarists "to the sword". Syrian hadith transmitters invented traditions of the Prophet that denounced Qadarism as a heresy, and labeled its believers and Basra as a whole as "monkeys and swine" - as sura 5 had said of the Jews.

Under Abu 'l-Hudhayl al-`Allaf (d. 841), the Basrans are also credited (or blamed) for the Mutazilist school, a form of rationalism which included the Qadari doctines of al-Hasan and attracted the support of `Abbasid caliph al-Ma`mun.

According to Arthur Jeffery, Basra also at first held to an idiosyncratic pronunciation of the Qur'an, which they put to paper as the "Lubab al-Qulub" and attributed to Abu Musa. For instance, this codex used the more Biblically correct "Ibraham", as against the "Ibrahim" which is forced by sura 21's rhyme; in addition there are no Abu Musa variants recorded for sura 21. This was also the reading of Ibn al-Zubayr when he came to Mecca (although his variants did encompass sura 21). The likely solution is that the first Qur'an text at Basra was "defective", which is to say it lacked long vowel signs; and that Basra accepted sura 21 as part of Qur'an later than it accepted other suras - most likely during or after the mid-680s.

Early literary mentions of Basra

Under the name of Bassorah the city is mentioned in the Thousand and One Nights, and Sindbad the Sailor was said to have begun his voyages here. It was long a flourishing commercial and cultural center, until it was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1668, after which it declined in importance, but was fought over by Turks and Persians and was the scene of repeated attempts at resistance. In 1911, the Encyclopaedia Britannica reported some Jews and a few Christians living in Basra, but no Turks other than Ottoman officials. The wealthiest and most influential personage in Basra was the nakib, or marshal of the nobility (i.e. descendants of the family of the prophet, who are entitled to wear the green turban). In 1884 the Ottomans responded to local pressure from the Shi'ites of the south by detaching the southern districts of the Baghdad vilayet and creating a new vilayet of Basra.

Second World War

During World War I the occupying British modernized the port (works designed by Sir George Buchanan), which became the principal port of Iraq. During World War II it was an important port through which flowed much of the equipment and supplies sent to Russia by the other allies. At the end of the second world war the population was some 93,000 people.

1945-1990: peacetime and the Iran-Iraq War

The University of Al Basrah was founded in 1964.

By 1977 the population had risen to a peak population of some 1.5 million. The population declined during the Iran-Iraq War, being under 900,000 in the late 1980s, possibly reaching a low point of just over 400,000 during the worst of the war. The city was repeatedly shelled by Iran and was the site of many fierce battles, but never fell.

Persian Gulf War

After the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 Basra was the site of widespread revolt against Saddam Hussein, which was violently put down with much death and destruction inflicted on the city; a second revolt in 1999 led to mass executions in and around Basra, subsequently the Iraqi government deliberately neglected the city and much commerce was diverted to Umm Qasr. These alleged abuses are to feature amongst the charges against the former regime to be considerd by the Iraq Special Tribunal set up by the Iraq interim Government following the 2003 invasion.

Iraq War and occupation

In March through May of 2003, the outskirts of Basra were the scene of heavy fighting in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. British forces, led by units of 7th Armoured Brigade, took the city on 6 April 2003. On 21 April 2004, a series of bomb blasts ripped through the city, killing scores of people. This city was the first stop for the United States and the United Kingdom, during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The Multi-National Division (South East), under British Command, is currently engaged in Security and Stabilization missions in Basra Province and surrounding areas.

Post-war Basra

By the first half of 2005, Basra had become noted as a focal point for confrontations between secular Iraqi culture and Shi'ite Islam supporters [1]. In March 2005, a group of students were beaten to death for playing music, and for engaging in unconstrained interaction between males and females. Militia members armed with rifles killed at least two, shot several, and beat one young woman severely enough so that she lost her sight. Senior al-Sadr supporters praised the militia's actions [2]. The playing of music and music stores are frequently a target from Shi'ite groups who hold that music is against the teaching of Islam. Several music stores have been bombed [3].

Political groups and their ideology which are strong in Basra are reported to have close links with political parties already in power in the Iraqi government, despite opposition from Iraqi Sunnis and the more secular Kurds. January 2005 elections saw several radical politicians gain office, supported by religious parties.

Workers in Basra's oil industry have been involved in extensive organization and labor conflict. They held a two-day strike in August 2003, and formed the nucleus of the independent General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE) in June 2004. The union held a one-day strike in July 2005, and publicly opposes plans for privatizing the industry.

UK fighting against Iraqi police

File:2UK soldiers.jpg

Two UK soldiers arrested by Iraq police. (AFP photo)

On September 19, 2005, two British soldiers were arrested by Iraqi police in Basra following a car chase. Police officials accused them of firing at police while dressed in civilian clothes. After being approached by Iraqi police, the two soldiers reportedly fired on the police, after which they were apprehended, which sparked clashes in which UK armoured vehicles came under attack. Two civilians were reportedly killed and three UK soldiers were injured. The arrests followed the detention of two high-ranking officials of Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army

UK Ministry of Defence officials insisted they had been talking to the Iraqi authorities to secure the release of the men, who were reported to be working undercover. British servicemen who were seen being injured in the graphic photographs were treated for minor injuries only. But they acknowledged a wall was demolished as UK forces tried to "collect" the men. However, sources in the Iraqi Interior Ministry said six tanks were used to smash down the wall in a rescue operation. Witnesses told the Associated Press around 150 prisoners escaped during the operation; Iraqi officials later denied any prisoners had escaped.

Two British Warrior AFVs, sent to the police station where the soldiers were being held, were hit by multiple petrol bombs in clashes. British officials would not say if the two men were working undercover. Crowds of angry protesters hurled petrol bombs and stones injuring three servicemen and several civilians. TV pictures showed soldiers in combat gear, clambering from one of the flaming AFVs and making their escape. In a statement, Defence Secretary John Reid said the soldiers who fled from the vehicles were treated for minor injuries. Mr. Reid added that he was not certain what had caused the disturbances. "We remain committed to helping the Iraqi government for as long as they judge that a coalition presence is necessary to provide security," the statement said. Later British MoD reports suggested the soldiers were being handed to Iraqi insurgents by members of the Iraqi police, despite instructions from the Iraq Interior Ministry that they should be released.

Tim Collins, a former commander of troops in Iraq, described the incident with the crowd as like a "busy night in Belfast."[4]

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Basra is also the name of a fishing-type card game played in coffeehouses throughout the Middle East.

Bibliography

• Hallaq, Wael. The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law. Cambridge University Press, 2005
• Hawting, Gerald R. The First Dynasty of Islam. Routledge. 2nd ed, 2000
• Madelung, Wilferd. "Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr and the Mahdi" in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies 40. 1981. pp.291-305.

See also

• List of places in Iraq
• Basra International Airport

External links

• 2003 Basra map (NIMA)
• Basra card game
• Boomtown Basra
• Muhammad and the Spread of Islam by Sanderson Beck
• Theological Themes
• The Qadariyya, Mu'tazila, and Shi'a
• The Textual History of the Qur'an, Arthur Jeffery, 1946
• Codex of Abu Musa al-Ashari, Arthur Jeffery, 1936