Asawira
The Asawira (Arabic: أساورة) were a military unit of the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphate. The military unit consisted of Iranian noblemen, who were originally part of the asvaran unit of the Sasanian army. It was disbanded in 703.
Etymology
The word is the Arabic broken plural form of the Middle Persian word aswār ("horseman"), which in turn is from the Old Persian word asabāra. The Parthian form is asbār.[1]
Background
During the Arab invasion of Iran, the Sasanian king Yazdegerd III (r. 632–651) sent 1,000 men under Siyah al-Uswari to defend Khuzestan. These 1,000 men were of Iranian origin, and served in the asvaran unit. However, during the siege of Shushtar (641-642), they defected to the Arabs, and settled in Basra, where they received salary. Furthermore, they also converted to Islam and allied themselves with the Banu Tamim of southern Iraq.[1] However, the story about them converting to Islam is most likely inacurate, since 15 years later, some members still appear with Zoroastrian Middle Persian names, such as a certain Mah Afridhan.[2]
History
They thereafter participated in the conquest of Pars, Kerman, and Khorasan. After the fall of the Rashidun Caliphate in 661, they continued serving under their successors, the Umayyad Caliphate.[1] One year later, the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I (661–680) resettled some of the Asawira in Antioch. According to Ibn al-Faqih, the Umayyad governor Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan had a mosque constructed in Basra for them in the late 660s.[1]
During the Second Islamic Civil War (also known as the "Second Fitna"), the Asawira helped the Tamim tribe in the killing of the governor of Basra, Mas'ud ibn Amr (d. 684). The Asawira later joined the rebellion of Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath, which lasted from 700 to 703. However, this made the Arab statesman al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf disband the Asawira, by destroying their homes, reducing their salary, and resettling them to other cities.[1] Some of their descendants are later mentioned in some sources, such as Musa ibn Sayyar al-Uswari,[3] who was the student of Hasan of Basra, a prominent Muslim scholar, who was also of Iranian origin.
References
- ^ a b c d e Bosworth 1987, pp. 706–707.
- ^ Pourshariati 2008, p. 240.
- ^ Zakeri 1995, p. 335.
Sources
- Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008). Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Jalalipour, Saeid (2014). The Arab Conquest of Persia: The Khūzistān Province before and after the Muslims Triumph (PDF). Sasanika.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Bosworth, C. E. (1987). "ASĀWERA". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 7. p. 706-707.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Morony, Michael G. (2005) [1984]. Iraq After The Muslim Conquest. Gorgias Press LLC. ISBN 978-1-59333-315-7.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Zakeri, Mohsen (1995). Sasanid Soldiers in Early Muslim Society: The Origins of 'Ayyārān and Futuwwa. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 1–391. ISBN 3447036524.
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