Dirasat Mosiliya

The research paper aims at accentuating the historic-geographical descriptions of Al-Djazīra region, that provided by Al-muhallabi through his book entitled (al masālik wal mamālik), and explaining the most important villages and cities which mentioned in his book. The research paper divided into two axes: in the first axis, the researcher has given an account of the author's biography and his above-mentioned book. Moreover, he has provided information about the manuscript of the book, and a brief account of its source. Whereas the second axis has studied Al-muhallabi general descriptions of villages and cities of Al-Djazīra region according to two sides: the geographical side for those cities and their positions with related to Al-Djazīra region; the economic side about Al-Djazīra's cities and what have written of remarks on agriculture and commerce.

After the Muslims conquered Iraq and the Levant, they had to focus the efforts of the conquest process towards the Al-Djazīra region, which is of great strategic importance, especially since the war necessity put Muslims before the inevitability of securing and strengthening the open territories in Iraq and the Levant, and standing in the face of the Byzantine recovery campaigns The conquest of the island separates the Byzantines from the Arab tribes loyal to them in the region of Al-Djazīra, such as: Ghassan, Ayad, and Tanukh, and cuts off the way for any project of alliance between the Byzantines and the Persians against the Muslims, especially And that the eastern part of Al-Djazīra was subject to the Sassanids loyal to the Persians, who did not show much resistance and quickly surrendered to the advance of the Islamic forces coming from Iraq and Mosul, and thus the process of liberating Al-Djazīra was completed, a process that only took eighteen months, what are the major stages of this Al-Fateh? What is its strategic importance .

Al-Djazīra is one of the most prominent and important regions that the Arab tribes have taken as their settlement since ancient times after their migration from the Arabian Peninsula.This area became a place for its residents, and Al-Djazīra is divided into three sections , which are: Diyar Rabia, Diyar Mudar, Diyar Bakr.
(Diyar Mudar) is the subject of the research from the important sections that were inhabited by the Arab tribe of Mudar and some of its branches were named after it as well as other Arab tribes. And these Diyar have many cities, which are distinguished by their being located on the Euphrates River, all of which have become commercial and urban centers as a result of their vital location.
The Islamic conquest of Al-Djazīra began during The era of the Rashidiya Caliphate specifically during the reign of Caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him) in the year 18 AH. Among the cities that have liberation were the cities of Diyar Mudar. The Arabs Muslims liberation had a great role in the stability of these cities and the entry of Islam to them. Most of them were made conciliation at the hands of Muslim leaders, including Ayyad bin Ghannam, who led that campaign of conquest by order of the Caliph of the Muslims, who sent a letter to the governor of Syria, Abu Ubaidah Amer bin Al-Jarrah, to prepare the army for that important matter that was crowned with success.The city of (Raqqa) ,which is one of the cities of Diyar Mudar, was one of the first cities to liberation a peace treaty, along with the city of(al-Rha) ,in which the Muslims took covenants from its Christian residents not to build churches, and not to help anyone against Muslims while maintaining their presence in their homes safe, as well as other cities.
Thus, the liberation of Diyar Mudar to the resolve by Muslims and their strength of will to deliver the principles of Islam to all parts of the earth

Arabic authors interested in studying the history of Arabic and Islamic cities. They classified them into inclusive books specifically the social, economic, cultural and political history. One of these books is Azedi's "Mosul History"(334 A.H/ 945 A.D), Al-Hafidh's Ibin Asaker's "Damascus History"(571A.H/ 1175 S.D), Binal-Adeem's "Zabadet Alhalab in the History of Halab"(660A.H/1261A.D), Al-Fariqi's "Miafariqeen History" (557A.H/ 1181 A.D) and Bin al-Mustawfi's "Irbil History" (637 A.H/1239 A.D), then a book called "Mu'jam Al-Buldan" by Yaqoot bin Abdulla Al-Hamawi (626A.H/1228 A.D) and "al-Alaq al-khatirah in the Mentioning The Amaraa of Alsham and Aljazeera" by Izzdin Bin Shadad Al-Halabi (684A.H/ 1285 A.D).
The Geographers Muslims reported many texts about Djazirat Ibin Umar and most of them agreed that it was established nearly 520A.H/1127A.D during the reign of Al-Amin Caliph and Al-Ma'amoon Caliph.
It seems that Djazirat Ibin Umar developed rapidly as a result of its location by the river Tigris, for its nice climate and the trading movement with the neighbouring areas and cities.
Apparently, Djazirat Ibin Umar was more developed during Yaqoot Age and the Mongols Invasion had nothing and soon Al-Djazīra restored its dignity where Ibn Shadad presented to us an account of the architecture saying Al-Djazīra surrounded with a wall having three gates ; a mountain, jadeed and water. It also has two mosques, one is old and the other is modern, eighty small mosques, one lunatic asylum, four schools in which Mathah Imam Al-Shafii was taught. They are; Ibn Al-Barzi School, Zhair al-deen Qaimaz A—Attabiki School, Al-Radhwia School and Al-Qzhi Jamal al-bdulrahim School. There was another school called Shams al-deen Sukertein. Inside there were two Kanihakattans, (a place for worshipping Sofi Mathahab), one is known as Saladin Alaraj and the other is called as Alzahira. On the outside there were also two Kanihakattans, one is called Kaniqah al-batna and there were fourteen bathrooms and under the wall from inside there were thirty gardens and eight castles, Aljirahia, Farah, Barkho, Fink, Aljadida, Alkasar, Arokh and Kankoor.
Djazirat Ibin Umar has become one of the important cultural centers in Al-Djazīra Area during our study where it is as more important as other neighbouring cities. Many scientists, writers and poets visited the city and many have been graduated from this city in different specifications where have a great deal of scientific knowledge and have a lot of cultural influence on the Islamic world such as; Alathir's sons Bini Nadi, Abualiz Bin Ismael Al-Razaz, Bin Al-Bazri and others. Most sciences that developed in this area are: Religious Sciences, Arabic and translation

Al-Djazīra has attracted the attention of Muslim geographers and historians, Were this importance appears through the lengthy chapters they put together in her speech, she addressed various geographical, economic, political and social aspects, ,we find that its demographic structure has been different since ancient times due to the nature of its unique geographical location, which is characterized by its natural wealth abundant water and occurrence, according to Al-Maqdisi «a mediator between Iraq and the Levant and the homes of Arabes in Islam», which made it a crossing point for many migrations and invasions that came out of the hollow of the Asian contient and an area of population attraction in addition to the Arab tribes that migrated to it before Islam, which with the beginning of the Islamic conquests in the seventh century AD , constutited the majority of the population as the arab element seemed to gradually increase settled on his land, So the cities of Mosul, Baghdad, Basra and other cities became bases for attracting Arab and non- Arab elements, from the Kurds- who settled in this region since ancient times and used to live in the eastern and northeastern highland- and the Turkmen who lived side by side with the kurds next door to them, and shared their livelihood and land resources, As for the Armenians and the Syriacs, they are groups that formed minorities in this region .

Al-Djazīra is characterized by several elements that made it a home for man since ancient times. The geographical location, abundant waters and fertile land helped the residents to settle there, so they established prosperous civilizations whose monuments have remained until the present time, and they indicate the greatness of its history. The island was a safe ground that stabilized many of the people. The most important demographic elements:
First: Arabs: Arabs settled in the island as a groups of tribal, namely: Bakr, Rabi’a and Mudar. These tribes settled in three main areas based on the riverbeds in them as the center of human activity and the first area inhabited by the Arabs between the Tigris and Khabur rivers, which was called Rabi’ah’s home, and the second area, located east of the Tigris and north of the Al-Djazīra, was called Diyar Bakr, and the third area between Khabur and the Euphrates was called Diyar Mudar.
Second: The Syriacs: The Syriacs inhabited Al-Djazīra and they are the remnants of the Aramaeans, and they were called the Syriac after their conversion to Christianity. Al-Djazīra also formed an important center for them during long ages, and the most important areas of their presence were in Mosul, Edessa, Nusaybin, Tur Abdin, Sinjar, Mardin, Arzan and Harran.
Third: The Kurds: The Kurdish element is part of the demographic elements of Al-Djazīra, and most of the Kurdish tribes used to move inside and outside the island, and their traditional area of movement was the area between Zabin, Shahrazour, and the mountain region. The city of Erbil is the most important center for the Kurds' stability.
Fourth: The Jews constituted the fourth component of the population that settled Al-Djazīra, where they concentrated their presence in Djazirat Ibn Umar, Nusaybin and Mayafariq, but their numbers were very small compared to the rest of the other inhabitants

The importance of the research revolves around an attempt to study everything related to the al-Djazīra and how by Abū Zakarīyā al-Azdī dealt with it, the Al- Azdī is a historian from Mosul who left us part two of the book (the History of Mosul), and that book considered among the books of the local history. It includes information of vital importance, and it provides so many details of the Mosul's conditions since the ending of the Omayyad Era, and the coming of the Abbasids up to (224A.H \838A.D )the year of completing the third part of the above-mentioned book. The information of the book can be divided into political, administrative architectural, and scientific ones. There's no doubt that al- Azdī mentioned the term (Al-Djazīra) during his tackling of the early phases of the history of Mosul and in many occasions, the term comes within two contexts, i.e., the administrative and political contexts. Therefore, the research problem is related to following up on the administrative developments that occurred in the al-Djazīra area according to al- Azdī’s perspective and his book (The History of Mosul).

The policy pursued by the Abbasid state from the very beginning in their wars with the Umayyad state and their brutality and cruelty in eliminating it had a negative impact on the Abbasid house, especially on the Al-Djazīra, which led to the Kharijites restructuring, especially since they were not born in that period, so their view of the caliphate was The Abbasids have the same view of the Umayyad Caliphate, as they considered the two states usurping the Caliphate, which should be a shura between the Muslims. Therefore, they did not leave an opportunity but to pounce on the Abbasids. As a result, they became a clearly effective military force active in that region, so they waged multiple wars between the Abbasid central authority in The cities of Mosul and the Al-Djazīra, which witnessed many of these movements, being among the commercial cities that were not completely controlled by the Abbasids.
It was active in that region that the first period of the caliphate of the Abbasid state after Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah and the caliphs who came after him took over a number of Kharijites movements, the most important of which are; The movement of Abu Bakr bin Humaid Al Shaibani 133 AH /751 AD, Al-Mulbad bin Harmala Al Shaibani 137 AH/754 AD, the movement of Abd al-Salam al-Yashkari 160 AH/776 AD and other movements that are no less important than its predecessor in destabilizing the security and stability of the Abbasid Caliphate

The region of Al-Djazīra was formed, lands and politically, and its role in the region has a value for each of them. The political history of it expresses a realistic picture that reflects the nature of relations with some political entities that coincided with their emergence.
The emirate is more of the lions that appeared in the most important emirates that have political relations with the princes of Al-Djazīra, and these relationships represent important documents that reveal the nature of the interaction between the princes of Al-Djazīra on the one hand and the emirate of Al-Mazyad.
The research attempts to shed light on the political relations between both sides , and to identify the most important political positions, and the position of the princes of the Levant towards the aspirations and expansion of the princes

The research tagged with Sinjar's political position on Mosul through Ibn al-Adim's book Zubdat al-Hallab by Ibn al-Adim (d. 660 AH / 1262 CE) aims to study the news included in the book Zubdat al-Haleb in the history of Aleppo about Sinjar's political position on Mosul. A study of the biography of Ibn al-Adim, information about the book and the circumstances of its authorship. It also included the main topic, which is the political position of Sinjar from Mosul, based on the texts in the book Butter of Aleppo, which dealt with the subject in different historical eras, and in different eras, which the author had mentioned by Ibn al-Adim. In addition, the research dealt with the author’s resources that were relied upon by those who preceded him from among the compilers, some of them relied on him for his news about Sinjar and its political position on Mosul, and some of them relied on him in defining the regions mentioned in the book as books of countries.

The research aims to study and clarify the political relations that were prevailed between the city of Mosul, which was consider base of Al-Djazīra and Nusaybin which represents one of Al-Djazīra cities during the years (AH 521-626/AD 1127-1258) and Ayyubid (AH 578-615/AD 1182-1218) and Bederudin Lulu (AH 615-656/AD 1218-1258) and the governors who appointed by them for this city

The book of the British historian, Stanley Lane-Poole (1854-1931) about Sultan Saladin, is one of the most important books on him. It is the compass by which most of the other Sultan's biographies are valued themselves or by others. Lane-Poole was the first British historian using all available sources at that time, whether Frankish or Arabic. He derived his information from history books, architectural inscriptions and archaeological evidence, and what was written on coins. This research consists of: an introduction, two elements, and conclusion. The first element is about: Saladin's campaign to Mesopotamia in 578-579 AH/ 1182-1183 AD, and the second element is about: Saladin's second campaign to Al-Djazīra in 581 AH / 1185-1186 AD

This research aims to shed light on the personality, life and work of Muzaffar al-Din Kawkbari )549-630 AH / 1153-1232AD(. Principally businesses related to the both of political and military aspects, and that is through one of the most famous books of yearly histories, which is the book Al-Kamel fi Al-Tarikh by Ibn Al-Atheer D.:)630 AH / 1232 AD(, Al-Jazari, of origin, birth, and Al-Musali, both in residence and death. As his family belongs to Djazirat Ibn Umar, which is one of Al-Djazīra cities. The importance of the research touches upon discussions on dealing with the news of this prince through the narrations of Ibn al-Atheer in Al-Kamel fi Al-Tarikh, the reasons behind the research problem probably is how Ibn al-Atheer got the news of this prince through the narrations he transmitted about him, and the sources of these narrations and their diversity clearly reveal the image of Muzaffar al-Din Kokpuri as embodied by Ibn al-Atheer in a well-known book Al-Kamel fi Al-Tarikh. It is one of the most famous books of general histories in which Ibn al-Athir opted the yearly system, so his book came in an order of years from the beginning of creation to the year )628 AH / 1230 AD(. The research was divided into three parts or sections the first one deals with the importance of what was mentioned in Al-Kamel fi Al-Tarikh by Ibn al-Athir al-Jazari on Muzaffar al-Din Kawkbari, However, the second part covers what came from the biography of Muzaffar al-Din Kawkbari and his assumption of the Emirate of Erbil, while, As concerning the third part, it covered his activity on the military level, with his participation in the wars of Crusades. The research came out with the most important result, which is that the competition for power by the Zangid and Ayyubid families had an impact on the writing of this book by the author, especially that it was written by the recommendation of the owner of Mosul, Badr al-Din Lulu’)606-660AH/ 1209-1261 AD(.

The research discusses the Suruj and continued its name, the names by which it was known, its geographical location in the south west of the city of Edessa, and its borders, to the east by Harran, to the south by Qal'at Ja'bar, and to the west by Tell Basher.
It talks about the history during the Islamic era, and the siege of Iyad bin Ghanem of the city during the caliphate of Omar bin Al-Khattab, but he could not conquer it, because of its high defenses and the valor of its people, which prompted him to make peace with its people. In the Maoist era, the Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik settled about sixty thousand Arabs and Turkmens in the eastern plain of Suruj. In the Abbasid era, it was very prosperous, especially with its abundance of trees. The city of Suruj was invaded by the Byzantine Empire in 952A.D/341 AH, and the invaders killed and looted its population.
Suruj remained under Islamic rule until the Crusaders took control of it at the end of the fifth century AH / eleventh century AD, and it was within the Crusader Emirate of Edessa, which was founded by Baldwin I. In their lands as tenants, taxes of all kinds were imposed on them and they continued in this state until Imad al-Din Zangi liberated it from the Crusaders in 539 AH / 1145 AD.
The conditions of the city were unstable during the Ayyubid era because of the ongoing conflicts between the members of the Ayyubid house. Sometimes it was subject to King Al-Afdal bin Salah al-Din, sometimes to his uncle Saif al-Din al-Adil, and some other times to al-Malik al-Kamil Ibn Saif al-Din al-Adil and at other times to Ashraf Ibn al-Adil. The city and its surroundings remained a subject of conflict between the members of the Ayyubid house until it was subjected to the Mongol invasion led by Hulagu in 659 AH /1261A.D.and a massacre was committed in Suruj by the Tatars.