THE EASTERN CALIPHATE

I1mmediately on his succession Walid had confirmed Hajjaj in the government of Irak, and appointed as governor of Medina his cousin, Omar b. Abdul-Aziz, who was received there with joy, his piety and gentle character being well known. Under his government important works were undertaken at Medina and Mecca by order of Walid, who, having no rivals to struggle against, was able to give his attention to pacific occupations. The mosque of Medina was enlarged, wells were sunk, the streets widened, and hospitals established. At Mecca many improvements were introduced. The reputation of Omar attracted to the two holy cities a great number of the inhabitants of Irak, who were groaning under the iron hand of Hajjaj.

2The latter, who was not a man to let his prey escape from his grasp, was so urgent with Walid that he obtained the dismissal of Omar b. Abdul-Aziz in the year 93, and the appointment of Othman b. Hayyan at Medina, and of Khalid b. Abdallah at Mecca. These two prefects compelled the refugees at Mecca and Medina to return to Irak, where many of them were cruelly treated and even put to death by Hajjaj. It was probably his cruelty which drove so many men of Irak to enlist in the armies of the East and the South; and this may in some degree account for the unheard-of successes of Kotaiba b. Muslim in Transoxiana, and of Muhammed b. Kasim in India.

3They may also be explained by the ambition of Hajjaj, who, it is said, cherished the project of creating a vast empire for himself to the east and south of the Moslem realm, and had secretly promised the government of China to the first of his generals who should reach that country. Be this as it may, in the course of a very few years Kotaiba conquered the whole of Bokhara, Khwarizm, and Transoxiana or Mawara-annahr, as far as the frontiers of China. Meanwhile Muhammed b. Kasim invaded Mokram, Sind, and Multan, carried off an immense booty, and reduced the women and children to slavery. In Armenia and Asia Minor, Maslama, brother of the caliph Walid, and his lieutenants, also obtained numerous successes against the Greeks. In Armenia, Maslama even advanced as far as the Caucasus.