Maslama was among "the most celebrated generals of the Umayyad house", in the words of the historian
Patricia Crone. As the commander of the great assault on Constantinople and the "founder of Islamic Derbent", for over twenty years in the early 8th century, Maslama was "one of the principal props of Umayyad power and a foremost actor on the stage of the East", according to the historian
Douglas M. Dunlop. His fame spread far and wide in the
Muslim world, and his exploits and chivalry passed into legend.
Legendary traditions In later traditions, Maslama's fortification of Derbent was parallelized with the
similar efforts by the 6th-century Sasanian monarch
Khosrow Anushirvan and even with
Alexander the Great's legendary '
Wall of Alexander', meant to keep
Gog and Magog (here equated with the Khazars) at bay. His activity in the region ensured his continued presence in the traditions of North Caucasus Muslims. Thus, according to the 13th-century geographer
Zakariya al-Qazwini, Muslims went on pilgrimage to a mosque near Derbent where a sword reputed to have belonged to Maslama was kept in its
mihrab. Maslama's attempt to capture Constantinople in particular became celebrated in later Muslim literature, with several surviving accounts, mostly semi-fictional, in which the historical defeat was transformed into a sort of victory: Maslama was said to have departed only after symbolically entering the Byzantine capital on his horse accompanied by thirty riders; Leo received him with honour and led him to the
Hagia Sophia, where the emperor paid homage to the Arab general. The tales of the siege influenced similar episodes in
Arabic epic literature, where Maslama appears associated with Abdallah al-Battal, another legendary Arab hero of the wars against Byzantium. His campaign against Constantinople continued to provide inspiration to later Muslim authors, from the ascribed to the 13th-century Andalusian mystic
Ibn Arabi, to the of the 17th-century Ottoman poet Nargisi. Furthermore, Byzantine tradition, as recorded in the 10th-century
De Administrando Imperio, held that during the siege Maslama convinced the Byzantines to build Constantinople's first
mosque, near the city's
praetorium. In reality, the mosque near the
praetorium was most likely erected in about 860, as a result of an Arab embassy in that year. It survived down to the
sack of the city by the
Fourth Crusade. Later
Ottoman tradition also ascribed the building of the
Arap Mosque (located outside Constantinople proper in
Galata) to Maslama, although it erroneously dated this to around 686, probably confusing Maslama's attack with the
first Arab siege in the 670s.
Land development and reclamation projects Several Umayyad princes were granted estates by the caliphs, usually land of little value, which the princes developed for profit. Abd al-Malik or al-Walid I granted Maslama an estate at
Balis and its environs, where agriculture was rain-dependent. The previous inhabitants of Balis had fled the town during the early 7th-century
Muslim conquest and it was re-settled by Syrian Arab tribal warriors who converted to Islam. Upon his own initiative or per the inhabitants' request, Maslama revitalized the lands by digging a canal there, called Nahr Maslama after him, to irrigate its fields, and built a wall around Balis. The estate was not subject to the land tax () paid by non-Muslims; it paid the minimal
tithe () to the state. Maslama collected one third of the remaining yield, the rest going to the inhabitants, who were effectively sharecroppers. An extensive former canal that was excavated near the site of
Dibsi Faraj (medieval Qasirin), in the 1970s, has been identified with Nahr Maslama. The canal ran parallel to the Euphrates river, corresponding with medieval accounts tracing Nahr Maslama's route from Balis through Qasirin to the site of
Siffin (
Tell Abu Hureyra). The 8th-century
Syriac Chronicle of Zuqnin mentions that Maslama built several villages and forts along the canal. The early Muslim sources mention one fortified village he founded, Na'ura (Waterwheel), between Balis and
Aleppo, which has not been identified. It remained inhabited at least until the 10th century. Between his frequent military campaigns and his other estates in Syria and the Jazira, it is unlikely Maslama spent significant time in Balis before his retirement. In his absence, the Umayyads at Balis were led by his brother
Sa'id al-Khayr. Maslama founded the dual site of
Hisn Maslama and
Bajadda on both sides of the
Balikh River valley. There, he built a fortified compound and dug a canal, also known as Nahr Maslama, to transport water from the Balikh to a large cistern which supplied the new town, whose inhabitants were Muslim landed settlers. He granted Bajadda to one of his Qaysi lieutenants,
Asid ibn Zafir al-Sulami, who further developed it. Hisn Maslama, which Maslama probably used as one of his residences, was probably abandoned after the mid-9th century. Another of Maslama's major land reclamation projects was in the
marshes of southern Iraq. There, frequent breaches of embankments caused mass flooding, which ruined the farmlands of the region. Al-Walid I would not fund the restoration of the farms due to the high cost, estimated to be 3,000,000
dirhams. Instead, Maslama volunteered to pay the sum in exchange for the Caliph granting him the land. Maslama drained the marshes by digging a canal and brought farmers to cultivate the reclaimed lands, enabling his estates to prosper. According to the historian
Hugh N. Kennedy, Maslama "clearly recouped his investment, presumably from a share of the crops".
Building works The historian
Jere L. Bacharach speculates that Maslama was the most likely founder of the
Umayyad Mosque of Aleppo, whose original construction is otherwise attributed to al-Walid I or Sulayman. Most of the present structure dates to the 12th–13th centuries. Bacharach bases his view on Maslama's governorship of Qinnasrin and his possible use of Aleppo as a base for the , for which a
congregational mosque to serve the troops would have made sense. The Umayyad-era (castle) in Balis, a fortified residence with a canal and a wool production center, was possibly a construction by Maslama or Sa'id al-Khayr. Maslama may have been responsible for some construction works in the town of
Qinnasrin. In Damascus, he had an
iwan (enclosed hall) called after him alongside the residences of other Umayyad dynasts, including the caliphal
Khadra Palace, situated behind the
Umayyad Mosque.
Descendants Maslama's descendants inherited his estates and continued living in northern Syria after his death. In the aftermath of the
Abbasid Revolution, which toppled the Umayyads in 750, an Abbasid officer harassed Maslama's family and seized his fortified residence at Na'ura. The incident provoked the Qaysi allies of Maslama's family, led by Zufar ibn al-Harith's grandson
Abu al-Ward, to revolt against the Abbasids. The revolt was soon after quashed and Maslama's estates were confiscated and transferred to the Abbasids. Around the same time, a son of Maslama, Muhammad, raised a revolt in
Harran, but it was also suppressed. The Abbasid caliphs were nonetheless sympathetic toward the memory of Maslama and toward his family. This was probably due to Maslama's reputation as a sober Muslim and fame as a (warrior) against the Byzantines. His descendants remained in northern Syria, where several were still recorded in the sources around a century later. His grandson,
Muhammad ibn Yazid al-Hisni, a poet, was spared by Caliph
al-Mahdi when the latter visited Hisn Maslama in 780, despite making a slight toward the Abbasids in verse. One of Maslama's descendants,
Maslama ibn Ya'qub, seized control of Damascus with the backing of Qaysi tribesmen and proclaimed himself caliph in , during the
Great Abbasid Civil War. He was ousted shortly after and died in hiding. A 10th-century descendant of Maslama,
Abu Bakr ibn al-Azraq, was a prominent poet in the
Fatimid Caliphate and
Umayyad Spain. ==Notes==