Ibn Saʿd relates: Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar informed us; Jubayr ibn ʿAbd Allah and Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allah, both descendants of ʿUtbah ibn Ghazwān, narrated to us, saying:

ʿUmar appointed ʿUtbah ibn Ghazwān over Basra. He is the one who turned Basra into a garrison town and laid out its districts. Before that the place was called al-Ubullah. He built the mosque from reeds and never erected a house there (1).

It is also said that Basra had previously been called “the Land of India.” The first person to settle it was ʿUtbah, and he had eight hundred men with him. The city was named Basra because of some black stones found there. When the population grew, they built seven hamlets of sun-dried brick, two of them in al-Khuraybah, and its inhabitants used to raid the Persian mountains.

Ibn Saʿd further says: Saʿd used to send letters to ʿUtbah while ʿUtbah served under him, and ʿUtbah found that burdensome. He asked ʿUmar for permission to come to him, and ʿUmar allowed it. ʿUtbah appointed al-Mughīra to act in his place over Basra, then complained to ʿUmar about Saʿd’s overbearing conduct. ʿUmar remained silent, so ʿUtbah repeated the complaint and pressed the matter.

ʿUmar said, “What harm is it to you, O ʿUtbah, to acknowledge authority for a man of Quraysh?”

He replied, “But am I not of Quraysh myself?”

He added, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘An ally of a people is counted as one of them’ (2), and I have long-standing companionship.” ʿUmar said, “No.”