After Basra Was Destroyed...

Basra from the Shatt al Arab sometime before WW I

Iraq, Afghanistan....
Back in the good old days, Basra revolted against the government. Maybe it was during the Zanj Wars? It's odd that all this time we've spent mucking around in Iraq that we've never spent much time looking into some of the interesting history.
The Zanj Rebellion was a revolt of the black African slaves in Iraq, a good deal like Sparatacus' revolt against the Roman oppression of slavery. It was dark and bloody, and it lasted a long time. Anyhow, Basra revolted. The Caliph raged against the rebels. Basra held out.
At last, Basra was enveloped, it was broken, it was looted, and it was destroyed root and branch. The Caliph thought this was a good idea for a victory march and festival in the Capitol City. So there was a great military victory...but it was after Basra had been destroyed.

And "after the destruction of Basra" thus became a saying in the Arab world for the type of leadership which sees victory in total destruction, or lets itself be deluded into seeing reasons to party after everything has been laid waste. We learned in the last Good War to see victory in total destruction. We did not learn much else, nor have we learned anything new.

* * notes Some people state that the Zanj Revolt was not a slave revolt, rather a rebellion of African Muslims brought from their homelands to work in the marshes of Iraq.  

The Kharijites - or Khawarij - were a sect in ancient Islam that held views of the extreme equality of all men. Obviously, they were heretical. However, the Zanj leaders showed signs of being very much influenced by the Kharijites. 

The banner of the Zanj was inscribed with a surah from the Qur'an: Lo! Allah has bought from the believers their lives and fortunes, because the Garden (Paradise) will be theirs... the surah continues They shall fight in the way of Allah and they shall slay and be slain. This is a promise binding on Allah in the Torah and in the Gospel and in the Qur'an. Who fulfills his promise better than Allah? Rejoice, then, in your bargain that you have struck, for that is the supreme triumph. 
The early Kharijites rebels referred to themselves as Shurat which may mean "seller" or "buyer", in this case meaning "sellers" of their lives and fortunes to Allah for His purposes.
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