Zuṭṭ
[2] Originally inhabitants of lower Indus Valley, Jats were present in Mesopotamia from the 5th century AD since the times of the Sasanian Empire, although their main migration occurred after the establishment of Umayyad Caliphate.
They were one of the prominent ethnic groups in lower Iraq during the Islamic Golden Age, supplying mercenary soldiers to the Muslim states.
At the time of Umayyad conquest of Sindh in the early 8th century, Zutt (Jats) populated Makran and Turan (including Qiqan, modern Kalat) as far as the east bank of Indus river, where cities of Mansura and Multan were located.
[9] Muhammad reportedly compared Musa (Moses) with them in physique, and stated him to be of brown complexion, straight hair and tall stature, resembling Zutt.
Due to it, a number of Zutt migrated, often with great herds of water buffalo, to the marshland of southern Iraq where they introduced large-scale rice farming.
[13] Zutt formed a large population of the garrison town of Basra, where they became allies of the Arab tribe of Banu Hanzala in the inter-tribal warfare.
The incident in which they captured two treasure ships coming from Ceylon to Basra became casus belli for the Umayyad invasion of Sindh.
[31] In addition to Zutt, several other groups from Indus Valley had permanently settled into Mesopotamia, including Sāyabija and Andāghar, who were at times considered as part of Jats, and sometimes described separately.
[34][35] Many of them had been taken as captives between 659 and 664 by Abd Allah bin Sawwar al-Abdi to Iraq, who was appointed as governor of regions surrounding Sindh.
[36] Always armed with arrows, whether cavalry or infantry, these Zutt Qayqaniyya units were master archers of the caliphate, and acted as auxiliary group for shurta.
[36][35] Qiqaniyya as well as Bukhariyya, an Iranian unit of soldiers, were sent to suppress revolt of Zayd ibn Ali in 740 by Umayyad Caliphate.
[39] In the first half of 8th century, many of them were settled with herds of buffalo in the regions of Massisa and Amanus (present-day Turkey) to combat the large number of lions found there.
[25] During the Abbasid civil war (809 – 813), al-Sāri ibn al-Hakam al-Zutti gained control of the lower Egypt, including the capital city of Fustat in 813 and ruled it till his death in 820.
[41] Ubaydallah's reign came to an end in 826, when al-Ma'mun sought to achieve control over the country by dispatching to it the Tahirid general Abdallah ibn Tahir.
[50] The continued political suppression, as well as relative weakness of Abbasid control after the devastating civil war, encouraged the Zutt living in lower Iraq to rise in rebellion in 820 under the leadership of Muhammad ibn Uthman.
Early Abbasid efforts to defeat Zutt proved unsuccessful, and they continued to levy taxes over caravans and to raid neighbouring regions of Basra.
After the defeat of Ahmad bin Sa'd al-Bahili, Abbasids sent a large force of more than 10,000 under their general Ujayf ibn Anbasa in 834 to Wasit, which was a stronghold of Zutt.
[57]: 189 Zutt, along with Turks and Daylamis, formed part of army of Buyid prince Abu Nasr Shah-Firuz, ruler of Fasa, when he waged war against Baha' al-Dawla for the control of province of Fars in 1000 AD.
[50] Abbasid caliphate itself disintegrated after the anarchy at Samarra, and the regions of Makran, Sind and Multan became independent under Ma'danids, Hābbarids and Munābbihids, respectively.
[58] During the same period, Jats left Makran and moved upward to the fertile but thinly populated Punjab plains, which, since 16th century, have been dominated by them.
[52] However, there is no evidence of any direct relation between the two groups, as Romani language does not contain any significant Arabic loan words,[52] and his thesis remains unproven.
