Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Al-Hajjaj ibn YusufAl-Thaqafi

Seal of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf

Born Kulayb ibn YusufEarly June AD 661 / AH 40Ta'if, the Hejaz (modern-daySaudi Arabia)

Died 714 (aged 53)

Ethnicity Arab

Occupation Minister of defence, Politician,Administrator and Teacher

Known for Governor of Iraq

Religion Islam

Al-Hajjaj ibn YusufFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (Arabic: / ALA:al-ajjj bin Ysuf (or otherwise transliterated),also known more fully as al-Hajjaj ibn Yusufal-Kulayb or al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi[1])(born early June AD 661 / AH 40 AD 714 / AH 95)was a controversial[1] Arab administrator, politicianand minister of defence of the Umayyad caliphate.

Al-Hajjaj was an intelligent and tough ruler. He hasalso been described as draconian, although modernhistorical treatments acknowledge the influence oflater Abbasid historians and biographers who wereopposed to the fiercely loyal and pro-Umayyadal-Hajjaj.[1] Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef played a crucial rolein the selection of military commanders. He instilleddiscipline in the soldier ranks which led to thesuccessful expansion of the Islamic empire to itsfarthest extent. He ensured all important recordswere translated into Arabic, and for the first time heconvinced caliph Abd Al-Malik to adopt a specialcurrency for the Muslim world. This led to war withthe Byzantine Empire under Justinian II. TheByzantines were led by Leontios at the Battle ofSebastopolis in 692 and were decisively defeated.

Contents1 Early life2 Career

2.1 Soldier2.2 Governor of Iraq2.3 Asia

3 Reign as recounted in the Chach Nama3.1 Palestine

4 Negative portrayal5 Cultural influence

5.1 Linguistic reform5.2 Coinage

6 References7 Bibliography

Early lifeAl-Hajjaj was born (661 AD) in the city of Ta'if in the Hijaz, in modern-day Saudi Arabia. His nameat birth was Kulayb, but later he changed it to al-Hajjaj. He was a teacher of Quran to young

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students in Al-Taif. He migrated away from his city towards Damascus later on during his early life.

Career

Soldier

Al-ajjj first came to notice in the early years of the reign of Abd al-Malik when he set out froma-if to Damascus to serve in the shurta "police force" under Rawh ibn Zinba' al-Judhami, vizierof the Caliph. He attracted the attention of Abd al-Malik because he rapidly restored disciplineamong the mutinous troops with whom the Caliph was about to set out for Iraq against Musab ibnal-Zubayr.

During the campaign against Mus'ab, al-ajjj seems to have led the rearguard and to havedistinguished himself by some feats of valour. After the victory over Musab at Maskin on theDujayl (Little Tigris River) in 72 AH/691, on the Caliph's orders he set out from Kufa in the samemonth at the head of about 2000 Syrians against Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. He advancedunopposed as far as his native a-if, which he took without any fighting and used as a base.

The Caliph had charged al-ajjj first to negotiate with ibn al-Zubayr and to assure him of freedomfrom punishment if he capitulated but, if the opposition continued, to starve him out by siege, buton no account to let the affair result in bloodshed in Mecca. Since the negotiations failed andal-ajjj lost patience, he sent a courier to ask Abdu l-Malik for reinforcements and also forpermission to take the city by force.

Al-ajjj received both. Angered at being prevented by Ibn al-Zubayr from performing Hajj,al-ajjj bombarded Mecca, going so far as to target the Kabah and its pilgrims during the Hajj.

After the siege had lasted seven months and 10,000 men (among them two of ibn az-Zubayr'ssons) had gone over to al-ajjj, Ibn al-Zubayr and loyal followers, including his youngest son,were killed in the fighting around the Kabah on Jumadah I 73 AH/October 692 AD.[2] Al-ajjj'ssiege of the Hijaz resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent inhabitants. While subsequentlygoverning the Hijaz, al-ajjj was known for his severe rule.

Governor of Iraq

In AH 75/AD 694, Caliph Abd al-Malik sent al-ajjj to govern Iraq.[3] Al-ajjj continued to beviewed as cruel and his reputation was not helped when he fought and eventually crushed aKharijite rebellion under Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath from 699-701 CE.

For his considerable successes, al-ajjj was also made governor of some provinces in Persia,where he was again tasked with putting down rebellions. However, his severe tactics led him tomake many enemies, who would come to power after his death.

With the ascent of Al-Walid I, ajjj's reputation grew due to the selection and deployment ofnumerous successful generals who expanded the empire. He was given these powers due to hishigh status in the Umayyad government and he exhibited a lot of control over the provinces that hegoverned.

Among these generals was the teenaged Muhammad ibn-Qasm, who in 712 was sent to Sindh inIndia, now part of modern PakistanPakistan, and Qutayba ibn Muslim who was sent to conquerTurkestan, which he did.

Al-ajjj's most successful general was Ms ibn Nusayr, who consolidated control over North


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Africa and sent Tariq ibn Ziyd to conquer Spain.

Al-ajjj died at Wasit, in Iraq, in 714. The year after, al-Walid died as well, and his brotherSulayman ibn Abdi l-Malik came to power. Sulayman was indebted to many opponents of al-ajjjfor their political support in getting him elected Caliph, so he recalled all of al-ajjj's generals andhad them tortured to death in prison.

The relationship between al-Hajjj ibn Ysuf and Muhammad ibn Qasm has always been one ofgreat debate. Many accounts list al-Hajjj as being his uncle or father-in-law.

Asia

Reign as recounted in the Chach NamaThe Chach Nama is the oldest chronicle of the Arab conquest of Sindh.

The primary reason noted in the Chach Nama for the expedition by al-Hajjaj against Raja Dahir,was the raid by pirates off the coast of Debal, resulting in the capturing both gifts to the caliph fromthe King of Serendib (modern Sri Lanka) as well as the female pilgrims on board who werecaptured.[4]

The Chach Nama reports that upon hearing of the matter, al-Hajjaj wrote a letter to the Raja, andupon unsuccessful resolution being reached, launched a military attack. Other reasons attributedto al-Hajjaj's interest was in (1) gaining a foothold in the Makran, Balochistan and Sindh regions,(2) protecting the maritime interests, and (3) to teach the armies from Sindh a lesson, forparticipating alongside Persians in various battles such as those at Nahawand, Salasal andQdisiyyah and the granting of refuge to fleeing rebel chieftains.

There is another untold history that al-Hajjaj's decision to send a powerful army of soldiers,commanded by his nephew, Muhammad ibn Qasim, was actually an act of revenge which wasspurred by Raja Dahir's refusal of handing over some Arab exiles who had fallen out of favour withHajjaj and had taken asylum in Sindh.

Palestine

The two sons of al-Muhallab, an Azdi former governor of Khorasan and a military commanderunder al-Hajjaj, took refuge in Palestine with two Azdi retainers of the governor there, findingthemselves now hounded angrily[5] by al-Hajjaj against a background of inter-tribal rivalry andaccused by him of embezzlement.[5] The caliph, al-Walid I, issued an order to his brother,Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, the pro-Azdi governor of Palestine, to send the sons of al-Muhallab toDamascus. Sulayman sent the elder brother, Yazid,[6] and his own son in chains to the caliph,who, however, showed them mercy.[5]

Negative portrayalIt is said, although without any certainty, that Al-Hajjaj killed the last companion of the ProphetMuhammad, Jabir ibn Abd-Allah. He is recorded by Tha'lib (La'if, 142) as one of the four mento have killed more than one hundred thousand men (the others being Abu Harb, Abu Muslim andBabak).[7]

Cultural influence


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Silver dirham following Sassanidmotives, struck in the name of al-Hajjaj

Linguistic reform

Al-ajjj bin Ysuf's period saw the Arabs on their zenith and he played an essential part in it. Heis also credited for introducing the diacritic points to the Arabic script and for the first time Al-ajjjconvinced the caliph to adopt a special currency for the Muslim world. This led to war with theByzantine Empire under Justinian II. The Byzantines were led by Leontios at the Battle ofSebastopolis in 692 in Asia Minor and were decisively defeated by the Caliph after the defection ofa large contingent of Slavs. The Islamic currency was then made the only currency exchange inthe Muslim world. Also, many reforms happened in his time as regards agriculture and commerce.

The administrative language of Iraq officially changed from Middle Persian (Pahlavi) to Arabicduring his governorship. The records of administrative documents (diwans) of Iraq transferred fromPahlavi to Arabic.

Al-Hajjaj was not happy with the prevalence of the Persian language in the dwn and ordered theofficial language of the conquered lands to be replaced by Arabic.[8]

When Qutaibah bin Muslim under the command of Al-ajjj ibn Ysuf was sent toKhwarazmia with a military expedition and conquered it for the second time, he swiftlykilled whoever wrote the Khwarazmian native language that knew of the Khwarazmianheritage, history, and culture. He then killed all their Zoroastrian priests and burned andwasted their books, until gradually the illiterate only remained, who knew nothing ofwriting, and hence their history was mostly forgotten.[9]

It is written that Al-ajjj ibn Ysuf once entered a city. There was an elder clericwhose prayers were widely believed to bring blessings. He asked the cleric to recite aprayer for him. The cleric prayed: "O God, take his life away!" Al-ajjj, startled, burstout: "Old man, what kind of prayer is this that you recite for me?!" The old man replied:"It is for your own good and the benefit of the people."[10]

Coinage

Al-Hajjaj was instrumental to the development of coinagein the Islamic world, entrusting the first Islamic mint, atWasit in Iraq.[11]

References

^ a b c Taher 1998: 1301.^ Dietrich, A., Encyclopaedia of Islam, CD-ROM edition,version 1.0

2.

^ Ibn al-Athir, Kamal (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiya, 1987),v. 4, 138

3.

^ Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg: The Chachnamah, An Ancient History of Sind, Giving the Hindu perioddown to the Arab Conquest. Commissioners Press 1900, Section 18: "It is related that the king ofSarandeb* sent some curiosities and presents from the island of pearls, in a small fleet of boats by sea,for Hajjj. He also sent some beautiful pearls and valuable jewels, as well as some Abyssinian maleand female slaves, some pretty presents, and unparalleled rarities to the capital of the Khalfah. Anumber of muslim men women also went with them, with the intention of visiting the Kaabah, andseeing the capital city of the Khalfahs. When they arrived in the province of Kzrn, the boat wasovertaken by a storm, and drifting from the right way, floated to the coast of Debal. Here a band ofrobbers, of the tribe of Nagmrah, who were residents of Debal, seized all the eight boats, tookpossession of the rich silken cloths they contained, captured the men and women, and carried away all

4.


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the valuable property and jewels." [1] (http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=12701030&ct=18)^ a b c Gil 1997: 825.^ It is not clear whether both the sons of al-Muhallab, or just Yazid, were sent. (Gil 1997: 82).6.^ Gil 1997: 296 n. 297.^ Frye, Richard Nelson, Zarrinkoub, Abdolhossein et al. (London, 1975), Cambridge History of Iran, 4,46

8.

^

. Ab Raynal-Brn, The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries, 35, 36, 48.

9.

^ Saadi, Gulistan.10.^ Gil 1997: 11011.

BibliographyBrowne, Edward Granville (2002), Islamic Medicine, 16. ISBN 81-87570-19-9Dennett, Daniel Clement, Conversion and the poll tax in early Islam, 38.Frye, Richard Nelson, Zarrinkoub, Abdolhossein et al. (London, 1975), Cambridge History ofIran, 4.Gil, Moshe (1997 [1992]). A history of Palestine, 634 - 1099 (http://books.google.com/books?id=M0wUKoMJeccC&printsec=frontcover&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false).Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-5215-9984-9.Encyclopaedic survey of Islamic culture, Volume 13 By Mohamed Taher(http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=SaAK64-Fvb0C&pg=PA130&dq=Al-Hajjaj+Ibn+Yusuf+Al-Thaqafi&hl=en&ei=V_qhTJzPLYOavgPO7vHnAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Al-Hajjaj%20Ibn%20Yusuf%20Al-Thaqafi&f=false)

Taher, Mohamed, ed. (1998), "Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf Al-Thaqafi", Encyclopedic survey of Islamicculture, New Delhi: Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd., ISBN 81-7488-487-4

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