Misplaced Pages

#595404

147-645: The city was built by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf in c. 702 CE on the west bank of the Tigris across from the historical city of Kashkar . Al-Hajjaj is said to have taken the doors for the citadel and the main mosque from Zanzaward . Al-Hajjaj died in Wasit in 714. To quote UNESCO: Wasit is an Islamic city built in the last quarter of the first Hijri century (7th century CE) by Al-Hajaj bin Yousif Al-Thaqafi, as an administrative centre for Iraq. As an ancient city its circumference

294-635: A charge by an anonymous source recorded by al-Tabari that al-Hajjaj massacred between 11,000 and 130,000 men in Basra following his suppression of Ibn al-Ash'ath's revolt, in contrast to the older traditional Muslim sources, which held that al-Hajjaj granted a general pardon in Kufa and Basra after his victory for rebels who renounced Ibn al-Ash'ath. Al-Hajjaj's first wife was Umm Aban, a daughter of Nu'man ibn Bashir al-Ansari , an aide of Caliph Mu'awiya and onetime governor of Kufa. Before being appointed governor of Iraq, he

441-428: A daughter of al-Muhallab, but according to the historian al-Tabari , divorced her in 708/09 because she cried audibly at the torture of her brother Yazid in al-Hajjaj's prison. With his marriage to Umm Banin bint al-Mughira ibn Abd al-Rahman, a great-granddaughter of al-Harith ibn Hisham , al-Hajjaj became one of the few non-Qurayshites to marry into the aristocratic Banu Makhzum clan; two of his sons also married into

588-454: A handful of followers fled to Kufa, where he took farewell of his family. As Hawting commented, the contrast "between the discipline and organisation of the Umayyads and their largely Syrian support and the lack of these qualities among their opponents in spite of, or perhaps rather because of, the more righteous and religious flavour of the opposition" is a recurring pattern in the civil wars of

735-520: A harsh and demanding master. Widely feared by his contemporaries, he became a deeply controversial figure and an object of deep-seated enmity among later, pro- Abbasid writers, who ascribed to him persecutions and mass executions. Al-Hajjaj was born in ca. 661 in the city of Ta'if in the Hejaz (western Arabia , where Mecca and Medina are located). He belonged to the family of Abu Aqil, called after al-Hajjaj's paternal great-grandfather. The family

882-546: A heavy defeat against the ruler of the kingdom of Zabulistan , known as the Zunbil , and now al-Hajjaj ordered Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath , the most pre-eminent member of the Kufan aristocracy (the ashrāf ) to lead an army against the Zunbil. This army was drawn from the Kufan soldiery, and such was the splendour of its equipment, or perhaps the "proud and haughty manner of

1029-605: A huge super-province or vice-royalty stretching from Mesopotamia to the still expanding borders in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent , comprising half of the Caliphate's territory and producing more than half its income. In addition, the post was of particular political sensitivity due to the long history of Kharijism and political dissent in Iraq, particularly in Kufa. This discontent

1176-563: A letter to the Raja, and upon unsuccessful resolution being reached, launched a military attack. Other reasons attributed to al-Hajjaj's interest was gaining a foothold in Makran ( Balochistan ) and Sindh, protecting the maritime interests of the caliphate, and punishing the armies of Sindh for participating alongside the Persians in various battles such as those at Salasal , Qadisiyya and Nahawand and also

1323-516: A mass rebellion led by the Kufan Arab nobleman Ibn al-Ash'ath whose ranks spanned the Arab troops, Muslim converts and religious elites of Iraq. Consequently, al-Hajjaj further tightened control over the province, founding the city of Wasit to house the loyalist Syrian troops whom he thereafter relied on to enforce his rule. Al-Hajjaj was a highly capable though ruthless governor, strict in character, and

1470-628: A member of a noble family from the Kinda tribe in the Hadramawt in eastern Yemen . His grandfather, Ma'dikarib ibn Qays, better known by his nickname al-Ash'ath ( lit.   ' He with the dishevelled hair ' ), was an important chieftain who submitted to Muhammad , but rebelled during the Ridda wars . Defeated, al-Ash'ath was nevertheless pardoned and married Caliph Abu Bakr 's sister, Umm Farwa, who became his chief wife. He went on to participate in

1617-412: A month in Kufa, before setting out to meet Ibn al-Ash'ath. The two armies met at Maskin, on the river Dujayl. After two weeks of skirmishing, al-Hajjaj delivered the final blow by launching a simultaneous attack on the rebel camp from two sides: while he with the main part of his army attacked from one side, a portion of his army, guided by a shepherd, crossed the marshes and launched itself on the camp from

SECTION 10

#1732851787596

1764-424: A result, the governor of al-Mada'in , Uthman ibn Qatan, wrote to al-Hajjaj criticizing Ibn al-Ash'ath's leadership as timid and ineffective. Al-Hajjaj responded by giving command to Uthman, but when the latter attacked Shabib on 20 March 696, the government army suffered a heavy defeat, losing around 900 men and fleeing to Kufa. Uthman himself was killed, while Ibn al-Ash'ath, who lost his horse, managed to escape with

1911-525: A success and "helped to promote the circulation of money and the stabilization of economic conditions" (Dietrich). Al-Hajjaj also ordered the translation of the tax registers ( diwan ) into Arabic from the Persian in which it had hitherto been kept, so that he could supervise it personally. Following his victory over the Iraqis, al-Hajjaj began a series of reforms aimed at restoring tranquility and prosperity to

2058-405: A year later. Modern scholars generally favour the former interpretation. By the time the army reached Fars , it had become clear that deposing al-Hajjaj could not be done without deposing Caliph Abd al-Malik as well, and the revolt evolved from a mutiny into a full-blown anti-Umayyad uprising, with the troops renewing their oath of allegiance ( bay'ah ) to Ibn al-Ash'ath. The reasons for

2205-410: Is 16 kilometres. It was abandoned in the tenth Hijri century (16th century CE), after the change in the course of the river Tigris . Its remains stood sound and safe due to its distance from constructive and agricultural influence. Most of its buildings are of bricks. A survey was carried out from 1936 to 1942, and another in 1985. The large mosque was cleared out in four stages from the seventh hijri, to

2352-542: Is a hadith report in Sunan Abu Dawood , which details eleven changes. Researcher Umar Ibn Ibrahim Radwan, argues that the changes could be categorised as differences in the qira'at . Doubting the authenticity of the hadith report, Radwan argues that the codex of Uthman, a caliph favored by al-Hajjaj, had already been memorised by thousands of Muslims and that the Abbasid dynasty , which was known for polemically showcasing

2499-464: Is corroborated by the different rhetoric and actions of Ibn al-Ash'ath and his followers, as reported in the sources: the former was ready and willing to compromise with the Umayyads, and continued to fight only because he had no alternative, while the great mass of his followers, motivated by discontent against the Umayyad regime couched in religious terms, were far more uncompromising and willing to carry on

2646-937: Is famed for its notable men, the living teachers among whom furnish lessons for meditation." It was a garrison town , halfway between Kufa and Basra , hence its name. This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on September 7, 2000, in the Cultural category. This Iraq geographical location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi ( Arabic : أبو محمد الحجاج بن يوسف بن الحكم بن أبي عقيل الثقفي , romanized :  Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī ʿAqīl al-Thaqafī ; c.  661–714 ), known simply as al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ( Arabic : الحجاج بن يوسف , romanized :  al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ),

2793-524: Is obscure, except for his having been a schoolmaster in his hometown—another source of derision to his enemies—where he taught his pupils to copy and recite the Quran . His father Yusuf ibn al-Hakam and elder brother Muhammad were also teachers in Ta'if. After a short, undetermined period, al-Hajjaj and his father left their teaching jobs and took up military service under Caliph Yazid I ( r.  680–683 ), who

2940-600: Is the philosopher al-Kindi ( c.  801 –873). Another uprising, that of Zayd ibn Ali , a great-grandson of Ali, broke out in 740 . Zayd also promised to right injustices (restoration of the ata , distribution of the revenue from the Sawad, an end to distant campaigns) and to restore rule "according to the Quran and the Sunna". Once more, the Kufans deserted it at the critical moment, and

3087-526: Is unclear whether Ibn al-Ash'ath himself had joined the army from the outset or whether, according to an alternative tradition, he had originally been sent to Kirman to punish a local leader, Himyan ibn Adi al-Sadusi, who had refused to help the governors of Sistan and Makran . A different account suggests that he had been sent to fight the Kharijites. Historian A. A. Dixon opined that the 9th-century account of Ibn A'tham , according to which Ibn al-Ash'ath and

SECTION 20

#1732851787596

3234-461: The Qurra was due to a number of reasons: as Iraqis, they shared the grievances against al-Hajjaj, but as religious purists, they also suspected al-Hajjaj of being disinterested in religion, and espoused a more egalitarian treatment of the mawali , as opposed to al-Hajjaj's policies aimed chiefly at extracting revenue from them. Dixon furthermore draws attention to the past Shi'a affiliations of some of

3381-461: The Chach Nama , the oldest chronicle of the Arab conquest of Sindh, the primary reason al-Hajjaj ordered an expedition against the region's ruler Raja Dahir , was the pirate raid off the coast of Debal , resulting in the capturing of gifts to the caliph from the king of Serendib (modern Sri Lanka) as well as the female pilgrims on board who were captured. Upon hearing of the matter, al-Hajjaj wrote

3528-583: The Arghandab River found that the Zunbil had withdrawn his forces, leaving behind only elderly and the corpses of Ibn Abi Bakra's expedition. Ibn al-Ash'ath then withdrew to Bust to spend the winter of 699/700, and to allow his troops to acclimatize themselves to the unfamiliar conditions of the area. Once al-Hajjaj received Ibn al-Ash'ath's messages informing him of the break in operations, he replied in what Veccia Vaglieri described as "a series of arrogant and offensive messages ordering him to penetrate into

3675-559: The Battle of Maskin in October 691, he, like other followers of Mus'ab, went over to the Umayyads. In early 692, he participated in a campaign against the Azariqa Kharijites in al-Ahwaz , at the head of 5,000 Kufan troops. After the Kharijites were defeated, he went on to take up the governorship of Rayy . In 694, Abd al-Malik appointed the trusted and capable al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf as

3822-524: The Second Fitna as a supporter of the anti-Umayyad rebel Ibn al-Zubayr , being killed in 686/7 in the campaign that overthrew the pro-Shi'a rebel leader Mukhtar al-Thaqafi . Like his father at Siffin, he is denigrated by pro-Shi'a sources for his ambiguous role in the Battle of Karbala in 680, being held responsible for the arrests of Muslim ibn Aqil and Hani ibn Urwa , prominent supporters of Ali's son, al-Husayn . Ibn al-Ash'ath's mother, Umm Amr,

3969-538: The Umayyad Caliphate , most notable for leading a failed rebellion against the Umayyad viceroy of the east, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf , in 700–703. Ibn al-Ash'ath was a scion of a noble family of the Kinda tribe that had settled in the Arab garrison town of Kufa in Iraq . He played a minor role in the Second Fitna (680–692) and then served as governor of Rayy . After the appointment of al-Hajjaj as governor of Iraq and

4116-481: The Zunbil , vigorously resisted Arab expansion . In 700, al-Hajjaj's overbearing behaviour caused Ibn al-Ash'ath and the army to revolt. After patching up an agreement with the Zunbil, the army marched back to Iraq. On the way, the mutiny against al-Hajjaj developed into a full-fledged anti-Umayyad rebellion and acquired religious overtones. Al-Hajjaj initially retreated before the rebels' superior numbers, but quickly defeated and drove them out of Basra . Nevertheless,

4263-543: The "proud and haughty manner of the Kufan soldiers and ashraf who composed it", this army became known in history as the "Peacock Army" ( jaysh al-tawawis ). Two different generals were appointed by al-Hajjaj in succession to command it, before he appointed Ibn al-Ash'ath instead. In view of their bad relations, the sources report that the appointment came as a surprise to many; an uncle of Ibn al-Ash'ath even approached al-Hajjaj and suggested that his nephew might revolt, but al-Hajjaj did not rescind his appointment. It

4410-399: The "religious polemic used by both sides [...] is stereotyped, unspecific and to be found in other contexts", there do appear to have been specific religious grievances, notably the accusation that the Umayyads were neglecting the ritual prayer . It seems that the revolt began as a simple mutiny against an overbearing governor who made impossible demands of the troops, but, at least by the time

4557-651: The 10th century. Moreover, other authors have rejected that the letter had any factual basis, arguing that it was a polemical work. According to the Islamic historical tradition, in c.  700 , al-Hajjaj improved written Arabic by adding diacritical marks to the bare rasm ('script') of early "defective" Arabic so that consonants such as these five letters ـبـ ـتـ ـثـ ـنـ ـيـ (y, n, th, t, b) could be distinguished from one another. However, some historians believe these language reforms occurred earlier in Syria or Iraq before

Wasit - Misplaced Pages Continue

4704-413: The 13th-century historian Ibn Khallikan , was a stomach cancer. The following year, al-Walid died as well, and his brother Sulayman came to power. As the heir apparent, Sulayman had allied with many of al-Hajjaj's opponents, particularly Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, whom he appointed governor of Iraq just after his accession. Possibly having been convinced by such allies that al-Hajjaj had provoked hatred among

4851-410: The 9th century, in Basra, while Aban and Sulayman (or al-Walid) died without progeny. Ibn al-Ash%27ath Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath ( Arabic : عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن الأشعث , romanized :  ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ashʿath ; died 704), commonly known as Ibn al-Ash'ath after his grandfather , was a prominent Arab nobleman and military commander during

4998-419: The 9th-century historians Baladhuri and Ibn A'tham, to apply pressure to his commanders, Ibn al-Ash'ath also fabricated a letter by al-Hajjaj ordering him to dismiss or execute some of them. As modern historians have commented, "little aggravation was needed" (Dixon). The "prospect of a long and difficult campaign so far from Iraq" (Hawting), coupled with existing grievances over al-Hajjaj's harsh administration,

5145-532: The Abu Aqil family was poor and its members had worked as stone carriers and builders. His mother, al-Fari'a, had been married and divorced by al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba , a member of the Thaqif who was appointed governor of Kufa by the first Umayyad caliph, Mu'awiya I ( r.  661–680 ). As a boy, al-Hajjaj acquired the nickname Kulayb ('little dog'), with which he was later derisively referred to. His early life

5292-627: The Caliph's terms. In the subsequent Battle of Dayr al-Jamajim , the rebel army was decisively defeated by al-Hajjaj's Syrian troops. Al-Hajjaj pursued the survivors, who under Ibn al-Ash'ath fled east. Most of the rebels were captured by the governor of Khurasan , while Ibn al-Ash'ath himself fled to Zabulistan. His fate is unclear, as some accounts hold that the Zunbil executed him after al-Hajjaj demanded his surrender, while most sources claim that he committed suicide to avoid being handed over to his enemies. The suppression of Ibn al-Ash'ath's revolt signalled

5439-533: The Christian Arabs of the village of Najran near Kufa saw their tribute raised, and the Asawira of Basra saw their houses destroyed, their salaries reduced, and many were exiled. In order to punish the native Persian aristocracy of the dihqan s, which had survived from pre-Islamic times and allied with the Arab ashraf , al-Hajjaj deliberately did not repair the breaches in the canal system around Kashkar on

5586-591: The Hajj in person in the years 73 and 74  AH (693 and 694 CE), and restored the Ka'aba to the shape and dimensions it had originally, rejecting the alterations made by Ibn al-Zubayr following the first Umayyad siege in 683. Al-Hajjaj was able to restore peace in the Hejaz, but his severity occasioned the frequent personal intervention of the Caliph. In early 694, Abd al-Malik sent al-Hajjaj to govern Iraq. This involved combining

5733-571: The Iraqis into rebellion", such as the introduction of Syrian troops—the mainstay of the Umayyad dynasty—into Iraq, the use of Iraqi troops in the arduous and unrewarding campaigns against the Kharijites, and the reduction of the Iraqi troops' pay ( ata ) to a level below that of the Syrian troops. The reaction against al-Hajjaj as the main driving factor behind the revolt was espoused by C. E. Bosworth as well, while A. A. Dixon highlights that Ibn al-Ash'ath

5880-406: The Iraqis toward the Umayyads as opposed to fostering their loyalty, the caliph deposed the late viceroy's appointees and allies in the province and throughout the eastern Caliphate. This was likely due to their connection with al-Hajjaj personally. Among those who fell from grace was Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, who was dismissed from his governorship of Sindh and executed in Wasit. In the assessment of

6027-417: The Kufan contingent), and paying a ransom and leaving hostages for their safe departure. Infuriated by this setback, al-Hajjaj raised an Iraqi army from Basra and Kufa, to be sent against the Zunbil. 20,000 strong, the army comprised many members of the most eminent families of the two garrison towns. Whether due to the splendour of their equipment, or as an allusion to what historian G. R. Hawting calls

Wasit - Misplaced Pages Continue

6174-426: The Kufan soldiers and ashrāf who composed it" (Hawting), that it became known in history as the "Peacock Army". This expedition marked the beginning of a rebellion that came close to destroying not only al-Hajjaj's, but also Umayyad, power in Iraq. Ibn al-Ash'ath led his army to Sistan, and, as Dietrich writes, "at first carried out his campaign carefully and according to orders; he pacified each territory as it

6321-490: The Kufans were left with the mountains of Jibal and central Persia as their city's sole dependencies. In late 695, al-Hajjaj entrusted Ibn al-Ash'ath with 6,000 horsemen and the campaign against the Kharijite rebels under Shabib ibn Yazid al-Shaybani . Although the Kharijites numbered just a few hundred, they benefited from Shabib's tactical skill and had defeated every Umayyad commander sent against them thus far. Advised by

6468-630: The Mecca-based anti-Umayyad caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr . Al-Hajjaj's first public post, as governor of Tabala in the Tihama region 240 kilometres (150 mi) south of Ta'if, was unremarkable. Al-Hajjaj abandoned the post, considering it beneath his ambition. An Arabic proverb later developed out of this anecdote: ahwan ʿala al-Hajjaj min Tabala ("as insignificant as Tabala is to al-Hajjaj"). Soon after Abd al-Malik ( r.  685–705 ) acceded to

6615-456: The Peacock Army suppressed al-Sadusi's mutiny on their way to the east, may be preferable, as it appears to reconcile the divergent reports. After taking up the leadership of the army in 699, Ibn al-Ash'ath led it to Sistan, where he united the local troops ( muqatila ) with the Peacock Army. A contingent from Tabaristan are also said to have joined him. Faced with such a formidable enemy,

6762-422: The Sawad, but this was limited mostly to around Wasit, and the proceeds went to the Umayyads and their clients, not the Iraqi nobility. As a result, the political power of the once mighty Kufan élites was soon broken. Al-Hajjaj also retaliated against individuals and entire communities, whom he suspected of having supported Ibn al-Ash'ath's uprising. The mawali were expelled from Iraq's garrison cities, while

6909-450: The Syrians' supply problems, and considered the offered terms an admission of the government's weakness. With the negotiations failing, the two armies continued to skirmish—the sources report that the skirmishing lasted for 100 days with 48 engagements. The Qurra particularly distinguished themselves for their bravery in this period, until their leader, Jabala ibn Zahr ibn Qays al-Ju'fi,

7056-401: The Umayyad court that they sought a negotiated settlement, even though they kept sending Syrian reinforcements to al-Hajjaj. Abd al-Malik offered to dismiss al-Hajjaj, appoint Ibn al-Ash'ath as governor over one of the Iraqi towns, and raise the Iraqis' pay so that they received the same amount as the Syrians. Ibn al-Ash'ath was inclined to accept, but the more radical of his followers, especially

7203-430: The Umayyad governor Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr against Mukhtar, in the campaign in which his father was killed. After Mukhtar was killed during the fight, along with the other Kufan ashraf (Arab tribal nobility) who served under Mus'ab, Ibn al-Ash'ath urged the execution of Mukhtar's followers, who had barricaded themselves in the governor's palace in Kufa. This was not only to avenge the loss of their own kinsmen during

7350-453: The Zunbil made peace overtures. Ibn al-Ash'ath rejected them and—in marked contrast to his predecessor's direct assault—began a systematic campaign to first secure the lowlands surrounding the mountainous heart of the Zunbil's kingdom: he established a base of operations at Bust , and slowly and methodically began to capture villages and fortresses one by one, installing garrisons in them and linking them with messengers. A foray by his brother up

7497-630: The advent of Islam. Al-Hajjaj died in Wasit in May or June 714 at the age of 53 or 54. On his deathbed, he appointed his son Abd Allah to replace him as leader of the Friday prayers . He penned a letter to al-Walid, which concluded as follows: When I meet God and find favour with Him, therein shall be the joy of my soul. The eternity of God sufficeth me, and I therefore place not my hopes on mortals. Those who were before us have tasted of death, and after them we also shall taste it. The cause of his death, according to

SECTION 50

#1732851787596

7644-493: The army reached Fars, a religious element had emerged, represented by the Qurra . Given the close intertwining of religion and politics at the time, the religious element quickly became dominant, as seen by the difference between the bay'ah sworn at the beginning of the revolt and that exchanged between the army and Ibn al-Ash'ath at Istakhr in Fars. While in the first Ibn al-Ash'ath declared as his intention to "depose al-Hajjaj,

7791-455: The army's evident reluctance to continue such a protracted and arduous campaign so far from their homes, provoked a widespread mutiny, led by Ibn al-Ash'ath. The rebel army marched back to Iraq, growing to over 100,000 strong in the process as they were joined by other malcontents. It transformed from a mutiny against al-Hajjaj—denounced as an enemy of God and a latter-day Pharaoh —to a full-blown anti-Umayyad movement. Al-Hajjaj tried to stop

7938-477: The army's rear-guard. He achieved further feats of valour, so that after the defeat of Mus'ab at the Battle of Maskin , Abd al-Malik entrusted him to subdue Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca. In late 691 he set out from Kufa at the head of 2,000 Syrian troops. After taking over Ta'if unopposed, he halted there as Abd al-Malik had charged him to try to secure Ibn al-Zubayr's capitulation by diplomatic means if possible, and to avoid

8085-778: The arrival of large numbers of anti-Umayyad volunteers. After taking control of Basra—and executing some 11,000 of its people, despite his pledge of pardon—al-Hajjaj marched on Kufa. His army was harassed by Ibn al-Ash'ath's cavalry under Abd al-Rahman ibn Abbas, but reached the environs of the city and set up camp at Dayr Qarra, on the right bank of the Euphrates , so as to secure his lines of communication with Syria. In response, Ibn al-Ash'ath left Kufa in mid-April 701, and with an army reportedly 200,000 strong, half of whom were mawali , approached al-Hajjaj's army and set up camp at Dayr al-Jamajim. Both armies fortified their camps by digging trenches and, as before, engaged in skirmishes. Whatever

8232-451: The caliphate, al-Hajjaj left his hometown and went to the Umayyad capital, Damascus , where he entered the shurta (select troops) of the Caliph. However, according to a different account, by Ibn Qutayba (d. 889), al-Hajjaj started his career in the shurta of Aban ibn Marwan , Abd al-Malik's half-brother and one-time governor of Palestine . The commander of the shurta , the Caliph's main adviser Rawh ibn Zinba al-Judhami ,

8379-566: The camp would be put to death and his property be left open to plunder. This proved effective, but when he went to the troops to distribute the pay, al-Hajjaj faced another mutiny under Ibn al-Jarud for making pay cuts that the troops refused to accept. These problems overcome, al-Hajjaj sent the troops against the Kharijites. In 696 al-Muhallab defeated the Azariqa who had rallied around Qatari ibn al-Fuja'a as their anti-caliph, and in spring 697 another Kharijite leader, Shabib ibn Yazid al-Shaybani ,

8526-408: The campaign, but also because of the deeply ingrained hostility of the ashraf to the non-Arab converts to Islam (the mawali ), who had formed the bulk of Mukhtar's supporters. As a result, some 6,000 of Mukhtar's men were executed. Ibn al-Ash'ath disappears from the record during the next few years, but after Mus'ab was defeated and killed by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan at

8673-497: The clan. According to the historian Ibn Hazm (d. 1064), al-Hajjaj had four sons: his eldest Muhammad, and Abd al-Malik, Aban and Sulayman (or al-Walid). The latter three were named after members of the Umayyad dynasty. Al-Tabari mentions a son named Abd Allah. Muhammad died during al-Hajjaj's lifetime and his descendants were recorded living in Damascus as late as the 9th century. Abd al-Malik also had descendants recorded living in

8820-536: The conquered land is his; if we perish, then he is rid of us." Reply of the soldiers to Ibn al-Ash'ath regarding al-Hajjaj's orders Offended by the insinuation of cowardice, Ibn al-Ash'ath called an assembly of the army's leadership, in which he informed them of al-Hajjaj's orders for an immediate advance and his decision to refuse to obey. He then went before the assembled troops and repeated al-Hajjaj's instructions, calling upon them to decide what should be done. According to another version of events, transmitted by

8967-468: The crucial battles of the early Muslim conquests , Yarmouk and Qadisiyya , and held governorships in the newly conquered province of Adharbayjan . His role in the negotiations at the Battle of Siffin has led to his widespread condemnation in later, mainly pro- Shi'a sources, for persuading Ali to abandon his military advantage and submit to an arbitration that ultimately undermined his position. The real events remain unclear, but although al-Ash'ath

SECTION 60

#1732851787596

9114-425: The crucial office. The governorship of Iraq was indeed "the most important and responsible administrative post of the Islamic state" (A. Dietrich), as it comprised not only Iraq proper, but also included the lands conquered by troops from the two 'garrison towns' ( amsar ) of Kufa and Basra, i.e. Persia , Khurasan and the other eastern provinces of the Caliphate. The governor of Iraq was therefore in charge of

9261-470: The eastern provinces of the Caliphate in 694, relations between al-Hajjaj and the Iraqi tribal nobility quickly became strained, as the policies of the Syria -based Umayyad regime aimed to reduce the Iraqis' privileges and status. Nevertheless, in 699, al-Hajjaj appointed Ibn al-Ash'ath as commander of a huge Iraqi army, the so-called "Peacock Army", to subdue the troublesome principality of Zabulistan , whose ruler,

9408-461: The end of the power of the tribal nobility of Iraq, which henceforth came under the direct control of the Umayyad regime's staunchly loyal Syrian troops. Later revolts, under Yazid ibn al-Muhallab in 720 and Zayd ibn Ali in 740, also failed, and it was not until the success of the Abbasid Revolution that the Syrian dominance of Iraq was broken. Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath was

9555-584: The enemy of God", in the latter, he exhorted his men to "[defend] the Book of God and the Sunna of His Prophet, to depose the imāms of error, to fight against those who regard [the blood of the Prophet's kin ] as licit". Initially directed chiefly against the person of al-Hajjaj, the uprising had by then morphed into a "revolt against the caliph and the Umayyad rule in general". Indeed, although Ibn al-Ash'ath remained at

9702-477: The family of Abu Talib (the father of Ali), accounts recorded in the Kitab al-aghani and by Ibn Abd Rabbihi and Ibn al-Athir hold that Abd al-Malik ordered al-Hajjaj to divorce her and return her dowry after petitions by her father and the Umayyad prince Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ; the modern historian Shiv Rai Chowdhry argues the latter account is more credible. During his rule in Iraq, al-Hajjaj married Hind,

9849-467: The fear he inspired to keep Ibn al-Ash'ath in check. Modern scholarship on the other hand holds that the portrayal of the great personal animosity between the two men is likely to be exaggerated. Thus the historian Laura Veccia Vaglieri attributed these reports to the Arabic sources' tendency to "explain historical events by incidents relating to persons", rather than reflecting the actual relationship between

9996-420: The field in that engagement. According to verses compiled in the 10th-century Kitab al-aghani (Book of songs), al-Hajjaj acknowledged: "I took to flight ... but later, I made good my fault by renewing the attack. For a sheikh takes to flight only once". He and his father were among the few to survive the battle at al-Rabadha, where Hubaysh, the commander of the expedition, was slain fighting forces loyal to

10143-551: The first hijri century, with some parts of its emirate house which is next to the mosque at the qibli side. A building known as the minaret was excavated, including a tomb and a school dating back to the seventh hijri century, a residence district was also cleared out in the late 1930s. Conservation has been carried out on some parts of the minaret due to the walls been worn out, but no real maintenance has been undertaken. Ibn Battuta visited during his travels, noting "It has fine quarters and an abundance of orchards and fruit trees, and

10290-421: The flow of the rural population to the cities, especially the new converts ( mawali ). According to the 9th-century historian Ibn Abd al-Hakam , al-Hajjaj, with the support of Abd al-Malik, was the first to collect the jizya (poll tax) from the mawali , despite its imposition being traditionally restricted to the non-Muslim subjects of the Caliphate. As part of his efforts to strengthen uniformity in

10437-838: The foremost of the ashraf , and his aspirations to leadership: al-Mas'udi records that he adopted the title of nasir al-mu'minin ('Helper of the Faithful'), an implicit challenge to the Umayyads, who were implied to be false believers. In addition, he claimed to be the Qahtani , a messianic figure in South Arab ("Yamani") tribal tradition who was expected to raise them to domination. Ibn al-Ash'ath's pretensions irked al-Hajjaj, whose hostile remarks—such as "Look how he walks! How I should like to cut off his head!"—were conveyed to Ibn al-Ash'ath and served to deepen their hostility to outright mutual hatred. Al-Tabari suggested that al-Hajjaj relied on

10584-528: The general al-Jazl Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Kindi, who had been defeated by Shabib previously, Ibn al-Ash'ath pursued the Kharijites, but displayed great caution in order to avoid falling into a trap. Notably, each night he dug a trench around his camp, thus foiling Shabib's plans to launch a surprise night attack. Unable to catch Ibn al-Ash'ath unawares, Shabib instead resolved to wear down his pursuers, by retreating before them into barren and inhospitable terrain, waiting for them to catch up, and retreating again. As

10731-538: The governance of the region. This was coupled with a reform of the salary system by al-Hajjaj: whereas hitherto the salary had been calculated based on the role of one's ancestors in the early Muslim conquests, it now became limited to those actively participating in campaigns. As most of the army was now composed of Syrians, this measure gravely injured the interests of the Iraqis, who regarded this as another impious attack on hallowed institutions. In addition, extensive land reclamation and irrigation works were undertaken in

10878-441: The governor of Egypt. One tradition holds that Ibn al-Ash'ath's head was buried there, while another that it was then taken to Hadramawt and thrown into a well. The failure of Ibn al-Ash'ath's revolt led to the tightening of Umayyad control over Iraq. Al-Hajjaj founded a permanent garrison for the Syrian troops at Wasit , situated between Basra and Kufa, and the Iraqis, regardless of social status, were deprived of any real power in

11025-468: The governor of Khurasan, al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra , refused to join the rebellion. Following this open revolt, Ibn al-Ash'ath hastily concluded an agreement with the Zunbil, whereby if he was victorious in the coming conflict with al-Hajjaj, he would accord the Zunbil generous treatment, while if he was defeated, the Zunbil would provide refuge. With his rear secure, Ibn al-Ash'ath left governors ( amils ) at Bust and Zaranj , and his army set out on

11172-404: The governorships of Kufa and Basra , which had not been done since the days of Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan twenty years earlier. The caliph had previously appointed his brother Bishr ibn Marwan governor of Kufa, but this "experiment in family rule" ( Hugh N. Kennedy ) had not been a success and when he died in early 694, al-Hajjaj, whose ability and loyalty had been amply demonstrated, was appointed to

11319-525: The granting of refuge to fleeing rebel chieftains. Already in 695, al-Hajjaj began minting the new gold and silver coins, which superseded the Byzantine and Sasanian coins still used until then. He established mints at Kufa and later in Wasit and decreed strict punishments for counterfeiters. The new coins contained the name of Allah , and hence were initially opposed by many theologians who argued that they would also be used by infidels, but they quickly became

11466-448: The head of an army to Iraq, but also carrying an offer to Ibn al-Ash'ath: the dismissal of al-Hajjaj, the appointment of Ibn al-Ash'ath as governor over one of the Iraqi towns of his choice, and a raise in the Iraqis' pay so that they received the same amount as the Syrians. Ibn al-Ash'ath was inclined to accept, but the more radical of his followers, especially the Qurra , refused, and pushed for outright victory. The rebels were aware of

11613-412: The head of the uprising, Veccia Vaglieri suggested that after this point "one has the impression that [...] the control of the revolt slipped from his hands", or that, as Wellhausen commented, "he was urged on in spite of himself, and even if he would, could not have banished the spirits which he had called up. It was as if an avalanche came rushing down sweeping every thing before it". This interpretation

11760-423: The heart of Zabulistan and there to fight the enemy to the death". Otherwise, al-Hajjaj threatened to give command to Ibn al-Ash'ath's brother, and reduce Ibn al-Ash'ath himself to the rank of an ordinary soldier. "We will not obey the enemy of God, who like a Pharaoh coerces us to the farthest campaigns and keeps us here so that we can never see our wives and children; the gain is always his; if we are victorious,

11907-439: The help of a friend and reached Kufa. Fearing reprisals for the defeat by al-Hajjaj, he remained in hiding until the governor of Iraq granted him pardon. Despite this setback, relations between Ibn al-Ash'ath and al-Hajjaj were initially friendly, and al-Hajjaj's son married one of Ibn al-Ash'ath's sisters. Gradually, however, the two men became estranged. The sources attribute this to Ibn al-Ash'ath's overweening pride as one of

12054-399: The historian Julius Wellhausen , al-Hajjaj was "harsh and at times hard, but not cruel; neither was he petty or bigoted". Though he was criticized in the early Muslim sources for his bombardment of Mecca and the Ka'aba during his siege of Ibn al-Zubayr, "other shameful deeds" al-Hajjaj was held responsible for are the "inventions and fabrications of the hatred of his enemies". Among these was

12201-745: The key figures of Ibn al-Ash'ath's uprising, as well as the fact that in Iraq, other ethnic and religious groups joined the uprising, notably as the Murji'ah , the Zutt of the Mesopotamian Marshes , the Asawira , and the Turkic Sayabija, clients of the Banu Tamim tribe. Even the participation of some Ibadi Kharijites is recorded, as well as the early Qadari leader Ma'bad al-Juhani . While according to Hawting

12348-527: The language of the diwan (tax registers) of Iraq from Persian to Arabic; and the introduction of a uniform version of the Quran . To revive agricultural production and increase tax revenue, al-Hajjaj expelled non-Arab, Muslim converts from the garrison cities of Kufa and Basra to their villages of origin and collected from them the jizya (poll tax) nominally reserved for non-Muslim subjects, and oversaw large-scale canal digging projects. In 701, al-Hajjaj, with reinforcements from Syria , crushed

12495-441: The largely ineffectual Umayyad prince Umayya ibn Abdallah ibn Khalid ibn Asid , but in 697/8 he received these two provinces as well, expanding his rule over the entire eastern half of the Caliphate. He remained in this post until his death in 714, and throughout this period, encompassing the remainder of Abd al-Malik's reign and most of that of his successor al-Walid I ( r.  705–715 ), he would be "the dominant feature in

12642-408: The last post under Abd al-Malik's son and successor al-Walid I ( r.  705–715 ), whose decision-making was heavily influenced by al-Hajjaj, until his death in 714. As governor of Iraq and the east, al-Hajjaj instituted key reforms. Among these were the minting of silver dirhams with strictly Muslim religious formulas instead of the coins' traditional, pre-Islamic Sasanian design; changing

12789-402: The latter named his first-born son after al-Hajjaj, who in turn named three of his sons after members of the dynasty. Abd al-Malik also named one of his sons al-Hajjaj. This close relationship is further evidenced by the many surviving letters exchanged between al-Hajjaj and Abd al-Malik. Al-Hajjaj's relationship with the latter was much different than with al-Walid, with whom the correspondence

12936-470: The letter was authentic, the activity of al-Hajjaj would have been limited to destroying sectarian writings and early codices which preserved the suras (Quranic chapters) in a different order. The other Christian source is an apologetic letter attributed to Abd al-Masih al-Kindi . The dating of the letter is disputed, the Arabist Paul Kraus concluding that its composition dated to the beginning of

13083-450: The local mosque that has become famous and is "often cited as an example of Arab eloquence" (G. R. Hawting). The situation he found there was one of disorder. The troops of Basra and Kufa, ostensibly garrisoned at Ramhurmuz under al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra had instead, upon the death of Bishr, left the camp and were idling in the cities. In order to restore discipline, al-Hajjaj announced that any man who did not within three days return to

13230-438: The main reason for the revolt, interpreting it instead as a reaction of the Iraqis in general and the ashraf in particular against the Syria -based regime of the Umayyads as represented by the overbearing (and notably low-born) al-Hajjaj. Historical sources are clear that al-Hajjaj quickly became unpopular among the Iraqis through a series of measures that, according to historian Hugh Kennedy , "[seem] almost to have goaded

13377-491: The meantime, led by his lieutenants, Abd al-Rahman ibn Abbas al-Hashimi and Ubayd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura al-Qurashi. With their support, he seized Zaranj, where he punished the amil . Faced with the approach of the Syrian Umayyad troops under Umara ibn al-Tamim, however, most of Ibn al-Ash'ath's followers urged him to go to Khurasan, where they would be hopefully able to recruit more followers, evade pursuit in

13524-537: The negative aspects of Umayyad rule, would have taken the opportunity to show that the Umayyads had corrupted the Quran. One of the Christian sources was a letter reported by the 8th-century Armenian priest Levond to have been written by the Byzantine emperor Leo III addressed to Caliph Umar II . Jefferey notes the authenticity of the letter is disputed by historians, including John Wansbrough , who denied that Levond had reported it. Neal Robinson argues that even if

13671-551: The new governor of Iraq . In 697, his remit was expanded to cover the entirety of the eastern Caliphate, including Khurasan and Sistan (Sijistan), effectively making him a viceroy of half the Umayyad realm. The post was of particular political sensitivity due to the long history of Kharijism and political dissent in Iraq. This was particularly the case in Ibn al-Ash'ath's home town of Kufa, which contained people from almost all Arab tribes, but also many of those undesired elsewhere, such as

13818-580: The new Caliph allowed his powerful governor free rein and relied heavily on his counsel even in the appointment and dismissal of officials. If his meddling in the succession had secured him the favour of al-Walid, it had also caused the declared enmity of al-Walid's brother Sulayman ( r.  715–717 ). Sulayman furthermore had championed the cause of Yazid ibn al-Muhallab , whom al-Hajjaj had imprisoned. The possibility of Sulayman's accession so frightened al-Hajjaj that he wished not to outlive al-Walid. Arriving at Kufa, al-Hajjaj gave an inaugural sermon at

13965-400: The news of this defeat, al-Hajjaj withdrew to Basra and then, as he could not possibly hold the city, left it as well for nearby al-Zawiya. Ibn al-Ash'ath entered Basra on 13 February 701, to an enthusiastic welcome. Ibn al-Ash'ath fortified Basra, and over the next month, a series of skirmishes were fought between the forces of Ibn al-Ash'ath and al-Hajjaj, in which the former generally held

14112-422: The northern Arab Ma'adis and Thaqafis . On the other hand, as Hawting points out, this is insufficient evidence to ascribe purely tribal motivations to the revolt: if Ibn al-Ash'ath's movement was indeed led largely by Yamanis, this simply reflects the fact that they were the dominant element in Kufa, and while al-Hajjaj himself was a northerner, his main commander was a southerner. Dixon, furthermore, interprets

14259-465: The northern Arab and southern Arab ("Yamani") tribal groups prevalent at the time. Thus, according to Veccia Vaglieri, a poem by the famous poet A'sha Hamdan in celebration of the rebellion shows a tribal motivation of the rebel troops: al-Hajjaj is denounced as an apostate and a "friend of the devil", while Ibn al-Ash'ath is portrayed as the champion of the Yamani Qahtani and Hamdani tribes against

14406-399: The old-style Iraqi champions" (Hugh Kennedy), and even then, support was ambivalent, and the revolt was defeated. Two of Ibn al-Ash'ath's nephews, Muhammad ibn Ishaq and Uthman ibn Ishaq, supported the rebellion, but most remained quiescent and content with their role as local dignitaries. A few held posts in Kufa under the early Abbasids . Perhaps the most famous of the family's later members

14553-465: The period. Victorious, al-Hajjaj entered Kufa, where he tried and executed many rebels, but also pardoned those who submitted after admitting that through revolt they had become infidels. In the meantime, however, one of Ibn al-Ash'ath's supporters, Ubayd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura al-Qurashi, had recaptured Basra, to where Ibn al-Ash'ath now headed; and another, Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas , had captured al-Mada'in. Al-Hajjaj remained for

14700-502: The plausibility of a widely known account that has him ordering the grammarian and qari Nasr ibn Asim al-Laythi to introduce new vowel diacritics, a story that is unchallenged, despite the strong hostility of Muslim sources towards al-Hajjaj. The orientalist Arthur Jeffery argued that al-Hajjaj seemed "to have made an entirely new recension of the Qur'an", basing his argument on a Muslim source and two Christian sources. The Muslim source

14847-435: The rear. Caught by surprise, the rebel army was nearly annihilated, with many of its troops drowning in the river in their attempt to flee. Following this second defeat, Ibn al-Ash'ath fled east, towards Sistan, with a few survivors. Al-Hajjaj sent troops under Umara ibn al-Tamim al-Lakhmi to intercept them. Umara caught up with them twice, at Sus and Sabur. In the first battle, the rebels were defeated, but they prevailed in

14994-445: The rebel army fled to Basra, but were soon evicted and pursued by the Syrians to Khuzistan and Sistan. There Ibn al-Ash'ath sought refuge with the Zunbil, but was either assassinated by the latter or committed suicide to avoid being surrendered to al-Hajjaj. Most of his remaining followers tried to reach Herat , but were defeated by al-Muhallab's son, Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, who surrendered those of north Arab provenance ( Mudaris ) but let

15141-580: The rebellion have been the source of much discussion and theories among modern scholars. Moving away from the personal relationship between al-Hajjaj and Ibn al-Ash'ath, Alfred von Kremer suggested that the rebellion was linked with the efforts of the mawali to secure equal rights with the Arab Muslims, a movement that had already resulted in a major uprising under Mukhtar. This view was also held by von Kremer's contemporaries, August Müller and Gerlof van Vloten . Julius Wellhausen rejected this view as

15288-456: The rebels at Tustar , but the rebels were victorious (early 701). Al-Hajjaj abandoned Basra to the rebels, and Ibn al-Ash'ath entered the city in triumph. Reinforced with Syrian troops, al-Hajjaj managed to score a minor victory, after which the bulk of the rebel army left Basra for their natural stronghold, Kufa. Al-Hajjaj recaptured Basra and pursued Ibn al-Ash'ath to Kufa, encamping near the city. Ibn al-Ash'ath's progress had sufficiently alarmed

15435-530: The rebels remained in Khurasan, choosing Abd al-Rahman ibn Abbas al-Hashimi as their leader, and sacking Herat . This forced the local governor, Yazid ibn al-Muhallab , to send an army against them, resulting in an overwhelming defeat for the rebels. Yazid released those who belonged to the Yamani tribes related to his own, and sent the rest to al-Hajjaj, who executed most of them. In the meantime, Umara quickly effected

15582-400: The rebels seized Kufa, where supporters started flocking. The revolt gained widespread support among those who were discontented with the Umayyad regime, especially the religious zealots known as Qurra (' Quran readers'). Caliph Abd al-Malik tried to negotiate terms, including the dismissal of al-Hajjaj, but the hardliners among the rebel leadership pressured Ibn al-Ash'ath into rejecting

15729-507: The reductions in pay, according to Kennedy, "[seem] almost to have goaded the Iraqis into rebellion, as if looking for an excuse to break them". The explosion came in 699: when he had been conferred the governorships of Khurasan and Sistan, al-Hajjaj had given it to al-Muhallab, but in Sistan, the situation was far more unstable, and the country had to be essentially reconquered. An army under the local governor Ubayd Allah ibn Abi Bakra had suffered

15876-509: The return journey to Iraq, picking up more soldiers from Kufa and Basra, who were stationed as garrisons, along the way. The sources are not in agreement as to the chronology and duration of the revolt: one tradition maintains that the revolt began in AH 81 (700/1 CE), with the invasion of Iraq in AH 82 (701 CE), and the final suppression of the revolt in AH 83 (702 CE), while another tradition moves all events

16023-434: The revolt, al-Hajjaj went to Basra and requested reinforcements from the caliph. Realising the seriousness of the revolt, Caliph Abd al-Malik sent a stream of reinforcements to Iraq. After staying for some time in Fars, the rebel army, which is reported to have numbered 33,000 cavalry and 120,000 infantry, began advancing towards Iraq. On 24 or 25 January 701, Ibn al-Ash'ath overwhelmed al-Hajjaj's advance guard at Tustar . At

16170-552: The same poem by A'sha Hamdan differently, and contradicts Veccia Vaglieri in insisting that "the verses show clearly that both the Ma'adites and the Yemenites (Hamdan, Madhhij and Qahtan) allied themselves against al-Hajjaj and his tribe, Thaqif", highlighting that this was "one of the rare occasions where we find the Northern and Southern Arabs standing together against a common foe". Informed of

16317-620: The scholars known as qurrāʾ , refused, believing that the offered terms revealed the government's weakness, and pushed for outright victory. The two armies met in the Battle of Dayr al-Jamajim in April 701, and al-Hajjaj and his more disciplined Syrians scored a crushing victory. Kufa surrendered afterward, and al-Hajjaj further undercut Ibn al-Ash'ath's support by promising amnesty to those who surrendered, providing however that they acknowledged that their rebellion had been tantamount to renouncing Islam; those who refused were executed. The remnants of

16464-716: The second, allowing Ibn al-Ash'ath and his men to reach Kirman and thence move to Sistan. There they were refused entry into Zaranj by the amil Abdallah ibn Amir al-Ba'ar al-Tamimi, whom Ibn al-Ash'ath had himself appointed over the city. Moving to Bust, Ibn al-Ash'ath was arrested by the local amil , Iyad ibn Himyan al-Sadusi, likewise his own appointee, who thus sought to win the favour of al-Hajjaj. The Zunbil, however, remained true to his word: learning of this event, he came to Bust and forced Ibn al-Ash'ath's release, taking him with him to Zabulistan and treating him with much honour. Once free, Ibn al-Ash'ath assumed command of some 60,000 supporters who had assembled in Sistan in

16611-563: The shedding of blood in Mecca. Ibn al-Zubayr rejected the Umayyad offers, and al-Hajjaj, after receiving reinforcements and the Caliph's permission, moved to attack Mecca . The Umayyad troops bombarded the city with catapults from Mount Abu Qubays , not letting up even during the Hajj pilgrimage; the Ka'aba was also targeted, despite the presence of the assembled pilgrims. When a sudden thunderstorm broke out, which his soldiers interpreted as divine wrath, he

16758-617: The size of the stipend was determined by the earliness of conversion to Islam, many received only minuscule grants. Finally, the Kufans were largely left out of the spoils of conquest in the East; it was the Basrans who secured the lion's share, taking over far more extensive and richer territory like Khurasan or Sindh, while the Kufans were left with the mountains of Jibal and central Persia as their city's sole dependencies. Al-Hajjaj's purview originally excluded Khurasan and Sistan , which were governed by

16905-430: The sources" ( G. R. Hawting ). Al-Hajjaj was, in the words of A. Dietrich, "the most loyal servant that a dynasty could wish for", and his loyalty was reciprocated by Abd al-Malik with his full trust. The relationship was further strengthened through family ties: al-Hajjaj's daughter wed Masrur , a son of al-Walid, while the daughter of his brother Muhammad was wed to the future caliph Yazid II ( r.  720–724 );

17052-408: The southern Arab ( Yamani ) go. The failure of Ibn al-Ash'ath's revolt led to the tightening of Umayyad control over Iraq. In 702 al-Hajjaj founded the city of Wasit , situated midway between Basra and Kufa, where he moved his seat. There he gathered all Syrian troops present in Iraq, ostensibly in order to rein in the Syrians and prevent excess at the expense of the populace, but in reality his aim

17199-462: The state, he also tried to introduce a definitive, uniform version of the Quran so as to eliminate theological quarrels. Al-Hajjaj's version also probably included new vowel diacritics . He declared this version to be the only valid one, while prohibiting the use of Ibn Mas'ud 's qira'a ( lit.   ' readings ' ). On the other hand, a number of authors argue that it is difficult to assess any role had by al-Hajjaj, though they argue for

17346-524: The struggle until death. Al-Hajjaj himself seems to have been aware of the distinction: in suppressing the revolt, he pardoned the Quraysh , the Syrians, and many of the other Arab clans, but executed tens of thousands among the mawali and the Zutt, who had sided with the rebels. Apart from religious motivations, modern scholars have seen in the uprising a manifestation of the intense tribal factionalism between

17493-491: The surrender of Sistan, by offering lenient terms to the garrisons if they surrendered without struggle. Ibn al-Ash'ath remained safe under the protection of the Zunbil, but al-Hajjaj, fearing that he might raise another revolt, sent several letters to the Zunbil, mixing threats and promises, to secure his surrender. Finally, in 704 the Zunbil gave in, in exchange for lifting the annual tribute for 7 or 10 years. Accounts of Ibn al-Ash'ath's end differ: one version holds that he

17640-532: The troops. During Abd al-Malik's siege of the rebel leader of the Qays tribes of the Jazira ( Upper Mesopotamia ), Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi , in al-Qariqisiya in the summer of 691, al-Hajjaj was sent as an emissary of the Caliph alongside the theologian Raja ibn Haywa to negotiate a peace with Zufar. As a result of his success suppressing the Caliph's mutinous troops, Abd al-Malik entrusted al-Hajjaj with command of

17787-479: The troubled province after almost twenty years of civil war and rebellions. He invested much effort in reviving agriculture, especially in the Sawad, and thereby increasing revenue through the kharaj (land tax). He began to restore and expand the network of canals in lower Iraq. According to the 9th-century historian al-Baladhuri , he spared no expense to repair embankments when they broke, awarded uncultivated lands to deserving Arabs, and took measures to reverse

17934-501: The true numbers of Ibn al-Ash'ath's force, al-Hajjaj was in a difficult position: although reinforcements from Syria were constantly arriving, his army was considerably outnumbered by the rebels, and his position was difficult to resupply with provisions. In the meantime, Ibn al-Ash'ath's progress had sufficiently alarmed the Umayyad court that they sought a negotiated settlement, despite the contrary advice of al-Hajjaj. Caliph Abd al-Malik sent his brother Muhammad and son Abdallah at

18081-581: The two men, especially given the fact that Ibn al-Ash'ath faithfully served al-Hajjaj in a number of posts, culminating in his appointment to lead a major campaign into Sistan. In 698/9, the Umayyad governor of Sistan, Ubayd Allah ibn Abi Bakra , suffered a severe defeat by the semi-independent ruler of Zabulistan , known as the Zunbil . The Zunbil drew the Arabs deep into his country and cut them off, so that they managed to extricate themselves only with great difficulty, after suffering many losses (particularly among

18228-485: The upper hand. Finally, in early March, the two armies met for a pitched battle. Ibn al-Ash'ath initially prevailed, but in the end al-Hajjaj's Syrians, under the general Sufyan ibn al-Abrad al-Kalbi , carried off a victory. Many rebels fell, especially among the Qurra' , forcing Ibn al-Ash'ath to withdraw to his home town of Kufa, taking with him the Kufan troops and the élite of the Basran cavalry. At Kufa, Ibn al-Ash'ath

18375-632: The vanquished of the Ridda wars. Although it dominated the fertile lands of the Sawad , many of the latter were assigned by the Umayyads to princes of the dynasty, while the average Kufan was given—increasingly minuscule—parcels of land as a reward for military service. Finally, the Kufans were largely left out of the spoils of conquest in the east; it was the Basrans who secured the lion's share, taking over far more extensive and richer territory like Khurasan or Sindh , while

18522-416: The vast expanse of the region, or be able to sit out the Umayyad attacks until either al-Hajjaj or Caliph Abd al-Malik died and the political situation changed. Ibn al-Ash'ath bowed to their pressure, but soon after a group of 2,000 men under Ibn Samura defected to the Umayyads. Disillusioned with the fickleness of the Iraqis, Ibn al-Ash'ath returned to Zabulistan with those who would follow him there. Most of

18669-459: The west bank of the Tigris. This ruined the economic basis of the dihqan s, while the foundation of Wasit on the eastern side of the Tigris hastened the decline of the older settlements. As late as 712, al-Hajjaj is recorded as executing Sa'id ibn Jubayr, one of the Qurra , who had fled to Mecca. It was not until 720 that the Iraqis rebelled once again, under Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, "the last of

18816-400: Was a "suitable leader" around whom the Iraqis could rally to express their opposition to al-Hajjaj, and their disaffection with the oppressive Umayyad regime. Both Veccia Vaglieri and Hawting emphasize that Wellhausen's analysis ignores the evident religious dimension of the revolt, especially the participation of the militant zealots known as Qurra (' Quran readers'). The adherence of

18963-461: Was able to rally them and convince them that it was actually a sign of victory. Finally, in October 692, after seven months of siege and the defection of several thousand of his supporters, including two of his sons, Ibn al-Zubayr was killed alongside his last remaining loyal followers, fighting around the Ka'aba. As a reward, Abd al-Malik gave al-Hajjaj the governorship of the Hejaz, Yemen , and al-Yamama (central Arabia). As governor, al-Hajjaj led

19110-517: Was able to refuse several summons to Wasit, finally in 704 al-Hajjaj persuaded the Caliph to dismiss him, and Yazid was imprisoned. As governor of Iraq and viceroy of the East, al-Hajjaj supervised a major wave of expansion. He appointed his kinsman Muhammad ibn al-Qasim al-Thaqafi to lead the conquest of Sindh (northwestern India), Qutayba ibn Muslim to conquer Transoxiana (Central Asia), and Mujja'a ibn Si'r to Oman . Although al-Hajjaj himself undertook no campaign during these years, his role

19257-511: Was also close to Ali's Umayyad rivals—two of his daughters married into the Umayyad house —he nevertheless remained loyal to Ali, and another daughter married Ali's son al-Hasan . Al-Ash'ath later led the Kindite quarter in the garrison town of Kufa , where he died in 661. Ibn al-Ash'ath's father, Muhammad (a son of Umm Farwa ) was less distinguished, serving an unsuccessful tenure as Umayyad governor of Tabaristan , and becoming involved in

19404-546: Was also wed to another daughter of Nu'man, Hamida, after she had been divorced by Rawh ibn Zinba; al-Hajjaj divorced Hamida during his governorship in Iraq. During his governorship of Medina, al-Hajjaj married Umm al-Julas, a daughter of Abdallah ibn Khalid ibn Asid , a member of the Umayyad dynasty . This followed his divorce of Umm Kulthum bint Abd Allah ibn Ja'far, a grandniece of Caliph Ali ( r.  656–661 ). While al-Mas'udi holds al-Hajjaj divorced Umm Kulthum to humiliate

19551-440: Was conquered, ensured supplies and accustomed his troops gradually to the different climatic conditions". Al-Hajjaj, however, sent letter after letter to his commander, demanding an immediate assault against the Zunbil. The tone of these letters was extremely offensive, and he threatened to dismiss Ibn al-Ash'ath and appoint his brother Ishaq to command the expedition instead. Al-Hajjaj's harsh tone and unreasonable demands, as well as

19698-579: Was defeated on the Dujayl river in Khuzistan with the aid of Syrian troops. In the same year, al-Hajjaj suppressed the rebellion of the governor of Mada'in , al-Mutarrif ibn al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba, who had allied with the Kharijites. These campaigns eradicated the Kharijite rebellion, but came at a cost to his relationship with the Iraqis: the campaigns against the Kharijites were extremely unpopular, and measures like

19845-429: Was driven by various tribal, economic, and political factors. The population of Kufa contained people from almost all Arab tribes, but also many of those undesired elsewhere, such as the vanquished of the Ridda wars . Although it dominated the fertile lands of the Sawad , many of these were assigned by the Umayyads to princes of the dynasty , while the average Kufan was given land as a stipend for military service; but as

19992-470: Was enough to turn the troops against the governor of Iraq. The assembled army denounced al-Hajjaj, proclaiming him deposed, and swore allegiance to Ibn al-Ash'ath instead. Dixon furthermore points out that the first of the commanders to swear allegiance to Ibn al-Ash'ath are known to have been Shi'a sympathizers from Kufa, who had participated in Mukhtar's uprising. Ibn al-Ash'ath's brothers, however, as well as

20139-423: Was essential: not only did he select the generals who carried out these campaigns, but also "prepared them very carefully, sparing no expense, since he calculated that with victory he would recover his expenses many times over" (A. Dietrich). The relationship between al-Hajjaj and Muhammad ibn al-Qasim has always been one of great debate. Many accounts list al-Hajjaj as being his uncle or father-in-law. According to

20286-530: Was executed by the Zunbil himself, or that he died of consumption . The more widespread account, however, holds that he was confined to a remote castle at Rukhkhaj in anticipation of his extradition to al-Hajjaj, and chained to his warden, but that to avoid being handed over, he threw himself from the top of the castle (along with his warden) to his death. His head was cut off and sent to al-Hajjaj in Iraq. According to al-Tabari, al-Hajjaj then sent it to Abd al-Malik, who in turn sent it to his brother Abd al-Aziz ,

20433-494: Was facing increasing opposition to his rule in the Hejaz. He participated in the Second Muslim Civil War , fighting in the battles of al-Harra (682) and of al-Rabadha (684)—both near Medina—but without distinction. At al-Harra, where a Syrian army dispatched by Yazid defeated the local defenders of Medina who had discarded the Caliph's authority, al-Hajjaj fought in the brigade of Hubaysh ibn Dulja al-Qayni . He fled

20580-460: Was impressed with al-Hajjaj's military capabilities and thinking. Upon Rawh's recommendation, Abd al-Malik appointed al-Hajjaj to enforce the Caliph's authority over a large army he mobilized for an expedition against the Zubayrid ruler of Iraq, Ibn al-Zubayr's brother Mus'ab , in 689/90. The Caliph was satisfied by the rapidity and efficiency with which al-Hajjaj restored discipline during a mutiny by

20727-459: Was killed, after which they began to disperse. This went on until late July 701, when the two armies met in battle at Dayr al-Jamajim . Again Ibn al-Ash'ath initially held the upper hand, but the Syrians prevailed in the end: shortly before the sun set, Ibn al-Ash'ath's men broke and scattered. The defeat turned into a flight, aided by al-Hajjaj's offers of pardon to rebels who surrendered themselves. Failing to rally his troops, Ibn al-Ash'ath with

20874-530: Was part of the Banu Awf branch of the Thaqif tribe. Members of the Thaqif attained high military and administrative ranks in the nascent Caliphate and played important command and economic roles during and after the early Muslim conquests , particularly in Iraq . The tribe's political influence continued to grow with the advent of the Umayyad Caliphate in 661. Al-Hajjaj's ancestry was not particularly distinguished:

21021-446: Was restricted to their official functions. On the other hand, while Abd al-Malik was able to restrain his over-zealous governor whenever he was "extortionate in the raising of taxes, was too liberal with public resources, or was shedding more blood than was necessary" (A. Dietrich), al-Walid considered himself in al-Hajjaj's debt because he had championed the succession of al-Walid against Abd al-Malik's brother Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan , and

21168-487: Was the daughter of the South Arab tribal leader Sa'id ibn Qays al-Hamdani . Ibn al-Ash'ath had four brothers, Ishaq, Qasim, Sabbah, and Isma'il, of whom the first three also fought in the campaigns in Tabaristan. According to the 10th-century historian al-Tabari , the young Ibn al-Ash'ath accompanied his father and participated in his political activities: in 680 he helped arrest Muslim ibn Aqil. In 686/7, he fought under

21315-405: Was the most notable governor who served the Umayyad Caliphate . He began his service under Caliph Abd al-Malik ( r.  685–705 ), who successively promoted him as the head of the Caliph's shurta (select troops), the governor of the Hejaz (western Arabia) in 692–694, and the practical viceroy of a unified Iraqi province and the eastern parts of the Caliphate in 694. Al-Hajjaj retained

21462-429: Was to isolate the Syrians from the locals and solidify their loyalty to him. Henceforth, Iraq passed under virtual Syrian occupation, and the Iraqis, regardless of social status, were deprived of any real power in the governance of the region. Al-Hajjaj was now the undisputed master not only of Iraq, but of the entire Islamic East; only the governor of Khurasan, Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, retained some autonomy. Although Yazid

21609-502: Was well received, but found the citadel occupied by Matar ibn Najiya, an officer from al-Mada'in, and was forced to take it by assault. Ibn al-Ash'ath left Abd al-Rahman ibn Abbas al-Hashimi as his commander in Basra. Abd al-Rahman ibn Abbas tried but was unable to hold the city, as the populace opened the gates in exchange for a pardon after a few days. Abd al-Rahman ibn Abbas too withdrew with as many Basrans as would follow him to Kufa, where Ibn al-Ash'ath's forces swelled further with

#595404