Al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf al-Thaqafi: Difference between revisions

'''Al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf al-Thaqafī''' (Arabic:{{InlineArabic| الحجاج بن يوسف الثقفي}}, d. [[95]]/714) was the ruler of [[Iraq]] and [[Hijaz]] in the [[Umayyad]] period and was hostile to [[Shia]]s. He played a significant role in the establishment of the Umayyad government. His loyalty to the Umayyad dynasty and his services to protect their government made him highly respectable by the Umayyads. Upon his death, [['Abd al-Malik b. Marwan]] recommended his son, [[Walid b. 'Abd al-Malik]], to respect al-Hajjaj. Moreover, he called one of his sons "Hajjaj".

He is known as a ruthless, brutal person. He slaughtered his opponents so excessively that he was even reprimanded by 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan. On some historical accounts, the number of people slaugtered by al-Hajjaj rises to 120,000 or even 130,000 people.

Al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf founded the city, [[Wasit]], and passed away there.

He was born in the village, Banu Sakhr. There are different accounts of his year of birth: [[39]]/659, [[40]]/660, [[41]]/661 or [[42]]/662, and on another account, [[45]]/665 or a short time after that. On one account, al-Hajjaj used to be called "Kulayb" when he was a child; he later changed his name to "al-Hajjaj". On another account, Kulayb was his title when he was a child. His [[kunya]] was Abu Muhammad.  

Al-Hajjaj's father, Yusuf b. Hakam al-Thaqafi, was a head and a nobleman of the [[Thaqif tribe]]. He was intimately friends with the household of [[Marwan b. Hakam al-Umawi]]. He attended the Battle of Marwan and the battles in the period of [['Abd al-Malik b. Marwan]]. In the period of 'Abd al-Malik, he was the ruler of some areas. He passed away when his son, al-Hajjaj, ruled [[Hijaz]] ([[Medina]]). His mother was Fari'a or Furay'a, the daughter of Hammam b. 'Urwa al-Thaqafi.

There is no much information about al-Hajjaj's early life and his youth. Some scattered accounts imply that like his ancestors, he was a pitman, shepard, and a tanner. It seems that al-Hajjaj learned the [[Quran]] and religious doctrines from his father when he was a child, and he then learned from teachers such as [['Abd Allah b. 'Abbas]], [[Anas b. Malik]], [[Samura b. Jundab]], and [[Abu Burda b. Abi Musa al-Asha'ari]].

Al-Hajjaj used to teach children in a village, called Kawthar near [[Ta'if]]. And it seems that he also taught children of [[Sulayman b. 'Abd al-Malik]] and "Sulayman b. Na'im al-Himyari" (Sulayman b. Abd al-Malik's scriber).

He lived in Ta'if until he was twenty and so years. He then went to [[Syria]] with his father.

==Appearance and Moral Character==

Al-Hajjaj and his father were in Marwan b. Hakam's army. They went to Egypt in [[64]]/683-4 in order to free the country from [['Abd al-Rahman b. Jahdam al-Fihri]], [['Ubayd Allah b. Zubayr]]'s agent, and thus Egypt was annexed to the [[Umayyad]] realm. After about two months of sojourn in the city of "Fustat", al-Hajjaj and his father returned to Syria together with Marwan.

In the [[Sha'ban]] or [[Ramadan]] of [[65]]/April or May of 685, Marwan b. Hakam sent an army to [[Hijaz]] under the commandership of Hubaysh b. Dalaja al-Qayni (or Hubaysh b. Dulja) in order to quench [['Abd Allah b. Zubayr]]. Al-Hajjaj and his father attended the battle as flag-holders of a part of the army. The army was defeated by 'Abd Allah b. Zubayr near the village, Rabadha, and escaped the battlefield. Later the defeat was mentioned by al-Hajjaj as a shame.

During the [[caliphate]] of [['Abd al-Malik b. Marwan]], al-Hajjaj was appointed as the head of [[Aban b. Marwan]]'s police, and the agent of the caliph in [[Palestine]]. He then became a member of Rawh b. Zanba' al-Judhami's police, the caliph's minister and his closest companions, and the organizer of his army. Al-Hajjaj was very serious in his job which made him more respectable by 'Abd al-Malik. After a while, the caliph appointed him as the first ruler of a new town, called Tibala, but when al-Hajjaj approached Tibala and found it small and insignificant, he returned to 'Abd al-Malik and excused himself from ruling such a small town.

Al-Hajjaj left Kufa in [[Jumada I]], [[72]]/September 691, he went to [[Ta'if]] in the same year, and then camped there. Apparently the reason was that he was commissioned not to invade [[Mecca]] and [[Masjid al-Haram]]. After one or two months of stay in Ta'if and some clashes with the army of [['Abd Allah b. Zubayr]] in [['Arafat]], when the caliph's forces arrived, he went to Mecca with the permission of the caliph. He sieged the city for 7 or 9 months since [[Dhu l-Qa'da 1]], [[72]]/March 28, 692, and threw stones to the [[Ka'ba]] with catapults. After serious battles, he killed 'Abd Allah b. Zubayr in [[Jumada I]] or [[Jumada II 17]], [[73]]/October 7, or November 6, 692. He conquered Mecca and annexed [[Hijaz]] to the [[Umayyad]] realm.

When he was appointed as the ruler of Iraq, he hasted to arrive there. He arrived in Kufa with only 12 cavalries. On Friday, he went to the mosque with a covered face, and in a well-known oration, he threatened people who had escaped the army of [[Muhallab b. Abi Sufra]]—the commander of [[Bushr b. Marwan]]'s army—to fight with [[Haruriyya Khawarij]] that he would kill them unless they join him within three days. After dominating Kufa, al-Hajjaj went to [[Basra]] and delivered a threatening speech, like his speech in Kufa, and he then went to Rustaqubadh to reinforce Muhallab in his fight with Khawarij.

When al-Hajjaj arrived in Rustaqubadh, he encountered the first riot of Iraqi people under the leadership of [['Abd Allah b. Jarud]]. The riot was caused by al-Hajjaj's insistence that people should resist in battlefields until they win and his decision to reduce the soldier's wages to 100 [[dirham]]s. In this riot, which occurred in [[Rabi' II]], [[76]]/August 695, Iraqi people plundered al-Hajjaj's property and his armaments. After consultations with his companions and upon the arrival of backup forces, al-Hajjaj fought with them and killed ibn Jarud.

At the time when ibn Jarud rioted, Iraqi Africans rioted under the leadership of Ribah Shirzanji (or Sharzanji) and conquered the areas surrounding [[Basra]]. Al-Hajjaj sent an army of people of Basra to quench them in the plains of [[Khuzestan]] (near Dawraq).

In [[77]]/696-7, [[Mutarraf b. Mughira b. Shu'ba]]—al-Hajjaj's agent in [[Mada'in]]—rose against the [[Umayyads]] and anounced the removal of [['Abd al-Malik b. Marwan]] from the position of [[caliphate]], and issued a permission for killing al-Hajjaj. Al-Hajjaj imprisoned Hamza, Mutarraf's brother and supporter, in [[Hamadan]]. He sent an army to fight with Mutarraf. Mutarraf and his companions were killed near [[Isfahan]] and their uprising was quenched.

The greatest and most dangerous riot against al-Hajjaj was that of [['Abd al-Rahman b. Ash'ath al-Kindi]]. The riot lasted from [[81]]/700-1 to [[84]]/703-4.

In late [[79]]/699 or early [[80]]/699, al-Hajjaj provided a 40,000-member army called "Tawawis Army" (Army of Peacocks) under the commandership of [['Abd al-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Ash'ath]] in order to quench Ratbil in [[Sistan]]. After some victories, Ibn Ash'ath decided to temporarily suspend his progress.  

Al-Hajjaj did opposed his decision, and insisted that ibn Ash'ath go on his military advance until he conquers [[Kabul]]. This disagreement led to ibn Ash'ath's uprising against al-Hajjaj. Ibn Ash'ath's army, consisting of over 70,000 people, pledged their allegiance to him, and he defeated al-Hajjaj.

When 'Abd al-Malik's backup forces arrived, al-Hajjaj went to Basra and fought with Ibn Ash'ath. In the first battle, al-Hajjaj was victorious, but in the second battle, which occurred on [[Dhu l-Hijja 10]], [[81]]/January 29, 701, he was defeated and had to retreat to Basra. After this, ibn Ash'ath went to Zawiya, near Basra, to fight with al-Hajjaj, but after the first victory, he was defeated in [[Muharram]] [[82]]/February 701. After a fierce battle with [['Abd al-Rahman b. 'Abbas al-Hashimi]], al-Hajjaj took Basra back, and gave an amnesty to its people.  

When al-Hajjaj learned that ibn Ash'ath's 200,000-member army were 7 [[Farsakh]]s away north of Kufa, he launched a battle against them, and after 100 days and 80 battles lasting from [[Rabi' I 1]] to [[Jumada II 14]], [[82]]/April 19 to July 30, 701), he defeated ibn Ash'ath and decapitated most prisoners.

In [[Sha'ban]] [[83]]/September 702, al-Hajjaj defeated ibn Ash'ath's army once again. This time ibn Ash'ath escaped to [[Sistan]]. After a compromise with the ruler of Sistan, al-Hajjaj made an agreement with him to extradite ibn Ash'ath to Iraq. He did so, but ibn Ash'ath killed himself on his way to Iraq.

On some accounts, al-Hajjaj asked [[Nasr b. 'Asim]] and [[Yahya b. Ya'mur]] (students of [[Abu l-Aswad al-Du'ali]] who had learned Arabic grammar from [[Imam 'Ali (a)]]) to punctuate similar letters in order to prevent confusions. He also asked memorizers of the [[Quran]] to divide it into 5 or 10 parts.

Al-Hajjaj's loyalty to the Umayyads and his attempts to protect their [[caliphate]] made him respectable by the Umayyad caliphs. 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan recommended his son, Walid, to be close to al-Hajjaj When he was dying. He called one of his sons "al-Hajjaj". [[Walid b. 'Abd al-Malik]] also respected al-Hajjaj and called him the skin of his face. He was highly saddened by hearing al-Hajjaj's death.

Al-Hajjaj massively killed his and Umayyad's opponents. He was fond of killing, as he is quoted as saying that he took pleasure in shedding blood and doing things that no one else has ever done. Al-Hajjaj slaughtered thousands of prisoners of "Dayr Jamajim" and "Zawiya", and according to historians, he slaughtered over 130,000 people. He so excessively killed his opponents that he came to be reprimended by 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan—he wrote a letter to al-Hajjaj and asked him to stop slaughtering people.

[[Ibn Abi l-Hadid]] cited [[Imam al-Baqir]]'s (a) words about [[Shia]]s being slaughtered by al-Hajjaj as follows: