A RECONSIDERATION OF THE DEMEANOUR OF
A PROMINENT UMAYYAD GOVERNOR, ALHAJJAJ IBN YUSUF AL-THAQAF1
Z. I. OSENI
Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi was an Umayyad
governor first in Arabia and later in Iraq and the East. He
was a controversial figure and had traits which were
somehow contradictory. This paper is an attempt towards
an objective reconsideration of the character of the man.
One of the problems with the study of his life is that it is
fraught with severe and damaging criticism of the
governor. Many of the old Arab historians were as severe
to al-Hajjaj as he was to his recalcitrant subjects. After all
most of the works on him were written during the Abbasid
period (C.E. 750-1258) when for obvious reasons the
writers were hostile to most Umayyad rulers.1
The paper is divided into eight sections. The first
section deals with the life of al-Hajjaj in brief. Sections ii
and iii dwell on his severity and hatred of insults
respectively, while section iv is on his sense of justice.
Sections v, vi and vii treat his attitude to women, his
generosity and oratory respectively. The last section is the
conclusion.
Al-Hajjaj was born in al-Ta'if among the Banu
Thaqif in A.H. 4/ C.E. 661. 2 His father was a poor Qur'anic
teacher in the town. Being intelligent he learnt how to read
the Qur'an very early, and later joined his father in teaching
children.3
(1) Some of the writers were Ibn Qutaybah (d. 889); alMubarrad (d. 898); al-Isbahani (d. 967); al-Taban (d. 923);
and al-Jahiz (d. 868). Some of their work? will be referred
to in due course.
29
(2) A. Dietrich, "Al-Hadjdjadj ibn Yfisuf," in The
Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. iii (new edition, E. J. Bill,
Leyden, 1970, ), p. 40.
(3) 'Abd al-Laiif Sharajah, al-Hajjaj Taghiyar a!-'Arab (Dar
al-Makshuf, Beirut, 1950), p. 81; 'Amr ibn Bahr al-Jahiz, alBayan wa al-Tabyin, vol. i (3rd
During the turbulent years that greeted the death of
Mu'awiyah I, the founder of the Umayyad dynasty, al-Hajjaj
joined the army as a young man. His fame rested on his
absolute loyalty to the Umayyad house and his devotion to
the service of 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in particular.4 The
latter had succeeded his father in 685 at a time when a
large part of the Arab empire was firmly under the rule of
'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. After the reconquest of Iraq by
the Umayyads, which culminated in the murder of Mus'ab
ibn al-Zubayr, the Caliph sent al-Hajjaj to Mecca to
liquidate Ibn al-Zubayr in 692.5 Al-Hajjaj carried out the
assignment with unequalled ferocity and bombarded the
Ka'bah in which Ibn al-Zubayr sought refuge with stones
from the mountain Abu Qubays, and eventually annihilated
Ibn al-Zubayr.0 By this action at-Hajjaj removed that
greatest threat to Umayyad rule.
As a reward, al-Hajjaj was made governor of the
Hijaz, Yemen and Yamamah. After a two-year rule, he was
transferred to Kufa as Governor of Iraq and the Eastern
territories, an area which was the most turbulent in the
empire,7 In early 695, he stormed Kufa and began a reign
of terror. There were many insurrections in the area, and
these he crushed promptly. The uprisings included those of
the Kharijites, Ibn Jarud, and ' Abd al-Rahman ibn alAsh'ath.8 The governor descended heavily on the Iraqi
malcontents and massacred
edition, Maktabat al-Khaniji, Cairo, and Maktabat al-Hilal,
Beirut, 1968), p. 202.
30
(4) Shararah, p. 87; Mahmad Taymur, Ibn Jala (Dar alMa'arif, Cairo, 1965), pp. 13-25.
(5) Muhammad ibn Janr al-Taban, Ta'rikh al-Rusul wa alMulfik, ed. Muham-mad Abu al-Fadl Ibr&him (Dar alMa'arif, Cairo, 1964), p. 174.
(6) Al-Taban gave details of al-Hajjaj's attack on
Mecca and the various incidents which took place.
(Ibid,, pp. 187-92.)
(7) See al-Hajjnj's speeches on this in Ibn 'Abd Rabbih,
al-'Iqd al-Farld, ed. Karam al-Bustani vol. xv (.Matba'at alManab.il, Beirut, 1953), pp. 129-32.
(8) See Dietrich, p. 40; P. K. Hitti, History of the Arabs
(10th edition, Mac-millan, 1970), p. 208 ; L- V. Vaglieri,
'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Ash'ath," inThe Encyclopaedia of
Islam, vol. i (new edition, 1954), pp. 715-19.
them , thanks to the constant reinforcements which he
received from Syria when necessary.9
The governor's last ten years were spent in
carrying out far-reaching reforms. He improved agriculture
in the area and evolved new land policies, both of which
were beneficial to the government and the masses at
large.10 These reforms were, however, at the expense of
the non-Arab Muslims (Mawall) whom he burdened with
extortionate taxation not sanctioned by Islam.11
Al-Hajjaj's fear of ceaseless uprisings in Basra and
Kufa made him build a new capital called Wasit at a cost of
about 43 million dirhams.13 Though the city is now in ruins,
some excavation works were initiated at the site in the
fourth decade of this century.13
As part of the Arabization policy of the Umayyad
empire, the Caliph'Abd al-Malik and his lieutenant, alHajjaj, minted the first purely Arab coins.11 The viceroy
31
personally supervised his mints in Kufa and later in Wasit.
Moreover, al-Hajjaj's most lasting contribution to the Arab
civilization in general \\as his reform of Arabic orthography
meant to facilitate the reading of the Qur'an. He ordered
two scholars named Nti^r ibn 'Asim al-Laythi and Yahya
ibn Ya'mur to supply dots and vowels for the Qur'an so that
people (especially the non-Arabs and Arabs born and
brought up in non-Arab environments) would be able to
read the sacred text with relative ease 15
(9) Vaglieri, p. 717.
(10)
Dietrich, p. 41.
(11) Reuben Levy, The Social Structure of Islam
(Cambridge University Press, London, 1969), p 58.
(12) Sharnrah, p- 180 ; Naji Ma'raf, al-Madkhal fi Ta'rikh
al-Hadarat al-'Arabiyah (5th edition, Matba'ah Wiz-arat alTarbiyah, Baghdad, 1965), pp. 220-21(13) Naji Ma'ruf, Madaris Wasi (Matba'at al-lrshad,
Baghdad, 1966), pp. 26-31.
(14) Dietrich, p. 41 ; Levy, p. 304.
(15) Sabah 'Abbas al-Salim, 'Isa ibn 'Umar al-Thaqafi :
Nahwuhu min Khilal Qira'atihi (1st ed., Dar al-Tarbiyah,
Baghddd, 1975), p. 20.
Throughout his life as an Umayyad stalwart, al-Hajjaj
served 'Abd al-Malik and his successor, al-Walid I.
faithfully and even defied public outcry against his extreme
severity in handling his subjects. When he died in 714 the
people of Iraq jubilated openly in the streets.16 When alHasan al-Basrf, the renowned ascetic, heard of the news,
he thanked God and said, "O God, it is. You who killed
him; please, put an end to his habitual practices."17 The
reaction of 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'AzIz was prostration and
gratitude to God for removing the "tyrant"18 who had
32
consolidated the Umayyad throne for the Mar-wanid's, a
throne which ironically he ('Umar) was to ascend three
years later.
II
AI-Hajjaj was a harsh ruler. He himself knew this
and boasted of it, and justified it in his speeches,19 To him,
it was a good thing to treat the 'Iraqis with utmost severity
because they were "people given to hypocrisy and
schism." It is on record that he once said, "A harsh
government may harm a few; a weak government harms
all." 20 Severity as a trait is glaring throughout his life. The
odes (qasa'id) and satires (hija) composed on him portray
one aspect or another of his severe treatment of people.
Was what made his harshness so notorious the
manner in which Islam regards the sacredness of the soul
of man ? According to this belief,
(16) Shararah, p. 196.
(17| Taha al-Hajiri (ed.), al-Bukhala’ li al-Jahiz, Dhakha'ir
at-'Arab, 23 (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo, n.d.), "Notes," p. 273.
(18)
Shararah, p. 200.
(19) See his speeches in Ibn 'Abd Rabbih, vol. xv, pp.
129-32 ; al-Qalqashandi, Sub h al-A'sha fi Sina'at al-Insha
vol. i (Wizarat al-Thaqal'ah wa al-Iishad al-Qawmi, Cairo,
1963), pp. 218-20; and Ahmad Muhammad a!-Hiifi, Adab
al-Siyasah fi al-'A^r al-Umawl (5th ed,, Dijr Nahdah Misr li
al-Tab' wa al-Nashr, Cairo, 1979), pp. 287-90.
(20) Eric Schroeder (tr.), Muhammad's People; A Tale by
Anthology (The Bond Whedright Company, Portland,
Maine, 1955), p. 230.
God made the form (in essence) of man in His own
Form; and no
33
one could unravel the mystery of man's formation
except God
Himself. One who wishes to destroy (he formation
beyond the
limits of law becomes an aggressor over his own
self. He wishes
to destroy that which God wishes to rehabilitate. To
treat God's
creatures with kindness and to safeguard them are
better than
enforcing His law with severity.31
Many Muslim scholars from the late 7th century C. E,
onwards condemned al-Hajjaj for his severity on the basis
of this pious belief. 22 An old woman is said to have made a
statement similar to Hasan al-Basri's own, thus, "O God,
you caused him to die; cause his habitual practices to die
too." 23
When al-Hajjaj's was on his death-bed, we are told,
his prisons were filled with 50,000 men and 30,000 women
24
'Abd al-Latif Shararah has given a more gory portrayal.
He states that, apart from the great number of people killed
on the battlefields, al-Hajjaj executed 120,000 people.
Furthermore, 50,000 men and 30,000 women died in his
prisons. Worse still, of the women who died in his prisons,
16,000 were stripped naked ! Men and women were
indiscriminately mixed up together in the jail-houses, and
there was no shelter from the scorching sun of summer or
the heavy rains of winter. 2S On his own part, al-Tha'alibi
says that four men in the Islamic period who killed more
(21) Moulvj S. A. Q. Husaini, Ibn al-'Araln she Great
Mystic and Thinker (Shaykh Muhammad Ashraf
Publications, Lahore, 1970j, p. 96.
(22)
Taha al-Hajin, p. 273.
(23)
Al-Jahiz, vol. iii, p. 271.
34
(24) Ah mad Hasan al-Zayyat, Ta'rikh al-Adab al-'Arabi
(25th ed., Dar Nahdah Misr li al-Tab' wa al-Nashr, Cairo,
n.d.), p. 193. Ibn 'Abd Rabbin (vol. xx, p. 75) talks of 120
000 prisoners! It is alleged that the viceroy's oppression
was so much that 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz once lamented,
"Al-Walid in Syria, al-Hajjrij in-Iraq, Qurrah ibn Shank in
Egypt, 'Uthman ibn Hayyan in the Hijaz, and Muhammad
Ibn Yusuf in Yemen ! By God, the earth is filled with
oppression !" See al-Mubarrad, al'Kanril, ed. Muhammad
Aba al-Fadl Ibrahjin and aJ-Sayyid Shahgtah, vol. ii, p.
109; and also Shararah, p. 200.
(25) Ibid., p. 175, quoting al-Mas'adl, Muruj al-Dhahab,
vo l. iii, p. 105.
than a million are al-Hajjaj b, Yusuf, Abu Musa alKhurasani, Babik and al-Barqa'i. 26
One might dare to say that the above figures
should be treated with caution though the thesis that alHajjaj killed thousands and imprisoned thousands stands
clear. The sources quoted did not give any clear and
objective analysis as to the categories of people imprisoned or killed, their offences (if any) and whether or not
the viceroy was justified in treating them the way he did.
Modern scholarship does question the authenticity of the
figures. 2T Severe as al-Hajjaj was in his government, he
sometimes changed his mind and pardoned his offenders.
One one occasion, for example, the viceroy was slaying
some prisoners when one of them turned to him and
pleaded, "By God, if we have been so bad as to commit
the offence, you have not done well not to pardon us. The
viceroy was moved by the statement and he exclaimed,
"Fie to these corpses ! Why has there not been anyone
among them to speak well like this ? " It is reported that he
then stopped the killings. 28
All the same, this viceroy's major weakness was his
impatience, and this almost led to his downfall when he
clashed with Ibn al-Ash'ath, a formidable army general who
35
rebelled against him. Al-Hajjaj lacked hilm (clemency)
which in Mu'awiyah I, the founder of the Umayyad dynasty,
was in abundance. It is doubtful, however, whether
Mu'awiyah's type of clemency and cool disposition could
have won the Umayyads the hearts of the Iraqi populace of
al-Hajjaj's era. After all even the clement Mu'awiyah
needed the services of Ziyad b. Abih, whose severity is
often compared to al-Hajjaj's, in order to maintain law and
order in Iraq.
III
Al-Hajjaj hated insults and was very sensitive to
people's utterances and behaviour. Unfortunately, the
Iraqis very often insulted him.
(26) Al-Qalqashandi, vol. i, p. 445.
(271 Dietrich, p. 42.
(28) Al-Jahiz, vol. i, p. 259.
Many Arab literary historians quote these abuses with tacit
approval.
The following are some examples.
One day a cupper visited the viceroy to cup his
head. The man impudently placed his cupping implement
on the viceroy's neck and questioned him about the
rebellion of Ibn al-Ash'ath. The viceroy promised to narrate
the event to him some other time. But the cupper insisted
on being told the story right there. Al-Hajjaj swore to him
that he would tell him the whole story later.
After the cupping exercise, al-Hajjaj invited him to
his chamber and told him that he was ready to narrate the
whole story to him. He called for a number of soldiers and
ordered them to whip the cupper as he narrated the story
of Ibn al-Ash'ath's revolt to him in detail- By the time the
story ended the cupper has received about 500 lashes,
36
and was almost dead. Al-Hajjaj then released him and
sarcastically asked him to come to him whenever he would
like to hear the story of another rebel. 92
Secondly, al-Jahiz reports the following dialogue
between al-Hajjaj and a Kharijite :
Al-Hajjaj :
Have you collected the Qur'an together?
The Kharijite :
Al-Hajjaj :
Do you read it aloud?
The Kharijite :
Al-Hajjaj :
Was it scattered that I should gather it ?
I read it as I look at it.
Have you memorized it?
The Kharijite : Do I fear that it will run away so that I
should memorize it ?
Al-Hajjaj :
What have you to say about the Commander
of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik?
The Kharijite :
God curse him and you too.
(29) Abu al-Hasan al-Hilal ibn al-Muhsin al-Sabi, Tuhfat
al-l'mara' fl Ta'rikh al-Wuzara ed. 'Abd al-Sattar Ahmad
Firaj (Dar Ihya' al-Kutub al-'Arabiyah, Cairo, 1958), pp.
121-22.
Al-Hajjaj : You will be slain. How will you meet God?
The Kharijite : I will meet Him with my deeds and you
will
meet Him with my blood, 30
Al-Jahiz did not mention whether al-Hajjaj actually killed
the Khari-jite later.
37
A third example is about a learned and respected
confidant of al-Hajjaj called Jami' al-Muharibi. The viceroy
discovered through long association that Jami' was a
traitor who insulted his intelligence. Consequently, he
wanted to slay him, but the old scholar was able to flee
successfully. It is narrated that Jami' did not favour alHajjaj's construction of a new capital, Wasit, and he
scolded the governor thus:
You did not build it in your (native) town, and you
have not
given it to your children as an estate. This is the
case of one
prevented by arrogance from consultation and one
prevented by oppressiveness from (good)
counsel.3l ,
The implication of this statement is clear. While the
governor thought it worthwhile to work selflessly for the
Umayyad power, Jami' wanted him to work for his native
town, Taif, and his children alone. Jami' also had the guts
lo advice the viceroy on another occasion thus:
If they (the Iraqis) had loved you, they would have
obeyed you,
but they have no sympathy for you on account of
your genealogy
or for your town or your own self. You should
eschew what
scares them away from you and do what brings
them near you.
Seek the goodwill of those below you (and those
above you will
give it to you). Your infliction (of punishment)
should come after
your threat, and your threat after your (favourable)
promise.32
There is a contradiction in this statement. The Iraqis had
formed an opinion about al-Hajjaj on account of his humble
38
origin, being a Thaqafi like Ziyad who had ruled them with
an iron hand before, and
(30) Al-Jahiz, vol, ii, pp. 148-49.
(31) Ibid, p 135.
(32) Ibid., p, 136.
for being an unbending stalwart of the Umayyads. How did
Jami' expect the governor to change, and what results did
he think that the viceroy's softness towards the Iraqis
would yield when the governor was a loyal Umayyad
representative?
The fourth example is about the viceroy's
encounter with a Kharijite woman. He told the woman, ''I
will keep a sharp eye on you (Kharijites) and harvest you
with vigour." The woman simply remarked in a sarcastic
tone, "You harvest while God sows."33 By harvest here, the
governor meant cut ting off the heads of the Kharijites with
utmost ruthlessness. It is not reported, however, whether
or not the viceroy thereafter killed the woman.
IV
The governor's sense of justice was extraordinarily
high for his era which was noted for corruption. His
problem, however, was that he hardly tempered justice
with mercy. This is why his prefects feared him and did
their best to satisfy him. The Caliph 'Abdal-Malik himself
knew this and sometimes intervened when the viceroy was
going too far to get justice done. An example is a letter
which al-Hajjaj wrote to 'Abd al-Malik to bring 'Urwah b, alZubayr, governor of Yemen, to him to be punished for an
offence he committed. 'Urwah's crime was that he
embezzled State funds unjustly. After committing the
offence, 'Urwah fled to Damascus and was being
39
harboured by the Caliph. In the said letter, al-Hajjaj
requested the Caliph to send him 'Urwah and reminded the
Commander of the Faithful that the fund embezzled was
God's money, and that by compelling him to refund it other
people's desire to commit such an offence will be killed. 34
The letter shows how committed to justice the viceroy was.
Imagine a governor of a province within an empire
demanding from his sovereign, the Caliph, to send another
ex-governor to him to face charges levelled against him !
Another illustration of the viceroy's sense of justice
is given by one of his officers named .'Ubayd b. Abi
Mukhariq.3B 'Ubayd was
(33) Ibid., p. 316.
(34) Ibn 'Abd Rabbih, vol. xx, pp. 72-73.
(35) Schroeder, p. 220.
appointed in charge of agriculture in Iraq and was afraid of
his governor because of his grim inflexibility. He went to an
old Persian sage named Jamil b. Suhayr for advice. The
latter asked him whether he wanted to satisfy al-Hajjaj, the
treasury, or his conscience. 'Ubayd's reply was that he
wanted to satisfy all the three. The old man said,
Well, keep these four rules : the first, leave thy gate
open and
keep no ushers; in that way any man will know he
can get to thee
if he wills, and thy deputies will be the more
affeared of
thee. Next, let thy underlings have long hearings
with thee; a
governor always gets a better name that way.
Third, let thy
decrees be fair, the same for the rich and poor.
Last, give no man's ambition the slightest hold on
thee; never take a present from
an underling, for the man who gives it will not be
content till he
40
got twice as much again, let alone unsavoury tales
that come of
it. Do these four things, and thou mayest flay thy
sheep from
the napes of their necks to their tails' ends, and
they will thank
thee for it. And still Hajjaj can have nothing against
thee.36
The two examples cited above, in addition to other
incidents in al-Hajjaj's life, do show that he was extremely
just and honest. To him, tempering justice with undue
mercy would encourage people to act unjustly. In his
chequered career there were certain issues on which he
disagreed with many of his subjects and critics as regards
justice. Certain policies which he implemented in all
honesty, thinking that he was just, were regarded by
multitudes of his detractors, who felt the iron hand, as
oppressive and unjust. 37
V
Al-Hajjaj was a sober and austere man. These
qualities affected his relations with women. He married for
the first time at about the age of twenty years. He
thereafter wedded many more, and divorced them at will.38
He married and divorced two of
(36)
Ibid., p. 220.
(37) This gulf is illustrated by some of al-Hajjaj's
speeches. See, for example, Ibn 'Abd Rabbih, vol. xv, pp.
121-35. '
(38) Shararah, pp. 142-43.
Nu'man b. Bashfr's daughters, one after the other, despite
the fact that Nu'man was one of his close associates. 39
Furthermore he married Hind, a daughter of al-Muhallab,
his subordinate commander in Persia. He divorced her too.
On the iist of his ex-wives were a woman called Fariyah
41
and another one who was a sister of Khalid, sub-governor
of Kufa under Bishr b. Marwan 4 0
The most prominent woman married by al-Hajjaj
was Hind bint Asma' b. Kharijah, a woman whose father
was a distinguished personality in Kufa. Hind by and large
became part of the successive government of Iraq. Firstly,
she was married by 'Urwah b. al-Zubayr. After his exit, and
when Bishr b. Marwan became governor of Iraq, he
married her and had two boys by her. Al-Hajjaj could not
be an exception ; he was persuaded by two of his close
friends, 'Anbasah and Abu Burdah, to marry Hind. Abu
Burdah was assigned the duty of speaking to Hind on
behalf of the viceroy.41 Al-Hajjaj eventually married her.
Nevertheless, he divorced her later when the lady told him
that 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad's palace in Basra was more
magnificent than his own palace, 42 perhaps an
exaggeration of the factor which actually led to the divorce.
Of the women whom he tried unsuccessfully to
marry two stand out. The first was Zajalah bint Mana’.ur alFazaryah, the widow of 'Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr. After
eliminating Ibn al-Zubayr, al-Hajjaj woed his widow,
Zajalah, in Mecca and tried his best to win her love.
Zajalah, however, refused bluntly and ridiculed him for his
harsh and rash manners.43 The second woman was Umm
Kulthum bint 'Abd Allah b. Ja'far al-Hashimi. The viceroy
tried to associate himself with the Prophet Muhammad's
clan, Banu Hashim, by this marriage.
(39) Ibid, pp. 142-43. Ibid , p. 193.
(41) Al-Isbaliani, Kitab al-Aghdni, ed. Ibrahim alAbyari (Dar al-Sha'b,
Cairo, 1970 vol. xxiii, pp. 8070-77 ; Taymor, pp. 84-88.
(42)
Al-Isbahani, voi xxiii, p. 8077.
(43)
Shararuh, p. 134.
42
Unfortunately for him, the Caliph 'Abd al-Malik stopped him
from following the issue to a conclusive end.
Al-Hajjaj's rough deal with women thus points to the
fact that his harsh and temperamental disposition proved
incompatible with the cultivation of a lasting association
with women.
Another illustration of the viceroy's attitude towards
women is found in a letter he wrote to one of his prefects,
al-Hakam b. Ayyub. In the letter, the viceroy asked al
Hakam to help him find a good wife for his son The letter
goes thus :
Find a wife for 'Abd al-Malik b. al-Hajjaj, a
beautiful woman
from afar (or) a good woman from nearby ;
honoured in her tribe,
humble in herself, a slave-woman to her husband.45
In his reply, al-Hakam wrote, "1 have found her but for the
large size of her breasts.”46 Al-Hajjaj wrote back stating
that the upper portion of a woman's chest was not good
enough unless her breasts were
large. 47
The above story throws more light on the viceroy's
way of looking at women. Firstly, he admired beautiful
women with big busts. Secondly, such women should be
honoured for their good traits among their tribes. Thirdly,
and perhaps most importantly, the ideal woman must be
ready to offer slavish submission to her husband.
Thus, in spite of the governor's sober and harsh
character in addition to his high sense of responsibility, he
did associate with many women. Nevertheless, he did not
allow such associations to disturb
43
(44) Al-Mubarrad, vol. i, pp. 349-50; Taymur, pp 68-71.
The Caliph 'Abd al-Malik prevented the viceroy from
wedding the girl. See Muhammad Ahmad Jad al-Mawla
et.at., Qasas al-'Arab, vol. iii (4th ed , Dar Ihya' al-Kutub al'Arabiyah, Cairo, 1962), p. 151.
(45) Al-Jahiz, vol. iv, p. 8.
(46) lbid.
(47) Ibid.
him as an Umayyad henchman and governor of Iraq and
the East. His advice to the Caliph al-Walid on how to treat
women highlights the fact that, though he loved women, he
did think that they should be confided in as regards State
affairs. 48
VI
Al~Hajjaj could be very generous when he deemed
it proper. There are many evidences to attest his
munificence. He was generous to poets who called at his
court such as Jarir, al-Farazdaq, Layla and the poetess,
Layla al-Akhyaliyah. 49 A Muslim woman was once
captured in India by forces opposed to the Arab army : the
woman shouted, "Hajjaj!" When the news reached the
governor, he paid a ransom of 7,000 dirhams to save her.
This was to prove that he deserved to be called upon for
succour.50
Another remarkable incident which portrays his
generosity is what happened immediately after the
suppression of Ibn al-Ash'ath's revolt. As a sign of
gratitude al-Hajjaj rewarded the Qaysite (mainly the
northern Arabs) abundantly for their unflinching support to
his cause throughout the war. But, to his surprise, the
Caliph 'Abd al-Malik wrote to him to be less generous with
public funds. Perhaps, the Caliph sensed that the governor
44
was deviating from his well known strictness. The viceroy
replied to the letter in verse :
By my life ! The messenger has brought the
pages written by you,
which after dictation were folded and sealed.
(48) For details on al--Hajjaj's advice to al-Walid I and the
reaction of the Caliph's wife, see Schroeder, pp. 228-29 ;
Ibn 'Abd Rabbih, vol. xx, pp. 10-72; Jad al-Mawla, et. al,,
vol. ii, pp. 45-46, 146 and 411; al-Hufi, PP-519-20.
(49) For details on this, see Z. I- Oseni, "al-Hajjaj b.
Yusuf al-Thaqafi(66l-714 A.D.) as Portrayed in Umayyad
Arabic Poetry" (unpublished doctoral thesis submitted in
the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of
Ibadan, Ibadan, in 1984), pp. 148-213 and 281-383(50) Khayr al-Din al-Zarkali, al-A'ldm: QdmAs Tarajim li
Ashhur al-Rijal wa al-Nisa' min al-'Arab wa al-Musta'ribin
wa al-Mustashriqin, vol. ii (2nd ed-, Beirut, Matba'ah Kusta
Tsumas & Co., Beirut, 1954), p. 175.
It is a letter which contains both gentle and harsh things
and in which I have been admonished — admonitions are
always useful to men of understanding.
Many misfortunes be/ell me', for this I shall now supply
explanations and also reasons and thus justify myself.
When I was a punishing scourge for the people without
seeking personal advantage thereby — whether they were
pleased or angry about this, whether I was praised or
blamed or even abused by them —,
(And when) in a country into which I came, on my arrival
the fires of enmity blazed everywhere,
Then I had endured of it all that is known to you and fought
ceaselessly until death had almost overcome me !
45
You have heard how many tumults there have been there,
and if someone else had been (there), he would have
perished from terror.
Always when they wished to commit one of their unhappy
deeds, I preferred my head without disguising myself,
And if brave men (i.e. the Qaysls) had not defended me
against them, jackals and hyenas would have shared out
my limbs. 6l
When th,e Caliph received the reply, his heart was moved ;
he consequently wrote back to his viceroy, asking him to
act as he deemed proper.52
The most obvious act of generosity shown by alHajjaj was feeding people. It was his habit to entertain
about 10,000 guests everyday when he was governor of
Iraq. He told the invitees that his messenger he bent to call
them for a meal was the sun, "When it rises,
(51) Dietrich, p. 4-2, quoting al-Mu'snf b. Zakariyn alNahrawani (d. 390/1000), Kitab al-Jalis al-Sahih (MS-,
Topkapisarayi Ahmed, Istanbul, vol. iii, 2321, Folio 44a).
Some of the verses of the poem arc given in Shararah, pp.
1CO-101.
(52) Dietrich, p. 42.
come for breakfast, and when it sets, come for dinner" ;
and people always responded to his call.53 The mere fact
that many people thronged the governor's house for
breakfast and dinner everyday is a testimony that, after all,
he was not as bad as he was often portrayed by most Arab
historians of the Abbasid or post-Abbasid period.
VII
The governor was a great orator. His public
addresses were characterized by brevity, constant
46
swearing to God, and unalloyed loyalty to his Umayyad
over-lords. He often equated loyalty to the Umayyad rulers
to fidelity to God and Islam. Furthermore, the viceroy often
flavoured his speeches with quotations from the Qur'an
and from Arabic poetry. He u^ed high-sounding
expressions based on Arabic imageries which make his
speeches pleasant to read.
The summation of the effect of his addresses is that
his audience's fear of him was inextricably intertwined with
their admiration for him. An Islamic pietist named Malik b.
Dinar, who was a contemporary of the viceroy in Kufa once
remarked that al-Hajjaj was so eloquent that when he
complained about the ingratitude and insubordination of
the Iraqis, one would pity him, regard him as truthful and
the Iraqis as liars and ingrates.54 In spite of Shaiarari^
undisguised hostility to al-Hajjaj, he has admitted that the
viceroy's oratorial capability was hardly parallelled in his
era, and that if he were not an army general and governor,
he would have definitely been a distinguished literary
figure. 55 Considering the oratorial output of al-Kajjaj in the
context of the Umayyad era, he is one of the most
distinguished orators of the time. H is difficult to have any
Umayyad caliph who was his equal in. oratory.
VIII
In the foregoing discussion a re-examination of the
demeanour of al-Hajjaj has been attempted. The man was
a very controversial
(53)
Al-Hofi P- 518 ; Abu nl-Nasr, p, 64.
(.54) Al-Jahiz, vol. i, p. 394.
(55) Shararah, p. 187. For some of the notable
speeches of al-Hajjaj, sec Ibn 'Abd Rabbib, vol. xv, pp.
121-35.
character who had been maligned in ancient history books,
generally perhaps more than any other Umayyad dignitary.
He was extremely severe to his opponents and he saw this
47
as essential, especially when viewed against the hostile
people whom he had to govern. In spite of the hostility of
many Arab historians to al-Hajjaj, they did not fail to record
his high sense of justice which was probably un-surpassed
during the Umayyad era. He did not believe in justice
tempered with mercy. To be too soft, according to his
philosophy of life, would encourage people to be
disobedient to constituted authority.
Al-Hajjaj was an embodiment of contradictions. In
spite of his harshness (even to women), he was extremely
generous. This, perhaps, shows that he was not as bad as
he was projected ; it was the belligerence of the Iraqis and
their fastidiousness that compelled him to treat them with
so much severity. He had ready guests to entertain and
dole out presents to. Finally, another factor that made
people admire him was his oratory. He was one of the
most eloquent officials in the Umayyad era.
Thus lived the great al-Hajjaj. One may hope that with this
study which sheds some light on some obscure aspects of
his life, scholars of Arab history will understand better the
character of al-Hajjaj, the henchman of the Umayyad
caliphs, the harsh lover of women, the eloquent and
generous governor of Iraq, and above all, the lover of
justice who was ready to slit anybody's neck to maintain
law and order. Thus al-Hajjaj's name has come down in
history as one of the most dynamic administrators and one
of the fiercest rulers the Arabs have ever known.
48