Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf

Lore & Background

Al-Hajjaj was born in Ta'if in the Hejaz, belonging to the Abu Aqil family of the Banu Awf branch of the Thaqif tribe. His ancestry was not distinguished; the family was poor and its members worked as stone carriers and builders. His mother al-Fari'a was the granddaughter of the companion of Muhammad, Urwah ibn Masʽud. As a boy he acquired the nickname 'little dog'.

Early life and career

His early life is obscure, except for his having been a schoolmaster in Ta'if. He and his father left teaching and took up military service under Caliph Yazid I, participating in the Second Fitna. He fought in the battles of al-Harra (682) and al-Rabadha (684) near Medina, but without distinction; at al-Harra he fled the field.

His first public post, as governor of Tabala in the Tihama region, was unremarkable and he abandoned it. He later went to Damascus and entered the Caliph's select troops. After success suppressing mutinous troops, Abd al-Malik entrusted him with command of the army's rear-guard.

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 with 2,000 Syrian troops. After taking Ta'if unopposed, he halted there to try to secure Ibn al-Zubayr's capitulation diplomatically. Ibn al-Zubayr rejected 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. In October 692, after seven months of siege, Ibn al-Zubayr was killed. As reward, Abd al-Malik gave al-Hajjaj the governorship of the Hejaz, Yemen, and al-Yamama. As governor, he led the Hajj in person in 693 and 694 CE, and restored the Ka'aba to its original shape and dimensions.

Ibn al-Ash'ath's revolt and aftermath

In early 694, Abd al-Malik sent him to govern Iraq, combining the governorships of Kufa and Basra. As governor of Iraq and the east, he instituted key reforms: minting silver dirhams with Muslim religious formulas, changing the language of tax registers from Persian to Arabic, expelling non-Arab Muslim converts from Kufa and Basra to their villages and collecting the poll tax from them, and overseeing large-scale canal digging. In 701, he crushed a rebellion led by Ibn al-Ash'ath, then founded the city of Wasit to house loyalist Syrian troops.

Reader's Guide

Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf is a key figure in Umayyad history, known for his administrative reforms and ruthless governance of Iraq and the eastern Caliphate. His career illustrates the consolidation of Umayyad power after the Second Fitna.