Al-Hajjaj: Arab Caligula, Able Administrator or Both?
Been watching parts of the 2003 series on Al-Hajjaj and I'm curious of opinions on him. He has either been presented as a brutal maniac similar to Caligula or an efficient administrator. Here are two viewpoints:
Been watching parts of the 2003 series on Al-Hajjaj and I'm curious of opinions on him. He has either been presented as a brutal maniac similar to Caligula or an efficient administrator. Here are two viewpoints:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Hajjaj_ibn_YusufAl-Hajjaj was a controversial[1] Arab administrator, politician and minister of defence of the Umayyad Caliphate.
He has also been described as draconian, although modern apologists and revisionists have sought to suggest that he has been negatively under the influence of later Abbasid historians and biographers who were opposed to the fiercely pro-Umayyad al-Hajjaj.[1] Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef played a crucial role in the selection of military commanders. He instilled fear in the mercenary soldiers under his command and led to the successful expansion of the Islamic empire gaining much bounty and loot from the conquered lands. He ensured all important records were translated into Arabic, and for the first time he convinced caliph Abd Al-Malik to adopt a special currency for the Muslim world. This led to war with the Byzantine Empire under Justinian II. The Byzantines were led by Leontios at the Battle of Sebastopolis in 692 and were decisively defeated.
During his reign of terror, he was responsible for the killing of notable Sahabi, companions of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, including Jabir ibn Abdullah and Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr.
http://www.britannica.com/biography/al-HajjajAl-Hajjaj one of the most able of provincial governors under the Umayyad caliphate (661–750). He played a critical role in consolidating the administrative structure of the Umayyad dynasty during its early years.
Al-Ḥajjāj was a schoolteacher in his native town as a young man, but little else is known of his earlier years. He first became publicly active when, in the reign of the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik, he restored discipline among troops being used to repress a rebellion in Iraq. In 692 he personally led troops in crushing the rebellion of ʿAbd Allāh ibn az-Zubayr in Mecca. The brutality with which he secured his victory was to recur during the rest of his public life.
For several years he was governor of the provinces that surrounded Mecca, but in 694 he was made governor of Iraq, which, because of its location and because of the intrigues by various sects there, was the most demanding and the most important of the administrative posts in the Islāmic empire. Al-Ḥajjāj was completely devoted to the service of the Umayyads, and the latter were never fearful of his great power. He was instrumental in persuading the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik to allow the succession to pass to al-Walīd, who, as caliph, allowed al-Ḥajjāj complete freedom in the administration of Iraq. Al-Ḥajjāj did much to promote prosperity in his province. He began to strike a purely Arab coinage that soon replaced older currencies. He stopped the migration of the rural population to the towns in an effort to improve agricultural production, and he saw to it that the irrigation system was kept in good repair.
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