Death of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf

وفاة الحجاج بن يوسف

95 AH

Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf died in 95 at Wasit in Iraq, aged fifty-four, after twenty years in command over the people ¹. The book counts 120,000 men put to death in cold blood, apart from those killed in his armies and wars, and says that 50,000 men and 30,000 women were in his prisons when he died ². It notes that he lived only fifteen nights after the killing of Sa'id ibn Jubayr ³. It says that news of al-Hajjaj's death reached Qutayba in Shawwal 95 AH, after he had completed the conquest of al-Shash and Farghana, and that Qutayba grieved at his death because of the support he had received from him ⁴.

Overview

al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf died in 95 AH at Wasit, aged fifty-four. His governorship over the people lasted twenty years, according to Bakr's book. ¹

What the book reports

The book says that the number he had killed by execution was a hundred and twenty thousand, besides those who died in his armies and wars. It says that when he died fifty thousand men and thirty thousand women were in his prisons. ² These are figures the book transmits, and they are not checked elsewhere in it. It also says that he did not live after the killing of Sa'id ibn Jubayr more than fifteen nights. ³

The effect of the news

al-Sallabi says that news of his death reached Qutayba in Shawwal 95 AH, after the conquest of al-Shash and Farghana, and he was grieved at his death because of the support he had received from him. ⁴

The place of death is Wasit.

Sources

The Umayyad State — Bakr Muhammad Ibrahim Bakr (1st ed., Markaz al-Raya lil-Nashr wal-I'lam, Cairo 2002) , p. 245

The Umayyad State — Bakr Muhammad Ibrahim Bakr (1st ed., Markaz al-Raya lil-Nashr wal-I'lam, Cairo 2002) , p. 245-246

The Umayyad State — Bakr Muhammad Ibrahim Bakr (1st ed., Markaz al-Raya lil-Nashr wal-I'lam, Cairo 2002) , p. 243

The Umayyad State: Factors of Prosperity and Consequences of Collapse — Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi (Part Two, 2005) , p.94

The Founding of Wasit

In al-Baladhuri: al-Hajjaj founded the city of Wasit in year 83 or 84, building its mosque, palace and Green Dome — it was reed-land, whence 'Wasit al-Qasab', equidistant from al-Ahwaz, Basra and Kufa; Ibn al-Qirriyya quipped 'he built it in a land not his own and will leave it to sons not his own.' A Wasit shaykh related that when finished al-Hajjaj wrote Abd al-Malik: 'I have founded a city in a karsh of land between the mountain and the two garrison towns and named it Wasit' — hence the Wasitis are called al-Karshiyyin. Before founding it he had meant to move al-Sin's people from Kaskar and dug Nahr al-Sin, then reconsidered, founded Wasit, dug the Nil and Zabi canals, revived their lands and founded the city called al-Nil. He seized Abdallah ibn Darraj's estates — reclaimed deadland, stagnant waters, springs and reed-beds marked with milestones under his Kufa kharaj office with al-Mughira — cleared their reeds and took them for Abd al-Malik, cultivating them; and he stripped doors from Zantaward, al-Dawqara, Dar Awsat, Dayr Masarjasan and Sharabit for his palace and Wasit's congregational mosque — those cities protested 'you have preferred us over our own cities and wealth,' and he paid them no heed.

Death of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf

At a glance

Overview

What the book reports

The effect of the news

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

The Founding of Wasit