Sa'id 'Hudhayfa' over Khurasan and Sawra's Defeat

ولاية سعيد حذيفة خراسان وهزيمة سورة

Under Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik, Maslama gave Khurasan to his son-in-law Sa'id ibn Abd al-Aziz — nicknamed 'Hudhayfa' when a dahqan saw him saffron-dyed with combed hair and called him effeminate. His man Sawra ibn al-Hurr retook Ishtikhan from the Turks and routed them, then lost the second battle with heavy loss; the obscene lampoon on Sa'id survives. Khurasan's notables complained to Maslama and he was deposed — al-Jarrah meanwhile had kept weighed silver and gold pieces under his carpet, tossing each visitor his due.

Overview

Al-Baladhuri says that in the days of Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik, Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik appointed his in-law Sa'id ibn Abd al-Aziz over Khurasan. Sa'id was nicknamed "Hudhayfa" because one of the landowners saw him dyed with safflower and his hair combed, and said so. ¹

The war with the Turks

Sa'id sent Sawra ibn al-Hurr beyond the river. He camped at Ishtikhan, fought the Turks and defeated them. Then he met the Turks a second time and they defeated him and caused much killing among his companions. Sa'id appointed Nasr ibn Sayyar in his place. ¹

Al-Baladhuri says that some of the notables of Khurasan complained of Sa'id to Maslama, who removed him, and he quotes a poem a poet wrote satirising him. ¹

The text then gives a report about al-Jarrah ibn Abd Allah and the cutting of silver and gold under his carpet; its connection with the event is unclear in the data and needs an additional source.

Abu Muslim Enters Marw and His Partisans Fall upon Mudar

In 130 Abu Muslim entered the wall of Marw and took up residence in the governor's house on Thursday, 9 Jumada I. The cause was that Sulayman ibn Kathir objected to Ali ibn al-Kirmani's reconciliation with Nasr ibn Sayyar: 'Are you not ashamed to make peace with Nasr, when he killed your men and your companions only yesterday?' Ali ibn al-Kirmani was seized by anger, reversed his position, and the truce among the Arabs broke. Nasr ibn Sayyar sent to Abu Muslim asking him to join Mudar, and Rabi'a and Qahtan sent the same request. Abu Muslim ordered that envoys of both sides come before him to choose between them, and told the Shi'a to choose Rabi'a and Qahtan, since authority lay with Mudar, who were Marwan's agents and the killers of Yahya ibn Zayd. When his letter was read to the seventy assembled, Mazid ibn Shaqiq al-Sulami stood and said: 'Mudar are the killers of the Family of the Prophet and helpers of the Umayyads and partisans of Marwan al-Ja'di; our blood is on their necks and our wealth in their hands, and Nasr ibn Sayyar, Marwan's governor in Khurasan, has the khutba given for him from his pulpit and calls him amir al-mu'minin; we are innocent of that before God.' The seventy agreed with him; he rose, and humiliation and dejection came upon Mudar, while Ali ibn al-Kirmani and his companions returned glad and victorious. Abu Muslim had stayed at Alin for twenty-nine days, then moved on to al-Makhwan, stayed three months at Khunda, and then entered the wall of Marw.

Sa'id 'Hudhayfa' over Khurasan and Sawra's Defeat

At a glance

Overview

The war with the Turks

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Time

Abu Muslim Enters Marw and His Partisans Fall upon Mudar