Hajjaj
bin Yusuf Thaqfi
Hajjaj has continually been
mentioned throughout the previous pages. Immediately after Waleed bin Abdul
Malik’s succession to the throne, Hajjaj removed Yazid bin Muhallab and Habib
bin Muhallab from the Governorship of Khorasan and Kerman respectively and put
them into prison he also imprisoned their sons too. Yazid along with his
brothers fled from the jail and went to Waleed bin Abdul Malik’s brother
Sulaiman bin Abdul Malik in Palestine where he was the administrator. Hajjaj
wrote a letter to Waleed complaining against Yazid bin Muhallab but on the
recommendation of Sulaiman, Waleed did not punish Yazid bin Muhallab or his
brothers. Hajjaj’s hard temperament had harassed the Iraqis to the extent that
many of them, after getting tired of him, fled from Iraq and settled in Makkah
and Madinah where Umar bin Abdul Aziz was the Governor. He treated them kindly.
In 93 A.H., Umar bin Abdul Aziz wrote a letter to Waleed complaining about
Hajjaj and that he had put Iraq through a long period of persecution. He also
complained that Hajjaj had also crossed the limits by perpetrating atrocities
against the people of Iraq. When Hajjaj came to know of these complaints he
sent a letter to Waleed making a counter complaint against Umar bin Abdul Aziz
saying that most of the trouble makers and hypocrites wanted in Iraq go to Umar
bin Abdul Aziz and he creates hurdles in their arrest. This will prove very
harmful for running of our administration. It is only proper that you should
remove him from the Governorship of the Hijaz." Waleed removed Umar bin
Abdul Aziz from the Governorship of Hijaz and appointed Khalid bin Abdullah and
Uthman bin Hebban as the governors of Makkah and Madinah. Immediately after
assuming power, Khalid turned all the Iraqis out of Makkah and also threatened
those who had rented out their houses to them. Sayeed bin Jubair was one of
those who migrated to Makkah in order to escape from Hajjaj’s atrocities.
Sayeed bin Jubair's only fault was that he had supported Abdul Rahman bin
Ash'ath. It was not an ordinary fault in Hajjaj's eyes. Khalid arrested him and
sent him to Hajjaj who killed him.
Sayeed bin Jubair was killed for no
fault of his and his was not the only case of its kind but Hajjaj put many
saintly and pious people to death mercilessly.
Sulaiman bin Abdul Malik was
expecting to become caliph after Waleed bin Abdul Malik because Abdul Malik
made Sulaiman his heir-apparent after Waleed and took the oath from the people
for it. Waleed wanted to make his own son Abdul Aziz the heir-apparent and
deprive his brother Sulaiman. He had spoken about it to his deputies
separately. Hajjaj and Qutaiba appreciated the idea but the others warned him
saying, "There is a great danger of this action causing fitnah (Arabic:
evil disorder) among the Muslims". That same year in 95 A.H. in the month
of Shawwal and after ruling in Iraq for twenty years Hajjaj died. At the time
of his death, he appointed his son Abdullah bin Hajjaj the Governor of Iraq.
Waleed bin Abdul Malik retained all the Governors that had been appointed by
Hajjaj in their respective posts.
Musa
bin Nusayr
Just as Hajjaj was the Governor of
the eastern territories, similarly the Governor of the western territories
during Waleed bin Abdul Malik's regime was Musa bin Nusayr whose headquarters
was Qairwan. A few persons from Spain called on the strongest and most
distinguished man of North Africa and complained to him against their King
Roderick's atrocities and requested him to invade Spain and like Morocco annex
it to his territory.
Musa thought over their request for
a few days. Then he sent a slave of his with four boats and 400 soldiers on
board to the Spanish coast to get a first hand understanding of the situation.
At the same time, he requested permission from the caliph Waleed to invade
Spain. The caliph granted it and the 400 soldiers returned safely.
In 92 A.H., Musa gave 7000 soldiers
to his liberated slave, Tariq bin Zeyad to invade Spain. At that time, Tariq
was the Governor of Tangier in Morocco. He along with his men boarded their
boats and after crossing the straits of Gibraltar landed on the coast of Spain
and moved north. The Spanish king Roderick along with a one hundred thousand
man army arrayed themselves to fight with him. The two forces clashed on the
bank of a small river near Janda Lagoon adjoining Sidonia city in Ramadan 92
A.H. (July 711 C.E.). The fight continued ferociously for eight days. At last,
on the eighth day, 28 Ramadan 92 A.H., Roderick was killed by Tariq and the
Christian army fled away.
That same year the king of Sindh,
Dahir, was killed by Mohammad bin Qasim. After his initial victory, Tariq found
it far easier to conquer the cities of Spain and marched ahead conquering city
after city. When Musa bin Nusayr was informed of the major victory they had
achieved, he wrote to Tariq to stop any further advance and await his arrival.
However, it was very difficult for Tariq and his valiant soldiers to put a stop
to their conquests. Finally, Musa along with 18,000 soldiers reached Spain in
the latter part of Ramadan 93 A.H. and conquered the entire peninsula up to the
Pyrenees Mountains. After taking control of the eastern part of Spain Musa
wrote to Waleed, "We have conquered the whole of Spain. Now allow me to go
to Constantinople via Europe while conquering the European lands from Spain to
Constantinople and I will visit you after the conquest of Constantinople".
However, Waleed bin Abdul Malik
wrote to Musa to come to him along with Tariq via Africa after making some one
Governor in Spain. Had Musa been permitted to go ahead it was not difficult at
that time for him conquer the whole of Southern Europe.
Anyway, Musa, in compliance with the
Caliph's order, deputed his son Abdul Aziz as the Governor in Spain, entrusted
Morocco to his second son Abdul Malik and made his third son Abdullah his
deputy in Qairwan, which was the headquarters of North Africa. After making the
proper arrangements, he left for Damascus. On the day he arrived in Damascus,
the caliph Waleed died.
Death
of Waleed bin Abdul Malik
Waleed wanted to prevent his brother
from succeeding to the throne and tried to replace him by his own son but in
vain. Had he lived a few days more he would have probably succeeded. Due to
these efforts by Waleed to take the caliphate from his brother, Sulaiman became
hostile to the leaders who had supported Waleed and also to those whom Waleed
loved. The results of this hostility proved extremely disastrous for the future
of the Islamic world. Waleed after ruling as Caliph for nine years and eight
months died at Dairmaran in Syria on 25 Jamad ath-Thani 96 A.H. (25 February
815 CE) leaving behind nineteen sons. During his caliphate, Sindh, Turkistan,
Bukhara, Samarkand, most of the cities and forts of Spain and Asia Minor and
several islands were annexed to the Islamic territory. His caliphate marked an
epoch of internal peace, comfort and prosperity for the Muslims with a vast
expansion of territory. With the exception of Umar bin Khatab's caliphate, none
of the previous caliphates experienced such a great age of major and
significant conquests. When Waleed died, his brother Sulaiman bin Abdul Malik
was at Ramla, in Palestine.
No comments:
Post a Comment