Hisham
bin Abdul Malik
Abul Waleed Hisham bin Abdul Malik
was born in 72 A.H. His mother was Aysha bint Hashim bin Ismail Makhzumi. When
Yazid bin Abdul Malik died, Hisham was in Hims. A messenger went there with
news of Yazid's death, his staff and ring. Hisham left Hims and came to
Damascus and took the oath for his caliphate.
Following his accession Hisham bin
Abdul Malik dismissed Ibn Hubaira from the governorship of Iraq and replaced
him by Khalid bin Abdullah Qasri by conferring on him the certificate of
governorship. It has been mentioned above that Muslim bin Sayeed was appointed
the administrator of Khorasan. He invaded the Turks and remained at war with
them until the end of 105 A.H. he defeated them and collected the taxes due
from them.
Events
in Khorasan
In 106 A.H. Muslim bin Sayeed
collected a large army with the purpose of jihad and went to Bukhara and
Farghana to punish the rebels. The Chinese leader helped the Farghanaites. Many
bloody battles were waged between the Chinese leader and Muslim bin Sayeed
leading ultimately to the Chinese leader's defeat and the capture of many
important leaders of the Turks by the Muslims. That same year the caliph in
Damascus, Hisham bin Abdul Malik, wrote a letter to Khalid bin Abdullah asking
him to depose Muslim bin Sayeed from the governorship of Khorasan and to send
his brother Asad bin Abdullah Qasri to take his place. Khalid bin Abdullah
therefore gave to his brother Asad bin Abdullah the certificate of governorship
of Khorasan and sent him. Muslim bin Sayeed handed over the governorship of Khorasan
willingly. When Khalid bin Abdullah sent his brother Asad bin Abdullah as the
ruler of Khorasan, he had sent Abdur Rahman bin Naim as his deputy.
Immediately after taking over the
administration of Khorasan, Asad bin Abdullah launched attacks on Herat and
Ghowr (modern Ghowr in west-central Afghanistan). The Muslims collected large
amounts of spoils of war there. In those battles, Nasr bin Sayyar and Muslim
bin Ahwar achieved renown. After a very short time Asad bin Abdullah displayed
such a strong personal nature that he made the people worried and terrified. He
had Nasr bin Sayyar lashed a hundred times, had Abdur Rahman's head shaved and
then sent them to his brother Khalid bin Abdullah saying that they were
accomplices in a conspiracy to murder him.
In the same way, he used to abuse
the people of Khorasan and dealt harshly with them. When caliph Hisham was
informed of it, he wrote to Khalid bin Abdullah to depose Asad bin Abdullah
from the governorship of Khorasan. Then of his own accord he sent Ashras bin
Abdullah Aslami as the governor of Khorasan and informed Khalid accordingly.
When Ashras arrived in Khorasan, he pleased all with his kind treatment and
good behavior. From there in 110 A.H. he sent Abu Saida Saleh bin Zareef and
Rabi bin Imran Tamimi to Samarkand and Mawaraunnhar (between the Amu [Oxus] and
Syr rivers in modern Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) with a view to convincing the
inhabitants of the qualities of Islam and bring them on the right path by
making them aware of the evils of Shirk. Rebellions were common in those
territories and Islamic rule was maintained by the point of sword. Ashras
prescribed the best remedy, the people were educated in Islam and then
converted to it. That naturally removed the evils from their lives and then their
understanding removed the danger to Islamic rule. The result of this form of
invitation to Islam was that people began to enter Islam in large numbers.
When the people started embracing
Islam, the revenue from Jizya that was collected from the Dhimmis came down.
[Editors Note: Jizya: A tax paid by
non-Muslims living under an Islamic Government. Since the non-Muslims are
exempt from military service and taxes imposed on Muslims, they must pay this
tax to compensate. It guarantees them security and protection. If the State
cannot protect those who paid jizya, then the amount they paid is returned to
them. Dhimmis: non-Muslims who have paid the jizya and have the right to
protection and are not expected to pay another type of tax.]
When the Dhimmis began to convert to
Islam the revenue was reduced, Hasan bin Umar Taha, the Revenue Officer of
Samarkand, wrote a letter of complaint to Ashras bin Abdullah Aslami, the
governor of Khorasan. Ashras replied, "Most of them might have converted
to Islam only for the sake of avoiding the Jizya and they may not have
converted from the core of their hearts. Please see if they have been
circumcised and make their Salat (obligatory prayer) in which case they should
be excused from paying the Jizya, otherwise collect it from the rest of them
despite their claim that they are Muslims." Ashras actually disapproved of
this method but Khalid and Hisham desired that the converts should be dealt
with strongly. On the receipt of this reply from Ashras, Hasan bin Umar Taha hesitated
in its compliance simply because it was against Islamic Shariah (legal code).
Ashras dismissed him and sent Hani ibn Hani in his place retaining his previous
posts of the governorship and military commander of Samarkand. Hani came and
began the collection campaign. Abu Saida stopped the converts from paying Jizya
and forbid Hani to collect it. Hani wrote to Ashras that they had accepted
Islam and had built mosques and so how could he collect Jizya from them. He
received the reply that he must collect it from those who used to pay it
regardless if they had embraced Islam or not.
In view of the situation, Abu Saida
collected seven thousand converts and taking them encamped a few miles away
from Samarkand to fight. Since he was justified, many Muslim leaders parted
with the army of Samarkand and went to him in support of the converts. When
Ashras realized the situation, he dismissed Hani from the governorship of
Samarkand and deputed Mahshar bin Muzahim Sulami in his place. Mahshar reached
Samarkand, called Abu Said and his associates on the pretext of reconciliation
and imprisoned them and then sent them to Ashras. The converts selected Abu
Fatima as their chief. Finally, those Muslims were exempted from paying the
Jizya, when their unity and collective power declined, they began to be dealt
with harshly and humiliated in different ways. The consequences of these
actions were disastrous. Those who had embraced Islam, turned apostate and
rebelled and prepared to fight they requested the leader of the Chinese to help
them. The Chinese emperor came with a large army and started a series of
battles against the Muslims. Ashras himself came to fight and both armies
fought heroically many Muslims and Turks were killed and finally, it ended in
reconciliation.
At this point, let us reflect on the
commonly held concept that Islam was spread by the sword. We should pause and
think whether the Muslims in general used the sword for the propagation of
Islam or did a few foolish rulers among them use the power of the sword to stop
it from spreading.
In 111 A.H., Hisham bin Abdul Malik
dismissed Ashras while he was at war with the Turks and Samarkandis and
replaced him by Junaid bin Abdur Rahman bin Omar bin Harith bin Kharja bin
Sanan bin Abi Harsa Murri. When Junaid arrived in the capital city of Merv, he
did not find Ashras, who was in the field, but his deputy Khattab bin Mehraz
Sulami. He stayed there for a day and then marched to Mawaraunnhar leaving
Mahshar bin Muzahim Sulami in Merv and took Khattab with him. He along with Ashras
defeated the Chinese leader and the inhabitants of Bukhara and returned to Merv
at the end of 111 A.H. Then he deputed Qatan bin Qutaiba bin Muslim to Bukhara,
Waleed bin Qaqa Absi to Herat and Muslim bin Abdur Rahman Bahli to Balkh but
after a few days, he dismissed Muslim bin Abdur Rahman and put Yahya bin Zabya
in charge of Balkh.
In 112 A.H., Junaid sent Amara bin
Maryam with an army of eighteen thousand fighters and Ibrahim bin Bassam with
ten thousand warriors from another side to Tukharistan and its capital, Balkh
(now part of northern Afghanistan) in order to discipline the rebels. He also
started preparing to go there. When the Turks found out these armies were
headed in their direction, they made the Chinese leader their
Commander-in-chief and gathered a huge army and invaded Samarkand. At that time
the governor of Samarkand was Sura bin Aljabr. He informed Junaid that The
Chinese leader was marching towards Samarkand with a large army and he should
send him reinforcements at once. Mahshar bin Muzahim advised Junaid that he
should march towards Samarkand with a minimum of fifty thousand soldiers
because fighting the Turks would not be an easy task. Because his army was
decimated and he had only a small number of soldiers left with him, so he was
advised not go to Samarkand. Junaid heaved a sigh and said, "How is it
possible that my brother Sura bin Aljabr is in trouble and I should remain
sitting here waiting to collect fifty thousand soldiers?" Saying this, he
set out for Samarkand. When the Chinese leader and the Turks were informed that
Junaid himself was on way to Samarkand, they left a small army to continue the
siege of Samarkand and intercepted him on the way and they began to fight.
Junaid and his handful of friends fought so bravely and heroically that the
Turks were confounded. Some of the Muslims fighters were killed while the dead
bodies of the Turks started to pile up.
The number of the Turkish and
Chinese soldiers was very large. Keeping the mountain at his back Junaid pushed
them to the rear and made the Turks retreat. Finally, at the instance of his
commanders Sura bin Aljabr in Samarkand was informed, "We are fighting at
a short distance from you. Gather your courage and come out of Samarkand and
join us, you should advance along the canal and attack the Turks from the
opposite flank." Sura bin Aljabr set out but contrary to the directions
given to him he changed course with the result that he quickly became
surrounded by the Turks and many of his soldiers were killed. Because of this
Junaid was denied any reinforcements. Finally, the Muslims launched more fierce
attacks and put the Turks and the Chinese leader to rout.
He sent a detailed report through a
fast messenger to Hisham bin Abdul Malik in Damascus. The Caliph ordered the governors
of Kufa and Basra each to send a force of ten thousand armed men to Junaid. He
asked Junaid to continue fighting and that he was sending twenty thousand
soldiers, thirty thousand spears and thirty thousand swords to reinforce him
from Kufa and Basra. The message reached Junaid in Samarkand and he remained at
his post.
After only a few days, he heard that
the Chinese leader who had fled from Junaid was thinking of attacking Bukhara
and was gathering an army. Bukhara was governed by Qatan bin Qutaiba. Junaid
was afraid that Qatan might meet the same fate that Sura had met in Samarkand
so he left Uthman bin Abdullah with four hundred cavaliers and arranged all of
the necessary provisions for him. Then along with his women and children and
the necessary supplies, he left Samarkand and moved towards Bukhara. The
confrontation between him and the Chinese leader took place at Kominia near
Towees on the first of Ramadan 112 A.H. Junaid was victorious, he found the way
ahead and continued to Bukhara. Once again, he had to fight the Turks on the
way and defeated them. Finally, he entered Bukhara and at that time the armies
of Kufa and Basra also arrived there.
By constantly inflicting defeat on
the Turks, he established peace in Khorasan. When he had established security
in Khorasan, he married Fadila bint Yazid bin Muhallab. The Caliph, Hisham bin
Abdul Malik, had a strong dislike against the Muhallab family and when he
received the news of the marriage, he was displeased and dismissed Junaid from
the governorship of Khorasan. He sent Asim bin Yazid Hilali with the
certificate of governorship of Khorasan, to replace him. While Asim was
traveling to Khorasan, the condition of Junaid who suffered from dropsy
worsened. The day he entered Merv, Junaid had died on the previous day. Asim
upon arrival to Khorasan, dismissed all the governors appointed by Junaid and
appointed his own.
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