Abdur Rahman bin Abbas faced Hajjaj
ferociously. His preoccupation with these battles and confrontations gave a
respite to Abdur Rahman bin Mohammad and enabled him to occupy Kufa. At last,
Abdur Rahman bin Abbas, along with a good number of the Basraites, advanced
towards Kufa and joined Abdur Rahman bin Mohammad. Hajjaj entered Basra and
appointed Hakeem bin Ayyub Thaqfi to the post of Governor of Basra, and
proceeded towards Kufa and encamped at Dairqarah. From the other side Abdur
Rahman bin Mohammad came out and made fortifications at Dairjam. Moats,
fortifications and walls were made by both sides and the battle began. It
continued for a long time. Everyday men from both sides came onto the
battlefield and pushed back the other side but they did not wage a decisive
battle. At last, Abdul Malik sent his son Abdullah and his brother, Muhammad
bin Marwan along with a large army to Kufa and conveyed through them a message
to the Iraqis:
"We dismiss Hajjaj. We will fix
the salaries of the Iraqis at par with those of the Syrians and Abdur Rahman
bin Mohammad will be given the Governorship of the province he likes."
The message hurt Hajjaj very much.
He stopped Abdullah and Mohammad from conveying the message and wrote a letter
to Abdul Malik saying, "Your policy will never make the Iraqis your
subjects and they will grow more headstrong." But Abdul Malik disapproved
of Hajjaj's views and Abdullah and Mohammad communicated his message to the
Iraqis.
To the Iraqis it spelt a great
victory and Abdur Rahman bin Mohammad was ready to recognize it. But the army
did not agree to it and raised its voice against it and renewed its oath for
annulling Abdul Malik's oath. Grasping the situation, both Abdullah and
Mohammad left the army with Hajjaj and returned to Abdul Malik. Again, the
battle between the parties raged with renewed vigor, fresh preparations and
strategies it continued in this manner for a year. Daily they came out fought
and returned to their bases in the evening. In those battles, Abdur Rahman had
an edge over his rival Hajjaj who suffered heavy losses. But Hajjaj continued
to receive regular reinforcements from Syria. At last, on Jumad al-Thani 83 A.H.
there was a decisive battle. It went in favor of Hajjaj due to a certain set of
accidental occurrences and he at once entered Kufa and occupied it. Abdur
Rahman bin Mohammad returned to Basra and expelled Hajjaj's governor from
there, and captured Basra. Hajjaj started taking the oath from the Kufans and
who ever hesitated, was instantly killed.
Abdur Rahman bin Mohammad collected
a large army at Basra and intended to attack Hajjaj. Hearing this news, Hajjaj
took a large Syrian army and moved towards Basra. The battle began on 1, Shaban
83 A.H. It continued fiercely until 15 Shaban. Hajjaj suffered defeat several
times but he remained steady. Abdul Malik bin Muhallab was also present in his
army. When Abdul Malik bin Muhallab attacked Abdur Rahman with his men, Abdur
Rahman and his men reversed their position and ransacked Hajjaj's camp and
forced him to runaway from the battlefield and they returned victorious to
their base however they were stunned and terrified by a sudden attack by Abdul
Malik bin Muhallab. They had to retreat. Many of them died, falling into the
moat and many were killed and many escaped.
Hajjaj who had suffered a defeat
returned and occupied Abdur Rahman bin Mohammad's camp. After being defeated,
Abdur Rahman went to Ratbeel the king of Turkistan, by passing through Sos,
Sabur, Kerman, Ziranj and Bist. Abdur Rahman bin Mohammad's men assembled at
Sajistan and made Abdur Rahman bin Abbas bin Rabia bin Abdul Mutallib the Imam
of their Salats. They called all their colleagues from all directions and sent
word to Abdur Rahman bin Mohammad to return and occupy Khorasan. He replied
that Khorasan was ruled over by Yazid bin Muhallab and it would not be easy to
snatch it from him. But they insisted and Abdur Rahman yielded to their
pressure and he returned from Ratbeel. They numbered twenty thousand. He took
them to Herat and captured it. Yazid bin Muhallab came with his army. When they
came to face each other, Abdur Rahman bin Mohammad's men began leaving before
the beginning of the battle. Under compulsion, he fought supported by only a
few men. Many were killed and captured. Abdur Rahman fled to the Sindh. Yazid
stopped his army from pursuing him and Abdur Rahman arrived in Sindh.
Yazid took the captives of Herat to
Merv and from there, he sent them to Hajjaj. Muhammad bin Sad bin Abi Waqaas
was also among them and he was executed by the order of Hajjaj. Abdur Rahman
bin Ash'ath left Sindh and went to Ratbeel. There he contracted tuberculosis.
Hajjaj wrote to Ratbeel to cut off his head and send it to him assuring him
that he would exempt him from paying taxes for ten years in lieu thereof.
Ratbeel complied, killed Abdur Rahman bin Muhammad and sent his head to Hajjaj.
This took place in 84 A.H.
The
Population of the City of Wasit
You have read above that Hajjaj had
to ask for help from Abdul Malik repeatedly in order to face Abdur Rahman bin
Muhammad. When Abdur Rahman came to Sajistan dethroned, Hajjaj had a big Syrian
army under his command. He had no respite from the Kufans and Basraites because
they had fought against him along with Abdur Rahman bin Mohammad. Therefore
keeping the Syrian army with him for an extended period was very essential.
First, Hajjaj issued instructions to the Kufans to keep the Syrians with them
in their homes. But after a few days, the Syrians started misbehaving with the
Kufan's women folk. When Hajjaj was informed of it, he thought it proper to
establish a separate military headquarters for the Syrian army. He therefore
constituted a body of veteran soldiers to select a suitable site for it. They
saw an ascetic who was purifying a place. When he was asked to explain the
reason, he replied that they had read in their scripture that they would build
a house of Allah on that site. They came back to Hajjaj and narrated the
incident. Hajjaj built a mosque there and established a military headquarter
around it. That was the beginning of the city of Wasit. It occurred in 83 A.H.
Yazid
bin Muhallab Dismissed
After freeing himself from the
problems of Abdur Rahman bin Mohammad, Hajjaj continued to deal harshly with
the Iraqis. He began to pick out their leaders and murder them. No household of
any significance in Iraq, Kufa and Basra was left where a member was not killed
by Hajjaj's order and they had to suffer humiliation from him. Only Muhallab's
household was spared due to its loyalty to Hajjaj. Yazid bin Muhallab was the
Governor of Khorasan and obedient to Abdul Malik and Hajjaj. Hajjaj called
Yazid to Kufa several times but every time he was in the midst of some engagement
in Khorasan and made some excuse and failed to visit Kufa. Hajjaj, who was
suspicious by nature misunderstood Yazid and made up his mind to take away from
him of the Governorship of Khorasan. He began to write letters to Abdul Malik
containing complaints against Yazid. Each time Abdul Malik wrote back to Hajjaj
that Muhallab and his sons were loyal supporters and they deserved all possible
concessions. However, Hajjaj continued his moves against them. At last getting
sick of constant complaints, Abdul Malik wrote to him, "Since you insist
on your proposal, I permit you to choose anyone you like for the Governorship
of Khorasan. In order to prevent the problem of Khorasan getting complicated
and saving Khorasan from being captured by another Governor, Hajjaj first of
all sent word to Yazid that after handing over Khorasan to his brother Mofaddal
bin Muhallab he should come to him. Yazid was packing for the journey when he
received Hajjaj's order as well as the letter of Governorship in the name of
Mofaddal. Yazid said to his brother "Don't be deceived by this letter of
Governorship of Khorasan although he has appointed you to this post after a
short time he will dismiss you too." Saying this, he left for Merv in
Rabia al-Thani 85 A.H. Yazid proved right. Hajjaj dismissed Mofaddal bin
Muhallab after nine months and deputed Qutaiba bin Muslim instead.
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