Al-Hajjāj ibn Yūsuf (Arabic: ‫الحجاج بن يوسف‬, also known as Hajjāj ibn Yūsuf ath-

Thaqafī), born in June 661 in aţ-Ţā’if and died 714 in Wasit, Iraq, was an important
Arab administrator during the Umayyad Caliphate. His given name was Kulayb
"Little Dog" but he changed it to al-Hajjaj before being appointed Governor of Iraq.

Hajjaj bin Yusuf's period saw the Arabs on their zenith and he played an important
part in it. He is also credited for introducing the diacritic points to the defective Arabic
script.

The administrative language of Iraq officially changed from Middle Persian (Pahlavi)
to Arabic during his governorship. The records of administrative documents (diwans)
of Iraq transferred from Pahlavi to Arabic.

Beginnings
Al-Hajjāj ibn Yūsuf served as the governor of Iraq during the reigns of Abd al-Malik
ibn Marwan and al-Walid I of the Umayyad. "Little of the early years of his public
life: he does not seem to have distinguished himself in the battles in the Harra of
Medina in 63/682 (Aghani, xvi, 42) and al-Rabahda in 65/684 (Tabari, ii, 579) or as
governor of Tabala in the Tihima (Ibn Kutayba,Mas’arif, 396).

The change began when al-Hajjaj in the first years of the reign of Abd al-Malik, set
out from Taif to Damascus to serve in the police force (Šhurta) under Aba Zur’a Rawh
b. Zinba al-Djudhami, the vizier of the caliph. He attracted the attention of Abd al-
Malik because he succeeded in a short time in restoring discipline among the
mutinous troops with whom the caliph was about to set out for Iraq against Mus’ab b.
al-Zubayr. In the drastic means with which he discharged this task there could already
be recognized the method which was later to make him famous, indeed notorious.

On the campaign against Mus'ab, al-Hajjaj seems to have led the rearguard and to
have distinguished himself by some feats of valour. After the victory over Mus’ab at
Maskin on the Dudjayl in 72/691, on the caliph's orders he set out from Kufa in the
same month at the head of about 2000 Syrians against Abd Allah b. Ibn al-Zubayr, the
anti-caliph of Mecca. He advanced unopposed as far as his native Taif, which he took
without any fighting and used as a base. The caliph had charged him first to negotiate
with Ibn al-Zubayr and to assure him of freedom from punishment if he capitulated,
but, if the opposition continued, to starve him out by siege, but on no account to let
the affair result in bloodshed in the Holy City. Since the negotiations failed and al-
Hajjaj lost patience, he sent a courier to ask Abd al-Malik for reinforcements and also
for permission to take Mecca by force. He received both, and thereupon bombarded
the Holy City with stones from the mountain of Abu Qubays.

The bombardment was continued during the Pilgrimage. Claimed that he was anger at
being prevented by Ibn al-Zubayr from performing the Tawaf and sa’iy al-Hajjaj did
not scruple to bombard the Ka’ba, together with the pilgrims there assembled. A
sudden thunderstorm, in which the uneasy soldiers detected a warning of Divine
punishment, he was able to interpret to them as a promise of victory.

1
After the siege had lasted for seven months and 10,000 men, among them two of Ibn
al-Zubayr's sons, had gone over to Al-Hajjaj, the anti-caliph with a few loyal
followers, including his youngest son, was killed in the fighting around the Ka’ba
(Jumadah I 73/October 692) <A. Dietrich, Encyclopaedia of Islam CD-ROM Edition
v. 1.0>. Hajjaj's firm siege of Hijaz resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent
inhabitants of the region. It has been later claimed that one Ummayyad leader
(probably it was Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz) stated that if all the nations brought their
most tyrannical and evil rulers, the Muslims would only need to bring Hajjāj ibn-
Yūsuf to surpass the rest of the world's murderous rulers in evil.

While governing Hijaz, al-Hajjāj was known for his severe and extremely strict form
of rule. Some time later, he was sent to govern Iraq. Even there, he continued to be as
disreputable as he was, and his reputation was not helped at all by his crushing of a
dangerous Kharijite rebellion under 'Abd al-Rahmān ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath,
from 699 to 701 CE. For his considerable successes, Hajjāj was also made governor
of some provinces in Persia, where he was again tasked with putting down rebellions.
However, his severe tactics led him to make many enemies, who would come to
power after his death.

With the ascent of al-Walid I, Hajjāj's reputation grew due to his selection and
deployment of numerous successful generals who expanded the Islamic empire. He
was given these powers due to his high status in the Umayyad government and he
exhibited a lot of control over the provinces that he governed.

Among these generals was the teenaged Muhammad ibn-Qasīm, who in 712 was sent
to Sindh in Pakistan.

Qutayba ibn Muslim was sent to conquer Turkestan, which he did, even penetrating
the borders of China and obtaining Jizya (tribute payment) from the Chinese emperor.
Probably Hajjāj's most successful general was Mūsā ibn Nusayr, who consolidated
control over North Africa and who sent Tariq ibn Ziyād to invade Spain.

The year after al-Hajjāj died, al-Walid died as well, and his brother, Sulayman came to
power. Sulayman was indebted to many opponents of Hajjāj ibn-Yūsuf for their
political support in getting him elected caliph, so he recalled all Hajjāj's generals and
had them tortured to death in prison, pretending to have forgotten their great victories.

The relationship between Hajjāj ibn Yūsuf and Muhammad ibn Qasīm has always
been one of great debate. Many classical accounts list al-Hajjāj as being his uncle or
father-in-law. However, this is debatable; it seems more likely that they were distant
cousins.