In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
Summary of the book:
"Ramadan:
Events and Lessons."
The Death of Al-Hajjaj
ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi.
Time:
In the month of Ramadan,
in the ninety-fifth year
of the Hijrah.
Indeed, a person's deeds and words
during their lifetime
constitute the legacy that remains after them.
If they were righteous,
they bequeath them praise
and commendation among people;
but if they were wicked,
they bring upon them people's hatred
and condemnation,
etching in the minds of successive generations
a distorted image,
from following whose bearer
people recoil.
The criteria for righteousness and its opposite
vary among people
according to their whims and doctrines.
What we mean here by this
is whatever constitutes righteousness or corruption
in the scales of the divine law (Shariah),
and what deserves praise or blame
in the eyes of the people of faith, who
pronounce such judgments
and weigh such attributes
against the standard of the wise Shariah.
While sins vary
in their degrees of blameworthiness
before Allah and among His creation,
injustice undeniably stands
at the very forefront,
occupying a prime place
in the ranks of transgressions.
Although injustice likewise
has varying degrees,
no injustice—after associating partners
with Allah—surpasses the injustice
of shedding inviolable blood,
let alone the blood of the masters
among the righteous and the intimate,
near allies of Allah.
The history of mankind has chronicled
the annals of kings, princes,
and governors,
transmitting of their circumstances
a great deal,
recounting their virtues and their vices,
their tyranny and their justice.
However, there is
one historical figure
who became a proverb
in tyranny, particularly in
the shedding of blood.
Historians of diverse
persuasions have unanimously characterized him as such.
This figure
is Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf
al-Thaqafi.
So let us draw a little closer
to the life of this man,
to learn something of his biography,
and to take heed from what he did
and what became of him.
For indeed, this man had
contradictory states,
numerous phases,
and transgressions
by which he surpassed the governors before him,
so much so that not even
the Companions,
may Allah be pleased with them, were safe from his harm.
His Name, Lineage, and Birth:
He is Al-Hajjaj
ibn Yusuf ibn Abi 'Aqil
ibn Mas'ud ibn 'Amir
ibn Malik ibn Ka'b
ibn 'Amr ibn Sa'd
ibn 'Awf ibn Thaqif—
who was Qasiyy ibn Munabbih
ibn Bakr ibn Hawazin—
Abu Muhammad al-Thaqafi.
He was born in Al-Ta'if
in the year 39 AH,
or it is said
in the year 40 AH,
and it is also said in the year 41 AH.
It was in Al-Ta'if
that he grew up and was raised.
His Rule:
Al-Hajjaj moved to the Levant (al-Sham)
and attached himself to Rawh ibn Zinba',
the deputy of 'Abd al-Malik
ibn Marwan,
serving among the ranks of his police forces.
He continued to distinguish himself
until 'Abd al-Malik entrusted him
with the command of his army,
upon the recommendation of Rawh ibn Zinba'.
He ordered him to fight
'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr,
so he marched toward the Hijaz
with a massive army.
He killed 'Abdullah and dispersed
his gathering,
wherefore 'Abd al-Malik appointed him governor over Mecca,
Medina, and Al-Ta'if.
He then dismissed him from them
and appointed him governor over Iraq
after the death of his brother Bishr,
while rebellion was raging therein.
So he set out for Iraq,
crushed the rebellion,
entered Kufa,
and dealt harshly with its people as he did.
He built the city of Wasit
between Basra and Kufa,
and his rule was firmly established over it
and over Iraq for twenty years.
His Treatment of Some of
the Companions and Leading Tabi'un:
The conduct of
Al-Hajjaj was never good
toward the surviving Companions
of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
nor toward
their prominent students from among
the Tabi'un; for he killed
some of them and mistreated
others with his tongue.
He was not content with targeting their living,
but rather transgressed
against their dead with vile
utterances as well.
Among the most famous of those he transgressed against were
'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr,
his mother Asma'
bint Abi Bakr,
Anas ibn Malik,
Ibn 'Umar, Sahl ibn Sa'd,
and Jabir ibn 'Abdillah,
may Allah be pleased with them
all.
And from the scholars of the Tabi'un:
Sa'id ibn Jubayr,
Al-Hasan al-Basri, and others.
Among the examples concerning some
of the Companions we mentioned:
his killing of 'Abdullah
ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him)
in Mecca, and his bombarding
of the Ka'bah with catapults
in the year seventy-three
of the Hijrah;
his aggression against Anas ibn Malik,
may Allah be pleased with him;
his insolence against 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud,
may Allah be pleased with him,
long after he had died;
his abuse of Salamah ibn al-Akwa',
may Allah be pleased with him;
and his mistreatment of Ibn 'Umar,
may Allah be pleased with them both.
What Has Been Mentioned of His Merits:
Notwithstanding what
historians have recorded about Al-Hajjaj
regarding his evils,
he nevertheless had merits
cited by his biographers.
This is in accordance with the justice
commanded by Allah Almighty
in His saying:
"O you who have believed,
be persistently standing firm for Allah,
witnesses in justice,
and do not let
the hatred of a people prevent you
from being just.
“O ye who believe! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Informed of what ye do.” (5:8)
And fear Allah;
indeed, Allah is fully Aware
of what you do."
Al-Hajjaj was once mentioned
unfavorably in the presence of 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Thaqafi,
so he grew angry and said:
"You only ever mention
the faults!
Do you not know that he was the first to
strike a dirham inscribed with:
'There is no deity except Allah,
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,'
and the first to build a city
after the Companions in Islam,
and the first to introduce
camel litters (mahamil).
Also, a Muslim woman
was taken captive in India,
so she cried out, "O Hajjaj!"
Word of this reached him,
and he kept saying,
"Here I am at your service! Here I am!"
He spent seven thousand dirhams
until he rescued the woman.
Among the merits
recorded by historians
for al-Hajjaj
was his great care for the Noble Qur'an,
his eloquence and rhetoric
in his speech
and his sermons,
and his Islamic conquests.
He played an undeniable role
in spreading Islam
to numerous lands.
Ibn Kathir said,
"He was fiercely eager for jihad."
Another trait was his pardoning of those who
spoke well to him
and answered him with candid honesty;
regarding this,
there are many accounts.
Among them is that
he once delivered a sermon,
saying, "O people!
Restraining oneself from what Allah has forbidden
is far easier than enduring
the punishment of Allah."
A man stood up before him
and said to him,
"Woe to you, O Hajjaj!
How brazen is your face,
and how little is your shame!
You do all the evil that you do,
yet you utter words like these?!
You have failed, and your effort has gone utterly astray!"
Al-Hajjaj said to the guards,
"Seize him."
When he finished his sermon,
he said to the man,
"What emboldened you against me?"
The man replied,
"Woe to you, O Hajjaj!
You dare to defy Allah,
yet I should not dare to defy you?!
How could I not dare to confront you,
while you dare to defy Allah,
the Lord of the worlds?!"
Thereupon al-Hajjaj said,
"Let him go."
So he was released.
Statements of some scholars and historians concerning him:
'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz said,
"If every nation competed in wickedness,
each nation bringing forth
its most vile evildoer,
and we brought forth al-Hajjaj alone,
we would surely surpass them all."
Ibn Kathir said,
"He possessed great courage and leadership,
but his sword was reckless with oppression,
and he frequently
killed lives that Allah had made sacred
over the slightest suspicion;
he would become enraged with the fury
of tyrannical kings."
Al-Dhahabi said,
"He was a tyrannical despot,
a malicious Nasibi,
a shedder of blood.
Yet he possessed bravery,
daring resolve,
cunning, shrewdness,
eloquence, articulateness,
and veneration for the Qur'an.
I have detailed his terrible
record in Tarikh
al-Kabir: his siege
of Ibn al-Zubayr at the Ka'bah,
his bombarding it with catapults,
his humiliation
of the people of the Two Holy Sanctuaries,
followed by his governorship over Iraq
and the entire East for twenty
years,
his wars against Ibn al-Ash'ath,
and his delaying of the prayers
until Allah finally destroyed him.
We revile him and do not love him;
rather, we hate him for the sake of Allah,
for doing so is
among the firmest handholds of faith.
Yet he had good deeds
submerged in the ocean of his sins,
and his affair rests with Allah.
He affirmed basic monotheism (Tawhid)
on the whole,
and he has counterparts among tyrannical
despots and rulers."
It was narrated from Salih ibn Ahmad
ibn Hanbal that he said to his father,
"A man mentions before him
al-Hajjaj or someone else,
and curses him." Ahmad replied,
"I do not like that;
it would be better if he phrased it saying,
'May the curse of Allah
be upon the wrongdoers.'"
His death:
Al-Hajjaj passed away on the eve
of the twenty-seventh of the month of Ramadan—
and it was also said
five days before the end
of Ramadan—
in the year 95 AH.
He lived fifty-five years,
according to the view that
he was born in the Year of Unity ('Am al-Jama'ah),
in the year 40 AH.
When he was on his deathbed,
he began reciting:
"O my Lord! My enemies have sworn an oath and strived hard,
asserting
that I am a man
among the dwellers of the Fire!
Do they swear such an oath
upon blind ignorance? Woe to them!
What do they know of the One of abundant
pardoning and concealing of faults?!"
When he died,
no one knew of his death
until a bondwoman looked down from a rooftop,
wept, and announced:
"Lo! Indeed,
the feeder of the hungry,
the maker of orphans,
the widower of women,
the cleaver of heads,
and the master of the people of the Levant
has died!"
Then she began chanting:
"Today, those who once hated us will pity us,
while those who once feared us
will now feel safe
from us."
Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman said,
"I told Ibrahim
al-Nakha'i that al-Hajjaj had died,
and he wept
out of sheer joy."
And from Ibn Tawus, on the authority of his father:
he was informed of the death
of al-Hajjaj repeatedly,
and when he verified his death,
he recited: "So the remnants of the people who did wrong were cut off.
“So of the people who did wrong the last remnant was cut off. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds!” (6:45)
And praise be to Allah,
the Lord of the worlds."
More than one narrator reported
that when al-Hasan was given the glad tidings
of the death of al-Hajjaj,
he fell prostrate in gratitude to Allah
the Almighty; he had been
in hiding, so he came out
and said, "O Allah,
You have caused him to die, so rid us
of his oppressive ways."
From this event, there are several lessons:
First,
a person's biography
constitutes his lasting history after him,
whether in praise or condemnation;
whoever lives his life
righteously will be praised,
and whoever spends his life
corruptly will be condemned.
Second,
a single person may combine
commendable traits with vile,
wicked qualities;
there is scarcely an evil person who does not have
some praiseworthy qualities
alongside his wickedness.
Third,
injustice is an enduring stigma of blame and disgrace
that cannot be erased by
any of the merits mentioned,
nor does it fade with the passing of time.
Fourth,
a person must maintain good expectations
of Allah, no matter how numerous
his sins may be.
Fifth:
fairness and detachment from the emotions
and whims of the self
are the true standard by which
we ought to measure people,
and through which we should pass just judgment.
Ramadan:
lessons and reflections.