Aslam ibn Zur'a al-Kilabi
Aslam ibn Zurʿa ibn ʿAmr ibn Khuwaylid al-Ṣāʿiq al-Kilābī (
Ancestry
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/House_of_al-Sa%27iq_ibn_Amr_ibn_Kilab.png/260px-House_of_al-Sa%27iq_ibn_Amr_ibn_Kilab.png)
Aslam's father Zur'a was active in the
Nay! Never have I seen of people who have perished one like Zur'a on the day when the women rose in mourning.
To be a greater loss or more dearly missed by his relations, nor nobler in striving. — from the diwan of Tufayl ibn Awf[5]
Career
Aslam lived in
Governorship of Khurasan
Aslam was appointed lieutenant governor of Khurasan by Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, in 674.[1] He succeeded Ubayd Allah in 675 when Mu'awiya transferred Ubayd Allah to the governorship of Basra.[9] Unlike Ubayd Allah and other Arab predecessors in Khurasan, Aslam did not undertake any conquests in the region.[9][10] The historian Muhammad Abdulhayy Shaban holds it was likely that Aslam's authority was initially restricted to military matters in the province.[9] Ubayd Allah had brought back large amounts of war booty and tribute from Khurasan to Mu'awiya to the chagrin of the Arab tribal garrisons. As Khurasan was a frontier province, the launchpad for conquests and raids in Transoxiana (Central Asia), the garrisons incurred a heavy expense in raising armies and engaging in distant campaigns. Thus, with the exception of the customary one-fifth due to the central treasury, the tribesmen insisted that booty and tribute remain in their possession. Mu'awiya, encouraged by the sums brought to him by Ubayd Allah, sought to exert closer control of Khurasan's finances and appointed his own loyalist, Ishaq ibn Talha, to take charge of fiscal affairs. Ishaq he died on his way to Khurasan and Aslam assumed Ishaq's authority, standing in as the tribes' representative with the caliph.[11] At the time, Mu'awiya was attempting to rally support by the Qays in Syria for the nomination of his son Yazid I as his successor. This may have been his rationale for ignoring the move by Aslam, who maintained significant support from the Qays in Damascus.[12]
In the following year Aslam was replaced by Sa'id ibn Uthman, who was invested with fiscal and military authority in the province.[9] As a result of Aslam's influence with the tribesmen, Sa'id was compelled to accept him as his partner over Khurasan.[12] Aslam and Sa'id entered into disagreements over possession of the war booty following Sa'id's campaigns into Transoxiana.[13] Aslam refused to give Sa'id the tax revenue he collected from the province to forward to the central government; rather, he delivered it to Ubayd Allah in person in Basra, and lodged a complaint about Sa'id to Mu'awiya.[14] As a result, Sa'id was obligated leave office in 677 and Aslam was appointed in his place.[12][14] Aslam did not launch any conquests, military activity restricted to the annual summer expeditions. In this regard, the historian H. A. R. Gibb referred to him as "indolent".[15] Aslam was known to have imposed heavy taxes on the population. The inhabitants of Khurasan used the proverb, "More vile than Aslam", to exhibit their disdain for harsh rulers.[16]
Mu'awiya resolved to restore caliphal authority in Khurasan and appointed Ubayd Allah's brother Abd al-Rahman governor in 679. Abd al-Rahman dispatched ahead of him Qays ibn al-Haytham al-Sulami, an influential Qaysite leader like Aslam. He arrested Aslam and forced him to surrender 300,000 dirhams.[17] Abd al-Rahman reasserted central control over the provincial tax revenue and tribute. He was replaced with his brother Salm by Caliph Yazid in 681. Salm recommenced the conquests into Transoxiana and in a likely appeal to the supporters of Aslam in the province, arrested and humiliated Qays ibn al-Haytham.[18]
Later career
In 680/81 Ubayd Allah, whose jurisdiction by then spanned Iraq and Khurasan, appointed Aslam at the head of 2,000 troops to eliminate
References
- ^ a b c d Crone 1980, p. 138.
- ^ Meyer 1970, p. 48.
- ^ Lyall 1918, p. 325.
- ^ Caskel 1966, p. 350.
- ^ a b c d Krenkow 1927, p. 19.
- ^ Caskel 1966, p. 593.
- ^ a b Howard 1990, p. 183, note 586.
- ^ Morony 1987, pp. 86–87.
- ^ a b c d Shaban 1970, p. 37.
- ^ Gibb 1923, p. 19.
- ^ Shaban 1970, pp. 37–38.
- ^ a b c Shaban 1970, p. 38.
- ^ Shaban 1970, pp. 38–39.
- ^ a b Bosworth 1968, p. 22.
- ^ Gibb 1923, p. 20.
- ^ Kassis 1999, p. 73.
- ^ Shaban 1970, p. 39.
- ^ Shaban 1970, pp. 39–40.
- ^ a b c d Levi Della Vida 1993, p. 123.
- ^ a b Howard 1990, p. 183.
- ^ a b Beeman 2004, p. 34, note 32.
Bibliography
- Beeman, William O. (2004). "The Concept: 'Risk': East and West". Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies. 6 (1): 29–46.
- OCLC 956878036.
- Caskel, Werner (1966). Ğamharat an-nasab: Das genealogische Werk des His̆ām ibn Muḥammad al-Kalbī, Volume II (in German). Leiden: Brill.
- ISBN 0-521-52940-9.
- OCLC 499987512.
- Howard, I. K. A., ed. (1990). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XIX: The Caliphate of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah, A.D. 680–683/A.H. 60–64. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-0040-1.
- Kassis, Riad Aziz (1999). The Book of Proverbs and Arabic Proverbial Works. Leiden and Boston and Koln: Brill. ISBN 90-04-11305-3.
- Krenkow, F. (1927). The Poems of Ṭufail ibn ʻAuf al-Ghanawī and aṭ-Ṭirimmāḥ ibn Ḥakīm aṭ-Ṭāʼyī. London: Luzac and Co.
- ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.
- Lyall, Charles (1918). The Mufaḍḍalīyāt: An Anthology of Ancient Arabian Odes, Volume 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Meyer, Egber (1970). Der historische Gehalt der Aiyām al-'Arab (in German). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 9783447012706.
- ISBN 978-0-87395-933-9.
- Shaban, M. A. (1970). The Abbasid Revolution. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29534-3.