Yazid ibn al-Muhallab
Yazid ibn al-Muhallab | |
---|---|
Umayyad governor of Adi ibn Artat al-Fazari (in Basra) | |
Personal details | |
Born | 672 or 673 |
Died | 24 August 720 Aqr, near Babylon |
Children | Khalid Mukhallad Mu'awiya |
Parent(s) | Al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra (father) Daughter of Sa'id or Yazid ibn Qabisa ibn Sarraq al-Azdi |
Yazid ibn al-Muhallab al-Azdi (
He succeeded his father, the prominent general
When Sulayman died, Yazid was imprisoned by his successor, Caliph
Early life and career
Yazid was born in 672 or 673.[2] His father, al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra, belonged to the Arab tribe of Azd, historically based in Oman but whose members established a significant presence in Basra, one of the two chief Arab garrison towns of Iraq in the mid to late 7th century;[3] the other main garrison center and capital of Iraq was Kufa. Al-Muhallab's actual lineage from the Azd is disputed in the traditional sources, and his father, Abu Sufra, was most likely a Persian weaver or sailor who had been embraced by the Azd for his military prowess.[4] Yazid's mother was a daughter of an Azdite, Sa'id (or Yazid) ibn Qabisa ibn Sarraq.[5]
Al-Muhallab participated in the
Governor of Khurasan
Yazid continued to serve under his father when he was appointed governor of
Al-Muhallab and Yazid had refused entreaties by the Iraqi nobleman Ibn al-Ash'ath to join his revolt against al-Hajjaj and Umayyad rule in 700–701.[11] When the revolt was suppressed by al-Hajjaj and his Syrian reinforcements, who were the military mainstay of the Umayyad caliphs, Yazid intercepted rebels who had escaped into Khurasan from Iraq. Taking a partisan approach to the rebels, he released those affiliated with the Yaman tribal-political faction to which his Azd tribe belonged, while sending those of the rival Qays–Mudar to al-Hajjaj for punishment.
Dismissal and imprisonment
Despite demonstrating loyalty, Yazid was dismissed by al-Hajjaj in 704, helping the latter firm up his authority over Khurasan. Al-Hajjaj was wary of Yazid due to his and his
Asylum in Palestine
Yazid and his brothers were brought by al-Hajjaj to
Sulayman paid the large fine Yazid owed to al-Hajjaj and interceded on his behalf with the caliph, who gave Yazid aman (safe conduct).[1][20] According to the general narrative in the sources, Yazid was sent in chains to al-Walid's court in Damascus with Sulayman's son Ayyub and a letter from Sulayman requesting he respect the asylum he provided to Yazid. Al-Walid affirmed and instructed al-Hajjaj to end his pursuits against the Muhallabids.[21]
For the length of time Yazid stayed with Sulayman in Palestine, al-Tabari provides the contradictory "nine months" and until al-Hajjaj died in July 714,[21] while the version of Ibn Kathir clarifies that he remained until al-Hajjaj died.[22] The historian Julius Wellhausen notes that Sulayman "came completely under his influence and let himself be still more prejudiced by him against Hajjâj", who backed al-Walid's unsuccessful efforts to replace Sulayman with his own son, Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Walid, in the line of succession.[20]
Viceroy of the East
Sulayman acceded upon al-Walid's death in 715 and appointed Yazid governor of Iraq, in place of the interim governor, the al-Hajjaj loyalist
Seeking to avoid Salih's financial constraints, Yazid persuaded the caliph to relocate to Khurasan in mid-716.[2][25] While freeing himself of Salih's oversight was the motive ascribed to Yazid by the traditional sources, modern scholars consider the potential for greater profits in Khurasan and stronger tribal support there as additional motives.[26][27] At the time, Khurasan had effectively been governed by the Tamim tribal chief Waki ibn Abi Sud for nine months. He had been chosen by the troops of Khurasan to lead them after their mutiny against Qutayba, who was killed attempting to revolt against Sulayman shortly after his accession. To justify replacing him, Yazid persuaded Sulayman that Waki was a rough Bedouin lacking in administrative ability.[23] In addition to Khurasan, Yazid retained the governorship of Iraq and thus became the practical viceroy of the East.[2] In the words of the historian Muhammad Abdulhayy Shaban, he became "Sulayman's own al-Hajjaj".[25]
Bosworth comments that in Khurasan, distant from the caliphal center of power and with the solid backing of the Azdi soldiers, Yazid "could discriminate against the Tamim and other North Arab tribes and could engage in financial malpractices".
Yazid persecuted the relatives and subordinates of Qutayba in Khurasan.[2] In Iraq, he had directed Salih to oversee the arrest and torture of al-Hajjaj's relatives, including the conqueror of Sind, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, who was killed; the torture was administered by Yazid's brother Abd al-Malik. He installed his loyalists throughout the East: out of the seventeen appointments made by him, fourteen were to Yamanis and one to the Yamani-allied Rabi'a.[30] His deference to and promotion of the Azd may have stemmed from his and the Muhallabids' desire to secure themselves as leaders of the tribe in spite of their "fairly obscure origin", according to Hawting.[31] Yazid's time in office represented the peak of Muhallabid power.[32] He appointed his brothers Habib, Marwan, Mudrik and Ziyad as the respective subgovernors of Sind, Basra, Sijistan, and Oman, while his son Mukhallad governed Khurasan in Yazid's absence.[33]
Campaigns in Jurjan and Tabaristan
Qutayba had won renown for leading the troops of Khurasan to great conquests in Transoxiana, the massive region beyond the
The first target of the campaign were the isolated settlements of
Next, Yazid moved on Tabaristan, whose defenders had historically driven back attempts by Arab Muslim armies to enter the narrow passes of the mountains protecting their homeland.
Second dismissal and imprisonment
In a letter, Yazid congratulated Sulayman on the conquests of Tabaristan and Jurjan, which had eluded previous caliphs until "God made this conquest on behalf" of Sulayman.
Rebellion against the Umayyads
Upon hearing that Umar was severely ill or that his designated successor, Yazid II (r. 720–724), had acceded, Yazid escaped from prison.[51][50] He feared punishment by the new caliph for his role in the torture and deaths of members of al-Hajjaj's family, the caliph's in-laws.[51] The caliph had long held suspicions, nurtured by al-Hajjaj, of Yazid's and the Muhallabid family's influence and ambitions in Iraq and the eastern Caliphate.[52]
Yazid made for his family and tribal stronghold of Basra, evading pursuers from the Qays in the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) and the Kufan garrison along the way.[51] Basra's governor, Ibn Artat, arrested many of Ibn al-Muhallab's brothers and cousins before his arrival to the city.[51][53] He advanced against Yazid when the latter approached the city, but was unable to stop Yazid's entry. With support from his Yamani tribal allies in the Basra, Yazid besieged Ibn Artat in the city's citadel.[51] Yazid then seized the citadel, captured the governor, and established control over Basra.[54] The Mudari soldiers, despite their rivalry with the Yaman and ill disposition toward Yazid, did not actively or effectively oppose him.[54] Tribal factionalism was not a decisive factor in Yazid's recruitment: though many of the Azd backed him, several opposed his bid and he gained no support from the Yaman in Syria, while many Mudari soldiers in Basra and elsewhere in Iraq joined him.[54]
The caliph pardoned Yazid, but he maintained his opposition, declaring
Umar II had likely withdrawn most of the Syrians from Wasit, their main Iraqi garrison, and Yazid captured the city with relative ease.[56] In the summer, he gained the support of Basra's dependencies, namely Ahwaz, Fars and Kerman,[57] though not Khurasan, where Mudari troops counterbalanced the pro-Muhallabid Yamani faction in the province's garrisons.[58] Yazid then advanced toward Kufa, where he attracted support across the tribal spectrum and among many of its noble Arab households, including from the families of al-Ash'ath and Malik al-Ashtar.[59] Nonetheless, Kufan support was not unanimous,[60] and the governor of the city took up position at Nukhayla, on Kufa's southern outskirts, to block Yazid's advance.[61]
In the meantime, Yazid II dispatched his brother and nephew, the veteran commanders
Hostilities commenced on 24 August when Maslama crossed the bridge over the Euphrates towards Yazid's camp and burned the bridge behind him. Beginning with the Tamim of Kufa, the Iraqis abandoned the field. Dismissing advice from his counsel to withdraw to Wasit and regroup, Yazid and some of his supporters confronted the Syrians and was slain, along with two of his brothers and al-Sumayda.[66] Roughly two hundred prisoners-of-war were captured from Yazid's camp and were executed on the caliph's orders. Yazid's son Mu'awiya retaliated with the execution of Ibn Artat and his thirty supporters incarcerated in Wasit.
Aftermath
In the words of Kennedy, Yazid "was perhaps the only indigenous Iraqi leader to have survived al-Hajjaj's rule" and was "the last of the old-style Iraqi champions".
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d Crone 1994, p. 26.
- ^ a b c d e f Zetterstéen 1993, p. 1163.
- ^ Strenziok 1960, p. 812.
- ^ Ulrich 2019, p. 117.
- ^ Rowson 1989, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Crone 1993, p. 357.
- ^ a b Crone 1993b, p. 359.
- ^ Dixon 1971, pp. 177, 181.
- ^ Hinds 1990, pp. 13, 26–27.
- ^ Ulrich 2019, p. 171.
- ^ a b Kennedy 2004, p. 103.
- ^ Hinds 1990, p. xiii.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 250–251.
- ^ Hinds 1990, pp. 86–88.
- ^ Hinds 1990, p. 129.
- ^ Ulrich 2019, pp. 137–138.
- ^ Gil 1997, p. 82.
- ^ Ulrich 2019, p. 138.
- ^ Hinds 1990, p. xv.
- ^ a b Wellhausen 1927, pp. 257–258.
- ^ a b Ulrich 2019, p. 139.
- ^ Hinds 1990, p. 163, note 540.
- ^ a b c d Bosworth 1968, p. 66.
- ^ Sprengling 1939, pp. 199–200.
- ^ a b Shaban 1970.
- ^ Hawting 2000, p. 75.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 466.
- ^ Sharon 1983, p. 57.
- ^ Hawting 2000, p. 73.
- ^ a b Crone 1994, p. 18.
- ^ a b Hawting 2000, p. 74.
- ^ Ulrich 2019, p. 140.
- ^ Crone 1980, pp. 141–143.
- ^ a b c d Kennedy 2007, p. 193.
- ^ Madelung 1975, pp. 198–199.
- ^ Eisener 1997, p. 821.
- ^ Powers 1989, pp. 42–43.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 446.
- ^ a b Madelung 1975, p. 198.
- ^ a b Madelung 2011.
- ^ Kennedy 2007, pp. 193–194.
- ^ Kennedy 2007, p. 194.
- ^ Hodge 2017, p. 105.
- ^ Madelung 1975, p. 200.
- ^ Madelung 1975, pp. 200–206.
- ^ Powers 1989, pp. 58–59.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 448.
- ^ a b Wellhausen 1927, p. 269.
- ^ Blankinship 1994, p. 66.
- ^ a b Powers 1989, p. 80, note 287.
- ^ a b c d e Wellhausen 1927, p. 313.
- ^ a b Wellhausen 1927, p. 322.
- ^ Powers 1989, p. 112.
- ^ a b c d Wellhausen 1927, p. 314.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 314–315.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 313, 316.
- ^ a b c Hawting 2000, p. 76.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 315–316.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 316–317, 319.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 107.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 316.
- ^ Powers 1989, p. 127.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 316–317.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 317.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 317–318.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 318.
- ^ Powers 1989, pp. 140–141.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 318–319.
- ^ Powers 1989, pp. 144–146.
- ^ a b Kennedy 2004, p. 108.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 80, 84, 96–98, 101–102, 108.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 319–320.
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