[M 156]
[Chapter Ten] Concerning the Table of the Governors of Khurasan
In regard to the governors of Khurasan, in ancient times a different arrangement prevailed. From the time of Afrīdūn to that of Ardashīr Bābakān, there used to be one single military commander (sipāhsālār) for the whole [Persian] world. When Ardashīr came to power, he appointed four military commanders for the [Persian] world: one for Khurasan; one for the western lands (i.e. Fars and Khuzistan); one for Nīmrūz (i.e. Sistan); and one for Azerbaijan. He appointed four wardens of the marches (marzbāns) for Khurasan: one for Marw Shāyigān; one for Balkh and Tukhāristān; one for Transoxania; and one for Herat, Pūshang and Bādghīs.1 When the Muslims seized control of the Persian realm and Khurasan passed into the Muslims’ hands, all those customs and practices of the Magians (mughān) were swept away.
During the time of our Prophet, may God pray over him and grant him peace, the Muslims had not extended their domination over Khurasan, nor likewise in the caliphate of Abū Bakr Ṣiddīq, may God Most High be pleased with him. When ՙUmar, may God Most High be pleased with him, succeeded to the caliphate, he sent Khālid b. al-Walīd to the Persian lands to subdue them. When Khālid reached the plain of Qādisiyya, the Persian army advanced towards him on the orders of Yazdajird b. Shahriyār, and the commander of the army was Rustam b. Farrukh. A battle took place there, and the adherents of Islam were victorious. They defeated the Magians and made large numbers of them captive, selling them as slaves. Yazdajird fled and was killed at Marw Shāhigān. The Muslim forces entered Iraq (i.e. ՙIrāq-i ՙAjamī, western Persia) and continued onwards in the same fashion, continually conquering cities, till they reached Khurasan.
During ՙUmar’s caliphate, no-one penetrated as far as Khurasan. When ՙUthmān, may God be pleased with him, succeeded to the caliphate, he sent ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir b. Kurayz to Khurasan. ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir sent ՙAbdallāh b. Khāzim as commander of his advance guard. They (i.e. the Muslim troops) went by the Fars, [M 157] Kirman (text, Gurgān) and Ṭabasayn road.2 They subdued the Ṭabasayn, and the people of the Ṭabasayn became the first ones of Khurasan to become Muslims. After him, other governors kept coming and made various conquests, up to the present time.
I have set down here the names of each governor and the cities of each administrative region; the names of the caliphs during the time of their tenure of power; the duration of each governorship; and the date of the beginning of each governorship. I have put them into tabular form here so that the information may be more speedily found and more easily come to hand. The table is as follows:
[Here Gardīzī inserts his table, at H 93–8, M 157–9, with a total of seventy-six entries, from ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir b. Kurayz to his patron the Ghaznavid Sultan ՙAbd al-Rashīd.]
[H 101, M 160]
Chapter Eleven Concerning the Historical Accounts of the Governors of Khurasan
I shall now relate the historical accounts concerning the governors of Khurasan in the same order as I set them down in the table. Success comes from God!
ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir b. Kurayz
He was ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir b. Kurayz b. Rabīՙa b. Ḥabīb b. ՙAbd Shams.3 ՙUthmān b. ՙAffān, may God be pleased with him, had made Abū Mūsā al-Ashՙarī governor of Basra, but he now took the charge away from him and gave it to ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir, entrusting to him the governorship of Khurasan also. ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir sent forward ՙAbdallāh b. Khāzim al-Sulamī as commander of his advance force. He set out for the Ṭabasayn via the route through Fars and Kirman and subdued the Ṭabasayn, their people becoming Muslims.
Other authorities relate that ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir travelled to Qūmis and then to Gūyān (i.e. Juwayn) and halted there. Then [from] there he came to Āzādwār and made a peace agreement (i.e. with its people). He seized the daughter of Milḥān Gūyānī and presented her to ՙAbdallāh b. Khāzim as a wife. ՙAbdallāh had three sons by her, Muḥammad, Mūsā and Ṣāliḥ. ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir came to Nishapur, accompanied by Aḥnaf b. Qays, Muhallab b. Abī Ṣufra and a group of the leading men of Basra. He subdued Quhistān, Abarshahr (i.e. Nishapur), Ṭūs and Sarakhs from amongst the towns of Khurasan in the year 29 [/649–50]. He sent Ḥātim b. al-Nuՙmān al-Bāhilī with a force of 4,000 Arabs and 1,000 Persians to attack the Hephthalites (Hayṭalān),4 and in the course of the fighting Aḥnaf was wounded in the head, and from that wound fluid ran down into his eyes. [H 102]
He built the fortress (dizh) of Aḥnaf (i.e. Qaṣr Aḥnaf) near Marw al-Rūd,5 and took the town of Marw al-Rūd on the basis of a peace agreement. ՙAbdallāh [M 161] b. ՙĀmir likewise made a peace agreement with the dihqān of Herat on the basis of a tribute of fifty purses of dirhams. When it was the year 31 [/651–2], he went off on the Pilgrimage and appointed Qays b. al-Haytham al-Sulamī as his deputy over Khurasan, but when ՙAbdallāh came to [the caliph] ՙUthmān, the latter kept him there in his own entourage.
Umayr b. Aḥmar al-Yashkurī
ՙUthmān then sent out Umayr b. Aḥmar as governor of Khurasan. Umayr sent Maՙmūr b. Sufyān al-Yashkurī to perform the Muslim worship in the citadel of Merv. He remained governor of Khurasan for some time. He established a policy of commandeering people’s houses for his troops and made it a customary practice. The reason for this was that Umayr b. Aḥmar had established himself at the gate of Merv in an encampment of tents. The weather became very cold, and the dihqāns of Merv feared that Umayr and his troops would perish from the cold. So they gave them accommodation in their own houses. But after several days had passed, they regretted what they had done and formulated the plan of seizing those troops and Umayr. The market traders and the urban rowdies (ՙayyārān) undertook this hostile action. The military leader and dihqān of the town, Barāz b. Māhūya, got wind of this planned attack and immediately informed Umayr b. Aḥmar about it.
The Amir gave orders, and all the troops girded on their weapons and set about with their swords, and they killed a large number of the men of Merv and plundered many houses, until all the people of the town gathered together and sent some persons to negotiate a settlement, offering a sum of money and seeking Umayr’s pardon. He curbed the troops’ violence and that strife subsided. After that, the practice was adopted for the troops to be billeted (i.e. in the houses of the people of Merv).6 [H 103] Umayr b. Aḥmar gave compensation for what Barāz had done. Thereafter he used to behave very properly and respected people’s rights.7
ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir b. Kurayz
ՙUthmān then appointed ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir governor for a second time. [M 162] ՙAbdallāh sent Rabīՙ b. Ziyād to subdue Sistan, and he brought back from there 40,000 slave captives. These slaves included Mihrān, the mawlā of ՙUbayd[allāh] b. Ziyād; Ṣāliḥ b. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān; Pīrūz, the mawlā of Ḥuṣayn b. Mālik al-ՙAnbarī; Bassām,8 the mawlā of the Banū Layth, who has numerous children and progeny at Merv; Muՙādh b. Muslim, the forebear of the Muՙādhī governors of Khurasan; and ՙIkrima, the mawlā of ՙAbdallāh b. al-ՙAbbās.9
This man Pīrūz, the mawlā of Ḥuṣayn, was with ՙAbd al-Raḥmān Ibn al-Ashՙath; Yazīd b. al-Muhallab took him prisoner and sent him to Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf. Ḥuṣayn b. [Mālik] ՙAnbarī and Pīrūz had been in charge of the district of Maysān and the Euphrates and the collection of taxes there. They had collected a large sum of money. Ḥajjāj sought it from Pīrūz, but he refused to hand it over. For this reason, Ḥajjāj put him to death. When the conquest of Sistan was accomplished, Rabīՙ b. Ziyād returned to Basra. During that time, persons knowledgeable about irrigation works (āb shināsān) said to him, ‘If we dig out for you a branch channel from the river, will you free us and our children?’ He agreed to this condition for their enfranchisement. They then got to work and constructed a channel for the water. They constructed water channels at Nibāj, at Juḥfa, at Bustān Banī ՙĀmir and at Nukhayla one stage from Mecca,10 and at ՙArafāt. They also dug out the irrigation channels of the Banū ՙĀmir, and these constructions have remained and are extant today.
Jaՙda b. Hubayra al-Makhzūmī
When ՙAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, may God be pleased with him, succeeded to the caliphate, he gave the governorship of Khurasan to Jaՙda b. Hubayra, who was the son of ՙAlī’s maternal uncle and whose wife was ՙAlī’s daughter Umm al-Ḥasan. ՙAlī wrote a letter to Barāz b. Māhūya, the dihqān of Merv, with instructions that he should hand over the land-tax (kharāj) to Jaՙda.11 Jaՙda arrived in Merv. Barāz wrote a letter to all the dihqāns of Merv (i.e. of the Merv oasis) enjoining them to give Jaՙda their obedience [H 104] in handing over the land-tax. Jaՙda made many [M 163] conquests in Khurasan, as did likewise his son ՙAbdallāh. He was present at the Battle of the Camel at Basra in the year 36 [/656] and at the encounters at Ṣiffīn between ՙAlī, God’s peace be upon him, and Muՙāwiya in the year 37 [/657]
ՙAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abzā al-Khuzāՙī
Then ՙAlī entrusted the governorship of Khurasan to ՙAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abzā. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān was a man of wisdom and of pure religious faith, who used patience and forbearance with people and who established beneficent practices. He was still in post in Khurasan when ՙAlī passed away (farmān yāft, lit. ‘received the divine summons’) Ḥasan b. ՙAlī, may the Exalted God be pleased with them both, succeeded his father in the caliphate. Muՙāwiya employed various stratagems, with the involvement of ՙAmr b. al-ՙĀṣ as an intermediary, and sowed confusion amongst them12 with the result that Ḥasan abdicated the caliphate. ՙAmr b. al-ՙĀṣ said to Muՙāwiya that he would employ a ruse so that Ḥasan would publicly announce his abdication and make a formal declaration (khuṭba); he would not be able to withstand Muՙāwiya and would not be able to overcome his wiles.
Ḥasan rose to his feet and pronounced a khuṭba, whose Persian translation is as follows:
O people! The Almighty God has prohibited the shedding of your blood, and I have made a compact and covenant with Muՙāwiya on your behalf, that he will behave justly with you and that he will pay out to you the income due to you from the captured lands (fay’).13 He will not busy himself with questions of status and will not exact vengeance or tyrannise over you.
He turned towards Muՙāwiya and said, ‘O Muՙāwiya, is this the state of affairs agreed upon?’ Muՙāwiya replied, ‘Yes, it is.’ Ḥasan then set about reciting this verse of the Qur’ān, ‘I do not know; perhaps it is a test for you and a period of enjoyment of life for a time.’14 When Ḥasan fell silent, Muՙāwiya reproached ՙAmr b. al-ՙĀṣ, ‘Why did you give me such counsel as this?’
ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir b. Kurayz
When Muՙāwiya successfully achieved his aim, he gave the governorship of Khurasan to ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir. The latter made ՙAbdallāh b. Khāzim his deputy and sent him to Khurasan. [M 164] He remained there until ՙAbdallāh b. Samura al-Umawī came. He conquered the frontier regions (thaghr) of Kabul and Balkh, and then went back to Iraq. In the year 43 [/663–4] ՙAbdallāh b. ՙĀmir sent Mujāshiՙ b. Masՙūd to Sistan. Mujāshiՙ conquered Bust and Zamīndāwar and then set out back to Iraq. When he reached Kirman at a place [H 105] which they used to call K.r.kān and is now called Qaṣr Mujāshiՙ, an intense cold set in. It began to rain, and snow and icy winds became continuous. As a result, neither animals nor men were able to do anything. They were all affected by the cold15 and buried under the snow. No-one was left alive, but all died beneath the snow.16
Ziyād b. Abīhi
Muՙāwiya then appointed Ziyād b. Abīhi governor of Khurasan, and the latter sent out Ḥakam b. ՙAmr al-Ghifārī to Khurasan [as his deputy there].17 Ḥakam reached Herat, and from there marched out into the mountains of Khurasan. Muhallab b. Abī Ṣufra was with him as commander of the army’s rearguard. Muhallab behaved in a praiseworthy fashion and achieved a reputation for chivalrous conduct, dashing behaviour in battle and vigilance. When reports about Muhallab reached Saՙd b. Waqqāṣ, the latter invoked divine favour on him and said, ‘O Lord, be Muhallab’s counsellor and protector, and never expose him to any ignominy!’18
Saՙd’s prayers and invocations to God were wont to be answered, and he sent a sword for Muhallab; Muhallab’s progeny and descendants always retained that sword because of its charisma. It is related that Sulaymān b. Muḥammad al-Hāshimī tried to buy that sword from Durayd b. al-Ṣimma b. Ḥabīb b. Muhallab for 100,000 dirhams, but Durayd refused to let him have it. Whatever Muhallab achieved, people would say that it came from the efficaciousness of Saՙd’s invocations to God.
Ḥakam b. ՙAmr died in the city of Merv, and they buried him in a tomb there. He was the first amir of the Muslims [who] died in Khurasan, and was the first amir who drank water from the river of Balkh.19 Ziyād b. Abīhi sent to Khurasan as his successor ՙAbdallāh al-Laythī, [H 106] who was one of the Companions (yārān) [M 165] of the Prophet. After him, Ziyād sent Rabīՙ b. al-Ḥārithī in the year 50 [/670]. Rabīՙ came to Khurasan at Merv, and routed the Hephthalites. He also died there. In the year 51 [/671] the people of Bādghīs and Ganj Rūstā(q) apostasised from Islam. Shaddād b. Khālid al-Asadī led an attack on them; he killed a group of them and carried off a considerable number of them as slave captives. However, Muՙāwiya ordered that these slave captives should be sent back because of the covenant (ՙahd) with them. This was the first group of slave captives given back in Khurasan.
ՙUbaydallāh b. Ziyād
Muՙāwiya appointed to Khurasan Ziyād’s son ՙUbaydallāh.20 ՙUbaydallāh came to Khurasan and crossed the river (i.e. the Oxus) with 16,000 cavalrymen. He was the first of the Muslims ever to have crossed the Oxus. He sent Muhallab b. Abī Ṣufra to Bukhara with 4,000 troops to sack the city (and they did so). The ancestress of the Bukhār Khudāt, Khātūn, was in control of Bukhara; her sons were still children. All the Iranians (ՙajam)21 had come together round Khātūn. ՙUbaydallāh put the whole lot of them to flight and seized as plunder their wealth and possessions. He took 4,000 slave captives from Bukhara and returned to Basra.22 He held the governorship of Iraq [and the East] for seven years until Ibrāhīm b. al-Ashtar killed him.
Saՙīd b. ՙUthmān b. ՙAffān
Muՙāwiya then appointed Saՙīd b. ՙUthmān governor of Khurasan in the year 55 [/675] and he put Aslam b. Zurՙa al-Kilābī in charge of the land-tax of Khurasan.23 He went off with Saՙīd to a certain place. Aslam increased the yield of the land-tax of Merv by 100,000 dirhams, and it is paid over at this rate today.
Saՙīd b. ՙUthmān conquered Bukhara and the region of Sogdia around Samarqand. He was struck in the eye by an arrow at the gate of Samarqand and lost the sight of one eye. He had a tent for the army, and there was room for the whole of his army within [M 166] that tent enclosure. During Saՙīd’s governorship, in accordance with Muՙāwiya’s command, the Arabs at Merv laid out and constructed agricultural estates, crop-producing lands and residences, and settled down there, so that the Turks should not be able to cross the Oxus (i.e. into Khurasan).24 [H 107]
ՙAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ziyād
Muՙāwiya then appointed ՙAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ziyād governor of Khurasan. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān collected in taxation from Khurasan eighty million dirhams. Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf appropriated the whole of that from him and reduced ՙAbd al-Raḥmān to penury. Mālik b. Dīnār related that ՙAbd al-Raḥmān had gathered together 1,000 dirhams each day during the many years25 of his life, apart from landed estates and fine possessions. Ḥajjāj reduced him to such straits that, one day, he was mounted on an ass, and Mālik asked him, ‘What became of all that wealth of yours?’ He replied, ‘It vanished, and even this ass is actually borrowed.’ At this point, Muՙāwiya died.
Salm b. Ziyād
When Yazīd, God’s curse be upon him, succeeded to power, he sent Salm b. Ziyād to Khurasan as governor.26 The Iranians had banded together in Transoxania under the leadership of Khātūn.27 Salm came to Khurasan, rallied his forces and went to Transoxania. The Iranians advanced towards him with the intention of giving battle and they fought with great ferocity, but in the end Salm put the Iranians to flight. In this battle no-one achieved such glorious deeds as Muhallab b. Abī Ṣufra; he fought with great élan and wrought many praiseworthy feats of arms on that field of battle. When Salm had finished with the affairs of Transoxania, he entrusted the governorship of Sistan to Ṭalḥat al-Ṭalaḥāt, whose proper name was Ṭalḥa b. ՙAbdallāh al-Khuzāՙī.28
Eventually, Salm became angry with Ṭalḥa. When Ṭalḥa learnt about this, he fled, together with the Ispahbad of Sistan, and they went to the court of Yazīd b. Muՙāwiya, remaining there until Yazīd’s death. On Yazīd’s death, they returned to Sistan and [M 167] established themselves firmly there. Ṭalḥa remained in Sistan till the time of the internecine strife (fitna) involving ՙAbdallāh b. al-Zubayr.29 Salm b. Ziyād entrusted Khurasan to ՙArfaja b. ՙĀmir al-Saՙdī and himself went off to Mecca. [H 108]
ՙAbdallāh b. Khāzim
When Salm set out for Mecca, ՙAbdallāh b. Khāzim went with him. En route, the latter performed deeds of service for Salm. ՙAbdallāh became emboldened to ask Salm for a grant of the goverorship of Khurasan. Salm conferred the governorship of Khurasan on him.30 ՙAbdallāh came to Merv, engaged ՙArfaja in battle, killed him and seized control of Khurasan. He wrote letters to ՙAbdallāh b. Zubayr offering his allegiance and summoned the troops obediently to follow him in giving this allegiance. Conflicts broke out between ՙAbdallāh b. Khāzim and the tribesmen of Muḍar at Merv. The conflicts became prolonged, and revolts broke out in the towns of Merv, Marw al-Rūd, Ṭālaqān and Herat. A group of tribesmen from Tamīm killed ՙAbdallāh b. Khāzim’s son Muḥammad, who was the amir in Herat. As an act of vengeance for his son’s death, ՙAbdallāh slew a group of Tamīmīs.
ՙAbdallāh b. al-Zubayr’s cause flourished, and ՙAbdallāh b. Khāzim31 remained in Khurasan for eight years, five months and twenty-five days until the time of the internecine strife between Muṣՙab b. al-Zubayr and ՙAbd al-Malik b. Marwān. Muṣՙab was killed, and ՙAbd al-Malik summoned ՙAbdallāh b. Khāzim to his obedience, but ՙAbdallāh refused to give it. Muṣՙab’s head was sent to Ibn Khāzim. The Khurasanians rose in rebellion against him.32 Both of them converged on Ṭūs, and there was a battle between the two sides. Wakīՙb. al-Dawraqiyya and Bukayr b. Wishāḥ went off with a body of troops. When Ibn Khāzim33 had killed Wakīՙ’s brother, Wakīՙ and ՙAbdallāh came into confrontation with each other and clashed in battle. Wakīՙ felled ՙAbdallāh to the ground, sat down on his chest and cut off his head. He brought it to Baḥīr, and Baḥīr heaped praises on him. He sent ՙAbdallāh’s head to Khālid b. ՙAbdallāh al-Qasrī, who forwarded it to ՙAbd al-Malik b. Marwān.34 [M 168]
Baḥīr b. Warqā’
ՙAbd al-Malik b. Marwān then appointed Baḥīr b. Warqā’35 as governor of Khurasan in the year 71 [/690–1]. When he was settled into his post, ՙAbd al-Malik ordered that Baḥīr should cancel all appointments to offices, issues of stipends for the troops, additional payments and grants of land for the upkeep of state servants (waẓā’ if wa ՙaṭā’-hā wa ziyādat-hā wa iqṭāՙ-hā) that had been made in the time of ՙAbdallāh b. al-Zubayr. He (sc. ՙAbd al-Malik) treated the people of Khurasan in a benevolent manner. Baḥīr was a feeble and ineffective figure and entirely under the thumb of the troops. [H 109] As a result of this, Khurasan was in a permanently disturbed state. Baḥīr then sent a letter to ՙAbd al-Malik to the effect that Khurasan could not be held except by a man of Quraysh.36 So ՙAbd al-Malik deprived Baḥīr of his office and appointed Umayya in his stead.
Umayya b. ՙAbdallāh
This was Umayya b. ՙAbdallāh b. Abi ’l-ՙĀṣ [Umayya b.] ՙAbd Shams.37 ՙAbd al-Malik entrusted Khurasan to Umayya in the year 72 [/691–2]. Umayya arrived in Khurasan, but Baḥīr rebelled and shut himself up in the citadel of Merv. He held out for some time in the citadel, but in the end Umayya got him out and killed him. Baḥīr had two brothers, one called Budayl and the other Shamardal, and Umayya killed them both with Baḥīr. Umayya b. ՙAbdallāh remained governor in Khurasan for seven years. Umayya’s position as governor was a perpetual source of irritation to Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf, and he employed various stratagems till ՙAbd al-Malik dismissed Umayya and gave Khurasan and Sistan to Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf.
Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf
ՙAbd al-Malik gave Khurasan to Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf.38 Ḥajjāj sent Muhallab b. Abī Ṣufra to Khurasan in the year 79 [/698–9]. Muhallab proceeded to the town of Kish and made a peace agreement with the people of Sogdia. The king of Sogdia at that time was the Ṭarkhūn, and Muhallab took hostages from him. Muhallab died in the vicinity of Marw al-Rūd at a village called Zāghūl, having made his son Yazīd his successor. His son was four years in Khurasan [M 169] as deputy for Ḥajjāj, and then after him Ḥajjāj appointed to Khurasan Yazīd’s brother Mufaḍḍal b. Muhallab. Mufaḍḍal was a well-known figure, possessing gravitas, and was a shrewd judge of people.39 [H 110]
Ḥajjāj had entrusted Sistan to ՙAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad [b.] al-Ashՙath. When the latter came to Sistan, he rebelled against Ḥajjāj and marched out against him. Eighty engagements took place between the two of them. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān was defeated at Dayr al-Jamājim, and he fled from there to Kabul, seeking refuge with Ratbīl, the ruler there.40 Ḥajjāj sent an envoy to Ratbīl, seeking ՙAbd al-Raḥmān’s extradition. Ratbīl handed him over to the envoy, who put him in bonds. He put one leg iron on ՙAbd al-Raḥmān’s ankle, linked to an iron placed on another man’s leg. Whilst on the journey back, they halted at a rest house and went up on the roof. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān hurled himself down from that roof, together with the man fettered to him, and both died.41
When Walīd b. ՙAbd al-Malik succeeded to power, Ḥajjāj dismissed Mufaḍḍal b. Muhallab from Khurasan, and subjected the sons of Muhallab to violent financial mulcting. He divorced Muhallab’s daughter Hind, who was his wife, and sent 100,000 dirhams to her as her returned marriage portion. Hind, however, sent the money back and refused to accept it. Ḥajjāj kept Muhallab’s sons imprisoned at Basra for three years until Yazīd b. Abī Muslim interceded for them and they gave sureties for six million dirhams. They were released into the custody of a keeper (muwakkil), but all four of them devised stratagems: swift-running camels42 were got ready, and they escaped on them. They made their way to Syria, and sent Rajā’ b. Ḥaywa al-Kindī, having sought his help regarding their predicament, to relate their story to Sulaymān b. ՙAbd al-Malik, and Sulaymān agreed to help.
Sulaymān b. ՙAbd al-Malik and ՙAbd al-ՙAzīz b. Walīd took charge of the matter, and interceded forcefully with Walīd b. ՙAbd al-Malik, and the latter responded to their pleas. He instructed Sulaymān to send Muhallab’s sons to him. [M 170] Sulaymān sent his son Ayyūb together with Yazīd b. Walīd, and told Ayyūb, ‘Don’t leave Yazīd b. al-Muhallab for one moment! If he (sc. Walīd b. ՙAbd al-Malik) intends to do any harm to him, they’ll have to kill you first!’
Yazīd b. al-Muhallab then came before Walīd. Walīd accepted Sulaymān’s intercession and sent Yazīd back to Sulaymān, but laid down that he was to be mulcted of three million dirhams, giving Ḥajjāj the order, ‘Give a grant of protection to all of those of the sons of Muhallab and their kindred who have been left with you and despatch them to Syria.’ They all came to Damascus and Sulaymān’s entourage, remaining there for six years till the end of Walīd b. ՙAbd al-Malik’s reign. He ordered Qutayba b. Muslim, who was governor of Ray, to go to Khurasan (i.e. as governor). [H 111]
[Qutayba b. Muslim]
Qutayba came to Khurasan in the year 87 [/706] by the Qūmish road; previously, people used to travel to there by the road through Fars and Kirman.43 When Qutayba reached Qūmish, he looked for his investiture document (ՙahd) but could not find it, since it had been forgotten and left behind at Ray. He sent someone to Ray, and it was brought back from there. Yazīd [b.] al-Muhallab had a very pleasant garden in Khurasan. Qutayba destroyed it and built a camel stable on the site. A marzbān asked him, ‘Why did you do a thing like this?’ Qutayba replied, ‘My father was a camel-driver and Yazīd’s father a gardener!’
In the year 87 he got ready his army. During his time, the greater part of the towns of the Bukhara region were conquered, together with Kish, Nakhshab and Samarqand. It is said that Khwarazm, Kabul and Nasā were also subdued during his time as governor. After that time, in the year 95 [/713–14], he conquered Farghāna. In that same year, Ḥajjāj died. In his treasury were found 219 million dirhams. Ḥajjāj’s governorship (i.e. of Iraq and the East) lasted twenty years. [M 171]
When Qutayba heard the news of Ḥajjāj’s death, he became apprehensive and returned to Marw. Walīd b. ՙAbd al-Malik sent letters of encouragement to Qutayba and gave him promises of favour. So Qutayba returned to Farghāna and was involved in much fighting. He took large numbers of slave captives, and then made a peace agreement with the local people, taking hostages for good behaviour, and then returned to Merv. When he reached Kushmayhan,44 he heard the news of Walīd’s death and the succession of Sulaymān b, ՙAbd al-Malik. Qutayba was fearful regarding Sulaymān, who sent to him a missive containing menaces and admonitions.
Sulaymān had appointed Yazīd b. al-Muhallab as governor of Khurasan. When Qutayba’s response reached him, he suspended his intended action and wrote a fresh investiture document for him in Arabic,45 forwarding it to him by hand of an envoy. Qutayba’s mind nevertheless remained troubled, and he was all the time fearful that Sulaymān was going to dismiss him. There was bad blood between Sulaymān and Qutayba, since Qutayba was a proponent of recognition of ՙAbd al-ՙAzīz b. al-Walīd as designated successor in the caliphate and had been involved in the attempt to get the succession arrangements changed. For this reason, Qutayba was fearful of Sulaymān.
Qutayba, together with the greater part of his leading commanders (sarhangān) and his retainers, now rose in revolt aganst Sulaymān. Before he broke out in rebellion, Qutayba had dismissed Wakīՙ b. Abī Sūd al-Ghudānī from headship of the Tamīmīs but had given him no other official position in place of the headship, and he had given this last office to Ḍirār b. Ḥuṣayn al-Ḍabbī. For that reason, Wakīՙ had sought his revenge on Qutayba and he was inciting the army [against him]. Wakīՙ had given out that he was ill and had remained in his house for some time. When he emerged from it, he joined up with those dissidents of the army. They seized an opportunity in Farghāna to kill Qutayba. They killed eleven of the progeny of Muslim, including seven of his sons, comprising Qutayba, ՙAbd al-Raḥmān, ՙAbdallāh, ՙUbaydallāh, Ṣāliḥ, Yasār and Muḥammad, and four of Muslim’s grandsons. Out of Muslim’s sons, there only remained alive ՙAmr, who was away in Gūzgānān. Wakīՙ ordered that the heads of all of them should be cut off, and he sent them on to Sulaymān b. ՙAbd al-Malik.46 [H 112, M 172]
Wakīՙ b. Abī Sūd al-Ghudānī
Sulaymān then sent an investiture document for the governorship of Khurasan to Wakīՙ b. Abī Sūd al-Ghudānī.47 Wakīՙ embarked on a policy of instilling fear and terror. Anyone who went beyond the limits laid down by Wakīՙ or who showed the slightest trace of treacherous behaviour, he would immediately be put to death. His policy went to such lengths that, one day, someone drunk was brought before him and he ordered his head to be cut off. People protested to him that death was not the obligatory penalty for someone drunk, but rather that the ḥadd penalty48 was a flogging. Wakīՙ replied, ‘My punishment isn’t the whip or rod, but the sword alone!’ When people heard that, they all felt terrified of him; moreover, no-one dared commit any offence since correction, punishment and death would ineluctably follow. Things continued like this till the end of his period of governorship. His governorship began in the year 97 [/715–16].
Yazīd b. al-Muhallab
Sulaymān b. ՙAbd al-Malik then entrusted Khurasan to Yazīd b. Muhallab for a second term of office.49 Yazīd sent his son Mukhallad to Khurasan to act as his deputy, and Yazīd himself followed after him to Khurasan, this in the year 97. He arrested Wakīՙ b. Abī Sūd and inflicted much torture on Qutayba b. Muslim’s officials and seized their possessions, thereby amassing a great amount of wealtḥ He set off from Merv to Gurgān in the year 98 [/716–17], travelling along the Nasā road and passing through the region of the Iron Gate.50 He subdued Gurgān, but when he left, the people of Gurgān apostasised for a second time.
Yazīd b. al-Muhallab accordingly once more prepared a military expedition and proceeded to Gurgān. The Gurgānīs fled for refuge to the mountains, and Yazīd pursued them into the mountains and killed 12,000 of them. He took an oath that he would not leave that place until he had made a watermill go round with the Gurgānīs’ blood and had ground flour in that mill, had baked bread from the flour and had eaten his morning meal from it.
When the men were being killed, their blood kept on congealing and would not flow. Yazīd was told, ‘Give orders [M 173] for a flow of water to be brought to the mill.’ The mill went round and flour was milled. Bread was baked from that flour and he was able to eat it. He was thus able properly to fulfil his oath. He took captive 6,000 Gurgānīs and the whole lot were sold into slavery. He sent a proclamation of victory (fatḥ-nāma) regarding the conquest of Gurgān to Sulaymān b. ՙAbd al-Malik, in which he said,
No-one has conquered this province since the time of Shāpūr Dhu ’l-Aktāf. Kisrā [Aparwīz] the son of Hurmuz, ՙUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb and everyone else have tried to conquer it, but for all of them it proved impossible and no-one could subdue this province. Now it has been conquered for the Commander of the Faithful.
The prince of Gurgān was Ṣūl,51 and Yazīd took him prisoner; at this present time there are numerous descendants of this Ṣūl in Gurgān. Ṣūl then said to Yazīd b. al-Muhallab, ‘Is there any person within Islam nobler than you, for me to become a Muslim at his hand?’ Yazīd answered, ‘The Commander of the Faithful is nobler than I!’ Ṣūl said, ‘Send me to him!’ Yazīd sent him to Sulaymān. Ṣūl said to Sulaymān, ‘Is there no-one within Islam greater than you?’ Sulaymān replied, ‘At the present time, there is no-one within Islam more noble than myself, except at the tomb of the Prophet, peace be upon him!’ Ṣūl said, ‘Send me to that place so that I may become a Muslim [there]!’52
Sulaymān sent him to Medina, and he became a Muslim at the Prophet’s tomb. He returned, and came into Yazīd’s entourage [H 113] and remained with him permanently, fulfilling many offices and duties until he was killed in the time of Maslama b. ՙAbd al-Malik. Muḥammad b. Ṣūl became one of the leading propagandists (dāՙiyān) for the house of ՙAbbās, and was killed in Syria by ՙAbdallāh b. ՙAlī.
Yazīd b. al-Muhallab made his son Mukhallad his deputy over Khurasan, and he himself turned back and headed for Sulaymān. When he reached Fars, he heard the news of Sulaymān’s death. During the reign of ՙUmar b. ՙAbd al-ՙAzīz he formed the intention of going to Basra. When he reached there, the local governor, ՙAdī b. Arṭāt al-Fazārī, came to him with a letter from ՙUmar b. ՙAbd al-ՙAzīz ordering him to relinquish his office forthwith. Yazīd b. al-Muhallab was despatched to ՙUmar, and when he reached ՙUmar, [M 174] the latter consigned him to prison. Whenever anyone tried to make intercession with ՙUmar on Yazīd’s behalf, his reply was, ‘Yazīd has done much killing; there’s no better place for him than prison!’ He then ordered that Yazīd should be subjected to violence and torture in order to extract from him the wealth and possessions listed in the letter written to Sulaymān, and all the possessions and wealth confiscated from him were included in a reckoning raised up against him.
Jarrāḥ b. ՙAbdallāh al-Ḥakamī
ՙUmar b. ՙAbd al-ՙAzīz appointed Jarrāḥ b. ՙAbdallāh al-Ḥakamī to Khurasan.53 He went to Khurasan with instructions from ՙUmar that Mukhallad b. Yazīd was to be sent back to him. When Jarrāḥ reached Khurasan in the year 99 [/717–18], he immediately arrested and imprisoned Mukhallad. He put him in chains and sent him to ՙUmar. On the road to Kufa, Mukhallad dispensed 800,000 dirhams in charity, and all the people expressed good wishes and spoke favourable words regarding him. During this time when Jarrāḥ was governor in Khurasan, Muḥammad b. ՙAlī al-Imām54 sent Maysara to Iraq and Khurasan. He sent out other propagandists, and they secured pledges of allegiance (i.e to the ՙAbbasid cause) from large numbers of people and then came back.
ՙAbd al-Raḥmān [b.] Nuՙaym al-Ghāmidī
Then ՙUmar b. ՙAbd al-ՙAzīz appointed ՙAbd al-Raḥmān b. Nuՙaym to Khurasan in the year 100 [/718–19], and ՙAbd al-Raḥmān came to Khurasan in this same year. When Mukhallad b. Yazīd b. al-Muhallab came before ՙUmar b. ՙAbd al-ՙAzīz, the latter regarded Mukhallad with favour and spoke kindly words about him. He gave out that Mukhallad was a better man than his father and ordered that he should not be harmed or harassed. [H 114]
Saՙīd b. ՙAbd al-ՙAzīz
Yazīd b. ՙAbd al-Malik conferred the governorship of Khurasan on Saՙīd b. ՙAbd al-ՙAzīz.55 Saՙīd acted in a beneficent fashion and did not give rein to excesses and tyranny. When [M 175] he arrived in Khurasan, he behaved towards the people with kindness56 and did not demand additional taxation from anyone. He remained in office in Khurasan for a year, but was then after one year recalled and ՙUmar b. Hubayra was sent out.
ՙUmar b. Hubayra
Yazīd b. ՙAbd al-Malik then gave the governorship of Khurasan [and the East] to ՙUmar b. Hubayra.57 ՙUmar dismissed Saՙīd b. ՙAbd al-ՙAzīz from Khurasan, sending out Saՙīd b. ՙAmr al-Ḥarashī as his replacement, and Saՙīd arrived in Khurasan in the year 104 [/722–3]. He did not remain long in office before ՙUmar b. Hubayra deprived him of it and sent out in his stead Muslim b. Saՙīd b. Aslam. Muslim remained in office during the year [10]4, the whole of the year [10]5 and several months of the year 106 [/722–4].
Khālid b. ՙAbdallāh al-Qasrī
When Hishām b. ՙAbd al-Malik was firmly ensconced in power within the realm, he appointed Khālid b. ՙAbdallāh as governor of Khurasan and sent him thither, also awarding him the governorship of Iraq. Khālid stayed in Iraq and sent his brother Asad b. ՙAbdallāh to Khurasan [as his deputy].58 Asad remained there for three years. He stirred up factional strife (taՙaṣṣub-hā) amongst the people. He arrested Naṣr b. Sayyār, and also ՙAbd al-Raḥmān b. Nuՙaym, who was in charge of collecting the land-tax; Baḥr b. Dirham, who was in charge of pay arrangements for the army; and Sūra b. al-Ḥurr al-Dārimī. He made accusations against them that they had been spreading disturbing, alarmist stories.59 Using this as a pretext, he had them flogged, their heads shaved and their beards plucked out, and he put fetters on their hands. He then despatched the lot of them to his brother (sc. to Khālid). These persons informed Hishām about all that they had suffered. Hishām wrote a letter to Khālid ordering him to release them, and they all came back to reside in Iraq and Syria. No person went out to Khurasan [as governor] whilst Khālid was alive. [H 115, M 176]
Ashras b. ՙAbdallāh
Hishām appointed Ashras b. ՙAbdallāh to Khurasan. Because of his excellent qualities, Ashras used to be called ‘The Perfect One’ (al-Kāmil).60 He arrived in Khurasan in the year 110 [/728–9], but now altered his behaviour and committed many inadmissible acts. He perpetrated numerous acts of oppression and unjust behaviour against the subjects. The people of Khurasan were driven to rebellion, and they went to Hishām complaining of tyranny and injustice; he accordingly dismissed Ashras.
Junayd b. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān
Hishām then appointed Junayd b. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān as governor of Khurasan, and the latter came to Khurasan in the year 112 [730–1]. When he reached there, the Khāqān of the Turks led an invasion.61 Junayd engaged him in battle and put him to flight, and he killed a great number of his troops. The next year, the Khāqān came back to the attack. Junayd marched out to engage him. He wrote to Sūra b. al-Ḥurr al-Dārimī, who was the amir of Samarqand, seeking his help, and Sūra marched forth and engaged the Turks in battle. The Turks were defeated, but Sūra was himself killed in the fight. Junayd arrived, and he at once routed the Turks, and the Khāqān fled. When Junayd returned from that campaign, he seized [Ḥārith b.] Surayj the rebel,62 who had led an uprising in Khurasan, together with a large number of his partisans, and put the whole lot of these followers to death. In the year 116 [/734] he died.
ՙĀṣim b. ՙAbdallāh al-Hilālī
Hishām then appointed ՙĀṣim to Khurasan in the year 116.63 When ՙĀṣim reached Khurasan, affairs of state had not returned to the required state of good order, since Ḥārith b. Surayj rebelled and seized control of Gūzgānān, Ṭālaqān, Fāryāb and Marw al-Rūd. He led his movement on the basis of the Qur’ān and the traditions of the Prophet and [M 177] displayed opposition to the Marwānids. He gave out that the ‘Protected Peoples’ should observe the conditions of their Dhimmī status, that he would not take land-tax from the Muslims and that he would not act unjustly towards anyone. A great number of people flocked to join him. He set out for Merv with the intention of attacking ՙĀṣim. A battle between Ḥārith and ՙĀṣim took place at Merv. Intermediaries came forward and arranged a peace agreement between the two sides on the basis that an envoy should be sent to Hishām and that he should be informed about this state of affairs. If he should give a favourable response to Ḥārith’s propositions, well and good; but if not, then they would continue fighting. Both sides agreed upon this course of action. [H 116]
Khālid b. ՙAbdallāh al-Qasrī
Information about Ḥārith’s activities reached Hishām. He entrusted the governorship of Khurasan to Khālid b. ՙAbdallāh al-Qasrī, and the latter sent his brother Asad b. ՙAbdallāh (sc. as his deputy in Khurasan) in the year 116.64 The envoys of Ḥārith and ՙĀṣim came into Asad’s presence. He sent them back and himself came to Merv with a force of 20,000 men and mounted an attack on Ḥārith. The two sides confronted each other at the gates of Tirmidh. Battle was joined, and in the end, Ḥārith was defeated and fled into Turkestan. Asad seized a group of persons who were summoning people to the cause of the house of ՙAbbās and killed them. When he sought further directions from his brother Khālid, Khālid wrote back, ‘Don’t shed blood!’
Asad remained in Khurasan for four years. He died in the year 120 [/738], having appointed Jaՙfar [b.] Ḥanẓala as his deputy, and Jaՙfar remained in Khurasan for five months. Asad b. ՙAbdallāh founded the settlement of Asadābād in the rural district of Nishapur,65 and his descendants retained possession of it till the time of ՙAbdallāh b. Ṭāhir. Then ՙAbdallāh b. Ṭāhir purchased it and made it into a perpetual endowment (waqf) for travellers and wayfarers (abnā’ al-sabīl).66
Naṣr b. Sayyār
Hishām appointed Naṣr b. Sayyār governor of Khurasan in the month of Rajab in the year 120 [/June–July 738] and sent him an investiture charter for it, which reached him at Balkh.67 Naṣr spoke with ՙAbd al-Salām b. Muzāḥim, and the two of them went to Jaՙfar and delivered to him the letter requiring Jaՙfar to hand over his office. [M 178] Jaՙfar set up Naṣr in his own former place and personally hailed and congratulated him, and the people likewise came to congratulate him. Naṣr treated the people of Khurasan with kindness and consideration and lightened the burden of taxation on them. 68
Naṣr arrested and imprisoned Yaḥyā b. Zayd b. ՙAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. ՙAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, may God be pleased with them all, who had gone into hiding at Balkh after Hishām had killed his father.69 Hishām died at this juncture, as did also Muḥammad b. ՙAlī al-Imām at this time. In accordance with his command, the leading men of the Shīՙa appointed twelve agents (naqībs).70 The first was Sulaymān b. Kathīr; the second, Qaḥṭaba b. Shabīb; the third, Mūsā b. Kaՙb; the fourth, Mālik b. al-Haytham; the fifth, Abū Dāwūd [Khālid b. Ibrāhīm]; the sixth, Khālid b. Ibrāhīm;71 [H 117] the seventh, Bakr b. al-ՙAbbās; the eighth, Lāḥiz b. Qurayẓ; the ninth, Shibl b. Ṭahmān; the tenth, Abu ’l-Najm b. ՙImrān b. Ismāՙīl; the eleventh, ՙAlā’ b. Ḥurayth; and the twelfth, ՙAmr and ՙĪsā the two sons of Aՙyan.
ՙAlā’ went to Khwarazm to spread propaganda (i.e. in the ՙAbbasid cause) and Ṭalḥa b. Ruzayq72 took ՙAlā’’s place. When Hishām died, Walīd b. Yazīd succeeded to power. He sent an investiture charter for Khurasan to Naṣr b. Sayyār and commanded him to capture Yaḥyā b. Zayd. When Yaḥyā came to a rural district of the administrative region of Nishapur, he threw off allegiance to Walīd and summoned people to his own cause. He went back with 120 men and encamped at a village by the gate of Nishapur. ՙAmr b. Zurāra al-Qasrī, the amir of Nishapur, sent an envoy to Yaḥyā with the message, ‘Get out of this district!’ Yaḥyā replied, ‘[I’ll stay here] until I have rested and the beasts have rested!’
When he drew near to ՙAmr, the latter immediately mounted and rode forth. They clashed in battle, ՙAmr was defeated and in the course of his flight was killed. Yaḥyā b. Zayd headed for Balkh. When Naṣr got news of these events, he sent his police commander (ṣāḥib-shuraṭ) Salm b. Aḥwaz in pursuit of Yaḥyā. Yaḥyā went to Bādghīs and from there to Marw al-Rūd, Ṭālaqān and Fāryāb. Salm [M 179] pursued him continuously until he came upon him at Arghūy73 in Gūzgānān. A battle was fought and Yaḥyā b. Zayd was killed. His head was cut off, mounted on a pole and borne to Merv.
Walīd was killed in Syria in Jumādā II of the year 126 [/March–April 744], and Yazīd b. al-Walīd was set up as ruler in this same year 126. When Yazīd was secure in his power, he sent an investiture charter for Khurasan to Naṣr b. Sayyār and sent him a letter instructing him to offer a grant of protection to Ḥārith b. Surayj. Ḥārith came back to Merv, but [at that point] Yazīd died and Ibrāhīm b. al-Walīd succeeded to power on 1 Dhu ’l-Ḥijja of the year 126 [/14 September 744]. His authority was not, however, firmly established, since Marwān b. Muḥammad came along and deprived him of power. Marwān himself assumed the throne in Ṣafar of the year 127 [/November–December 744] and deposed Ibrāhīm. Marwān used to be called ‘Marwān al-Ḥimār’ because, in Arabic, when each hundred years of the life of a dynasty elapsed, that year used to be called Ḥimār (lit. ‘wild ass’), and the dynasty of the Banū Umayya had lasted for almost a hundred years.74
Marwān Ḥimār [H 118] sent an investiture charter for Khurasan to Naṣr b. Sayyār. The Yamanīs and Rabīՙa opposed Naṣr. They went to Judayՙ b. ՙAlī al-Kirmānī, Judayՙ being an adherent of the party (shīՙa, sc. of the ՙAbbasids). Ḥārith b. Surayj allied with them, and they engaged in warfare with Naṣr b. Sayyār. Jahm b. Ṣafwān, the head of the Jahmī sectaries, was with Ḥārith but was killed.75 His son ՙAlī stepped into his place. He sought help from Shaybān the Khārijite (ḥarūrī),76 and with a guarantee of protection from him went to Merv. The Yamanīs, the Muḍarīs and the Ḥarūrīs came together as allies and joined battle with Naṣr The warfare went on for nine months, and in this space of time there were seventy engagements between the two sides. Naṣr was invariably victorious on every occasion except for the fighting he was engaged in with Abū Muslim, who had come out in revolt in the month of Ramaḍān of the year 129 [/May–June 747]. He proclaimed his adherence [M 180] to the House of Muḥammad, and dug a protective ditch.77
Abū Muslim was a native of Isfahan, and his name was ՙAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muslim. Ibrāhīm al-Imām had sent Abū Muslim to Khurasan.78 When Ibrāhīm al-Imām received information about these dissensions (i.e. in Khurasan), he wrote a letter to Sulaymān b. Kathīr, saying, ‘Unsheathe your sword against Naṣr b. Sayyār!’ When the disturbances in Khurasan became acute, Naṣr b. Sayyār made an appeal for help to Marwān but got no response. Every time that Naṣr b. Sayyār despatched a letter from Nishapur, Yazīd b. ՙUmar b. Hubayra would detain Naṣr’s messengers and keep them back from Marwān, and would himself send secret messages to Marwān complaining of Naṣr b. Sayyār’s oppressive behaviour. Marwān was, moreover, completely taken up with combatting the Khārijite Ḍaḥḥāk and could not reach Naṣr. Abū Muslim recruited to his side the Yamanīs and the Rabīՙa who were with Ibn Kirmānī, and Shaybān the Khārijite, and brought them, with himself, within the defensive trench, and the combined forces marched against Naṣr. He fled before them, and moved from Merv to Nishapur. When Naṣr fell back, Abū Muslim sent his experienced agents to the towns and districts of Khurasan, and he sent Qaḥṭaba b. Shabīb al-Ṭā’ī in pursuit of Naṣr b. Sayyār. Qaḥṭaba came upon Tamīm b. Naḍr at Ṭūs, a battle took place and Tamīm was killed.79 Naṣr retreated towards Iraq, but when he reached Sāwa he died there. [H 119]
Abū Muslim ՙAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muslim
Abū Muslim, the leader of the ՙAbbasid movement, marched out of Merv. His home was in the village of Mākhān.80 When he had disposed of the matter of Naṣr, he wrote a letter to Qaḥṭaba. Qaḥṭaba went to Gurgān and attacked Nubāta b. Ḥanẓala, who was the governor of Gurgān and had with him 40,000 Syrian troops, and killed Nubāta together with several of his sons, and a large number of troops were killed. Marwān sent an army against Qaḥṭaba by the Shahrazūr route, and ՙUmar b. Hubayra b. Yazīd joined up with him from Kufa. Abū Muslim came to Nishapur in Ṣafar of the year 131 [/October 748].
ՙUthmān, the son of Kirmānī, was in Ṭukhāristān together with Abū Dāwūd. Abū Muslim sent a letter to Dāwūd [M 181] instructing him to kill ՙUthmān, and Abū Dāwūd did this. Before this, Abū Muslim had killed ՙAlī b. Judayՙ al-Kirmānī in Shawwāl of the year 131 [/May–June 749]. ՙAlī had been hailed as Amir before Abū Muslim took charge. He sent an army to Qaḥṭaba so that the latter had a force of 70,000 men round him, thus confirming the authenticity of that saying, transmitted from ՙAlī b. ՙAbdallāh b. al-ՙAbbās, that ‘70,000 swords will come from the east in aid of the Prophet’s House’.81
Qaḥṭaba went to Isfahan. He engaged in a battle with ՙĀmir b. Ḍubāra, killing him and a large number of his troops in Rajab of the year 131 [/February–March 749]. He then took Nihāwand and from there went to Ḥulwān. Abū Muslim built the congregational mosque at Merv and also reconstructed the one at Nishapur which Fādūspān had presented to Abū Muslim. This person Fādūspān was one of the dihqāns of Nishapur. He had been very helpful and kind to Abū Muslim when the latter was secretly conducting his propagandist activities, and when things turned out well for Abū Muslim, he repaid the favours which he had received from Fādūspān.
Bihāfarīd the Magian led a movement in the rural districts of Khwāf and Busht near Nishapur. This Bihāfarīd came from the rural district of Zawzan. Amongst [H 120] the Zoroastrian community he claimed to be a prophet, and he raised up a dissident group amongst them involving a large number of people. He laid down an obligatory seven acts of worship (namāz)82 to be performed (i.e. each day) facing the sun wherever one might be. Of these acts of the worship, the first was proclaiming the unity of God, He is Exalted and Magnified (tawḥid). The second was [acknowledgement of] the creation of the heavens and the earth. The third was [acknowledgement of] the creation of all living things and their sustenance. The fourth was [acknowledgement of] death. The fifth was [acknowledgement of] the resurrection of the body and the last reckoning. The sixth was [acknowledgement of] heaven and hell. The seventh was giving thanks and praise for the people of paradise. He forbade them to eat the flesh of anything that had died naturally. Marriage with one’s mother, sister and the child of one’s sister or brother was prohibited. He prohibited the marriage portion for a woman being more than 400 dirhams. He required one-seventh from people’s wealth and possessions and likewise from what was gained by the labour of their hands (i.e. for charitable purposes). He introduced corruption into that religion of the Magians. [M 182]
The Zoroastrian priests (mūbadān) came before Abū Muslim and raised a complaint about Bihāfarīd, saying, ‘He has introduced corruption into your faith and ours.’ Hence Abū Muslim arrested Bihāfarīd and hanged and gibbeted him, and he killed a group of his adherents.83
Abū Muslim had sent Abū ՙAwn to attack Marwān al-Ḥimār. When Qaḥṭaba reached the bank of the Euphrates, Yazīd b. Hubayra came out to give battle with him. An overnight battle took place between the two sides. Qaḥṭaba’s army was victorious, but Qaḥṭaba fell into the river and was drowned. After the passage of some days, Qaḥṭaba’s troops made his son Ḥasan their commander, and they entered Kufa. ՙAbdallāh b. Muḥammad b. ՙAlī b. ՙAbdallāh b. ՙAbbās, who had the honorific title of [al-]Saffāḥ (‘The Blood-thirsty One’ or ‘The Generous One’) and who had been hidden, with his brothers, in the house of Abū Salama Khallāl, was brought forth, and allegiance given to him as caliph.
Saffāḥ then sent his paternal uncles ՙAbdallāh and ՙAbd al-Ṣamad, together with Abū ՙAwn, to attack Marwān. When Marwān got news about them, he advanced to give battle, but was speedily defeated. He withdrew towards Egypt, but Abū ՙAwn kept on pursuing him until he came upon Marwān at Būṣīr in Egypt at ՙAyn al-Shams.84 ՙĀmir b. Ismāՙīl confronted Marwān, killed him, cut off his head and laid it before Abū ՙAwn. The latter sent it on to Abu ’l-ՙAbbās Saffāḥ. The killing of Marwān was in Dhu ’l-Qaՙda of the year 132 [/June–July 750].
When Abu ’l-ՙAbbās succeeded to the caliphate, he sent his brother Manṣūr to Khurasan in order to get an oath of allegiance from Abū Muslim and oaths from all the people of Khurasan. When Ibrāhīm al-Imām had been killed, Abū Salama al-Khallāl, who was the amir in Kufa, acquired an inclination to the cause of the ՙAlids. Abu ’l-ՙAbbās got to know about this and informed Abū Muslim of the situation. Abū Muslim then sent Murār b. Anas and he killed Abū Salama.
Sharīk was in Farghāna. He rebelled against Abū Muslim and rallied people to the cause of the House of Abū Ṭālib, [M 183] gathering a numerous body of people around him. Abū Muslim sent Ziyād b. Ṣāliḥ to attack Sharīk. When Ziyād b. Ṣāliḥ reached the Oxus, the Bukhār-Khudāh came to him seeking a grant of protection, [H 121] and joined Ziyād for the fight against Sharīk. A battle ensued, large numbers of people were killed and Sharīk was captured. His head was cut off and sent to Abū Muslim, who forwarded it to Abu ’l-ՙAbbās, this in the month of Dhu ’l-Ḥijja of the year 132 [/July–August 750].85
When order was restored in Khurasan, and there was nowhere giving him cause for concern, Abū Muslim set out for the Pilgrimage with 8,000 men. When he came to Nishapur and then Ray, he disbanded all these followers and set off with a force of just 1,000 men.86 His aides and advisers told him, ‘Don’t go, for you’ll never come back!’, but he refused to renounce his intention. Abū Muslim killed Sulaymān b. Kathīr, who had inaugurated the movement for the claims of the House of the Messenger [of God], peace be upon him and may God pray over him and his house and grant them peace. When he set off on the Pilgrimage, and came to the court of Abu ’l-ՙAbbās al-Saffāḥ, the latter fulfilled for Abū Muslim the due rewards for service and gave orders that he should be lodged in a handsome fashion. When Abū Muslim came into Saffāḥ’s presence, the latter questioned him in an encouraging fashion. When Abū Muslim departed on the Pilgrimage, Abu ’l-ՙAbbās al-Saffāḥ died in Dhu ’l-Ḥijja of the year 136 [/May–June 745] and his brother Manṣūr succeeded to the caliphate. When Abū Muslim came back from the Pilgrimage, Manṣūr sent him to attack his paternal uncle ՙAbdallāh b. ՙAlī. Abū Muslim defeated him, and he seized his wealth and possessions as plunder. Jumhūr b. Murār captured ՙAbdallāh b. ՙAlī in the course of that battle and brought him before Abū Muslim, who sent him on to Manṣūr. Manṣūr kept him in captivity till the end of [ՙAbdallāh b.] ՙAlī’s life.87
Abū Muslim had had the deciding voice in all affairs, and all that had come back to Manṣūr’s ear, hence he continually sought an opportunity for killing Abū Muslim. When Abū Muslim returned from the Pilgrimage, he was told, ‘There’s a Christian at Ḥīra88 who is 200 years old and who knows about everything.’ Abū Muslim summoned him into his presence. When that aged man saw Abū Muslim, he exclaimed, ‘You’ve achieved enough, [M 184] you’ve brought your efforts to perfection and you’ve reached the ultimate point! You’ve consumed yourself (i.e. in strenuous action) and spread wide your efforts! Now you have come face to face with your own killing!’ Abū Muslim was overcome by melancholy. The old man went on to say to him, ‘Defects do not arise from perfect, resolute behaviour, nor from good judgement or advantageous planning arrangements, nor from the sharp-edged sword; on the contrary, no-one ever attains all his desires, for Fate catches up with him when only a part of his aims has been achieved’.
Abū Muslim replied, ‘What’s your prognosis for the outcome! Where will this affair end?’ The old man replied, ‘When two caliphs are agreed upon a course of action, it will reach completion. The divinely ordained decree rests with that One before Whom all human plans are in vain. If you go back to Khurasan, you’ll remain safe and secure.’ Abū Muslim had the intention of returning, but Manṣūr sent envoys to him with the message, ‘Come speedily!’ The divine decree had come down, and Abū Muslim had lost his powers of perception and foresight. He asked someone, ‘What do you think they’re going to do with me?’ That person replied, ‘Good treatment, and the reward for all that you’ve done for them (sc. the ՙAbbasids) can only be good!’ Abū Muslim said, ‘I suspect otherwise!’
The opening phase of the killing of Abū Muslim by Abū Jaՙfar Manṣūr was on this wise. Manṣūr sent Yaqṭīn to Abū Muslim, and Yaqṭīn [H 122] said to Abū Muslim, ‘He’s sent me with this charge, that I should investigate whether this amount of wealth is sufficient for the body of troops or not.’89 Abū Muslim realised that the real intention did not lie in his words. He started out along the road to Khurasan, disobeying Manṣūr’s instructions until he reached Ḥulwān and encamped there. Manṣūr despatched Jarīr b. Yazīd b. Jarīr b. ՙAbdallāh al-Bajalī. This man Jarīr was an extremely wily and crafty person, and was shrewd, to an unequalled degree. He invoked many incantations and magical spells on Abū Muslim, and as a result got him to return to Manṣūr.
It is related that when Abū Muslim came back from Ḥulwān with Jarīr al-Bajalī to Abū Jaՙfar’s court, he asked for a horse that was the finest in the stables and mounted that horse with the intention of going into Manṣūr’s presence. The horse bolted beneath Abū Muslim three times. One of [M 185] his retainers told him, ‘Turn back!’, but Abū Muslim replied, ‘What the Most Exalted God wills, will be.’ When he came into Manṣūr’s presence, the latter bade him sit down and asked after him in a friendly way. Then he asked him, ‘Which sword did you wield in all those victories and battles of yours?’ Abū Muslim responded, ‘With this one,’ and he indicated the sword that was girded at his waist. Manṣūr said, ‘Give it to me,’ and he handed it to him. Manṣūr then said, ‘Do you know what you did against me? You did so-and-so,’ and he enumerated the charges one by one. Abū Muslim gave a reply to each accusation until Manṣūr made a sour face and shouted at him.
Abū Muslim said, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, this is not a fair requital of all those beneficial deeds I did!’ Manṣūr replied,
O Father of Criminal Deeds!90 Remember when you came into Abu ’l-ՙAbbās’s presence and rendered service to him, when I was sitting there and you paid no attention to me! Remember that you said to my nephew ՙĪsā b. Mūsā, ‘Are you agreeable that I should deprive Abū Jaՙfar of his succession rights and set you up in his place?’ Remember how, in Syria, in the presence of Yaqṭīn b. Mūsā, you vilified me and called me ‘Son of Salama’,91 and [you said that] Salama was of lower status than your own mother!
Abū Muslim gave an answer to each one of these charges.92
Manṣūr then said, ‘You didn’t do these things out of friendship for us! On the contrary, the successful establishment of our power was due to a heavenly decree and divine favour!’ He made a sign to the person who was standing over Abū Muslim, and the latter struck Abū Muslim with the sword. Abū Muslim fell to the ground, crying out ‘Oh! Oh!’ Manṣūr expostulated, ‘O you who wrought the deeds of mighty warriors, you’re crying now like a small child!’ ՙUthmān b. Nahīk, who had previously been Abū Muslim’s personal bodyguard,93 was the first person to strike Abū Muslim, and then the Ḥājib Abu ’l-Khaṣīb struck him with his sword and finished him off. Abū Muslim’s troops rioted at the palace gate. Abu ’l-Khaṣīb went out and gave out a message from Manṣūr to the Khurasanian troops which stated, ‘The Commander of the Faithful announces that the Amir Abū Muslim was our servant, and we ordained punishment for his disobedience. You are not behaving in this manner’, and he ordered that a year’s pay allotment should be taken from the treasury [and distributed to them]. They all became quiescent. Manṣūr then sent Abū Muslim’s head to Abū Dāwūd [H 123] so that [M 186] it could be paraded round throughout all Khurasan.94
Abū Dāwūd Khālid b. Ibrāhīm al-Dhuhlī
Manṣūr appointed Abū Dāwūd governor of Khurasan in the month of Ramaḍān of the year 137 [/February–March 755], and Abū Dāwūd remained there as governor till his death.95 The ‘Wearers of White’ (sapīd-jāmagān) killed him in the month of Rabīՙ I of the year 140 [/July–August 757].96 This group which killed Abū Dāwūd were from the community of Saՙīd Jawlāh. In the end, Abū Dāwūd’s retainers captured all that group and killed them. Their chief, Saՙīd Jawlāh, was also captured and put to death with the rest of them.97
ՙAbd al-Jabbār b. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān
This man ՙAbd al-Raḥmān was Manṣūr’s commander of the police guard. When Abū Dāwūd Dhuhlī was killed, Manṣūr gave ՙAbd al-Jabbār b. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān an investiture patent for the governorship of Khurasan.98 He came to Merv with forty riding beasts of the postal and intelligence service (barīd), and was accompanied by his secretary, a man called Muՙāwiya [b. ՙUbaydallāh], who was directing his affairs. ՙAbd al-Jabbār then became puffed up with self-pride, and he wrote a letter to Manṣūr asking for his family and children to be sent to Khurasan. Manṣūr duly despatched them. ՙAbd al-Jabbār now embarked on a policy of rebelliousness. He imposed extra impositions, in addition to the land-tax, on Merv, Balkh and many other towns of Khurasan. He gave the governorship of Nishapur to his sister’s son Khaṭṭāb b. Yazīd. However, Khaṭṭāb adopted evil ways and treated the people in an oppressive manner. The subjects laid complaints against him before Manṣūr. Manṣūr wrote a letter to ՙAbd al-Jabbār instructing him to send Khaṭṭāb to the caliphal court. ՙAbd al-Jabbār did not do this, and merely sent excuses and assumed a rebellious attitude.
ՙAbd al-Jabbār’s attention was then drawn to a man named Barāz-banda b. B.m.rūn. This man claimed to be Ibrāhīm b. ՙAbdallāh al-Hāshimī,99 and he summoned people to support his claim. ՙAbd al-Jabbār sent an envoy to him communicating his secret intentions and pledging allegiance to him. He raised the white banner [M 187] and summoned people to give their allegiance to Barāz-banda.100 He killed several of the leading commanders of the Khuzāՙa, who had all refused to respond to his summons: ՙIṣām, Abū Dāwūd’s commander of the police guard; Abu ’l-Qāsim Tājī and his brother; ՙUmar b. Aՙyan; Murār b. Anas; [H 124] Abu ’l-Qāsim Khuzāՙī; Shurayḥ b. ՙAbdallāh; Qudāma al-Ḥarashī, Manṣūr’s envoy; Abū Wahb; Bārmānī (?); Abū Hilāl Ṭālaqānī; and Muḥtāj.
Manṣūr now entrusted Khurasan to his son Mahdī. Mahdī despatched Ḥarb b. Ziyād to attack ՙAbd al-Jabbār. When news of this reached ՙAbd al-Jabbār, he sent Sawwār with 5,000 men against Ḥarb, but Ḥarb defeated Sawwār and headed towards Merv. When he drew near [to the city], ՙAbd al-Jabbār marched out to fight. In the course of that fight, the person who had styled himself Ibrāhīm Hāshimī was killed by Ḥarb personally, and ՙAbd al-Jabbār was put to flight. A great number of his troops were killed. ՙAbd al-Jabbār fled along the road to Zam,101 but lost his way and found himself in a cotton-growing tract of land in the vicinity of the dwellings of the Azd. ՙAbd al-Ghaffār b. Ṣāliḥ Ṭālaqānī was in pursuit of him with a detachment of troops. They came upon him there, and seized him and his secretary Muՙāwiya, tied up their hands and set them on a stout mount. ՙAbd al-Jabbār was brought before Ḥarb b. Ziyad, who had taken up his quarters in the government headquarters (i.e at Merv). He consigned them both to prison and wrote a letter to Mahdī announcing that victory. The letter came into the hands of Khāzim b. Khuzayma, Mahdī’s deputy, who attributed the victory to his own doing. This routing [of the enemy] was on Saturday, 6 Rabīՙ I of the year 142 [/7 July 759]. Khāzim remained at Merv. He sent Ḥarb to Herat and Ṭālaqān, and Ḥasan b. Ḥumrān to Balkh, Zam and the banks of the Oxus. Khāzim then sought to be relieved of his post. Mahdī agreed to this, and he relinquished his office.102
Abū ՙAwn ՙAbd al-Malik b. Yazīd
Manṣūr gave the governorship of Khurasan to Abū ՙAwn ՙAbd al-Malik b. [M 188] Yazīd. Abū ՙAwn came to Merv in the year 143 [/760–61] and remained in Khurasan for seven years. During his time, a group of mutinous troops, who were demanding an increase in their pay allowances, killed Ḥasan b. Ḥumrān and his brother. In the year 146 [/763–4], Manṣūr completed the building of Baghdad and moved there from Wāsiṭ. He dismissed Abū ՙAwn from his post in the year 149 [/766] and summoned him back from Khurasan.
Usayd b. ՙAbdallāh
Manṣūr gave the governorship of Khurasan to Usayd b. ՙAbdallāh. Usayd came to Khurasan in the month of Ramaḍān [/October–November 766]. This man Usayd was Manṣūr’s commander of the guard. During his tenure of the governorship in Khurasan, the rising of Ustādsīs of Bādghīs took place. [H 125] He claimed to be a prophet, and followed the path of Bihāfarīd.103 The reason for this was that Bihāfarīd’s adherents in Bādghīs sent a letter to Mahdī in these terms: ‘We have become Muslims through you, so treat us with consideration!’104
Mahdī sent Muḥammad [b.] Saՙīd to lead a raid on Kabul. He sent along with him these men of Bādghīs and made them sharers in the captured plunder (fay’). Muḥammad set off, and carried on warfare for several days, and he allotted them a share in that captured plunder.105 They then returned to their homes and apostasised from Islam. Ustādsīs came out in revolt. Mahdī sent Abū ՙAwn and Khāzim to attack him. When Ustādsīs got news of this, he came with a group of his followers to seek a guarantee of protection from Abū ՙAwn. Abū ՙAwn accepted the submission of them all, kept faithfully to his promised terms and refrained from harming Ustādsīs and the judge (?) and his son. He seized the fortress that they held together with all its contents. Some people assert that Marājil, the mother of Ma’mūn, was Ustādsīs’s daughter, and [M 189] that Ghālib, Ma’mūn’s maternal uncle, was Ustādsīs’s son; it was Ghālib who assassinated Faḍl b. Sahl in the baths at Sarakhs on Ma’mūn’s orders.106 Usayd b. ՙAbdallāh died in the year 150 [/767].
ՙAbda b. Qadīd
The governorship of Khurasan was then given to ՙAbda b. Qadīd. He came to Merv in Muḥarram of the year 151 [/January–February 768]. He was governor of Khurasan for seven months and was then dismissed.107
Ḥumayd b. Qaḥṭaba
Manṣūr gave the governorship of Khurasan to Ḥumayd b. Qaḥṭaba at the beginning of Shaՙbān of the year 151 [/20 August 768]. Ḥumayd was one of the principal propagandists (dāՙiyān, i.e. for the ՙAbbasid movement).108 During his tenure of office Manṣūr died, and Mahdī succeeded to the caliphate. He sent Ḥumayd an investiture patent for Khurasan. During Ḥumayd’s governorship, Muqannaՙ (‘The Veiled One’) came out in rebellion and raised a white banner.109 This Muqannaՙ was one-eyed. He was a fuller at Merv, with the name of Ḥakīm. When he first rebelled, he made a claim to prophethood and then, ultimately, he claimed to be divine. He summoned people to become his devotees, having covered his face with a golden mask. He used to have this over his face so that no-one should see his face, since it was hideous to behold. He used to say,
God, He is Exalted and Magnified, created Adam and became immanent in him, and when Adam died, He became immanent in the form of Noah, then of Abraham, of Moses, of Jesus and then of Muḥammad, peace be upon them all, and this continued until He was immanent in the form of Abū Muslim. After Abū Muslim, He became immanent in the form of Hāshim [i.e. Muqannaՙ].
This Muqannaՙ had adopted the name of Hāshim for himself.110
Large numbers of misled and errant people followed him and would prostrate themselves before him. On the battlefield they would raise the cry of ‘O Hāshim, give aid!’ just as a person will seek aid from God, He is Exalted and Magnified, [H 126, M 190] and a great throng of people flocked round him. The fortress of Sanām, which is in the rural district of Kish, had been got ready and had been provided with defences against a siege. The ‘Wearers of White’ in Bukhara and Sogdia came out into the open and provided reinforcements for Muqannaՙ, and he also summoned help from the infidel Turks.111 They were busy plundering the Muslims’ wealth and possessions. Most of their activities manifested themselves in Sogdia.
Abū Nuՙmān attacked them, but was unable to achieve anything [against them]. They came to the district and town of Kish and erected barricades in its streets and alleys,112 and they likewise seized control of the citadel of Nuwākath near Sanām and S.n.k.r. Abu ’l-Nuՙmān, Junayd, Layth b. Naṣr, Ḥassān b. Tamīm b. Naṣr b. Sayyār and Muḥammad b. Naṣr made war on them, but none of these was able to get the upper hand over them and all turned back defeated. Mahdī then sent Jibrā’īl b. Yaḥyā and his brother Yazīd. They became busy dealing with the ‘Wearers of White’ of Bukhara, who had manifested themselves in the year 157 [/774] during the time of Ḥusayn b. Muՙādh. Jibrā’īl attacked them in the town of Nuwajkath (? Numijkath)113 and killed 700 of them, and he also killed Ḥakīm Bukhārī, their leader. The rest of them took to flight and went to Muqannaՙ.
Jibrā’īl then went on to Samarqand and led an attack on the Sogdians,114 killing one of their leaders. Ḥumayd b. Qaḥṭaba died, and his son ՙAbdallāh b. Ḥumayd held the governorship of Khurasan after him till the end of the year 159 [/October 776].
Abū ՙAwn ՙAbd al-Malik b. Yazīd
Mahdī conferred the governorship of Khurasan on Abū ՙAwn, and the latter sent on ahead his son as commander of the advance guard, this on Monday, 15 Ṣafar of 160 [/2 December 776]. He held office in Khurasan for one year and one month, and he led military actions against Muqannaՙ. Yūsuf Thaqafī the Khārijite (Ḥarūrī) had rebelled in the time of Ḥumayd, and he was joined by Ḥakam Ṭālaqānī and Bū Muՙādh Fāryābī.115 They had captured Pūshang from Muṣՙab b. Ruzayq, and Yūsuf had conquered Marw al-Rūd, Ṭālaqān and Gūzgānān, until [M 191] the Hāshimites of Balkh engaged him in battle [H 127] and put him to flight. Bū Muՙādh Fāryābī was captured and was sent to Mahdī. The latter gave orders and Bū Muՙadh was gibbeted at Baghdad. Mahdī then dismissed Abū ՙAwn from Khurasan.
Muՙādh b. Muslim
Mahdī conferred the governorship of Khurasan on Muՙādh b. Muslim, and Muՙādh sent his brother Salama to Khurasan as his deputy, whilst he himself followed after him in the month of Rabīՙ II of the year 161 [/January 778].116 During his time there, his son Ḥusayn was appointed governor of Nishapur. During Ḥusayn’s time there was a famine, and a large number of people gathered round Ḥusayn’s gate and lamented about the famine and the high level of prices. They made supplication to him, ‘Release grain for sale, so that others may see what you’ve done and sell it too!’ Ḥusayn replied, ‘I’d have very much liked a grain of wheat to cost a dinar!’ The people went back in despair and sent up invocations to God. Before a week was out, Ḥusayn died.
When Muՙādh went to Merv and the affairs of Khurasan were on an even course, he then marched against Muqannaՙ. He appointed Saՙīd Ḥarashī as commander of his vanguard, and ՙUqba b. Salm also brought reinforcements for him at Ṭawāwīs.117 They went on to Samarqand. Khārija,118 one of Muqannaՙ’s partisans, with 15,000 men from the ‘Wearers of White’, was involved in fighting with Jibrā’īl b. Yaḥyā, and Jibrā’īl killed 3,000 of them. When the reinforcements (i.e. those of ՙUqba b. Salm) arrived, the Muslims grew more confident and the ‘Wearers of White’ became weaker. Large numbers of them were killed, and the remainder fell back towards Muqannaՙ. Muqannaՙ dug a defensive trench in front of the fortress of Sanām and gave battle to the Muslims. The position of the ‘Wearers of White’ became parlous. They nevertheless held out, until the point was reached when they were reduced to eating each other. They sought to come to a peace agreement with Ḥarashī, unbeknown to Muqannaՙ. Ḥarashī agreed to this, and 30,000 men came up out of the defensive trench and went off, [M 192] leaving behind Muqannaՙ with 2,000 persons, his retainers, his fellow-sectaries and his followers.
There were bad relations between Saՙīd Ḥarashī and Muՙādh b. Muslim. Muՙādh sought from Mahdī permission to lay down his office of collecting the taxes of Khurasan. He got the caliph’s agreement and returned to Iraq.
Musayyab b. Zuhayr
Mahdī then appointed Musayyab b. Zuhayr as governor of Khurasan and sent him there. Musayyab reached Khurasan in Jumādā I of the year 166 [/December 782–January 783].119 As soon as he arrived there, he set about levying the land-tax. He formed the plan of marching against Bukhara and attacking Muqannaՙ. Then he received news of Saՙīd Ḥarashī’s victory and how he had tightened up the besieging of Muqannaՙ. [H 128] When Muqannaՙ gave up all hope of preserving his life, he gathered around him all his womenfolk. He prepared a poison and gave his personal assurance that they would all enter Paradise, and then all of them drank the poison and died immediately. Muqannaՙ also drank the poison and died some time later. He had given orders that one of his partisans should cut off his head, and he stipulated in a last charge that his body should be burnt so that it should never be found.120
Some lost and deluded people who had adopted Muqannaՙ’s cause said that he had gone to Paradise. For this very reason, a group of persons raised up disturbance and strife on his behalf, and there are supporters of his cause (mutaqannaՙiyān) to this day.121 The [Muslim] troops poured into that fortress. They found it deserted, and they carried off as plunder whatever they could find. Musayyab b. Zuhayr remained in Khurasan for eight months. He raised the land-tax above the customary amount fixed. The subjects raised complaints about him, until Mahdī dismissed him [from the governorship]. The Musayyabī dirhams which are current in Transoxania are named after him, just as the Ghiṭrīfī ones are named after Ghiṭrīf b. ՙAṭā’ al-Kindī and the Muḥammadī ones after Muḥammad b. Zubayda122 (i.e. the caliph al-Amīn). These dirhams are made of an alloy of copper and lead.123
Abu ’l-ՙAbbās al-Faḍl b. Sulaymān
Mahdī then appointed Abu ’l-ՙAbbās al-Faḍl b. [M 193] Sulaymān al-Ṭūsī to the governorship of Khurasan.124 Abu ’l-ՙAbbās sent out Saՙīd b. Bashīr as commander of the advance guard, and Saՙīd came to Merv in Muḥarram of the year 167 [/August–September 783]. He went into Musayyab’s presence (Musayyab having received no information about the change), greeted him ceremoniously and gave him a letter instructing him to hand over his charge to Saՙīd. When Musayyab had read it, he rose from his place and said, ‘The seat of authority is now yours.’
Abu ’l-ՙAbbās then arrived also in the month of Rabīՙ I of this same year [/October 783], and embarked on a course of [praiseworthy] conduct. He gave back to the people of Merv the 5,000 boards for measuring the quantities of water allowed to the cultivators (bast-āb)125 which the military commanders and prominent persons had arbitrarily appropriated. He enlarged the mosque of Merv. He purchased tracts of land, comprising enclosures and gardens (i.e. for public use). He enlarged the burial grounds at Merv. He increased the pay allotments of the military leaders. He divided up the land-tax amongst the people in a just manner. In our places Quhistān, the Ṭabasayn, Āmul, Nasā, Bāward, Herat and Pūshang, the situation now prevailed that only the customary rate of taxation fixed by him should be approved, and he removed from the people all the extra taxes on top of the land-tax that Musayyab had imposed. He founded the settlement of Faḍlābād in the desert of Āmūy.126 A stout wall was constructed between Sogdia and Bukhara to protect the people from the Turks. He lightened the burden of the land-tax on the leading figures of the Arabs.
During his time, Hādī succeeded to the caliphate, and for the whole of his reign, Abu ’l-ՙAbbās remained amir of Khurasan. But when Hārūn al-Rashīd succeeded to the caliphate,127 he appointed Jaՙfar b. Muḥammad b. al-Ashՙath to the governorhip of Khurasan. [H 129]
Jaՙfar b. Muḥammad b. al-Ashՙath
Hārūn al-Rashīd then appointed Jaՙfar b. Muḥammad b. al-Ashՙath to the governorship of Khurasan and sent him there. In Dhu ’l-Ḥijja of the year 176 [/March–April 793],128 Jaՙfar sent his son ՙAbbās against Kabul. He subdued Shābahār, and seized as plunder all the wealth and possessions in that place. Jaՙfar was recalled. It is related that, one day, Jaՙfar came into Hārūn’s presence at a moment when Hārūn had become angered against a certain person. [M 194] Jaՙfar said, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, one should only be gripped by anger on God’s behalf. Whenever you become angered on God’s behalf, don’t be carried away by it to a greater degree than God Himself, He is Exalted and Magnified, would be!’ Hārūn was pleased at these words, and he showed benevolence towards the man with whom he had originally been angry.
ՙAbbās b. Jaՙfar
When Hārūn recalled Jaՙfar, he bestowed Khurasan on the latter’s son ՙAbbās b. Jaՙfar.129 The latter came to Khurasan and followed the same policies as his father. He remained governor of Khurasan for three years, and in the year 175 [/791–2] he was recalled.
Ghiṭrīf b. ՙAṭā’ al-Kindī
Hārūn then appointed Ghiṭrīf b. ՙAṭā’ al-Kindī to the goverorship of Khurasan.130 Ghiṭrīf sent out as his deputy Dāwūd b. Yazīd b. Ḥātim, and then himself followed after Dāwūd in the months of the year 175. He despatched ՙUmar b. Jamīl, who ejected the Jabūya131 from Farghāna and remained there for some time. He ordered the Ghiṭrīfī dirhams to be struck, and these are used at Bukhara for commercial and financial transactions.132
During Ghiṭrīf’s governorship, Ḥuḍayn the Khārijite, who was from Ūq, came out in rebellion. The amir of Sistan at that time was ՙUthmān b. ՙUmāra b. Khuzayma. Ḥuḍayn defeated ՙUthmān’s army and then invaded Khurasan, coming to Pūshang and Herat. Hārūn ordered that forces should be sent against him. [H 130] Ghiṭrīf sent his deputy (i.e. Dāwūd b. Yazīd) and the latter’s brother Jarīr b. Yazīd with 12,000 troops. It is related that Ḥuḍayn had 300 men. Ḥuḍayn killed a substantial number of his opponents. When he went to Isfizār, he was killed there, together with his wife, this in the year 177 [793–4].133
al-Faḍl b. Yaḥyā al-Barmakī
Rashīd then appointed as governor of Khurasan Faḍl b. Yaḥyā al-Barmakī.134 [M 195] Faḍl b. Yaḥyā sent on ahead Yaḥyā b. Muՙādh as his deputy over Khurasan, and Yaḥyā came there in Ramaḍān of the year 177 [/December 793–January 794]. Faḍl b. Yaḥyā himself reached Khurasan in Muḥarram of the year 178 [/April–May 794]. and went off to lead a raid (ghazw) into Transoxania.135
Khārākhuruh, the ruler (malik) of Ushrūsana,136 submitted to Faḍl, never having before submitted to anyone and never having given obedience to anyone. In Faḍl’s time, the Khārijite Khurāsha b. Sinān had come out in rebellion and had seized Dīnawar. Faḍl b. Yaḥyā sent against him Ibrāhīm b. Jibrā’īl. Ibrāhīm defeated Khurāsha, and in three days the latter retreated ninety parasangs to Shahrazūr. He came to Chāh-i Asad (?), was captured there and put to death.137
Hārūn had entrusted Muḥammad al-Amīn to Faḍl-i Yaḥyā’s care for his upbringing, and Ma’mūn to the care of Jaՙfar b. Yaḥyā. Hārūn used to call Yaḥyā b. Khālid ‘Father’. He gave the vizierate to Yaḥyā b. Khālid. Faḍl and all the Barmakis were noted for their generosity and liberality, to the extent that, one day, it was said to Faḍl b. Yaḥyā, ‘ՙUmar b. Jamīl is a generous and liberal person, hospitable to guests’. Faḍl ordered that ՙUmar should be given 200,000 dirhams and made him his deputy over Khurasan on the basis of this story which had been related about him. When Faḍl was dismissed from the governorship, ՙUmar b. Jamīl got together resources in Chaghāniyān and settled there; there remain in Chaghāniyān many of his progeny, and to this very day there are numerous descendants of his there.138 It is related that, one day, ՙUmar saw a fox which went down a hole. He had the hole dug out, and saw there a great treasure. He built a residence (kūshk) over that spot and brought away that treasure. All his kindred and close retainers built places round that house. Rashīd dismissed Faḍl b. Yaḥyā [from the governorship of Khurasan].139 [H 131]
Manṣūr b. Yazīd
Rashīd then appointed Manṣūr b. Yazīd, who was the maternal uncle [M 196] of Mahdī, as governor of Khurasan.140 Manṣūr made his son Saՙīd his deputy, and Saՙīd reached Khurasan in Dhu ’l-Qaՙda of the year 179 [/January–February 796]. Manṣūr himself arrived in Dhu ’l-Ḥijja of that year [/February–March 796]. During his governorship, the Khārijite Ḥamza b. Ādharak came out in revolt. He went to Quhistān, and whatever Ḥamza demanded, the people of Quhistān gave it to him. He then returned.141
ՙAlī b. ՙĪsā b. Māhān
Hārūn then appointed ՙAlī b. ՙĪsā b. Māhān governor of Khurasan. ՙAlī sent his son Yaḥyā as commander of his advance guard, and Yaḥyā b. ՙAlī reached Khurasan at the opening of the year 180 [/16 March 796]. ՙAlī remained governor of Khurasan for ten yearṣ142 His secretary was Ḥafṣ b. Manṣūr Marwazī. Ḥafṣ died, leaving behind him sixty children, twenty of them grown up and forty still small. Ḥafṣ has composed the book Kharāj Khurāsān (‘The Land-tax of Khurasan’).143
During ՙAlī b. ՙĪsā’s governorate, the Khārijite Ḥamza rebelled. ՙAmr b. Yazīd al-Azdī was in charge of the region of Herat as far [south] as Pūshang. ՙAmr marched against Ḥamza with 6,000 troops and defeated him, killing a large part of Ḥamza’s army. A substantial number of men died from the excessive heat of the time, including also ՙAmr; they brought him back and buried him. Ḥamza went to Astarābād. ՙAlī b. ՙĪsā b. Māhān sent forward his son Ḥusayn with a force of 10,000 men. Ḥusayn came to Bādghīs and wrote a letter to Ḥamza, made over the poor-tax (zakāt) to him and did not engage in warfare with him. In the end, his father dismissed him for this reason.
He then sent another of his sons, ՙĪsā, who engaged Ḥamza in battle. Ḥamza smashed ՙĪsā’s army,144 and ՙĪsā retreated to Balkh. His father provided him with another army and he went out to engage Ḥamza. He killed large numbers of Ḥamza’s troops, and Ḥamza fled in retreat with 40,000 of his followers to Quhistān. [M 197] ՙAlī b. ՙĪsā sent several of his senior officers to Ūq and Juwayn, and any of the quietist Khārijites (khārijī qaՙadī) they came across they killed without exception. They also killed the menfolk of the villages that had given aid and support to Ḥamza [H 132] and burnt down the villages themselves, and then returned to Zarang. It is related that they killed 30,000 people in this fashion. ՙAbdallāh b. ՙAbbās was left in Zarang (sc. as governor and tax-collector) with a force of 4,000 men, and he levied a tax precept of three million dirhams.
Ḥamza advanced towards him as far as Sabzawār, and a battle took place there. The troops from Sogdia and Nakhshab fought on doggedly until Ḥamza became weakened and fatigued, and then they launched an attack. They killed his close retainers and wounded Ḥamza in the face. ՙAbdallāh b. al-ՙAbbās seized the plunder there and marched away. Ḥamza fell upon the villages and killed everyone he could find there. He came to a school and thirty children and their teacher were killed. When Ṭāhir145 heard about this, they were in a village of the quietist Khārijites (qaՙadiyān) who do not have the custom of waging war and and who had stayed in their houses. After 300 men and women were killed, and he had carried off their wealth and possessions as plunder, he had them (sc. the survivors of the Khārijites) brought in. Two stout branches of a tree were tied together with strong ropes connecting the two of them, and the two legs of a quietist Khārijite were each tied to one of the two branches. Then the rope was released, and the strength of those two branches thus released would split the man in two. Several battles took place between the troops of ՙĪsā and those of Ḥamza. ՙĪsā’s affairs now went well, and he constructed ten mills at Balkh.146
Harthama b. Aՙyan
Rashīd gave the governorship of Khurasan to Harthama b. Aՙyan, and he came to Khurasan in the year 191 [/207].147 Rāfiՙ b. al-Layth b. Naṣr b. Sayyār had rebelled at Samarqand, and on several occasions Harthama was involved with him.148 Then Harthama wrote out a guarantee of protection for Rāfiՙ and sent it to him, but Rāfiՙ took no notice of it. When Rashīd heard about this, he said, ‘Anyone who rejects a document offering protection becomes a contemptible wretch.’ Harthama b. Aՙyan summoned Ṭāhir b. al-Ḥusayn [M 198] to join forces with him, and Khurasan became empty of troops. When Hārūn heard the news about Rāfiՙ and Harthama, he became worried and perturbed. He set out from Baghdad with the intention of proceeding to Samarqand, but when he reached Ṭūs he died, in the year 193 [/809].149 Ḥamza came out in revolt [again], and began to kill and plunder, and craftsmen and artisans (kārdārān) from Herat and Sistan were flocking to his side.
ՙAbd al-Raḥmān Nishābūrī led a movement at Zarang, and 20,000 ghāzīs whose names were registered150 on the army’s strength rallied round him, and in the year 194 [/809–10] he marched out to attack Ḥamza. Ḥamza had 6,000 men. Most of Ḥamza’s troops were killed, [H 133] and Ḥamza was [eventually] killed. He went to Herat, pursued by the ghāzīs. Finally, they killed him at some point in the months of 213 [/828–9]. The judge Abū Isḥāq took his place.151 Harthama besieged Rāfiՙ b. al-Layth in Samarqand, and much fighting took place till he took Samarqand and killed Rāfiՙ.152
In the year 195 [/810–11], [the governorship of] Transoxania was given to Yaḥyā b. Muՙādh. Subsequently, he was dismissed from the post, and it was given153 to Bānījūr154 in Shaՙbān of the year 199 [/March–April 815].
al-Ma’mūn ՙAbdallāh b. Rashīd
When Rashīd passed away, Ma’mūn was at Merv. Rashīd had left behind his testament (waṣiyyat) that ‘All the wealth and treasure I have with me is to be conveyed to Ma’mūn.’ But Faḍl b. al-Rabīՙ betrayed these instructions, and all the wealth and treasure was conveyed to Muḥammad b. Zubayda at Baghdad, contrary to what Rashīd had stipulated in his testament. Ma’mūn was the next covenanted heir (walī ՙahd) after Amīn.
Since Ma’mūn was in Khurasan at the time of his father’s demise, he remained there permanently and kept the government of Khurasan firmly under his own control. Amīn summoned Mu’taman back from the western lands (maghrib) and ordered him to renounce his succession rights. Amīn had allegiance made to his own son as his successor, and the son was given the honorific title (laqab) of al-Nāṭiq bi ’l-Ḥaqq ‘He Who Enunciates the Divine Truth’. He wrote a letter to Ma’mūn summoning him back from Khurasan. Ma’mūn, however, was very shrewd and sagacious, and realised what Muḥammad al-Amīn was up to. He made excuses and did not go to Baghdad. [M 199] Muḥammad al-Amīn then despatched ՙAlī b. ՙĪsā to attack Ma’mūn. When Ma’mūn got news of this, he consulted with Faḍl b. Sahl about what he should do, and with his concurrence and advice, and that of Dhūbān the astrologer,155 he sent Ṭāhir b. al-Ḥusayn b. Muṣՙab against ՙAlī b. ՙĪsā. The two commanders met up with each other one stage away from Ray, and the armies made contact and engaged in battle. It was not long before Ṭāhir gained the victory and ՙAlī b. ՙĪsā was killed. Ṭāhir cut off his head and sent it to Ma’mūn, and from there he headed towards Iraq.
Muḥammad Amīn sent ՙAbd al-Raḥmān b. Jabala with an army of 30,000 troops to combat Ṭāhir. A mighty battle took place between the two sides near Hamadān. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān was defeated and withdrew into Hamadān. Ṭāhir laid siege to the town. At that point, ՙAbd al-Raḥmān came forth seeking a guarantee of protection (zīnhār), but after a certain period of time had elapsed, he then adopted a stratagem. With a contingent of troops that had arrived from Baghdad as reinforcements for him, ՙAbd al-Rahmān fell upon Ṭāhir’s army at midday. Ṭāhir had marched out, and they joined together in battle. All that body of troops (i.e the reinforcements from Baghdad) were killed. ՙAbd al-Raḥmān was taken prisoner, his head was cut off and Ṭāhir sent it to Ma’mūn. He then advanced against Baghdad. Harthama b. Aՙyan arrived from Khurasan to reinforce Ṭāhir. The united forces proceeded to Baghdad. The troops encamped in the vicinity of Baghdad, and battle was joined, Baghdad was besieged and Muḥammad b. Zubayda’s position became desperate.
When he was reduced to extremities and the treasury was empty, and all the court troops (ḥasham), soldiers, subjects and clients (mawlāyān) abandoned Muḥammad al-Amīn, and he was left isolated with no possible way out, he sent a note to Harthama saying, ‘I’m coming to you this night.’ Harthama [H 134] took a river boat (zawraq) and sailed along the Tigris to Baghdad. Muḥammad came up to him, and they were both in the boat. Ṭāhir was informed of this situation. He blocked Muḥammad’s way of escape and ordered stones to be hurled till Muḥammad’s boat was eventually shattered. The skipper of the boat got hold of Harthama and hauled him out. Muḥammad knew how to swim [M 200] and tried to get out of the Tigris waters. One of Ṭāhir’s slave guards (ghulām) seized him, brought him to his own tent and informed Ṭāhir. Ṭāhir ordered that same ghulām to cut off Muḥammad’s head. Then he sent Muḥammad, son of Zubayda’s, head, and the cloak, staff156 and prayer-mat of the Prophet, God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his house, to Ma’mūn by the hand of his own paternal cousin Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn (text, al-Ḥasan) b. Muṣՙab. Ma’mūn rewarded the latter with a present of a million dirhams.157
When Ma’mūn was installed in Khurasan, he dispensed justice and equity copiously. He used to come every day to the congregational mosque in Merv and there would hear complaints of tyranny and injustice. He would listen to what people had to say and give them appropriate redress.158
Ghassān b. ՙAbbād
When the deposed caliph’s head was brought to Khurasan and Ma’mūn was firmly established in the caliphate, he conferred the governorship of Khurasan on Ghassān b. ՙAbbād in Rajab of the year 204 [/December 819–January 820].159 Ghassān dismissed Layth b. Saՙd from Samarqand and gave the governorship there to Nūḥ b. Asad. During Ghassān’s time of office, Ma’mūn left Merv and went to Baghdad. [ՙAlī b.] Mūsā al-Riḍā, may God Most High be pleased with him, died at Ṭūs, and Faḍl b. Sahl was killed in the bathhouse at Sarakhs. When what he had left behind was investigated, they found fastened round his waist a women’s jewel box secured with a seal and lock. They opened the lock and found there a golden box which was fastened up. They opened it and found there a piece of silk on which was written, ‘In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. This is the horoscope (ḥukm) for Faḍl b. Sahl which has been prepared on his behalf. He will enjoy forty-eight years of life and then he will be killed between water and fire.’ He did indeed have this term of life, and then Ma’mūn’s maternal relative, Ghālib b. Ustadsīs,160 killed him in the bathhouse in the town of Sarakhs.161