al-Ḥajjāj

al-Ḥajjāj (born 661, Al-Ṭāʾif, Hejaz, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia]—died June 714, Wāsiṭ, Iraq) was one of the most able of provincial governors under the Umayyad caliphate (661–750 ce). He played a critical role in consolidating the administrative structure of the Umayyad dynasty during its early years and served as its governor of Iraq (694–714).

Al-Ḥajjāj was a schoolteacher in his native town as a young man, but little else is known of his earlier years. He first became publicly active when, in the reign of the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik (685–705), he restored discipline among troops being used to repress a rebellion in Iraq. In 692 he personally led troops in crushing the rebellion of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca. The brutality with which he secured his victory was to recur during the rest of his public life.

For several years he was governor of the provinces that surrounded Mecca, but in 694 he was made governor of Iraq, which, because of its location and because of the intrigues by various sects there, was the most demanding and the most important of the administrative posts in the Islamic empire. Al-Ḥajjāj was completely devoted to the service of the Umayyads, and the latter were never fearful of his great power. He was instrumental in persuading the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik to allow the succession to pass to al-Walīd (705–715), who, as caliph, allowed al-Ḥajjāj complete freedom in the administration of Iraq. Al-Ḥajjāj did much to promote prosperity in his province. He began to strike a purely Arab coinage that soon replaced older currencies. He stopped the migration of the rural population to the towns in an effort to improve agricultural production, and he saw to it that the irrigation system was kept in good repair.