Episode 28: Walid bin Abdulmalik

Although Abdulmalik was an incredibly tough act to follow, his successor was bequeathed an unassailably powerful position. The caliphate was ascendant, and its frontier armies were so capable and efficient that they expanded its domain to unmatched extents practically autonomously. Narrations about these years are filled with raids, conquests, and tribute in our sources, surpassing even the near-miraculous period when the Arabs bested both bordering empires.

Glossary

• Yazid ibn Muhallab: the son of Muhallab was a capable commander, and as the eldest he had the support of all his father’s loyalists. I’m speculating here, but this is probably what put him and al Hajjaj on a collision course. Al Hajjaj probably felt that he was the ultimate cause of all the glory Muhallab had earned during Abdulmalik’s reign as he was the one who has assigned him. Yazid and his brothers probably felt differently. Another important dynamic was the one between the tribal confederations, which I have chosen to not include in this episode to avoid complicating things. Muhallab was part of the Qahtani alliance, and the Qahtani’s already wielded too much power in Khurasan, so al Hajjaj may have sought to undermine their position by removing this prominent family from power in the region.
• Qutayba ibn Muslim: this commander had been around for a while actually, and he first impressed al Hajjaj by retaking the city of Rayy from a supporter of ibn il Ash’ath’s. His success is largely attributable to his decision to forcibly conscript men from the people he defeated into his armies. He concluded multiple treaties with Iranian nobility, something which will have grave consequences in the future, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
• Mohammad ibn Qasim: teenage, Arab, ninja general! I have a hard time believing that a 15 year old would be entrusted with commanding 6,000 horsemen, but maybe its just another expression of al Hajjaj’s power that he could humiliate Arabs by having his young kin boss them around in battle. Whatever the backdrop was, Mohammad proved to be a capable general and he is single-handedly credited with conquering the province of Sindh, which the Arabs considered to be all the lands along the Indus. The fact that he and Qutayba managed such success due to taking creative leadership decisions is another indicator of how powerful al Hajjaj had become as his generals felt they could do whatever. 
• Musa ibn Nusayr: the conqueror of Morocco owed much of his success to the berbers he allied with. It should be noted that his armies largely did not share his affinity for these local nomads, and despite the parallels he saw between the two peoples, the berbers were treated with a disdain somewhat reminiscent of that inflicted upon the mawali in Iraq. They did not all convert though, and crucially they maintained their tribal structures and so held onto their pre-existing identities.
• Tarek bin Ziyad: the conqueror of Andalusia, and before too long, much of Spain. This unthinkable achievement earned him great renown and an eternal place in Arab memory. His name is probably better known among Arabs today than anybody else mentioned in this episode. I’m not sure how many realize his berber origins though.
• Maslama bin Abdulmalik: this son of Abdulmalik replaced his uncle Mohammad ibn Marwan, both as governor of the north (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Mesopotamia, and later Qinsarin) and as the Umayyad closest to the Adnani coalition. He married the daughter of the faction’s leader, Zufar, and used Adnani armies to defeat the Byzantines on multiple occasions.
• Ali ibn il Husayn ibn Ali: known as Ali Zaynulabidin, the only male survivor of the Hashemite massacre at Karbala died in 712 at the age of 52. There are narrations saying he was poisoned by Walid, we don’t find any narrations supporting this, nor attesting to any political power held by the Hashemite. He was influential as a religious scholar and teacher and numbered among the elite of the scene in Medina.
• Al Farazdaq: Hammam bin Ghalib was a highly skilled poet from Tamim. He had an open rivalry with another genius dubbed Jarir, leading to plenty of sick burns in the form of classical Arabic couplets. The entire genre is quite challenging to read today.