Episode 36: Hisham and the Arabs

The capable Hisham protected his caliphate from the many enemies who lined its borders. These were not the only ones he had to contend with however, the umma itself was somewhat fragmented, and opposition to the Umayyads had swelled during the short and tumultuous reigns of his predecessors. As a result, Hisham had to face resistance from Arabs with kharijite or Hashemite loyalties. There was no stopping this effective caliph though, and he came out on top in all issues, save one.

Glossary

Hashemite cheat sheet:

• Ali bin abi Talib: the original Hashemite, in the sense that whenever anyone says they support the Hashemites, they mean they support Ali’s right to have been named caliph after the prophet.
• Al Hasan and al Hussein: Ali’s children and presumptive heirs. Al Hasan became caliph for a few short months after his father’s death before ceding the position to Mu’awiya to spare muslim lives in civil war. Al Hussein and his entire house were killed by Mu’awiya’s son Yazid in the infamous massacre of the Hashemites at Karbala. Al Hasan and al Hussein were important to the umma because of their unique lineage: their father was Ali bin Abi Talib, and their mother was Fatima, daughter of the prophet Mohammad. 
• Ali Zaynalabidin Mohammad al Baqir: al Hussein’s son and grandson, the only survivors of the Hashemite massacre. They both became the leaders of their clan because of their descent from the line of al Hussein. Both were religious teachers who stayed far away from politics.
• Ja’far al Sadiq: The son of Mohammad al Baqir, and latest clan leader. Like his ancestors he was a religious scholar, except Ja’far took things to another level, and is remembered as the founder of a school of thought, one comprehensive enough that it served as the foundation for a religious jurisprudence which exists in some form today.
• Zayd ibn Ali: another son of Ali Zaynalabidin, he’s the one who led a rebellion against the caliph late in Hisham’s reign. The timing of this movement, just a few years after the appointment of Yusuf il Thaqafi as the governor of Iraq, make it clear how hated his cruel policies were. Zayd severely underestimated how effective Yusuf remained though, and the Kufans, as usual, failed to champion the man who tried to lead them against the Umayyads.
• Mohammad ibn il Hanafiya: a son of Ali bin Abi Talib not from the prophet’s daughter Fatima. He was most important right after the massacre at Karbala, as he was thought of as the clan leader while Ali recovered from the tragedy, a period which encompasses the second fitna. He became a sort of cult-figure in the East after Mukhtar popularized claims that the prophetic spark had been passed down to him somehow, leading to the emergence of many heterodox groups who believed in ibn il Hanafiya’s divinity, collectively referred to as Hashimiyya.
• Abdallah ibn il Abbas: this Hashemite was a cousin to the prophet, just like Ali bin Abi Talib. He was a close confidant to Omar ibn il Khattab when he was in power, and then also to his cousin Ali when he became the final rightly guided caliph. He refused to pledge to ibn il Zubayr during the second fitna and was thus banished to Ta’if, where he died around the time it ended. He’s kind of the root of the Abbasids, as they claim the da’wa was begun by his son.

Umayyads and their loyalists:

• Maslama ibn Hisham ibn Abdulmalik: the son Hisham wanted to bequeath the throne to. We don’t really know much about him, and since he comes up a lot in these gossipy accounts about succession it is difficult to get a solid impression. He surely held both martial and governmental responsibilities during his father’s reign. He was friendly with his cousin Walid whom he was meant to replace, and doesn’t seem to have been too keen on the idea anyway, except in like a third of the accounts we get.
• Walid ibn Yazid ibn Abdulmalik: the son of the previous caliph saw power as his birthright, and he expected his uncle to deliver. He was uncooperative, often rude, and always really extra. We’ve had hedonistic Umayyads before, like the gluttonous Suleiman, and the lustful Yazid, but this guy is on another level altogether.
• Khalid ibn Abdallah il Qasri: this guy has been in our tale for a while now. He was first al Walid’s governor of Medina, then he was a confidant to Yazid who helped Hisham get the throne according to some accounts. Hisham gave him the all-important position of governor of Iraq for a long time, then had him replaced by Yusuf who promptly tortured and dispossessed him. Finally, the caliph gave him refuge in his own court in al Rusafa for a few years before he died. 
• Yusuf ibn Omar il Thaqafi: Hisham’s second and final governor of Iraq, he was a fierce Adnani partisan who longed to surpass the brutal legacy of his storied kin, al Hajjaj. No other Arab went further in igniting the tribal feud, and it is strange that a responsible caliph like Hisham would even hire him in the first place.