Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi was a harsh and a ruthless tyrant. His famous debate with the great scholar and Mujahid Saeed Ibn Jubayr epitomises his rule as an unforgiving viceroy of Iraq who killed innocent and pious people. It is said that when he was on his deathbed, his prisons were filled with 50,000 men and 30,000 women – of which 16,00 were stripped naked. Men and women were mixed together in the jail-houses and there was no shelter from the scorching summer’s heat or the heavy rains of winter.
Whether these reports are sound or not, he was known as a violent ruler and many scholars condemned his actions. Although he made some developments in agriculture and others, people made dua to God constantly for his demise.
I thought I’d share a funny, yet very telling story of the hatred many people had for Hajjaj:
One day, as Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi was bathing in the Persian Gulf he began to drown, but he was saved by a Muslim. When the man carried him (Hajjaj) to the shore, Hajjaj said to him: “Ask for anything you desire, and your request will be granted”.
Unfortunately the man did not know who he had just saved! So he asked: “And who are you to grant me anything I request?”
Hajjaj replied in a boastful voice: “I am Hajjaj al-Thaqafi”
The man realising who he had just pulled out of the water asked regrettably: “I ask you by Allah - my only request is that you do not inform anyone that I saved you!”
As-Salaamu ‘alaikum,
There is a similar joke about George W Bush which I found here (a list of disability jokes, some of them not for children):
One day, three boys were walking over a bridge when they heard a guy yelling for help.
It was President Bush. He was drowning, and the three boys rescued him.
He thanked them dearly and promised them whatever they wanted as a reward.
The first boy wanted $10,000, so Bush gave him the money.
The second boy wanted a Ferrari, so Bush gave the boy a Ferrari.
The third boy wanted a wheelchair. Bush said, “Why do you want one of those, son, you’re not disabled .”
The boy replied, “I will be when my dad finds out whose life I just saved.”
Another version I’ve heard is that no one wanted to save him from drowning but for this one man. When he was asked why he saved the tyrant, he replied that he had heard that the one who dies from drowning will become a martyr!
asalam alaikum
Can you provide the source akhi? :)
Assalam alaykum
Jzk for sharing this. I would just like to add, it is also reported that on his last breath he gathered and addressed his people from the pulpit with tears continuously flowing for days. He sought forgiveness from people and made tawbah publicly, Umar bin Abdul-Aziz praised him and Imam Hassan al-Basri (rha) made du’a for his forgiveness. He was also the same leader who did not rest until he had avenged the dishonouring of women by the Hindu Rajah of Debel leading to the conquest of Sindh.
Can any of the brutal tyrants we see today even compare in their services to Islam with Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi? Although not the best of leaders infact a very lowly one but his services to Islam far outweigh the shameless leaders we have today.
very funny, thanks