Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (5/430)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

—pointing upward with his hand. (1)

Abu Sufyan al-Himyari relates: When al-Walid ibn Yazid resolved to perform Hajj, a group of young men agreed to assassinate him on the road and invited Khalid al-Qasri to take part, but he refused.

Khalid then came to al-Walid and said, “Commander of the Faithful, abandon the pilgrimage.”

Al-Walid asked, “Whom do you fear? Name them.”

He replied, “I have advised you, and I will not name them.”

Al-Walid said, “Then I shall send you to your enemy, Yusuf ibn ʿUmar.”

Khalid answered, “Very well.”

So al-Walid sent him to Yusuf, who tortured him until he killed him.

Ibn Khallikan says: When Hisham decided to depose Khalid from the governorship of Iraq, the messenger of Yusuf ibn ʿUmar happened to be with him from Yemen. Hisham said, “Your companion has overstepped his bounds—he has done such-and-such.” He then ordered that the messenger’s clothes be torn, had him flogged with lashes, and said, “Go back to your companion—may Allah deal with him as He wills.”

He next summoned his secretary Salim and said, “Write to Yusuf: Travel secretly to Iraq as its governor and satisfy my grievance against the son of the Christian woman and his officials.”

Hisham kept the letter in his own hand, slipped it inside another letter, and the messenger was unaware. When the messenger reached Yemen, Yusuf asked, “What news do you bring?”

He replied, “Bad news: the Commander of the Faithful struck me, tore my garments, and did not write to you—rather, he wrote to the head of your bureau.”

Yusuf opened the letter and read it; then he found the smaller letter. He appointed his son al-Salt over Yemen and set out for Iraq.

When Khalid received reports of this, his deputy Tariq advised him, “Let me go to the Commander of the Faithful; I will guarantee him this year’s revenue—one hundred million dirhams—and I will bring you a pledge of safety.”

Khalid asked, “And where will this money come from?”

He replied, “I and Saʿid ibn Rashid will assume forty million; Aban and the Zaynabi twenty million; the rest will be distributed among the remaining officials.”

He said, “In that case I—"

(1) Ibn Kathir records a similar narrative in al-Bidaya, vol. 10, pp. 20–21, and then comments: “What seems clear is that this account is not soundly attributed to him, for he devoted himself to extinguishing misguidance and bidʿa (religious innovation), as shown earlier by his execution of al-Jad ibn Dirham and other heretics. The author of al-ʿIqd (The Unique Necklace) ascribed to him several untenable claims, for that writer was marked by an extreme form of Shiʿi partisanship and exaggeration concerning the ahl al-bayt (the Prophet’s family). Most readers would not even notice the Shiʿi bias in his words, and our own teacher al-Dhahabi was unfortunately taken in by this, praising him for his memorisation and other qualities.”

وَيُوْمِئ بِيَدِهِ إِلَى فَوْقُ (١) . عَنْ أَبِي سُفْيَانَ الحِمْيَرِيِّ، قَالَ: أَرَادَ الوَلِيْدُ بنُ يَزِيْدَ الحَجَّ، فَاتَّعَدَ فِتْيَةٌ أَنْ يَفتِكُوا بِهِ فِي طَرِيْقِهِ، وَسَأَلُوا خَالِداً القَسْرِيَّ الدُّخُولَ مَعَهُم، فَأَبَى. ثُمَّ أَتَى خَالِدٌ، فَقَالَ: يَا أَمِيْرَ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ، دَعِ الحَجَّ. قَالَ: وَمَنْ تَخَافُ، سَمِّهِم؟ قَالَ: قَدْ نَصَحتُكَ، وَلَنْ أُسَمِّيَهُم. قَالَ: إِذاً أَبعَثُ بِكَ إِلَى عَدُوِّكَ يُوْسُفَ بنِ عُمَرَ. قَالَ: وَإِنْ. فَبَعَثَ بِهِ إِلَيْهِ، فَعَذَّبَه حَتَّى قَتَلَهُ. ابْنُ خَلِّكَانَ، قَالَ: لَمَّا أَرَادَ هِشَامٌ عَزلَ خَالِدٍ عَنِ العِرَاقِ، وَعِنْدَهُ رَسُوْلُ يُوْسُفَ بنِ عُمَرَ مِنَ اليَمَنِ، قَالَ: إِنَّ صَاحِبَكَ قَدْ تَعَدَّى طَوْرَه، وَفَعَلَ، وَفَعَلَ. ثُمَّ أَمَرَ بِتَخرِيقِ ثِيَابِه، وَضَرَبَهُ أَسْوَاطاً، وَقَالَ: امضِ إِلَى صَاحِبِكَ، فَعَلَ الله بِهِ. ثُمَّ دَعَا بِسَالِمٍ كَاتِبِه، وَقَالَ: اكْتُبْ إِلَى يُوْسُفَ: سِرْ إِلَى العِرَاقِ وَالِياً سِرّاً، وَاشْفِنِي مِنِ ابْنِ النَّصْرَانِيَّةِ وَعُمَّالِه. ثُمَّ أَمْسَكَ الكِتَابَ بِيَدِهِ، وَجَعَلَه فِي طَيِّ كِتَابٍ آخَرَ، وَلَمْ يَشعُرِ الرَّسُوْلُ، فَقَدِمَ اليَمَنَ، فَقَالَ يُوْسُفُ: مَا وَرَاءكَ؟ قَالَ: الشَّرُّ، ضَرَبنِي أَمِيْرُ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ، وَخَرَّقَ ثِيَابِي، وَلَمْ يَكْتُبْ إِلَيْكَ، بَلْ إِلَى صَاحِبِ دِيْوَانِكَ. فَفَضَّ الكِتَابَ، وَقَرَأَهُ، ثُمَّ وَجَدَ الكِتَابَ الصَّغِيْرَ، فَاسْتَخلَفَ عَلَى اليَمَنِ ابْنَه الصَّلْتَ، وَسَارَ إِلَى العِرَاقِ، وَجَاءتِ العُيُوْنُ إِلَى خَالِدٍ، فَأَشَارَ عَلَيْهِ نَائِبُه طَارِقٌ: ائْذَنْ لِي إِلَى أَمِيْرِ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ، وَأَضمَنَ لَهُ مَالِي السَّنَةَ مائَةَ أَلفِ أَلفٍ، وَآتِيَكَ بِعَهْدِكَ. قَالَ: وَمِنْ أَيْنَ هَذِهِ الأَمْوَالُ؟ قَالَ: أَتَحَمَّلُ أَنَا وَسَعِيْدُ بنُ رَاشِدٍ أَرْبَعِيْنَ أَلفَ أَلفٍ، وَأَبَانٌ وَالزَّيْنَبِيُّ عِشْرِيْنَ أَلفَ أَلفٍ، وَيُفَرَّقُ البَاقِي عَلَى بَاقِي العُمَّالِ. فَقَالَ: إِنِّي إِذاً

(١) وقد أورد ابن كثير في " البداية: ١٠ / ٢٠، ٢١، نحوا من هذا، ثم قال: والذي يظهر أن هذا لا يصح عنه فإنه كان قائما في إطفاء الضلال والبدع كما قدمنا من قتله للجعد بن درهم وغيره من أهل الالحاد، وقد نسب إليه صاحب العقد أشياء لا تصح، لان صاحب العقد كان فيه تشيع شنيع، ومغالاة في أهل البيت، وربما لا يفهم أحد من كلامه ما فيه من التشيع، وقد اغتر به شيخنا الذهبي، فمدحه بالحفظ وغيره.