Ibn Khallikān (1) states: His mother was al-Fāriʿah bint Hammām ibn ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī. Her husband, al-Ḥārith ibn Kalda al-Thaqafī—renowned as the physician of the Arabs—is the one about whom the foregoing story of the tooth-stick was told.
The author of al-ʿIqd (2) reports that al-Ḥajjāj and his father used to teach boys in al-Ṭāʾif. Later he went to Damascus and entered the service of Rūḥ ibn Zunbāʿ, the vizier of ʿAbd al-Malik. ʿAbd al-Malik complained to Rūḥ that the troops would neither halt when he halted nor break camp when he did. Rūḥ replied, “I have a man to whom, if you entrust this task, the matter will be set right.” So ʿAbd al-Malik appointed al-Ḥajjāj to command the army’s movements, and thereafter no one lagged in encamping or departing. On one occasion al-Ḥajjāj passed by the pavilion of Rūḥ ibn Zunbāʿ while they were eating; he beat those present, paraded them through the camp, and tore the pavilion to pieces. Rūḥ complained of this to ʿAbd al-Malik, who asked al-Ḥajjāj, “Why did you do that?” He replied, “I did not do it—you did. My hand is your hand and my whip your whip. What harm is there if you give Rūḥ two pavilions in place of his one, and two servants for his single servant? Only do not break my authority in the post you have assigned to me.” ʿAbd al-Malik agreed, and al-Ḥajjāj’s standing with him increased.
Ibn Khallikān continues: Al-Ḥajjāj founded the city of Wāsiṭ in 84 AH and completed it in 86 AH—though some say earlier. During his governorship the masāḥif (Quranic codices) were first provided with vowel dots. He relates as well that al-Ḥajjāj was originally named Kulayb, then renamed al-Ḥajjāj; that he was born without an opening for defecation until one was cut for him; and that he would not nurse for several days until they fed him the blood of a kid, then the blood of a sālakh (a freshly skinned animal), smearing his face with it, whereupon he suckled. From then on he displayed boldness and a liking for the shedding of blood, for the first thing he imbibed was that very blood.
It is said that his mother was the woman who was infatuated with Naṣr ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn ʿAllāṭ (4); others claim she was the mother of his father—Allah knows best.
He possessed tremendous audacity, and his sword was reckless. He would put to death those whom Allah had forbidden to be killed on the slightest suspicion, and his fury was the fury of kings. It is alleged that he modeled himself on Ziyād ibn Abīh, and that Ziyād in turn modeled himself on ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—but the two are in no way comparable.
Ibn ʿAsākir (5) records, in the biography of Salīm ibn ʿAṭr al-Tujībī, the judge of Egypt, that he was among the foremost Tābiʿūn, had witnessed ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb’s sermon at al-Jābiya, and was remarkable for asceticism and worship, completing three full recitations of the Quran every night, in prayer and otherwise.
The point here is that al-Ḥajjāj was in Egypt with his father, inside the congregational mosque, when Salīm ibn ʿAṭr passed by them; so he rose to greet him.