Al-Ḥajjāj said, “Bring me proof from the Book of Allah for what you claim, or I shall strike off your neck.”
Yahyā replied, “Allah says, ‘And among his descendants are David and Solomon…’ (al-Anʿām 6:84) and, further on, ‘and Zakariyyā, Yaḥyā, and ʿĪsā’ (al-Anʿām 6:85). Thus ʿĪsā is counted among the descendants of Ibrāhīm even though he is related only through his mother Maryam; in the same way al-Ḥusayn is the son of the Messenger of Allah’s ﷺ daughter.”
Al-Ḥajjāj answered, “You are right,” and banished him to Khurāsān. (1)
Although al-Ḥajjāj possessed great eloquence and rhetorical power, he nevertheless committed certain slips in Quranic recitation that Yahyā ibn Yaʿmur rebuked. Among them was his replacing the kasrah of inna with the fatḥah of an and vice versa. He would also recite, “Say: If your fathers and your sons…” up to “more beloved to you,” giving aḥabbu the nominative ending.
Al-Aṣmaʿī and others relate that ʿAbd al-Malik wrote to al-Ḥajjāj asking him about “yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” Al-Ḥajjāj asked the courier, “Was Khuwailid ibn Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah present with him?” The man replied, “Yes.” Al-Ḥajjāj then wrote back: “As for yesterday—it is but an appointed term now past; as for today—it is for toil; and as for tomorrow—it is for hope.” (2)
Ibn Durayd (3) reports, on the authority of Abū Ḥātim al-Sijistānī from Abū ʿUbaydah Maʿmar ibn al-Muthannā, that after al-Ḥajjāj killed Ibn al-Ashʿath and Iraq was pacified beneath his rule, he increased the people’s stipends. ʿAbd al-Malik wrote to him:
“To proceed: Word has reached the Commander of the Faithful that you spend in a single day what he does not spend in a week, and you spend in a week what he does not spend in a month.” Then he recited:
“Fear Allah in every affair,
and be, O servant of Allah (4), one who dreads and supplicates.
Safeguard the Muslims’ tax-revenues and spoils,
and be for them a fortress that protects and grants refuge.”
Al-Ḥajjāj replied:
“By my life, the messenger has come with your letters—
scrolls that are filled, then folded, then sealed.
A letter has reached me that mingles gentleness with severity;
I reflected, and reflection benefits the man of sense.
Many concerns beset me;
at times I comply, at times I plead excuse and withhold.
If you are a lash of punishment upon them,
while I see no prospect of advantage for myself,
will the people accept that or loathe it?
Will they praise me, or shall I be blamed and reviled?
The lands I entered when first I arrived
were ablaze with every firebrand of enmity.”