Excessive historical narratives about the personality of al-Hajjaj son of Yusuf al-Thaqafi (40-95 AH/659-714 AD)

Abstract

Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf Al Thaqafi is considered as one of the prominent figures in the history of Umayyad State, who ruled Iraq as a governor (Wali) for 20 years (75-95 H / 684-715 AC). That period was identified, in many sources, as an era of tyranny and oppression. The sources exaggerated the pictures of his policy as extremely cruelty. This was because, the Umayyad State underwent many oppositional movements that needed a ruler to settle them down. Thus, there were conflicting opinions about his personality and policy. In this research, we try to shed light on the texts that exaggerated their judgment on Al-Hajjaj, along with analysis and comparison with other texts, considering the knowledge of the consequence of those exaggerations.