A Tyrant’s Legacy in Medieval Syria: Al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf on Trial in Ibn ʿAsākir’s History of Damascus

Abstract

This article presents a case study on the use of early Islamic memory in medieval Syria. It offers a close reading of a biography of al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf al-Thaqafī (d. 714), the infamous tyrant of Islam, from the monumental biographical dictionary by Ibn ʿAsākir (d. 1176) Tārīkh madīnat Dimashq ( History of Damascus). I argue that Ibn ʿAsākir carefully structured the biography to lend support to his own theological Ashʿarite positions on the legitimacy of an unjust ruler and the status of a sinner in Islam. This study also highlights the multi-layered meanings of the individual reports in the biography.