Sulayman ibn Sa'd al-Khushani
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Abū Thābit Sulaymān ibn Saʿd al-Khūshani () () was an
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
administrator of the
Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
who proposed and implemented the conversion of
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
's '' dīwān'' (tax administration) from
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
to
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
in 700 under Caliph Abd al-Malik (). From the time of the
Muslim conquest The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He esta ...
of the region from the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
in the 630s,
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
had remained the language of the bureaucracy in
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and the change in 700 formed part of the wider centralization efforts undertaken by Abd al-Malik. In recognition of this achievement, Sulayman was appointed as the head of Syria's fiscal administration, replacing the
Melkite The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic Semitic root, ro ...
Christian veteran Sarjun ibn Mansur. Sulayman continued in this office under caliphs
al-Walid I Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ( ar, الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان, al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; ), commonly known as al-Walid I ( ar, الوليد الأول), was the sixth Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad ca ...
() and
Sulayman Sulayman (Arabic: سُلِيمَان ''sulaymān'') is an Arabic name of the Biblical king and Islamic prophet Solomon meaning "man of peace", derived from the Hebrew name Shlomo. The name Sulayman is a diminutive of the name Salman (سَلْ ...
(), the beginning of the reign of
Umar II Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ( ar, عمر بن عبد العزيز, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz; 2 November 680 – ), commonly known as Umar II (), was the eighth Umayyad caliph. He made various significant contributions and reforms to the society, and ...
() and then again through the reign of
Yazid II Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik ( ar, يزيد بن عبد الملك, Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik; — 28 January 724), also referred to as Yazid II, was the ninth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 9 February 720 until his death in 724. Early life Yazid was b ...
().


Life

Sulayman was from the region of
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
, in the territory of
Jund al-Urdunn Jund al-Urdunn ( ar, جُـنْـد الْأُرْدُنّ, translation: "The military district of Jordan") was one of the five districts of Bilad al-Sham (Islamic Syria) during the early Islamic period. It was established under the Rashidun and ...
, a military district of Syria.Gil 1997, p. 129. The historian
Moshe Gil Moshe Gil ( he, משה גיל; February 8, 1921 – January 23, 2014) was an Israeli historian. Academic career Moshe Gil specialized in the historical interaction between Islam and the Jews, including the history of Palestine under the Islamic ...
speculates that he was from
Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Fo ...
, the administrative capital of Jund al-Urdunn. He was an
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
of the Khushayn tribe, which formed part of the larger
Quda'a The Quda'a ( ar, قضاعة, translit=Quḍāʿa) were a confederation of Arab tribes, including the powerful Kalb and Tanukh, mainly concentrated throughout Syria and northwestern Arabia, from at least the 4th century CE, during Byzantine rule, t ...
confederation long resident in Syria.Sprengling 1939, p. 213. His father, Sa'd, was a
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
and Sulayman too had possibly been a Christian. A number of traditional Muslim historians name him as the son of "Sa'id, ''
mawla Mawlā ( ar, مَوْلَى, plural ''mawālī'' ()), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet ...
'' of al-Husayn", but this is an error, likely originating from a typographical mistake in an earlier source.Sprengling, p. 212. According to the historian Martin Sprengling, Sulayman was well-versed in Arabic and Greek, as evidenced by the role he was assigned by Caliph Abd al-Malik as the ''
katib A katib ( ar, كَاتِب, ''kātib'') is a writer, scribe, or secretary in the Arabic-speaking world, Persian World, and other Islamic areas as far as India. In North Africa, the local pronunciation of the term also causes it to be written ketib ...
'' (secretary) for official correspondence. At the time of Sulayman's appointment, the head of the tax administration in Syria was
Sarjun ibn Mansur al-Rumi Sarjun ibn Mansur ( ar, سرجون بن منصور gr, Σέργιος ὁ τοῦ Μανσοῦρ) was a Melkite Middle East Christian official of the early Umayyad Caliphate. The son of a prominent Byzantine official of Damascus, he was a fa ...
, a native
Melkite The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic Semitic root, ro ...
Christian who served under caliphs
Mu'awiya I Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
(),
Yazid I Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan ( ar, يزيد بن معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya ibn ʾAbī Sufyān; 64611 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. He ruled from ...
(),
Mu'awiya II Mu'awiya ibn Yazid ( ar, معاوية بن يزيد, Muʿāwiya ibn Yazīd; 664 – 684 CE), usually known simply as Mu'awiya II was the third Umayyad caliph. He succeeded his father Yazid I as the third caliph and last caliph of the Sufyanid ...
() and Abd al-Malik's father,
Marwan I Marwan ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As ibn Umayya ( ar, links=no, مروان بن الحكم بن أبي العاص بن أمية, Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ ibn Umayya), commonly known as MarwanI (623 or 626April/May 685), was the fo ...
(). By dint of his experience and skill, Sarjun was kept in his post by Abd al-Malik for the majority of his reign. The caliph appointed Sulayman to the department of official correspondence and maintained closer relations with Sulayman, whom he had handpicked at a young age, than the elderly Sarjun, whom he inherited from previous administrations. Abd al-Malik had grown increasingly resentful of Sarjun's significant influence and perceived sense of indispensability and sought to dismiss him. According to the 9th-century Muslim historians
al-Baladhuri ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī ( ar, أحمد بن يحيى بن جابر البلاذري) was a 9th-century Muslim historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and ...
and
al-Mada'ini Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Abī Sayf al-Qurashī l-Madāʾinī () (752/3–843), better known by his '' nisba'' of al-Madāʾinī ("from al-Mada'in"), was a scholar of Iranian descent who wrote in Arabic and was active ...
, when Abd al-Malik informed Sulayman of his dilemma with Sarjun, the former proposed to the caliph converting the language of the tax administration from Greek to Arabic.Sprengling, pp. 212–213. Unlike his Syria-centered predecessors, Abd al-Malik had spent most of his life in
Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
, where only Arabic was spoken, and was unfamiliar with other languages or with the Greek and Syrian officials who had dominated the administration in Syria since the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
era. Moreover, following his victory in the
Second Muslim Civil War The Second Fitna was a period of general political and military disorder and civil war in the Islamic community during the early Umayyad Caliphate., meaning trial or temptation) occurs in the Qur'an in the sense of test of faith of the believer ...
in 692, he embarked on a major centralization drive, which came with measures to unify the caliphate's widely varied tax systems. Already in 697, the transition from Persian to Arabic in the Iraqi bureaucracy had been carried out by
Salih ibn Abd al-Rahman Abū al-Walīd Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Sijistānī () (died 721–724) was a leading bureaucrat in the central '' dīwān'' (tax bureau) of Iraq under the Umayyad governor al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (694–714) and then fiscal governor of the ...
under Abd al-Malik's governor
al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi ( ar, أبو محمد الحجاج بن يوسف بن الحكم بن أبي عقيل الثقفي, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī ʿAqīl al-T ...
and possibly served as a model for Sulayman to emulate. To cover the expenses of the transition, Sulayman requested and received a year's worth of the revenues of Jund al-Urdunn, totaling some 180,000
gold dinar The gold dinar ( ar, ﺩﻳﻨﺎﺭ ذهبي) is an Islamic medieval gold coin first issued in AH 77 (696–697 CE) by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. The weight of the dinar is 1 mithqal (). The word ''dinar'' comes from the La ...
s.Wellhausen 1927, p. 219. The order had been kept secret from Sarjun and in less than a year Sulayman completed the transition in 700. Though Sarjun and his clerks were consequently dismissed, the Byzantine system was maintained and Greek-speaking officials with knowledge of Arabic were retained; the only major change was the language of the system. In reward for his accomplishment, Abd al-Malik appointed Sulayman the head of Syria's fiscal administration, a post he held through the reigns of the caliph's sons and successors
al-Walid I Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ( ar, الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان, al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; ), commonly known as al-Walid I ( ar, الوليد الأول), was the sixth Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad ca ...
and
Sulayman Sulayman (Arabic: سُلِيمَان ''sulaymān'') is an Arabic name of the Biblical king and Islamic prophet Solomon meaning "man of peace", derived from the Hebrew name Shlomo. The name Sulayman is a diminutive of the name Salman (سَلْ ...
. After about one year into his reign, in 718/19, Caliph
Umar II Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ( ar, عمر بن عبد العزيز, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz; 2 November 680 – ), commonly known as Umar II (), was the eighth Umayyad caliph. He made various significant contributions and reforms to the society, and ...
dismissed Sulayman for unknown reasons. He was reappointed by Caliph
Yazid II Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik ( ar, يزيد بن عبد الملك, Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik; — 28 January 724), also referred to as Yazid II, was the ninth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 9 February 720 until his death in 724. Early life Yazid was b ...
and was apparently kept in the post until Yazid's death in 724, after which there is no further mention of Sulayman. His eldest son, Thabit, is briefly mentioned in 744 as holding an official post, the secretary of official correspondences under Caliph
Yazid III Yazīd ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (701 – 3/4 October 744) ( ar, يزيد بن الوليد بن عبد الملك) usually known simply as Yazid III was the twelfth Umayyad caliph. He reigned for six months, from April 15 to October 3 or ...
, and had previously sheltered Yazid III in his
Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...
residence during his rebellion against his predecessor, al-Walid II.Hillenbrand 1989, p. 142. In the aftermath of the Umayyad dynasty's downfall in 750, Sulayman's family disappears from the historical record.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * *{{The Arab Kingdom and its Fall 7th-century Arabs 8th-century Arabs 7th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate 8th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate Arabization Greek–Arabic translators Palestine under the Umayyad Caliphate Quda'a Scholars from the Umayyad Caliphate Government of the Umayyad Caliphate