Ziyad Ibn Abih
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Abu al-Mughira Ziyad ibn Abihi ( ar, أبو المغيرة زياد بن أبيه, Abū al-Mughīra Ziyād ibn Abīhi; – 673), also known as Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan ( ar, زياد بن أبي سفيان, Ziyād ibn Abī Sufyān), was an administrator and statesman of the successive
Rashidun , image = تخطيط كلمة الخلفاء الراشدون.png , caption = Calligraphic representation of Rashidun Caliphs , birth_place = Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia present-day Saudi Arabia , known_for = Companions of t ...
and
Umayyad 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 the ...
caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
s in the mid-7th century. He served as the governor of
Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
in 665–670 and ultimately the first governor of
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
and practical viceroy of the eastern Caliphate between 670 and his death. Ziyad's parentage is obscure, but he was raised among the
Banu Thaqif The Banu Thaqif ( ar, بنو ثقيف, Banū Thaqīf) is an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe which inhabited, and still inhabits, the city of Ta'if and its environs, in modern Saudi Arabia, and played a prominent role in early Islamic history. Durin ...
in
Ta'if Taif ( ar, , translit=aṭ-Ṭāʾif, lit=The circulated or encircled, ) is a city and governorate in the Makkan Region of Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat M ...
, near
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
. He arrived with his adoptive tribesmen in Basra upon its foundation in 636 as the Muslim Arabs' springboard for the conquest of the Sasanian Empire. He was initially employed by the city's first governor,
Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini ( ar, عُتبة بن غَزْوان المازني, ʿUtba ibn Ghazwān al-Māzinī) (–638) was a well-known companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the seventh person to convert to Islam and participated in ...
, and was kept on as a scribe or secretary by his successors. Caliph
Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
() appointed Ziyad governor of Fars to suppress a local rebellion and he maintained his loyalty to Ali's caliphate after the latter's assassination in 661 and the subsequent rule of Ali's enemy,
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 ...
(). The latter overcame Ziyad's opposition, formally recognized him as his own paternal half-brother and appointed him governor of Basra. Ziyad's inaugural speech, in which he announced his
carrot-and-stick The phrase "carrot and stick" is a metaphor for the use of a combination of reward and punishment to induce a desired behaviour. In politics, "carrot or stick" sometimes refers to the realist concept of soft and hard power. The carrot in t ...
approach to governing the city's turbulent population, is celebrated in Arab history for its eloquence. After the death of
Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf ...
's governor, Ziyad's mentor
al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba Abu Abd Allah al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba ibn Abi Amir ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi ( ar, المغيرة بن شعبة بن أبي عامر بن مسعود الثقفي, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba ibn Abī ʿĀmir ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī); –6 ...
, Mu'awiya made Ziyad the first governor of a unified Iraqi province. He administratively reorganized the garrison cities and minted
Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
-style silver
dirham The dirham, dirhem or dirhm ( ar, درهم) is a silver unit of currency historically and currently used by several Arab and Arab influenced states. The term has also been used as a related unit of mass. Unit of mass The dirham was a un ...
s in his own name. He firmly established Arab power and recommenced conquests in the Caliphate's easternmost province of
Khurasan Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plate ...
by relocating there 50,000 Arab soldiers and their families from Iraq and dispatching expeditionary forces against
Tukharistan Bactria (; Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient region in Central Asia in Amu Darya's middle stream, stretching north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Gissar range, covering the northern part of Afghanistan, southwe ...
,
Balkh ), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001 , pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_relief=yes , pushpin_label_position=bottom , pushpin_mapsize=300 , pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...
and
Quhistan Quhistan ( fa, قهستان) or Kohistan (, "mountainous land") was a region of medieval Persia, essentially the southern part of Khurasan. Its boundaries appear to have been south of Khorasan to north, Yazd to West, Sistan to South, Afghanistan to ...
. Although the mass resettlement improved Iraq's economic and political conditions by siphoning off Arab tribal soldiers from the overcrowded garrisons and creating new opportunities for war spoils, the move had major ramifications for the Caliphate as the descendants of these Khurasani Arab troops formed the army that toppled the Umayyads in 750. Ziyad died near Kufa in 673, but his sons
Ubayd Allah Ubayd Allah ( ar, عبيد الله), also spelled or transliterated Obaidullah, Obaydullah, Obeidallah, or Ubaydullah, is a male Arabic given name that means "little servant of God". Given name Obaidullah * Obaidullah (detainee), an Afghan detaine ...
,
Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Rahman ( ar, عبد الرحمن, translit=ʿAbd al-Raḥmān or occasionally ; DMG ''ʿAbd ar-Raḥman''; also Abdul Rahman) is a male Arabic Muslim given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', '' ...
,
Salm Salm may refer to People * Constance de Salm (1767–1845), poet and miscellaneous writer; through her second marriage, she became Princess of Salm-Dyck * Salm ibn Ziyad, an Umayyad governor of Khurasan and Sijistan * House of Salm, a European ...
,
Abbad Abbad is an Islamic name. Origin of this name is Arabic. Meaning of Abbad in Arabic is 'best worshipper', of those who worship Allah. People with this name include: * Abbad ibn Bishr (c. 597–632), from the Arabian peninsula and companion to the ...
and Yazid went on to hold posts as governors or deputy governors of Iraq, Khurasan and
Sijistan Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan (N ...
. Ziyad was the subject of early Arabic biographies and is remembered in Arab history as one of the four great wise men of his era and as a highly skilled administrator and orator. His administration in Iraq served as a model for his successors.


Origins

Ziyad was likely born in
Ta'if Taif ( ar, , translit=aṭ-Ṭāʾif, lit=The circulated or encircled, ) is a city and governorate in the Makkan Region of Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat M ...
in 622 or 623/24. His precise parentage is obscure, hence his frequent name in the sources as ''Ziyād ibn Abīhi'' ("Ziyad son of his father"). He was the illegitimate son of a certain Sumayya, his father being unknown. The origins of Sumayya are also obscure. The 9th-century 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
Awana ibn al-Hakam Abu al-Ḥakam ʿAwāna ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Awāna ibn Wazr ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥārith al-Kalbī () (died 764) was an Arab historian based in Kufa and a major source for Umayyad history in the works of Hisham ibn al-Kalbi and al-Mada'ini. Biography Awa ...
both relate that she had been a slave living in
Kashkar Kashkar, also known as Kaskar, ( syc, ܟܫܟܪ), was a city in southern Mesopotamia. Its name appears to originate from Syriac ' meaning "citadel" or "town". Other sources connect it to ' "farming". It was originally built on the Tigris, across th ...
, though the former asserts she belonged to a member of the
Banu Yashkur The Banu Yashkur () is an Arab tribe belonging to the larger Banu Bakr ibn Wa'il tribe. The tribe is originally from Al-Yamama and had control over this region in the pre-Islamic period. Ancestry The tribe descended from Yashkur ibn Bakr ib ...
, a branch of the Arab tribe of
Banu Bakr The Banu Bakr bin Wa'il ( ar, بنو بكر بن وائل '), or simply Banu Bakr, were an Arabian tribe belonging to the large Rabi'ah branch of Adnanite tribes, which also included Abd al-Qays, Anazzah, Taghlib. The tribe is reputed to have en ...
, and the latter states she belonged to a Persian ''
dehqan The ''dehqân'' ( fa, دهقان) or ''dehgân'' ( fa, دهگان), were a class of land-owning magnates during the Sasanian and early Islamic period, found throughout Iranian-speaking lands. The ''deqhans'' started to gradually fade away under t ...
'' (landowning magnate). In the narrative of al-Baladhuri, Sumayya's Yashkuri owner embarked on the
Hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
pilgrimage to
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
seeking to cure his illness and was subsequently treated in Ta'if by
al-Harith ibn Kalada Al-Harith ibn Kalada ( ar, الحارث بن كلدة; d. 13 AH/634–35) was an Arab physician and a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is said to have traveled to Gundeshapur in search of medical knowledge before the advent of Islam ...
, a physician from the
Thaqif The Banu Thaqif ( ar, بنو ثقيف, Banū Thaqīf) is an Arab tribe which inhabited, and still inhabits, the city of Ta'if and its environs, in modern Saudi Arabia, and played a prominent role in early Islamic history. During the pre-Islami ...
clan resident in the city; as a reward for his services, Ibn Kalada was gifted Sumayya. In Awana's narrative, Sumayya was given to Ibn Kalada by the Persian ''dehqan'' after he treated him. In any case, she was ultimately given to Ubayd, a
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 ...
or
Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...
slave belonging to Ibn Kalada's wife. Though Ziyad alludes to his Persian origin in a poem, his family claimed that Sumayya was not a slave, but the daughter of a certain al-A'war from the Zayd Manat clan of the Arab tribe of
Banu Tamim Banū Tamīm ( ar, بَنُو تَمِيم) is an Arab tribe that originated in Najd in the Arabian Peninsula. It is mainly present in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, and has a strong presence in Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia ...
.


Early career in Basra

During the reign of Caliph
Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
(), Ziyad embraced Islam, which "opened the world to him", according to historian
Julius Wellhausen Julius Wellhausen (17 May 1844 – 7 January 1918) was a German biblical scholar and orientalist. In the course of his career, he moved from Old Testament research through Islamic studies to New Testament scholarship. Wellhausen contributed to t ...
. He later became one of the first settlers of the Arab garrison town of
Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
. Before the city's founding in 638, the Muslim troops fighting on the Iraqi front used as their military camp the ruined Persian village on the site. Ziyad arrived there with the sons of Ibn Kalada, Nafi and Abu Bakra Nufay. The latter's family gained preeminence in the city, having acquired large landholdings there. Abu Bakra's brother-in-law
Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini ( ar, عُتبة بن غَزْوان المازني, ʿUtba ibn Ghazwān al-Māzinī) (–638) was a well-known companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the seventh person to convert to Islam and participated in ...
had established the initial camp at Basra in 635 and was the founder and first governor of the city. The administrative skills of Ziyad became apparent from the time of his adolescence and Utba charged him with minor tasks in the Basran '' dīwān'' (bureaucracy) during the reign of Caliph
Umar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...
(). In 635, Utba tasked him with distributing to the Arab troops the war spoils from the capture of
al-Ubulla Al-Ubulla ( ar, الأبلة), called Apologou ( gr, 'Απολόγου 'Εμπόριον) by the Greeks in the pre-Islamic period, was a port city at the head of the Persian Gulf east of Basra in present-day Iraq. In the medieval period, it served ...
(Apologos), a town immediately east of Basra. According to the modern historian Isaac Hasson, Ziyad "distinguished himself as an intelligent and open-minded secretary, who was devoted to his master and to public service ... he showed an unusual aptitude for accounting and had an excellent command of
epistolary Epistolary means "in the form of a letter or letters", and may refer to: * Epistolary ( la, epistolarium), a Christian liturgical book containing set readings for church services from the New Testament Epistles * Epistolary novel * Epistolary poem ...
art". His skills and his assignment by Basra's military governor
Abu Musa al-Ash'ari Abu Musa Abd Allah ibn Qays al-Ash'ari ( ar, أبو موسى عبد الله بن قيس الأشعري, Abū Mūsā ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qays al-Ashʿarī), better known as Abu Musa al-Ash'ari ( ar, أبو موسى الأشعري, Abū Mūsā al-Ash ...
as his acting replacement while he was on a military campaign gained the attention of Caliph Umar. He brought Ziyad to
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, ...
, the center of the nascent Muslim state, where he further tested his skills; Ziyad's performance earned him a reward of 1,000 silver
dirham The dirham, dirhem or dirhm ( ar, درهم) is a silver unit of currency historically and currently used by several Arab and Arab influenced states. The term has also been used as a related unit of mass. Unit of mass The dirham was a un ...
s by Umar, which he used to purchase the freedom of his mother or his stepfather Ubayd. Soon after his return to Basra, Ziyad was made Utba's '' kātib'' (scribe or secretary). After Utba's death, Ziyad continued his service as ''kātib'' under his successors Abu Musa al-Ash'ari and
al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba Abu Abd Allah al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba ibn Abi Amir ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi ( ar, المغيرة بن شعبة بن أبي عامر بن مسعود الثقفي, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba ibn Abī ʿĀmir ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī); –6 ...
, a member of the Thaqif who became Ziyad's mentor. When al-Mughira was recalled by Umar to Medina in 638 due to charges of adultery by three accusers, including Abu Bakra Nufay and a certain Shibl ibn Ma'bad al-Bajali, both of whom were Ziyad's maternal half-brothers, Ziyad was also recalled to give his own testimony. His statement was partial toward al-Mughira and as a result, the charges were dismissed and the accusers were flogged. During the reign of Caliph
Uthman Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic proph ...
(), Ziyad served the caliph's appointee to Basra, Abd Allah ibn Amir. Uthman's successor
Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
() appointed
Abd Allah ibn Abbas ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās ( ar, عَبْد ٱللَّٰه ٱبْن عَبَّاس; c. 619 – 687 CE), also known as Ibn ʿAbbās, was one of the cousins of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is considered to be the greatest mufassir of the Qur'an ...
governor of Basra and entrusted Ziyad with collection of the province's '' kharāj'' (land tax) and supervision of the treasury. According to Hasson, "Ali's appreciation of Ziyad's talents were so great" that he mandated Ibn Abbas heed Ziyad's counsel. When Ibn Abbas left Basra in 657 to accompany Ali at the
Battle of Siffin The Battle of Siffin was fought in 657 CE (37 AH) between Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth of the Rashidun Caliphs and the first Shia Imam, and Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the rebellious governor of Syria. The battle is named after its location S ...
against the governor of Syria,
Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan 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 ...
, he left Ziyad as his acting governor. During this period, he stamped out an uprising by the Banu Tamim, a major military tribal faction in the city, with critical assistance from another Basran faction, the
Azd The Azd ( ar, أَزْد), or ''Al-Azd'' ( ar, ٱلْأَزْد), are a tribe of Sabaean Arabs. In ancient times, the Sabaeans inhabited Ma'rib, capital city of the Kingdom of Saba' in modern-day Yemen. Their lands were irrigated by the Ma ...
. After Ali returned from Siffin, his appointee to the district of Fars, Sahl ibn Hunayf, was ousted by its inhabitants, after which he dispatched Ziyad. The people of Fars were satisfied with Ziyad's leadership and he was able to collect the district's ''kharāj''. He remained in Fars through the remainder of Ali's rule, which ended with the caliph's assassination in 661 and the foundation 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 ...
under Mu'awiya. Afterward, he remained headquartered in a fortress in the vicinity of
Istakhr Istakhr (Middle Persian romanized: ''Stakhr'', fa, اصطخر, translit=Istakhr also spelt استخر in modern literature) was an ancient city in Fars province, north of Persepolis in southwestern Iran. It flourished as the capital of the Persi ...
. Of Ali's appointees, he held out the longest from recognizing Mu'awiya's caliphate. Mu'awiya's agent,
Busr ibn Abi Artat Busr ibn Abi Artat al-Amiri ( ar, بسر بن أبي أرطأة العامري, Busr ibn Abī Arṭāt al-ʿĀmirī; 620s–) was a prominent Arab commander in the service of Mu'awiya I, the governor of Bilad al-Sham, Islamic Syria (640s–661) a ...
, pressured Ziyad by capturing and threatening to kill three of his sons in Basra. Ziyad's half-brother Abu Bakra interceded with Mu'awiya and Ziyad's sons were released. He finally surrendered to Mu'awiya's rule in 662/63 after the intercession of al-Mughira, who Mu'awiya had appointed governor of
Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf ...
, the other main Arab garrison town of Iraq. In the deal reached, the revenues from Fars owed to the caliphal treasury were split between Ziyad and al-Mughira, which Mu'awiya ignored. Ziyad moved to Kufa and maintained intimate ties with al-Mughira and his family.


Governor of Basra

Mu'awiya formally recognized Ziyad as a son of his father
Abu Sufyan Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayya ibn Abd Shams ( ar, صخر بن حرب بن أمية بن عبد شمس, Ṣakhr ibn Ḥarb ibn Umayya ibn ʿAbd Shams; ), better known by his '' kunya'' Abu Sufyan ( ar, أبو سفيان, Abū Sufyān), was a prominent ...
. The motion was initiated when Ziyad sought clarification from the caliph about rumors of Abu Sufyan's biological paternity. According to Wellhausen, Mu'awiya summoned Ziyad to Damascus and recognized him as his paternal half-brother, "so as to bind him in this way absolutely to himself and to his family". The decision was seen as scandalous by the Umayyad ruling family. Mu'awiya's son Yazid and members from other branches of the clan, namely the extended family of
Marwan ibn al-Hakam 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 ...
in Medina and Abd Allah ibn Amir, the governor of Basra, protested or threatened action against the decision. Ibn Amir and the Marwanids were silenced as a result of threats of force or bribes. Yazid's relations with Ziyad remained strained and satirical poetic verses about the event were spread by Marwan's brother Abd al-Rahman. Muslim scholars generally viewed the episode as one of Mu'awiya's most disreputable actions. Realizing that Ziyad "had both the abilities and the all-important local connections to be his right-hand man in Basra", Mu'awiya appointed him governor of the province, according to the historian
Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh Nigel Kennedy (born 22 October 1947) is a British medieval historian and academic. He specialises in the history of the early Islamic Middle East, Muslim Iberia and the Crusades. From 1997 to 2007, he was Professor of Middle Eastern Histor ...
. He entered office in June or July 665, issuing an inaugural carrot-and-stick speech to Basra's restless population. According to Hasson it was "considered a masterpiece of eloquence". Wellhausen describes it as "celebrated" and the one which was called a " peechwithout a preface" because it skipped the traditional introductions praising God and blessing the Islamic prophet
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
. The speech is translated as follows:
Ye are putting relationship before religion, ye are excusing and sheltering your criminals, and tearing down the protecting laws sanctified by Islam. Beware of prowling by night; I will kill every one who is found at night in the streets. Beware of the arbitrary summons of relationship; I will cut out the tongue of every one who raises the cry. Whoever pushes anyone into the water, whoever sets fire to another's house, whoever breaks into a house, whoever opens a grave, him will I punish for it. I make every family responsible for those belonging to it. Hatred towards myself I do not punish, but only crime. Many who are terrified at my coming will be glad of my presence, and many who are building their hopes upon it will be undeceived. I rule you with the authority of God and care for your maintenance out of the wealth of God. From you I demand obedience, and ye can demand from me justice. In whatsoever I fall short, three things there are in which I shall not be lacking: at any time I shall be ready to listen to anyone; I shall pay you your pension at the proper time, and I shall not send you to war too far away or keep you in the field overlong. Do not let yourselves be carried away by your hatred and wrath against me ; it would go ill with you if ye did. Many heads do I see tottering; let each man see to it that his own remains on his shoulders!
A number of punitive measures along the lines of those cited in his speech were taken by Ziyad at the start of his term and largely gained for him the Basrans' respect. He established unprecedented levels of security in the city, its Iranian dependencies to the east, i.e. Fars and
Kerman Kerman ( fa, كرمان, Kermân ; also romanization of Persian, romanized as Kermun and Karmana), known in ancient times as the satrapy of Carmania, is the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 821,394, in ...
, and the Arabian Desert to the south. The
Kharijites The Kharijites (, singular ), also called al-Shurat (), were an Islamic sect which emerged during the First Fitna (656–661). The first Kharijites were supporters of Ali who rebelled against his acceptance of arbitration talks to settle the ...
of Basra, many of whom were concerned more with banditry than politics, submitted to his authority. Under Ziyad, Basra began to take shape as a proper Islamic city. His rule saw the crude mud bricks of the city's homes replaced by more durable baked bricks and he built a
congregational mosque A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.* * * * * * * ...
and residential palace. In the words of the historian
Charles Pellat Charles Pellat (28 September 1914, in Souk Ahras – 28 October 1992, in Bourg-la-Reine) was an Algerian-born French academic, historian, translator, and scholar of Oriental studies, specialized in Arab studies and Islamic studies. He was an edi ...
, Ziyad, "to a certain degree, aybe considered as the artisan of the town's prosperity". His effective rule cemented Mu'awiya's confidence in him. In the same year that Ziyad was appointed to Basra, the province of
Bahrayn Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ad ...
(eastern Arabia) and its dependency, the Yamama (central Arabia), were attached to Ziyad's governorship.


Viceroy of Iraq and the east

After the death of al-Mughira in 670, Kufa and its dependencies were attached to Ziyad's governorship, making him the practical viceroy over Iraq and the eastern half of the Caliphate. He was the first to serve as the dual governor of Kufa and Basra and divided his residence between the two towns. In the winter he stayed in Basra and left
Amr ibn Hurayth Amr ibn Hurayth ibn Amr ibn Uthman al-Makhzumi ( ar, عمرو بن حريث بن عمرو بن عثمان , ʿAmr ibn Ḥurayth ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān; died 705) was a prominent member of the Quraysh in Kufa and the deputy governor of the city unde ...
as his deputy in Kufa, while he resided in Kufa in the summer, leaving Samura ibn Jundab as his deputy in Basra. His strong grip in Kufa marked a shift from al-Mughira's hands-off approach. A source of disturbance for him in Kufa was the agitation of the
Alids The Alids are those who claim descent from the '' rāshidūn'' caliph and Imam ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (656–661)—cousin, son-in-law, and companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad—through all his wives. The main branches are the (inclu ...
, partisans of Caliph Ali, led by Hujr ibn Adi al-Kindi, who disapproved of Umayyad rule and led the first open calls for the caliphate to be held by Ali's progeny. Though al-Mughira tolerated Hujr, Ziyad issued a number of dire warnings to cease his open dissent. He succeeded in turning most of Hujr's supporters among the Kufan troops against him. In 671, he had Hujr and thirteen of his loyalists arrested and sent to Damascus for punishment, where six, including Hujr, were executed in
Adra The Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA or ADRA International) is a humanitarian agency operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for the purpose of providing individual and community development and disaster relief. I ...
for their refusal to condemn Ali. One of the men, Abd al-Rahman ibn Hassan al-Anazi, who was spared by Mu'awiya later insulted the caliph after refusing his invocation to condemn Ali and was sent back to Ziyad, who had him buried alive as punishment. To end the chaos in the ''
amṣar Amṣar ( ar, أمصار), singular miṣr, are the 'garrison towns' or settlements that were established by Arab Muslim warriors in conquered lands, in the first centuries of Islam. The first were created under Caliph Omar during his reign from 63 ...
'' (garrisons) of Basra and Kufa, Ziyad administratively reformed the two towns. From the reign of Caliph Umar, their garrisons consisted of soldiers from different tribes who were grouped together for the distribution of military stipends. There were seven such tribal groups in Kufa and Basra and at the head of each group was a chieftain chosen by its members who served as their representative to the government. Gradually, this system had become economically inefficient and politically turbulent. There was no control on Arab immigration into the ''amṣar'', resulting in overpopulation and in turn, increased competition over fewer resources. Ziyad thus resolved to form larger divisions by unifying related clans and personally appointing their leader, which resulted in Kufa's reorganization into quarters and Basra into fifths. This measure enabled easier control of the two towns' inhabitants. Ziyad undertook further reforms in Kufa and Basra, including regularizing the timely payment of stipends, embarking on agricultural development schemes, including canal digging, and minting
Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
-style dirhams that bore his name as "Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan".


Consolidation of Khurasan

Ziyad's authority extended to
Khurasan Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plate ...
and
Sijistan Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan (N ...
, the far eastern regions of the Caliphate which were considered dependencies of the Basra garrison. The Arab conquests of these areas in the 640s and 650s were akin to raids and did not firmly establish the Caliphate's power. Moreover, the political instability of the final years of Uthman's caliphate and the First Muslim Civil War saw local revolts which further weakened Arab authority. In 655, the Sasanian prince
Peroz III Peroz III ( pal, 𐭯𐭩𐭫𐭥𐭰 ''Pērōz''; ) was son of Yazdegerd III, the last Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. After the death of his father, who legend says was killed by a miller at the instigation of the governor of Marw, he retreated ...
, backed by the army of
Tukharistan Bactria (; Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient region in Central Asia in Amu Darya's middle stream, stretching north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Gissar range, covering the northern part of Afghanistan, southwe ...
, attempted to reassert Persian power. Under previous caliphs, the vast region had been experimentally divided into separate provinces under the leadership of Arab tribal chiefs. Governance was largely left to local princes. Fearing a Persian resurgence, which a fragmentary division of Khurasan could afford, Ziyad centralized the administration of the province in the small Arab garrison at Merv. To relieve Basra's fiscal pressures, Ziyad recommenced the Muslim conquests in Central Asia. He organized the Arab military presence in Khurasan. In 667, he dispatched an army to the region under his lieutenant general
al-Hakam ibn Amr al-Ghifari Al-Hakam ibn Amr al-Ghifari () (d. 670/71), was a companion of Muhammad and the Umayyad governor of Khurasan and commander of Arab expeditions into Transoxiana (Central Asia) from 665 until his death in Merv. Life Al-Hakam ibn Amr was a son of Am ...
. The latter conquered lower Tukharistan and
Gharchistan Gharchistan or Gharjistan also known as Gharj Al-Shar was a medieval region on the north bank of the Murghab River, lying to the east of Herat and north of Hari River. It corresponds roughly to the modern Badghis Province of Afghanistan A ...
and temporarily crossed the
Oxus The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...
river into
Transoxiana Transoxiana or Transoxania (Land beyond the Oxus) is the Latin name for a region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to modern-day eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...
, forcing Peroz to withdraw into
Tang China The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
. Meanwhile, Ziyad's removal of dead soldiers and input of new recruits to the Iraqi army registers led to numerous tribesmen being taken off the payrolls. He dispatched 50,000 Arab soldiers and their families from Basra and Kufa to permanently settle in the Merv oasis of Khurasan. The resettlement of these troops may have been a means "to defuse possibly dangerous developments" relating to the Arab tribal influx in the two garrison towns, according to the historian
Gerald Hawting Gerald R. Hawting (born 1944) is a British historian and Islamicist. Life Hawting's teachers were Bernard Lewis and John Wansbrough. He received his Ph.D. in 1978. He is Emeritus Professor for the History of the Near and Middle East at the Sc ...
. As a result, the Merv oasis became home to the largest concentration of Muslims outside of the
Fertile Crescent The Fertile Crescent ( ar, الهلال الخصيب) is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan, together with the northern region of Kuwait, southeastern region of ...
. Al-Hakam's successor, Ghalib ibn Abd Allah al-Laythi, was less successful in subduing Tukharistan and Ziyad sent another of his lieutenants, Rabi ibn Ziyad al-Harithi, to stamp out the revolts in the conquered areas in 670/71. Rabi proceeded to secure the capitulation of
Balkh ), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001 , pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_relief=yes , pushpin_label_position=bottom , pushpin_mapsize=300 , pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...
, whose inhabitants had revolted against Arab rule, in a treaty and then destroyed the army of the
Hepthalite The Hephthalites ( xbc, ηβοδαλο, translit= Ebodalo), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during th ...
princes in
Quhistan Quhistan ( fa, قهستان) or Kohistan (, "mountainous land") was a region of medieval Persia, essentially the southern part of Khurasan. Its boundaries appear to have been south of Khorasan to north, Yazd to West, Sistan to South, Afghanistan to ...
. In 673, Rabi's son Abd Allah extended Arab rule to the western banks of the Oxus and established tributary agreements with the fortress towns of
Amul Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL) is an Indian dairy state government cooperative society, based in Anand, Gujarat. Formed in 1946, it is a cooperative brand managed by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which today i ...
and
Zamm The ''Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics'', also known as ''Zeitschrift für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik'' or ''ZAMM'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal dedicated to applied mathematics. It is published by Wiley-VCH on ...
. To solidify the territorial gains and supply the manpower for further conquests Ziyad intended for the Arab troops, initially concentrated in the Merv oasis, to colonize other parts of Khurasan. They were ultimately distributed between five regional garrisons under Ziyad's successors.


Legacy and assessment

Ziyad died in the village of al-Thawiyya near Kufa on 23 August 673. He was buried in a cemetery there that contained the graves of several Qurayshites and left an inheritance of 10,000 silver dirhams. During his governorship of Kufa in 675–678,
al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri Abū Unays (or Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān) al-Ḍaḥḥak ibn Qays al-Fihrī () (died August 684) was an Umayyad general, head of security forces and governor of Damascus during the reigns of caliphs Mu'awiya I, Yazid I and Mu'awiya II. Though long ...
visited Ziyad's grave and recited an elegy:
If nobility and Islam ever immortalized a human being,
They would certainly immortalize you.
A year after his death, Mu'awiya appointed Ziyad's son
Ubayd Allah Ubayd Allah ( ar, عبيد الله), also spelled or transliterated Obaidullah, Obaydullah, Obeidallah, or Ubaydullah, is a male Arabic given name that means "little servant of God". Given name Obaidullah * Obaidullah (detainee), an Afghan detaine ...
as governor of Khurasan and then Basra. Under Mu'awiya's son and successor, Caliph Yazid I (), the governorship of Kufa was also handed to Ubayd Allah. Ziyad's sons
Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Rahman ( ar, عبد الرحمن, translit=ʿAbd al-Raḥmān or occasionally ; DMG ''ʿAbd ar-Raḥman''; also Abdul Rahman) is a male Arabic Muslim given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', '' ...
and
Salm Salm may refer to People * Constance de Salm (1767–1845), poet and miscellaneous writer; through her second marriage, she became Princess of Salm-Dyck * Salm ibn Ziyad, an Umayyad governor of Khurasan and Sijistan * House of Salm, a European ...
served successively as governors of Khurasan in 678–680 and 680–683/84, and two other sons,
Abbad Abbad is an Islamic name. Origin of this name is Arabic. Meaning of Abbad in Arabic is 'best worshipper', of those who worship Allah. People with this name include: * Abbad ibn Bishr (c. 597–632), from the Arabian peninsula and companion to the ...
and Yazid, served successively as governors of Sijistan in 673–680/81 and 680/81. The Thaqif, which had maintained close ties with the Umayyads since the pre-Islamic era and played an integral role in the Muslim conquest of Iraq, provided the Umayyad dynasty with a series of viceroys in Iraq, including al-Mughira, Ziyad, Ubayd Allah and
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 the Muslim traditional sources devote more attention to them than the caliphs on whose behalf they ruled. Along with his mentor al-Mughira, Ziyad and his family were part of what "some must have seen as a Thaqafi mafia" controlling Iraq and the east, according to Kennedy. Among "the most gifted governors of the Umayyad era", Ziyad "had a good understanding of his task as governor, and had a great influence on his successors concerning the conception of the duties of rulers", according to Hasson. According to Kennedy, Ziyad's settlement of Iraqi Arab troops in Khurasan had "extremely important consequences for Islamic history" as the descendants of those settlers, who were known as ''ahl Khurāsān'', ultimately destroyed the Umayyad Caliphate as part of the
Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
army in 750. The execution of Hujr and his six partisans, all of whom had been prominent men in their own right, also led to deep-seated resentment among their Kufan kinsmen. The incident would serve as a harbinger for future pro-Alid risings. The death of Hujr represented the first political execution in Islamic history, and he and his companions are viewed as martyrs by
Shia Muslim Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...
s. Ziyad was alleged to have ordered cruel acts against some Alid partisans, including crucifixions. Interest in Ziyad's biography emerged early on among the traditional Muslim historians, with works written about him by
Abu Mikhnaf Lut ibn Yahya ibn Sa'id ibn Mikhnaf al-Azdi ( ar, لوط ابن يحيٰ ابن سعيد ابن مِخنَف الأزدي, Lūṭ ibn Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd ibn Mikhnaf al-Azdī), more commonly known by his '' kunya'' (epithet) Abu Mikhnaf ( ar, أ ...
(d. 774),
Hisham ibn al-Kalbi Hishām ibn al-Kalbī ( ar, هشام بن الكلبي), 737 AD – 819 AD/204 AH, also known as Ibn al-Kalbi (), was an Arab historian. His full name was Abu al-Mundhir Hisham ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sa'ib ibn Bishr al-Kalbi. Born in Kufa, he spent ...
(d. 819) and Abd al-Aziz ibn Yahya al-Jaludi (d. 943). He is considered a highly skilled orator among Arabs, with his inaugural speech and fragments of other speeches and sayings cited in
Islamic literature Islamic literature is literature written by Muslim people, influenced by an Islamic cultural perspective, or literature that portrays Islam. It can be written in any language and portray any country or region. It includes many literary forms in ...
and Arabic rhetoric, polemics and histories. He is counted alongside Mu'awiya, al-Mughira and
Amr ibn al-As ( ar, عمرو بن العاص السهمي; 664) was the Arab commander who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in and was assigned impor ...
, the conqueror and governor of Egypt, as one of the four ''duhāt'' (i.e. "shrewds") among the Arab statesmen of his era. According to the medieval Syrian historian
Ibn Asakir Ibn Asakir ( ar-at, ابن عساكر, Ibn ‘Asākir; 1105–c. 1176) was a Syrian Sunni Islamic scholar, who was one of the most renowned experts on Hadith and Islamic history in the medieval era. and a disciple of the Sufi mystic Abu al-Najib S ...
(d. 1176), Ziyad had expert knowledge of the
Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
, its tenets and
Islamic jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and e ...
. A medieval Basran historian, Muhammad ibn Imran al-Abdi, related that Ziyad respected and enjoyed listening to the
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
s about Umar and proclaimed about them: "This is the truth we hear! This is the sunna!" Ziyad is credited by a number of sources for transmitting sayings by the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Umar as the original transmitter. In 777 the Abbasid authorities stripped Ziyad's descendants of their status as official members of the Quraysh (the tribe to which the Umayyads and Abbasids belonged) in the ''dīwān'' rolls, which entitled them to relatively high pensions, and declared them part of Thaqif, whose members were paid less. At some point afterward, they were reinstated as Quraysh as a result of bribing government officials.


Family

Ziyad had numerous wives and '' ummahat awlad'' (slave women who bore children; sing. ''umm walad''). He had twenty sons and twenty-three daughters, most of whom were the children of ''ummahat awlad''. From his first wife, Mu'adha bint Sakhr of the
Banu Uqayl Banu Uqayl ( ar, بنو عُـقَـيـْل) are an ancient Arab tribe that played an important role in the history of eastern Arabia and Iraq. They belonged to the Banu Ka'b branch of the large Banu 'Amir confederation. The Banu 'Amir confedera ...
tribe, Ziyad had four sons, including Muhammad and Abd al-Rahman, who respectively married daughters of Caliph Mu'awiya I and the latter's brother Utba. His other Arab wives were Lubaba bint Awf al-Harashiyya, the daughter of a Basran noble, whose brother Zurara was a prominent Muslim jurist and one-time
qadi A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
(Islamic head judge) of Basra on Ziyad's behalf; an unnamed daughter of al-Qa'qa' ibn Ma'bad ibn Zurara, a chieftain of the Darim clan of the
Banu Tamim Banū Tamīm ( ar, بَنُو تَمِيم) is an Arab tribe that originated in Najd in the Arabian Peninsula. It is mainly present in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, and has a strong presence in Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia ...
tribe who was credited for leading his tribe's first delegation to the Islamic prophet Muhammad; an unnamed daughter of Muhajir ibn Hakim ibn Taliq ibn Sufyan, a fifth-generation descendant of the Umayyad clan's progenitor
Umayya ibn Abd Shams Umayya ibn ʿAbd Shams ( ar, أمية بن عبد شمس) was the son of Abd Shams and is said to be the progenitor of the line of the Umayyad Caliphs. Ibn al-Kalbi says that his name is derived from , a diminutive of the word for slave-girl an ...
; and an unnamed woman from the Khuza'a tribe. Ziyad was also married for a time to a Sasanian Persian princess, Marjana (or Manjana), who mothered his son Ubayd Allah; she later remarried a Persian commander of Ziyad called Shiruyah al-Uswari. Ziyad's daughter Ramla was a wife of the Umayyad prince Umayya, son of Ziyad's deputy governor of Fars province or its Ardashir-Khurrah district and later his deputy governor of Kufa,
Abdallah ibn Khalid ibn Asid Abdallah ibn Khalid ibn Asid ( ar, عبد الله بن خالد بن أسيد, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khālid ibn Asīd) was a member of the Umayyad dynasty and governor of Kufa in 673–675 during the reign of Caliph Mu'awiya I. Life Abdallah's fathe ...
, who led Ziyad's funeral prayers and served as Kufa's governor until 675. Ziyad had successively appointed Umayya as the deputy governor of
Khuzistan Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...
and
al-Ubulla Al-Ubulla ( ar, الأبلة), called Apologou ( gr, 'Απολόγου 'Εμπόριον) by the Greeks in the pre-Islamic period, was a port city at the head of the Persian Gulf east of Basra in present-day Iraq. In the medieval period, it served ...
. Ziyad's daughter Sakhra was married to a noble of the Qurayshite
Makhzum The Banu Makhzum () was one of the wealthy clans of the Quraysh. They are regarded as being among the three most powerful and influential clans in Mecca before the advent of Islam, the other two being the Banu Hashim (the tribe of the Islamic proph ...
clan, Ubaydallah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith, a great-grandson of Hisham ibn al-Mughira.


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control 622 births 673 deaths 7th-century Arabs 7th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate Banu Thaqif Generals of the Umayyad Caliphate People of the Muslim conquest of Persia People from the Rashidun Caliphate Umayyad governors of Basra Umayyad governors of Iraq Rashidun governors of Fars