Al Hajjaj ibn Yusuf

Ab Muhammad alajjj ibn Ysuf ibn alakam ibn Aql alThaqaf , known simply as alHajjaj ibn Yusuf , was perhaps the most notable governor who served the Umayyad Caliphate. An extremely capable though ruthless statesman, a strict in character, but also a harsh and demanding master, he was widely feared by his contemporaries and became a deeply controversial figure and an object of deepseated enmity among later, proAbbasid writers, who ascribed to him persecutions and mass executions.

AlHajjaj was born in ca. 661 in the city of Taif in the Hijaz, in modernday Saudi Arabia. His ancestry was not particularly distinguished he came of a poor family, whose members had worked as stone carriers and builders. His mother, alFaria, had married, and been divorced by, alMughira ibn Shuba, appointed governor of Kufa by the first Umayyad caliph, Muawiya . As a boy, alHajjaj acquired the nickname Kulayb , with which he was later derisively referred to. His early life is obscure, except for his having been a schoolmaster in his home townanother source of derision to his enemies. He participated in the Second Fitna, fighting in the battles of Harra near Medina and of alRabadha , but apparently without particular distinction. His first public post, as governor of Tabala in the Tihama region, was also unremarkable.

Source: Wikipedia