Ibrahim ibn Hisham ibn Isma'il al-Makhzumi (Arabic: إبراهيم بن هشام بن إسماعيل المخزومي) was an eighth century official for the Umayyad Caliphate, serving as the governor of Medina, Mecca and al-Ta'if during the caliphate of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. He and his brother Muhammad ibn Hisham ibn Isma'il al-Makhzumi were later tortured to death in 743 in the period leading up to the Third Islamic Civil War.
Career
The sons of Hisham ibn Isma'il al-Makhzumi, Ibrahim and Muhammad were maternal uncles of the caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 724–743), who relied on them to act as his governors of the Hijaz for the majority of his reign.[1] Although the sources frequently confuse the two brothers,[2] Ibrahim appears to have been appointed as governor of Medina, Mecca and al-Ta'if in 724 and to have been dismissed in 732,[3] and was also the caliph's choice to lead the pilgrimages of 724, 726–731 and possibly 732.[4] During his governorship his appointees to lead the Medinese judiciary were Muhammad ibn Safwan al-Jumahi and al-Salt ibn Zubayd al-Kindi.[5]
In the last years of Hisham's reign Ibrahim and Muhammad were supporters of the caliph's unsuccessful plan to replace the heir-apparent al-Walid ibn Yazid with his own son Maslamah, but with the death of Hisham in 743 their political influence came to an end. Upon his accession to the caliphate al-Walid handed over the two brothers to his new governor of Medina, Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi, who paraded them in front of the city inhabitants and had them flogged; shortly afterwards al-Walid ordered Yusuf to transfer Ibrahim and Muhammad to Yusuf ibn Umar al-Thaqafi in Iraq, where together with Khalid ibn Abdallah al-Qasri they were tortured to death.[6] The brutal treatment of Ibrahim and Muhammad exacerbated hostility against al-Walid, playing a role in the caliph's own downfall and death and the outbreak of civil war in the following year.[7]
Notes
- ^ Hinds 1991, p. 139; McMillan 2011, pp. 140–41.
- ^ Khalifah ibn Khayyat 1985, p. 357 states that Muhammad ibn Hisham was the governor of Mecca, Medina and al-Ta'if from 724 to 732 instead of Ibrahim, while Yarshater 1985–2007, v. 26: p. 8 and Al-Ya'qubi 1883, p. 397 claim that Ibrahim was governor in 739 and 743 respectively instead of Muhammad.
- ^ Yarshater 1985–2007, v. 25: pp. 8, 23, 28, 32, 44, 63, 68, 94, 96, 97-98; Khalifah ibn Khayyat 1985, p. 361; McMillan 2011, p. 139. According to al-Tabari, op. cit., p. 29, Ibrahim also went campaigning on the Byzantine frontier in 726.
- ^ Yarshater 1985–2007, v. 25: pp. 3-4, 28, 32, 44, 63, 68, 94, 96; Al-Ya'qubi 1883, p. 394; Khalifah ibn Khayyat 1985, pp. 337–41, 343, 360; Al-Mas'udi 1877, p. 61; McMillan 2011, p. 139.
- ^ Yarshater 1985–2007, v. 26: p. 9; Khalifah ibn Khayyat 1985, p. 361; Waki' n.d., pp. 168–69; Judd 2014, p. 156.
- ^ Yarshater 1985–2007, v. 26: pp. 89, 119, 177; Al-Ya'qubi 1883, pp. 397, 400; Khalifah ibn Khayyat 1985, p. 362; Hinds 1991, p. 139; McMillan 2011, pp. 147–48.
- ^ McMillan 2011, p. 148.
References
- Hinds, M. (1991). "Makhzum". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume VI: Mahk–Mid. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 137–140. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_4829. ISBN 978-90-04-08112-3.
- Judd, Steven C. (2014). Religious Scholars and the Umayyads: Piety-minded supporters of the Marwanid caliphate. Oxford and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-84497-0.
- Khalifah ibn Khayyat (1985). al-'Umari, Akram Diya' (ed.). Tarikh Khalifah ibn Khayyat, 3rd ed (in Arabic). Al-Riyadh: Dar Taybah.
- Al-Mas'udi, Ali ibn al-Husain (1877). Les Prairies D'Or, Tome Neuvième (in French). Ed. and Trans. Charles Barbier de Meynard and Abel Pavet de Courteille. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.
- McMillan, M.E. (2011). The Meaning of Mecca: The Politics of Pilgrimage in Early Islam. London: Saqi. ISBN 978-0-86356-437-6.
- Waki', Muhammad ibn Khalaf ibn Hayyan (n.d.). Akhbar al-Qudat (in Arabic). Beirut: 'Alam al-Kutub. OCLC 957287781.
- Al-Ya'qubi, Ahmad ibn Abu Ya'qub (1883). Houtsma, M. Th. (ed.). Historiae, Vol. 2 (in Arabic). Leiden: E. J. Brill.
- Yarshater, Ehsan, ed. (1985–2007). The History of al-Ṭabarī (40 vols). SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7249-1.