Ziyād ibn Abī Sufyan

Sassanid Arabic dirhams issued on behalf of Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan

Ziyād ibn Abī Sufyān ( Arabic زياد بن أبي سفيان; † August 23, 673 ) was an Arab statesman in the time of the two caliphs ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib and Muawiya I. He was also known under the name Ziyād ibn Abī-hi ("Ziyād, the son of his father").

Ziyad was born in Taif and was the son of a slave. Due to the fact that his father was unknown, he was also given the patronymic ibn Abī-hi ("son of his father"). He began his ascent as an army accountant in the Basra garrison . After he had risen to governor of the Fars province under the caliphate of Ali Ibn Abi Talib , he initially offered violent resistance to the Umayyads under Muawiya I.

In 665 there was a spectacular rapprochement between the Ziyad and the caliph. Ziyad asked him in a letter what to think of the rumors that Muawiya's father, Abū Sufyān ibn Harb, was also his father. The caliph then officially recognized him as his brother and a little later installed him as governor of Basra , a position with which the authority of command over the Iranian territories of Khorasan and Cajistan was connected. Ziyad proved himself to be one of the most loyal followers of Muawiya, who consolidated and expanded his rule in Iraq and Iran . Above all, he succeeded in pacifying the areas under his control by suppressing the party struggles and disputes between the Arab tribes. He also successfully fought the machinations of the Kharijites .

Because of his successful government, Ziyad was also given the province of Kufa in 670 . At that time several followers of iertenAlī agitated against the Umayyads here. Ziyād handed them over to Muawiya in Syria. Those who did not break away from ʿAlī, such as Hudr ibn ʿAdī and ʿAbd ar-Rahmān ibn Hassān al-ʿAnazī, were cruelly executed by Muawiya and himself. As governor of Iraq, Ziyād was subject to the entire eastern part of the empire. In 671 he settled 50,000 Arab families from Kufa and Basra in the Chorasan city of Marw . In this way he was able to consolidate the Arab rule over these areas. He also reorganized the Arab troops in Basra and Kufa. This enabled the start of new campaigns in eastern Iran.

Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan died on August 23, 673. He was, next to al-Hajjaj ibn Yūsuf (694-714), the most important governor of Iraq and one of the most important pillars of the Umayyads in the east of the caliphate.

literature

I. Hasson: Art. "Ziyād ibn Abīhi" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. XI, pp. 519a-522a.
Gernot Rotter: The Umayyads and the Second Civil War. Wiesbaden 1982

Individual evidence

↑ See Hasson 520b.
↑ See H. Lammen: Art: "Ḥudjr ibn ʿAdī" in Encyclopaedia of Islam Second Edition. Vol. III. P. 545 and the detailed account of the killing of the hudrhs in Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani : Kitāb al-Aghānī . Ed. M. Abu l-Fadl Ibrahim. Vol. XVII, pp. 132-155.

personal data
SURNAME	Ziyād ibn Abī Sufyan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ziyād ibn Abī-hi; زياد بن أبي سفيان (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Arab governor in Iraq
DATE OF BIRTH	6th century or 7th century
DATE OF DEATH	August 23, 673

[1] See Hasson 520b.

[2] See H. Lammen: Art: "Ḥudjr ibn ʿAdī" in Encyclopaedia of Islam Second Edition. Vol. III. P. 545 and the detailed account of the killing of the hudrhs in Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani : Kitāb al-Aghānī . Ed. M. Abu l-Fadl Ibrahim. Vol. XVII, pp. 132-155.