Hafs ibn al-Walid ibn Yusuf al-Hadrami
Hafs ibn al-Walid ibn Yusuf al-Hadrami (Arabic: حفص بن الوليد بن يوسف الحضرمي) was a governor of Egypt for the Umayyad Caliphate in the mid-8th century.
Hafs was a member of a well-connected family from the original Arab settler community in Egypt, the "jund",[1] chiefly resident at the capital of Fustat, which had traditionally dominated the province's administration.[2]
He had served as sahib al-shurta (chief of police) prior to his rise to the governorship.[1] With the death of Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 743, the Umayyad regime entered a period of instability—that eventually culminated in civil war—and Hafs sought to use the weakness of the Umayyad government to re-affirm the predominance of the jund in Egyptian affairs against the Qays Syrians who had come to Egypt with Umayyad backing over the previous years.[3] The Syrians were forcibly expelled from Fustat, and Hafs set about recruiting a force of 30,000 men, named Hafsiya after him, from among the native non-Arab converts ("maqamisa" and "mawali"). When the pro-Qays Marwan II rose to the throne in 744, Hafs resigned and the new Caliph ordered his replacement with Hasan ibn Atahiya and the disbandment of the Hafsiya.[1][4]
The Hafsiya, however, refused to accept the order to disband and mutinied, besieging the new governor in his residence until he and his sahib al-shurta both were forced to leave Egypt. Hafs, though unwilling, was restored by the mutinous troops as governor. In the next year, 745, Marwan dispatched a new governor, Hawthara ibn Suhayl al-Bahili, at the head of a large Syrian army. Despite his supporters' eagerness to resist, Hafs proved willing to surrender his position. Hawthara took Fustat without opposition, but immediately launched a purge, to which Hafs and several Hafsiya leaders fell victim.[5]
References
- Kennedy (1998), p. 75
- Kennedy (1998), pp. 64ff.
- Kennedy (1998), pp. 74–75
- Kennedy (2001), p. 48
- Kennedy (1998), pp. 75–76
Sources
- Kennedy, Hugh (1998). "Egypt as a province in the Islamic caliphate, 641–868". In Petry, Carl F. (ed.). Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume One: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–85. ISBN 0-521-47137-0.
- Kennedy, Hugh N. (2001). The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25093-5.
| Preceded by Al-Hurr ibn Yusuf |
Governor of Egypt 727 |
Succeeded by Abd al-Malik ibn Rifa'a al-Fahmi |
| Preceded by Handhala ibn Safwan al-Kalbi |
Governor of Egypt 741–744 |
Succeeded by Hasan ibn Atahiya |
| Preceded by Hasan ibn Atahiya |
Governor of Egypt 744–745 |
Succeeded by Hawthara ibn Suhayl al-Bahili |