Hajjaj Ibn e Yusuf was a Hafiz-e-Quran (who has memorized the Quran). He used to recite 10 Surahs in one rak’ah of Tahajjud, lead congregational prayers and shun alcohol and fornication, but he was extremely cruel. Due to his cruelties, he had to face a very instructive death.
Hazrat Saeed bin Jubair, who was a Tabi’i elder, one day while sitting on the pulpit voiced these words: “Hajjaj is a cruel person.”
When Hajjaj came to know that you thought so about me, he called you to the court and asked.
Have you said such things about me?? So you said yes, you are indeed a cruel person. Hearing this, Hajjaj’s complexion turned red with anger and issued the orders to kill him. When they started taking him out of the court to be killed, he smiled.
Hajjaj felt disgusted and asked him why are you smiling. He replied, “I am smiling at your foolishness and at the lenience that Allah is giving you.”
Hajjaj then ordered that Saeed must be slaughtered in front of me. When the dagger was placed on his neck, he turned his face towards the Qiblah and said:
“O Allah, my face is towards You, I am pleased with Your pleasure. This Hajjaj is neither the master of death nor of life.”
When Hajjaj heard this, he said: Turn his face away from the Qiblah. When Saeed’s face was turned away from the Qiblah, he said: “O Allah, wherever you turn, you are present everywhere. Your rule is everywhere, east and west. I pray that my killing will be his last injustice, and that he will not impose it on anyone after me.”
When these words were uttered from his tongue, he was killed at the same time and so much blood flowed that the palace was wet. A wise servant said that so much blood flows only when someone smiles happily and is pleased with the pleasure of Allah.
Everyone is familiar with the name of Hajjaj bin Yusuf. Abdul Malik appointed Hajjaj as the deputy of Mecca, Medina, Taif and Yemen, and after the death of his brother Bishr, he sent him to Iraq from where he entered Kufa. Hajjaj’s activities continued in these areas for twenty years. He achieved great victories while sitting in Kufa.
During his reign, Muslim fighters reached China. Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf taught the Arabs the Holy Quran. Allah Almighty blessed him with great eloquence and courage. Hajjaj was a Hafiz-e-Quran. He avoided drinking alcohol and immorality. He was a devotee of jihad and eager for conquests. But all his good deeds were overshadowed by one evil, and what was that evil? “Oppression”
Hajjaj was very cruel, he had taken the form of a bloodthirsty beast in his life. On one hand, Musa bin Nusair and Muhammad bin Qasim were beheading the disbelievers, and on the other hand, he himself was playing Holi with the blood of the servants of Allah, saints and scholars. Hajjaj killed one hundred and twenty thousand people, in his prisons there were eighty thousand prisoners at a time every day, of which thirty thousand were women. The last one he killed was the great Tabi’i and ascetic and pious man Hazrat Saeed bin Jubair (may Allah be pleased with him).
After killing them, Hajjaj became terrified, he became a psychopath. Whenever Hajjaj slept, Hazrat Saeed bin Jubair would come to him in his dream, grab his skirt and say, “O enemy of Allah, why did you kill me? What did I do to you?” In response, Hajjaj would say, “What happened to me and Saeed?”
Along with this, Hajjaj contracted the disease called Zamhiriri, in which a severe cold would rise from the liver and cover the whole body, he would shiver, fire-filled rings would be brought to him and placed so close that his skin would burn, but he would not feel it. When he showed it to the doctors, they told him that he had cancer in his stomach. A doctor took a piece of meat and tied it with a thread and put it down Hajjaj’s throat.
After a while, when the thread was pulled, a very strange breed of worms had attached themselves to this piece of meat and there was such a bad smell that it spread over a distance of a square mile. The courtier got up and ran away, the doctor also started running, Hajjaj said, “Where are you going, complete my treatment?” The doctor said, “Your disease is not earthly, but heavenly. Beg pardon from Allah” When Hajjaj became disappointed with materialistic measures, he called Hazrat Hasan Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) and requested him to pray.
Seeing the condition of Hajjaj, he wept and said, “I had forbidden you not to tamper with the righteous servants, not to oppress them, but you did not stop… Today, Hajjaj had become a lesson. He was burning inside and out, he was broken inside. Hajjaj also died forty days after the death of Hazrat Ibn Jubair (may Allah be pleased with him).
After seeing no possibility of survival, Hajjaj called his close relatives who visited him unwillingly. He told them, “If I die, lets organize the funeral prayer at night and in the morning, erase the mark of my grave because people will not leave me in the grave even after death.” The next day, Hajjaj’s stomach burst and he died.
Allah definitely gives opportunity to the oppressor but when He takes account of the oppressor, even the angels tremble with fear of Allah, the Throne shakes.
May Allah protect us all from the oppression of the oppressors.
