Ziyad ibn Abihi | |
|---|---|
 Sasanian-style silver dirham, struck in the name of "Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan" | |
| Umayyad governor of Basra | |
| In office June/July 665–670 | |
| Monarch | Mu'awiya I |
| Preceded by | Al-Harith ibn Abd Allah[a] |
| Umayyad governor of Iraq | |
| In office 670–673 | |
| Monarch | Mu'awiya I |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Abd Allah ibn Khalid (in Kufa) Samura ibn Jundab (in Basra) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 622 |
| Died | 23 August 673 al-Thawiyya near Kufa |
| Spouses |
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| Children |
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| Parent | Sumayya (mother) |
Abu al-Mughira Ziyad ibn Abihi (Arabic: أبو المغيرة زياد بن أبيه, romanized: Abū al-Mughīra Ziyād ibn Abīhi; c. 622–673), also known as Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan (Arabic: زياد بن أبي سفيان, romanized: Ziyād ibn Abī Sufyān), was an administrator and statesman of the successive Rashidun and Umayyad caliphates in the mid-7th century. He served as the governor of Basra in 665–670 and ultimately the first governor of Iraq and practical viceroy of the eastern Caliphate between 670 and his death.
Ziyad's parentage is obscure, but he was raised among the Banu Thaqif in Ta'if, near Mecca. He arrived with his adoptive tribesmen in Basra upon its foundation in 636 as the Muslim Arabs' springboard for the conquest of the Sasanian Empire. He was initially employed by the city's first governor, Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini, and was kept on as a scribe or secretary by his successors. Caliph Ali (r. 656–661) appointed Ziyad governor of Fars to suppress a local rebellion and he maintained his loyalty to Ali's caliphate after the latter's assassination in 661 and the subsequent rule of Ali's opponent, Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680). The latter overcame Ziyad's opposition, formally recognized him as his own paternal half-brother and appointed him governor of Basra. Ziyad's inaugural speech, in which he announced his carrot-and-stick approach to governing the city's turbulent population, is celebrated in Arab history for its eloquence.
After the death of Kufa's governor, Ziyad's mentor al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba, Mu'awiya made Ziyad the first governor of a unified Iraqi province. He administratively reorganized the garrison cities and minted Sasanian-style silver dirhams in his own name. He firmly established Arab power and recommenced conquests in the Caliphate's easternmost province of Khurasan by relocating there 50,000 Arab soldiers and their families from Iraq and dispatching expeditionary forces against Tukharistan, Balkh and Quhistan. Although the mass resettlement improved Iraq's economic and political conditions by siphoning off Arab tribal soldiers from the overcrowded garrisons and creating new opportunities for war spoils, the move had major ramifications for the Caliphate as the descendants of these Khurasani Arab troops formed the army that toppled the Umayyads in 750.
Ziyad died near Kufa in 673, but his sons Ubayd Allah, Abd al-Rahman, Salm, Abbad and Yazid went on to hold posts as governors or deputy governors of Iraq, Khurasan and Sijistan. Ziyad was the subject of early Arabic biographies and is remembered in Arab history as one of the four great wise men of his era and as a highly skilled administrator and orator. His administration in Iraq served as a model for his successors.
- ^ Morony 1987, p. 76.
- ^ Howard 1990, p. 33, note 153.
- ^ Morony 1976, p. 57.
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