The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

A.I). 724-43] FALL OF KMALIIJ 387
of disloyal attachment to the house of Hashim.' He there- A.H. 105-
fore appointed Yusuf ibn 'Omar, of Thaklf and related to ^fl
Al-Hajjaj, governor of the Yemen, to succeed him. Without
warning, as was often done, Yusuf appeared at Al-Kufa, to
Khalid's dismay, carrying with him the Caliph's command
to realise with all due severity the last farthing of arrears,
from " the son of the Nazarene " and his lieutenants. Yusuf
was nothing loth to execute his commission ; for he sorely
hated Khalid as the persecutor of his clansman, 'Omar ibn
llubeira. It was now the turn of the officers of Khalid to
be cruelly treated, and on himself a demand was made
altogether beyond his power to liquidate. He was tortured
(meet reward for the cruel treatment of his predecessor) and
cast into prison. After a year and a half, the Caliph ordered
his release, and allowed him, against the reclamations of
Yusuf, to join the army then fighting against the Greeks.
But in the next reign, as we shall see, he was again pursued
by the relentless hate of Yusuf.
The supersession of Khalid was highly unpopular, Yusuf
especially with the Yemeni clan in Al-'Irak. His successor sTcweThim
Yusuf, a little man with a long beard, besides being of v. 120 a. h.'
Modar blood, had already distinguished himself by a 7
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tyrannous administration in south Arabia. He is praised,
indeed, for restoring the prestige of Islam, and humiliating
the Jewish and Christian faiths. But though devout and
given to long prayers, soft in speech, and a master in poetry,
Yusuf was of a cruel and even savage nature."-^ In the course
'
He possibly was so in reality, though not openly. When accused
of partiality towards the house of 'All, and of lending them money, he
answered how could that be, when every day he cursed 'Ali in the
public prayers ;
but that the people said was merely to curry favour.
- For example, he was capricious about his garments, and chastised
the tailor if they were not fitting to his taste. He would draw his nail
across the stuff, and if it stuck anywhere, have the weaver beaten, or
even his hand cut off. His secretary one day, slack at work, complained
of toothache as the cause ; the barber removed the suffering tooth, and
the next also as a punishment. One of the tales passes belief. Preparing
for a journey, he asked one of his slave-girls whether she wished
lo follow ; on her answering in the affirmative, he abused her as thinking
of nothing but love, and had her beheaded ; a second, preferring to
stay with her child, shared the same fate. A third replied in terror
that slic knew not w liat to say, as either way she must give offence, anil