Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

29

SULAYMAN
(715-717 A.D./96-99 A.H)
Sulayman succeeded his brother al-Walid to the throne of Damascus in the order their father Abdul Malik had prescribed in advance. Hajjaj b. Yusuf induced Walid to nominate his son as his successor which caused hatred between him and Sulayman. Hajjaj died before Sulaxman succeeded but his men suffered the consequences of the hostility between the two. With Walid the expansion of empire and patronage of art and culture ended and under Sulayman, politically, the empire waned though the grandeur of the Court increased. Sulayman’s treatments with Abdul Aziz b. Musa, Governor of Spain, and recall of Muhammad b. Qasim from Sind slackened the administration of Spain and checked the expansion in the East. Apprehending danger from Sulayman as he \\as alarmed by his cruelties meted out to the relatives and adherents of Hajjaj including Muhammad b. Qasim, Qutaybah tried to resist the Government but he was captured, killed and his head along with those of his eleven brothers was sent to the Caliph by the Azd and Tamim. EXPEDITIONS TO CENTRAL ASIA
Sulayman appointed Hajjaj’s bitterest enemy Yazid, the son of al-Muhallab ibn abi Sufrah, to the viceroyalty of Iraq. Fearing to be unpopular by collecting the heavy taxes assessed by Hajjaj, he appointed Salih ibn Abdur Rahman, a neo-Muslim of Sijistan, as collector of revenue and himself went to the frontier of Khurasan to continue the expedition undertaken by Qutaybah with the assistance of the Azd and Tamim. He went to Merv and attacked Jurjan which had been subdued b> Caliph Usman but meanwhile had stopped the
Sulayman 407
payment of tribute. The chief of Jurjan submitted after hard resistance in 98 A.H./716 A.D.
A large number of the Jurjanis were killed in the battle-field and many of them were taken prisoners. The same year, leaving behind 4,000 so-diers In Jurjan Yazid attacked Tabatistan, the prince fled to the hills followed by Muslims, who were discomfited in the defiles Emboldened by this, the Jurjanis (Georgians) rose in revolt and killed the Muslim garrison to a man. Being thus cut off in the rear Yazid made peace with the Chief of Tabaristart and laid sieise io Jurjan afresh, it tell afiei sev»,n rnouuia icsistance anu ^.’wIJcu a booty worth 30 to 40 million dirhams possibly an exaggerated amount.’