The Eloquent Tyrant: Speech and Empire in Umayyad Iraq under al Hajjaj b. Yusuf al-Thaqafi, 694-714

“People of Kufa [Iraq], I see heads that have ripened and are ready for harvesting. They are mine! I can almost see blood glistening between turbans and beards.” The chilling lines come from the inaugural speech by the Umayyad appointed governor of Iraq, Al-Hajjaj Yusuf Al-Thaqafi (694-714). A feared and hated ruler, blasted by Arabs and Muslims as a blood-soaked tyrant, he was also known for his erudite prose, speeches and poems. Despite his reputation, Hajjaj’s poetics remains popular in the Arab world today and a TV show about his life has been made.

Examining his speeches, prose and poetry and understanding it in the context of his rule, Pamela Klasova’s new book The Eloquent Tyrant: Speech and Empire in Umayyad Iraq under al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf al-Thaqafi, 694-714 aims to show us what the role of speech and rhetoric can teach us about tensions, political philosophy and governorship in Umayyad times. Until recently, Western scholarship has tended to ignore or disregard the role of oratory and poetry as a source of historical insight and so one of the aims of the book is to demonstrate why it needs to be taken seriously.

Klasova contests, “oratory as central to the political and religious life of the early Islamic empire under the Umayyads.” Through studying it, we learn of the deep tension between Arabic-speaking elites, the Iraqi population and resistance. Al-Hajjaj presents an interesting case study, aside from being a much maligned figure known for his eloquent speech, many of his speeches have been preserved in written form. Indeed, letters were often seen as an extension of public speech. One story told about Al-Hajjaj describes him as erupting with rage, when a letter being read aloud contained a greeting from the caliph and the audience offered no reaction to it. “While the anecdote is likely meant to illustrate the governor’s acerbic temper, it also reveals that he perceived the caliph’s letter as his direct speech.”

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In classical Greece and Rome, letters were often considered speeches in absentia, thus it could be treated as if the letter writer was speaking to you in person and a certain respect needed to be afforded to it. The Umayyads appear to have had a similar notion. Hence the importance of oratory would eventually be supplanted by written texts by the time we get to the Abbasids.

Al-Hajjaj’s speeches provide fascinating insight into the issues the Umayyads were dealing with. Iraq was a trouble spot for the new empire with a long history of revolt and disorder. Hajjaj was appointed governor to bring them into line. He wastes no time, he enters Kufa and gives a powerful speech, which contains his vision and warnings. “I am a son of clarity, who climbs narrow mountain paths; when I remove my turban you will know me!”

To his audience, two interesting claims emerge. On the one hand, as Klasova observes, al- Hajjaj lets people know that he’s an experienced warrior, but on the other hand, he may have virtues that will be unveiled once the fighting subsides. Al-Hajjaj is often treated as a godless tyrant in Muslim sources, but as the book shows, al-Hajjaj’s speeches contain clear evidence of his theological point of view. He clearly views the Quran’s call for obedience as extending to the caliph and that the caliph should be seen as divinely appointed. A revolt against the caliph is a revolt against God. Indeed, he routinely blasts Iraqis as being satanic for their frequent revolts, what this demonstrates is that the legitimacy of the Umayyad regime was not necessarily universally accepted and that these speeches are trying to make claims for it.

The Eloquent Tyrant offers a unique and fascinating glimpse into the world of late antiquities Iraq and makes the case that public speech, oratory and poetry are interlinked with understanding and untangling the past. The work opens up doors for a new generation of scholars trying to grapple with early Islamic history and provide a window onto ways oratory can help us make sense of it. The book would be interesting to anyone interested in the role of oratory in history as well as those interested in the history of the Middle East.