Who Was al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf? The destroyer of Thaqif in Islamic History

Before the worldBefore Adam

The first nationsAdam to Shuayb

Egypt and Bani Israilc. 1300–1000 BCE

Bani Israil and Romec. 1000 BCE – 250 CE

Arabia before IslamUp to 570 CE

Enemies of the Prophet ﷺ610–632 CE

After the Prophet ﷺ632–1000 CE

Crusades and conquests1090–1502 CE

The end of timeStill to come

Ten signs before the Hour

Isa ibn Maryam descends
A landslide in the east
A landslide in the west
A landslide in Arabia
The smoke
The sun rises from the west
The Beast of the earth
A fire from Yemen drives people to their gathering

Sahih Muslim lists ten major signs before the Hour without fixing their order. This follows a common order given by the scholars. Sahih Muslim 2901a ↗

Villains of history64 / 76

الحجاج بن يوسف الثقفي

al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf

The destroyer of Thaqif692–714 CE

Umayyad governor who besieged Makkah, struck the Kaaba with catapults and killed Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr in 692. In Iraq he ruled by fear and killed thousands, among them the great scholar Sa'id ibn Jubayr.

How it ended

He died in 714, months after Sa'id. His rule also saw dots and vowel marks added to the Quran's script and Sindh opened by his kinsman Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, but scholars remember him as the 'destroyer' the Prophet ﷺ foretold.

But whoever kills a believer intentionally - his recompense is Hell, wherein he will abide eternally, and Allah has become angry with him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a great punishment.
Quran 4:93

The lessonAsma', old and blind, told the most feared man in the empire the truth to his face.

In the Quran

4:93

Stood against: Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr
Source: Authentic hadithAsma' bint Abi Bakr told al-Hajjaj to his face that he was the destroyer (Sahih Muslim 2545). Most scholars count him a tyrant and a great sinner, not a disbeliever. Anas told those who complained of him to be patient (Sahih al-Bukhari 7068).Sahih Muslim 2545 ↗Sahih al-Bukhari 7068 ↗

Every villain in Islamic history, from Iblis to the Dajjal

Each entry is drawn from the Quran, authentic hadith (with links to sunnah.com), the classical commentators and the historians. Companions who fought Islam and later became Muslim are not included, nor are figures Muslims disagree about.