Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath al-Khuza'i

Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath al-Khuza'i (Arabic: محمد بن الاشعث الخزاعي) was an early Abbasid follower and later became Abbasid governor in Iran, Egypt and Ifriqiya for the Abbasid Caliphate.

Life[]

Muhammad was a deputy naqib during the Abbasid missionary phase in Khurasan and the Abbasid Revolution that followed.^[1] Upon the spread of the Revolution, Abu Muslim appointed Muhammad as governor of , Fars and Kerman.^[1] In 755 he participated in the suppression of the rebellion of Sunpadh at Rayy, and in the next year fought against another rebel, , also at Rayy (although the two events may have been mixed up in the sources, so that Muhammad may in reality have been present only at one).^[1]

In 758/9, he was named governor of Egypt, a post he held until 760/1,^[1] and was then sent west against the Ibadites of Ifriqiya.^[2] According to the Mamluk historian Safadi, he was also governor of Damascus under al-Mansur.^[2] Muhammad died in 766, while on his way to take part in a summer raid against the Byzantine Empire.^[2]

His sons also had distinguished careers: Ja'far was sahib al-shurta for Harun al-Rashid and governor of Khurasan, while Nasr was governor of Palestine and of Sindh.^[2]

References[]

Sources[]

• Crone, Patricia (1980). Slaves on horses: the evolution of the Islamic polity. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52940-9.