Hajjaj ibn Ilat

(b d 'a) Hajjaj ibn 'Ilat ibn Khalid ibn Thuwayrah (١) ibn Hanthar ibn Hilal ibn 'Ubayd ibn Zafar ibn Sa'd ibn 'Amr ibn Taym (٢) ibn Bahz ibn Imri' al-Qays ibn Buhthah ibn Sulaym ibn Mansur al-Sulami, then al-Bahzi. His kunyah is:

Abu Kilab, and it is said: Abu Muhammad, and it is said: Abu 'Abd Allah.

He settled in Medina and is counted among its people. He built there a mosque and a house known by him. He is the father of Nasr ibn Hajjaj, whom 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, banished, when he heard the woman reciting:

Is there any way to wine that I might drink it … or is there any way to Nasr ibn Hajjaj? And he was handsome.

Al-Hajjaj embraced Islam, and his Islam was excellent, and he was present with the Prophet ﷺ at Khaybar. The cause of his Islam was that he went out in a caravan of his people to Mecca, and when night fell upon him, while he was in a desolate, frightening valley [he sat down (٣)], and his companions said to him:

Rise, O Abu Kilab, and take for yourself and your companions protection; so al-Hajjaj ibn 'Ilat rose, circling around them, guarding them, saying:

I shield my soul and shield my companions … from every jinn in this mountain pass, until I return safely with my caravan. Then he heard a speaker saying: ﴿O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by an authority﴾ (١). When he reached Mecca he reported that in the assembly of Quraysh, and they said to him: By Allah, you have apostatized, O Abu Kilab; this is, according to what Muhammad claims, what was revealed to him, so he said: By Allah, I heard it, and these heard it with me, then he embraced Islam.

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ conquered Khaybar, al-Hajjaj ibn 'Ilat said: O Messenger of Allah, I have wealth at Mecca, and I have family there, and I wish to come to them. Am I free to disparage you or to say something?

'Ubayd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn 'Ali informed us, with his chain to Yunus ibn Bukayr, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Ishaq, who said: Some of the people of Medina narrated to me, he said: When al-Hajjaj ibn 'Ilat al-Sulami embraced Islam, he was present at Khaybar with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he said: O Messenger of Allah, I have wealth at Mecca held by the merchants, and wealth with my wife Umm Shaybah bint Abi Talhah, the sister of Banu 'Abd al-Dar, and I fear that if they learn of my Islam they will take away my wealth, so permit me to join it, perhaps I may recover it, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

I have done so, he said: O Messenger of Allah, I must necessarily say something, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Say, and you are free to do so.

So al-Hajjaj went out, he said: When I reached the pass of al-Bayda' (٢), there was a group of Quraysh spying out the news, and when they saw me they said: This is al-Hajjaj, and he has the news, I said: The man has been defeated in the ugliest defeat you have heard of, and his companions have been killed, and Muhammad has been taken captive, so they said: We will not kill him until we send him to the people of Mecca, so that he may be killed in their midst. Then we came to Mecca, and they shouted in Mecca, and said: This is al-Hajjaj, who has come to you with the news that Muhammad has been captured, and you need only wait until he is brought to you so he may be killed in your midst, so I said: Help me gather my wealth, for I wish to go to Khaybar and buy from what has been seized from Muhammad before the merchants reach them; so they gathered my wealth in the swiftest gathering, and I said to my wife: My wealth, my wealth, perhaps I may catch up and seize the opportunities of trade; so she handed me my wealth.

When the report of that spread in Mecca, al-'Abbas came to me, while I was standing in the tent of a merchant, and he stood beside me, broken and grieved, and said: O Hajjaj, what is this news? So I said: Hold back from me until you meet me in private; so he did, then he came to me, and said:

O Hajjaj, what news do you have? So I said: That which, by Allah, will gladden you; by Allah I left your nephew having had Allah grant him conquest over Khaybar, and he killed those he killed of its people, and its wealth has become his and his companions', and I left him a bridegroom over the daughter of their king, and I have indeed embraced Islam, and I came only to take my wealth, then I will join the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; so keep the news secret for three days, for I fear pursuit; and I set out.

When the third day came, al-'Abbas put on a robe, perfumed himself, then took his staff and went out to the mosque, and he touched the Corner, so men of Quraysh looked at him, and said: O Abu al-Fadl, this, by Allah, is fortitude in the heat of calamity, so he said: No, by the One by whom you have sworn; rather Khaybar has been conquered, and it has become his and his companions', and he has been left a bridegroom over the daughter of its king, they said: Who informed you of this news? He said: Al-Hajjaj ibn 'Ilat, and he has indeed embraced Islam and followed Muhammad in his religion, and he came only to take his wealth, then to join him, so they said: O servants of Allah, the enemy of Allah has deceived us; and it was not long before the news reached them.

The three related it.