Hassan ibn Atahiyah

A member of the clan of Tujib, Hassan was a descendant of another Hassan ibn Atahiyah who had participated in the Islamic conquest of Egypt and been a companion of the Rashidun caliph Umar.[1] His grandfather, Abd al-Rahman ibn Hassan, had served as chief of police (sahib al-shurtah) of Egypt during the governorship of Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan (r. 685–705).[2]

In 745 Hassan was appointed governor of Egypt by the caliph Marwan ibn Muhammad as replacement for Hafs ibn al-Walid ibn Yusuf al-Hadrami. Arriving in the province in March, he initially attempted to disband the army units that had been raised by Hafs, but this measure was violently rejected by the soldiers and a mutiny quickly broke out. The soldiers declared that they would refuse to recognize any governor other than Hafs and placed Hassan under siege in his house, while others proceeded to the Mosque of Fustat and called for Marwan to be deposed from the caliphate. In the end, both Hassan and the local tax officer were forced to depart from the province and Hafs was restored to power, with Hassan having held the governorship for just sixteen days.[3]

Following his expulsion from Egypt, Hassan made his way to Syria and reported to Marwan what had happened.[4] According to al-Kindi, he later returned to Egypt and was appointed as sahib al-shurtah after Hafs and his supporters were purged by Hawtharah ibn Suhayl;[5] Ibn Taghribirdi on the other hand claims that he remained at the Umayyad court until the time of the Abbasid Revolution.[1] In any case, he fell victim to the revolution following the fall of the Umayyad house in 750; brought before the new governor Salih ibn Ali, he was flogged and subsequently turned over for execution.[6]

• Ibn 'Asakir, Abu al-Qasim 'Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Hibat Allah (1995). al-'Amrawi, 'Umar ibn Gharama (ed.). Tarikh Madinat Dimashq (in Arabic). Vol. 12. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr.
• Ibn 'Asakir, Abu al-Qasim 'Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Hibat Allah (1997). al-'Amrawi, 'Umar ibn Gharama (ed.). Tarikh Madinat Dimashq (in Arabic). Vol. 50. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr.
• Ibn Taghribirdi, Jamal al-Din Abu al-Mahasin Yusuf (1929). Nujum al-zahira fi muluk Misr wa'l-Qahira, Volume I (in Arabic). Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya.
• Kennedy, Hugh (1998). "Egypt as a province in the Islamic caliphate, 641–868". In Petry, Carl F. (ed.). Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume One: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–85. ISBN 0-521-47137-0.
• Al-Kindi, Muhammad ibn Yusuf (1912). Guest, Rhuvon (ed.). The Governors and Judges of Egypt (in Arabic). Leyden and London: E. J. Brill.
• Robinson, Chase F. (2010). "The Violence of the Abbasid Revolution". In Suleiman, Yasir (ed.). Living Islamic History: Studies in Honour of Professor Carole Hillenbrand. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 226–251. ISBN 978-0-7486-3738-6.
• Severus of Al'Ashmunein (1910). "Part 3: Agathon - Michael I (766 AD)". In EVETTS, B. (ed.). History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria.