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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. Upon the spread of the Revolution, Abu Muslim appointed Muhammad as governor of Tabasayn, Fars and Kerman. In 755 he participated in the suppression of the rebellion of Sunpadh at Rayy, and in the next year fought against another rebel, Jawhar ibn Marar, 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).

In 758/9, he was named governor of Egypt, a post he held until 760/1, and was then sent west to conquer Ifriqiya for the Abbasids from the Ibadites in 761. According to the Mamluk historian Safadi, he was also governor of Damascus under al-Mansur. Muhammad died in 766, while on his way to take part in a summer raid against the Byzantine Empire.

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.

References

1. ^ Crone 1980, p. 184.
2. ^ Crone 1980, p. 185.

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.

• 766 deaths
• 8th-century Arab people
• 8th-century Abbasid governors of Egypt
• Generals of the Abbasid Caliphate
• Abbasid governors of Ifriqiya
• Abbasid governors of Fars
• 8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate
• 8th-century people from Ifriqiya
• Abbasid Revolution