KHALID AL-QASRI

died November 743, Kufah, Iraq in full Khalid Ibn 'abd Allah Al-qasri a governor of Iraq under the Umayyad caliphate. Khalid began his official career in 710 as governor of Mecca, a position he held until 715, when the caliph al-Walid, who had appointed him, was succeeded by Sulayman, who dismissed him. Until 724 he lived in retirement but was then given the highly important governorship of Iraq, where he exercised ruthless brutality to achieve an administrative efficiency untroubled by any expressions of discontent. He also attempted to develop the agricultural prosperity of Iraq. Marshes were drained, great areas of virgin soil were brought under cultivation, and the country was kept free from military disturbances. But he was unable to reduce the tension between the two great Arab tribal confederations, the Qays and the Yemeni. Khalid's position was complicated by the fact that his mother was a Christian, and to please her he had built a church in Kufah. Under much pressure from the enemies of Khalid al-Qasri, the caliph Hisham in 738 dismissed him from office, even jailing him on charges of embezzlement, although after a year he was released and allowed to live peacefully in Damascus for the rest of Hisham's reign. Under Hisham's successor, al-Walid ibn Yazid, Khalid was taken to Kufah and executed.