Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi (Arabic: أبو محمد الحجاج بن يوسف بن الحكم بن أبي عقيل الثقفي, romanized: Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī ʿAqīl al-Thaqafī; c. 661–714), known simply as al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (Arabic: الحجاج بن يوسف, romanized: al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf), was probably the most notable governor who served the Umayyad Caliphate. He began his service under Caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705), who successively promoted him as the head of the caliph's shurta (select troops), the governor of the Hejaz (western Arabia) in 692–694, and the practical viceroy of a unified Iraqi province and the eastern parts of the Caliphate in 694. Al-Hajjaj retained the last post under Abd al-Malik's son and successor al-Walid I (r. 705–715), whose dec