Umar ibn Hubayrah al-Fazari

Umar ibn Hubayrah al-Fazari al-Qaysi (died 105 AH / 723 CE) was an Umayyad governor and military commander who served as governor of Iraq under Caliphs Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik and briefly under Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. He was known as a forceful administrator who implemented Umayyad fiscal policies strictly but was also noted by later Muslim historians for seeking a legal ruling on whether he was required to obey unjust orders from the caliph.

The famous account of his consultation with Imam Hasan al-Basri and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri on the question of obeying unjust rulers became one of the notable episodes in the history of Islamic political theology. He reportedly brought both scholars to his residence and asked them whether a governor was obligated to carry out the orders of an unjust caliph. Hasan al-Basri reportedly answered that the governor had no excuse and should refuse unjust commands. This encounter illustrates the tension between political authority and moral obligation in early Islamic jurisprudence.

He was eventually removed from the governorship of Iraq by Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, who replaced him with Khalid ibn Abd Allah al-Qasri. His removal and subsequent trials reflected the factional conflicts within the Umayyad administration between Qaysi and Yamani tribal factions.

He was executed by Khalid al-Qasri after his removal, dying around 105 AH. His career illustrated the precarious position of provincial governors under the Umayyad system and the moral dilemmas faced by administrators caught between caliphal authority and religious obligation.