detail. His first care was to put an end to the
tyrannical rule of the Qaisites (Modarites) in Irak and Khorasan by
dismissing Omar b. Hobaira and appointing in his place Khalid al-Qasri.
This very able man, who under Hajjaj had been prefect of Mecca, belonged
properly neither to the Qaisites nor to the Yemenites, but as he took
the place of Ibn Hobaira and dismissed his partisans from their posts,
the former considered him as their adversary, the latter as their
benefactor. After his death, in particular, the Yemenites celebrated him
as their chief, and assigned as the reason for their revolt the injuries
which he suffered. Khalid himself assuredly did not intend it. He was a
loyal servant of the dynasty, and remained such even after receiving
very harsh treatment from them. For fifteen years Khalid governed the
eastern half of the empire, and continued to maintain peace with only
few exceptions throughout. He did much for the reclaiming and improving
of lands in Irak, in which the caliph himself and several princes took
an active part. The great revenues obtained thereby naturally caused
much jealousy. Khalid lived on a very rich scale and was extraordinarily
liberal, and he was charged with having carried out all his improvements
for his own interests, and upbraided for selling the corn of his estates
only when the prices were high. To these charges were added the
accusation that he was too tolerant to Christians, Jews and
Zoroastrians. As his mother professed the Christian religion, he was
accused of infidelity. At last a conspiracy, into which the principal
engineer of Khalid, Hassan the Nabataean, had been drawn, succeeded in
inciting Hisham against Khalid. They told him that Khalid had used
disrespectful terms in speaking of the caliph, and that he had
appropriated revenues belonging to the state. The latter imputation
especially influenced Hisham, who was very parsimonious. When the
dismissal of Khalid had been resolved upon, Yusuf b. Omar, his appointed
successor, was sent secretly to Kufa, where he seized on Khalid
unawares. For eighteen months Khalid remained in prison. But when he
declined even under torture to confess that he had been guilty of
extensive peculation, he was finally released. He settled at Damascus
and made a noble return for his injuries by taking an active part in the
war against the Greeks. In the summer of A.D. 740, while he was in Asia
Minor, a great fire broke out in Damascus, the guilt