Abu Hafsa Yazid (
Arabic: ابو حفص يزيد,
romanized: Abū Ḥafṣa Yazīd) was a mawla, or servant, of the
Umayyad Caliph
Marwan ibn al-Hakkam (
r. 684–685).[1] Yazid's full name is not known; Abu Hafsa means "father of Hafsa" (an Arabic kunya).
Abu Hafsa Yazid's origins are unclear; he may have been either
Persian or
Jewish.[2] He may have been taken prisoner as a youth in the capture of
Istakhr in ca 650 CE, and later sold to the
Caliph. Marwan freed him on the day of the assassination of
Uthman ibn Affan (17 June 656). Sources vary as to whether Abu Hafsa Yazid converted to
Islam or retained his
Jewish faith.[1]
Abu Hafsa Yazid is sometimes described as
court physician to the
CaliphUmar I around the year 643 CE,[4] however this may be an error based on writings by later
Arab historians, as he is not called a physician in the earliest texts.[5]
References
^
abIbn Khallikan (1868).
Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 3. Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. pp. 343–347. Retrieved 2011-12-12.