Hafs ibn al-Walid ibn Yusuf al-Hadrami

Hafs ibn al-Walid ibn Yusuf al-Hadrami (Arabic: حفص بن الوليد بن يوسف الحضرمي) was a governor of Egypt for the Umayyad Caliphate in the mid-8th century.

Hafs ibn al-Walid ibn Yusuf al-Hadrami حفص بن الوليد بن يوسف الحضرمي
Umayyad governor of Egypt
In office 27 April 727 – 16 May 727
Monarch	Hisham
Preceded by	Al-Hurr ibn Yusuf
Succeeded by	Abd al-Malik ibn Rifa'a al-Fahmi
In office 2 July 742 – 21 March 745
Monarchs	Hisham, Al-Walid II, Yazid III, Ibrahim, Marwan II
Preceded by	Handhala ibn Safwan al-Kalbi
Succeeded by	Hassan ibn Atahiyah
In office 7 April 745 – 4 October 745
Monarch	Marwan II
Preceded by	Hassan ibn Atahiyah
Succeeded by	Hawthara ibn Suhayl
Personal details
Died	745
Parent	Al-Walid ibn Yusuf al-Hadrami

Hafs was a member of a well-connected family from the original Arab settler community in Egypt, the "jund",^[1] chiefly resident at the capital of Fustat, which had traditionally dominated the province's administration.^[2]

He had served as sahib al-shurta (chief of police) prior to his rise to the governorship.^[1] With the death of Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 743, the Umayyad regime entered a period of instability—that eventually culminated in civil war—and Hafs sought to use the weakness of the Umayyad government to re-affirm the predominance of the jund in Egyptian affairs against the Qays Syrians who had come to Egypt with Umayyad backing over the previous years.^[3] The Syrians were forcibly expelled from Fustat, and Hafs set about recruiting a force of 30,000 men, named Hafsiya after him, from among the native non-Arab converts ("maqamisa" and "mawali"). When the pro-Qays Marwan II rose to the throne in 744, Hafs resigned and the new Caliph ordered his replacement with Hasan ibn Atahiya and the disbandment of the Hafsiya.^[1][4]

The Hafsiya, however, refused to accept the order to disband and mutinied, besieging the new governor in his residence until he and his sahib al-shurta both were forced to leave Egypt. Hafs, though unwilling, was restored by the mutinous troops as governor. In the next year, 745, Marwan dispatched a new governor, Hawthara ibn Suhayl al-Bahili, at the head of a large Syrian army. Despite his supporters' eagerness to resist, Hafs proved willing to surrender his position. Hawthara took Fustat without opposition, but immediately launched a purge, to which Hafs and several Hafsiya leaders fell victim.^[5]