Ḥawthara ibn Suhayl al-BÃÂhilë () (died 750) was a Bedouin Arab administrator and military leader in the final years of the Umayyad Caliphate. The philosopher al-Kindë describes him as famous for his eloquence.
Ḥawthara was appointed wÃÂlë (governor) of Egypt in AD 745 (AH 128) by the Caliph MarwÃÂn II. He was dispatched with a large army drawn from the jund (army) of bilÃÂd al-ShÃÂm (Syria). Egypt at that time was under the de facto government of Ḥafá¹£ ibn al-Walëd, the former governor who had resigned at the accession of MarwÃÂn II. His body of non-Arab troops, the Ḥafṣëya, forced him back into power. He refused, however, to oppose Ḥawthara and, after some negotiations, the latter entered Fusá¹ÂÃÂt, the capital of Egypt.
Once in power, Ḥawthara purged the leadership of the Ḥafṣëya and executed Ḥafá¹£ himself. He recruited 2,300 troops from among the Umayyad clients (mawÃÂlë) and the Qays tribal confederation. His takeover of Egypt was a violent affair. He had to deal with a Coptic revolt in Bashmur. According to SÃÂwërus ibn al-Muqaffaÿ, he launched multiple attacks against the rebels from land and sea but failed to subdue them. In 749, MarwÃÂn II came in person with another Syrian army, but his proposed armistice was rejected. In an effort to break the stalemate, Ḥawthara seized the Coptic patriarch, Khaþil I, held him hostage in Rashëd and threatened to kill him. The gambit failed and the rebels sacked Rashëd. Although he ordered Khaþil's execution, Ḥawthara called it off at the last minute.
In January 749, Ḥawthara was sent to bolster the forces of Ibn Hubayra during the Abbasid uprising. According to al-Ṭabarë, he brought with him 20,000 Syrian troops, including cavalry, to Fallà «ja. When Qaḥá¹Âaba ibn Shabëb marched on Kà «fa, Ḥawthara advised Ibn Hubayra to head to Khorasan so that Qaḥá¹Âaba would either follow him or be defeated by MarwÃÂn at Kà «fa. Ibn Hubayra rejected the advice and put Ḥawthara in charge of the vanguard ordering him to try to beat Qaḥá¹Âaba to Kà «fa. On 28 August 749, a major battle was fought near Kà «fa in which Qaḥá¹Âaba was killed but the Umayyad army was forced to retreat. Ḥawthara retreated as far as the place called Qaá¹£r ibn Hubayra. From there he planned to march on Kà «fa, where the governor, Muḥammad ibn Khalëd al-Qasrë, had joined the rebellion. When his troops began abandoning him, however, he decided to join Ibn Hubayra at WÃÂsiá¹Â.
Ḥawthara advised Ibn Hubayra not to remain in WÃÂsiá¹Â, but he was ignored. WÃÂsiá¹ was besieged for eleven months, during which time he served as head of the shurá¹Âa. After its surrender, according to al-Ṭabarë, Ḥawthara was executed on the orders of Abà « Jaÿfar. According to SÃÂwërus ibn al-Muqaffaÿ, however, he was executed in Egypt by MarwÃÂn II.