Al-Walīd ibn ʿUtba ibn Abī Sufyān () (died 684) was an
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
ruling family member and statesman during the reigns of the
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
caliphs
Mu'awiya I
Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
() and
Yazid I
Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan ( ar, يزيد بن معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya ibn ʾAbī Sufyān; 64611 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. He ruled from ...
(). He served two stints as the
governor of Medina
In early Islamic history, the governor of Medina () was an official who administered the city of Medina and its surrounding territories.
During the era of the Rashidun, Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates, the governor was generally appointed b ...
in 677/78–680 and 681–682. He was dismissed during his first term for failing to secure oaths of allegiance from
Husayn ibn Ali
Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, أبو عبد الله الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi ...
and other senior Muslim figures who opposed Yazid's accession. After his relocation to
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
during the
Second Fitna
The Second Fitna was a period of general political and military disorder and civil war in the Islamic community during the early Umayyad Caliphate., meaning trial or temptation) occurs in the Qur'an in the sense of test of faith of the believer ...
, he was imprisoned in 684 for proclaiming his support for continued Umayyad rule and condemning the anti-Umayyad caliph
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam ( ar, عبد الله ابن الزبير ابن العوام, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām; May 624 CE – October/November 692), was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the ...
. He was freed shortly after by his kinsman
Khalid ibn Yazid and the pro-Umayyad
Banu Kalb tribe.
Life
![Sufyanid dynasty genealogy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Sufyanid_dynasty_genealogy.png)
Al-Walid belonged to the
Umayyad clan and was a son of
Utba ibn Abi Sufyan
Utba ibn Abi Sufyan ibn Harb ( ar, عتبة بن أبي سفيان بن حرب, ʿUtba ibn Abī Sufyān ibn Ḥarb) was a member of the Umayyad ruling family and served as the Umayyad governor of Egypt in 664–665, during the reign of his broth ...
and thus a paternal nephew of Caliph
Mu'awiya I
Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
(), founder of the
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
centered in
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
.
[Howard 1990, p. 2, note 8.] He may have led the annual
Hajj
The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
pilgrimage to
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
in October 676. According to the early Muslim historian
al-Waqidi (died 823), Mu'awiya appointed al-Walid governor of Medina in September/October 677, while according to another 8th-century historian Abu Mash'ar, he was appointed in August/September 678. He replaced his Umayyad cousin,
Marwan ibn al-Hakam
Marwan ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As ibn Umayya ( ar, links=no, مروان بن الحكم بن أبي العاص بن أمية, Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ ibn Umayya), commonly known as MarwanI (623 or 626April/May 685), was the fo ...
. He led the Hajj again in September 678. According to the accounts of the early Muslim historian
al-Baladhuri (died 892), al-Walid had a reputation for drinking and was involved in intra-dynastic disputes over power in the caliphate from the beginning of his career.
Mu'awiya nominated his own son,
Yazid I
Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan ( ar, يزيد بن معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya ibn ʾAbī Sufyān; 64611 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. He ruled from ...
, as successor in a move unprecedented in Islamic history. When Yazid acceded in 680, he charged al-Walid with securing the oaths of allegiance to him from
al-Husayn ibn Ali,
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam ( ar, عبد الله ابن الزبير ابن العوام, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām; May 624 CE – October/November 692), was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the ...
and
Abd Allah ibn Umar Abd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ( ar, عبد الله بن عمر, link=no) may refer to:
* Banu Makhzum, Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn Makhzum (died late 5th-century), chief of the Banu Makhzum and father of al-Mughira ibn Abd Allah
* Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn al-Kha ...
, all of whom had earlier refused to recognize Mu'awiya's nomination of Yazid.
[Vaglieri 1971, p. 607.] Accordingly, al-Walid invited Husayn and Ibn al-Zubayr to the governor's palace in Medina, which aroused both of their suspicions; Ibn al-Zubayr fled to Mecca, while Husayn agreed to meet al-Walid accompanied by his retinue of clansmen and ''
mawali'' (non-Arab clients or freedmen).
Al-Walid informed Husayn of Mu'awiya's death and demanded the oath of allegiance to Yazid.
Husayn suggested his recognition of Yazid, to be legitimate, should be made in public, to which al-Walid agreed.
Instead, al-Husayn managed to delay his public recognition for two days, allowing him to escape to Mecca.
Marwan ibn al-Hakam pressed al-Walid to respond with force, but al-Walid was not willing to take violent measures against Husayn as he was a grandson of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
.
[Vaglieri 1971, p. 608.] Meanwhile, al-Walid had sent horsemen to pursue Ibn al-Zubayr, but they were unable to reach him. Al-Walid's lax approach led to his dismissal by Yazid in June 680 and replacement by another Umayyad,
Amr ibn Sa'id ibn al-As.
Al-Walid was reappointed governor of Medina at the beginning of the Hajj on 21 August 681. He led the Hajj that year and the next year, in August 682.
[Howard 1990, p. 188.] Al-Walid was unsuccessful in his efforts to subdue Ibn al-Zubayr, who had launched a revolt against the Umayyads from his base in Mecca.
[Howard 1990, p. 197.] While al-Walid led the Hajj on behalf of the Umayyad authorities in 682, Ibn al-Zubayr led his own followers, as did the
Kharijite
The Kharijites (, singular ), also called al-Shurat (), were an Islamic sect which emerged during the First Fitna (656–661). The first Kharijites were supporters of Ali who rebelled against his acceptance of arbitration talks to settle the c ...
leader
Najda ibn 'Amir al-Hanafi
Najda ibn Amir al-Hanafi ( ar, نجدة بن عامر الحنفي, Najda ibn ʿĀmir al-Ḥanafī; ) was the head of a breakaway Kharijite state in central and eastern Arabia between 685 and his death at the hands of his own partisans. His emergen ...
.
According to the accounts recorded in the history of
al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
, in an apparent ploy, Ibn al-Zubayr subsequently sent a letter to Yazid in which he referred to al-Walid as a "stupid man who does not direct us to a straightforward situation" and suggested he should appoint a more amiable governor that Ibn al-Zubayr would in turn cooperate with.
Yazid agreed and appointed al-Walid's cousin
Uthman ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Sufyan
ʿUthman ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Sufyān () () was a member of the Umayyad ruling family who served as the governor of Medina under the Umayyad caliph Yazid I () in 682 until being expelled by its townspeople in 683 during the Second Fitna.
Life
...
in his place as governor.
The Umayyads of the
Hejaz
The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provin ...
, where Mecca and Medina are located, were expelled and relocated to Syria as the rebellion against Umayyad rule escalated. The successive deaths of Yazid and his son and successor, Caliph
Mu'awiya II, in 683 and 684 left a leadership void in Syria and precipitated the collapse of Umayyad authority throughout the caliphate.
[Hawting 1989, pp. 49–51.] Al-Walid had led the funeral prayers for Mu'awiya II.
[Bosworth 1993, p. 268.] The Umayyads' governor in
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
,
al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri, secretly supported Ibn al-Zubayr's suzerainty, but withheld openly recognizing him due to the strong presence of the Umayyads and their supporters in the city and vicinity of
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
.
Ibn Bahdal
Hassan ibn Malik ibn Bahdal al-Kalbi ( ar, حسان بن مالك بن بحدل الكلبي, Ḥassān ibn Mālik ibn Baḥdal al-Kalbī, commonly known as Ibn Bahdal ( ar, ابن بحدل, Ibn Baḥdal; d. 688/89), was the Umayyad governor of Pa ...
, a leader of the pro-Umayyad
Banu Kalb tribe, sent a letter condemning Ibn al-Zubayr and proclaiming support for continued Umayyad rule with one of his tribesmen, a certain Naghida or Na'isa, for al-Dahhak to read during the Friday prayers. When al-Dahhak refused to publicly read the letter, Naghida read it aloud, for which he was censured by al-Dahhak. Al-Walid then openly declared his support for Naghida's statement and was followed by members of the Banu Kalb and the
Ghassanids
The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as: ), also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom. They emigrated from southern Arabia in the early 3rd century to the Levan ...
who were in attendance. Al-Walid was imprisoned by al-Dahhak, but freed by Yazid's sons
Khalid
Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal", and it also appears as a surname. and Abd Allah and their maternal kinsmen from the Banu Kalb.
[Hawting 1989, p. 52.] The eldest surviving Sufyanid, al-Walid may have intended to claim the mantle of succession, but died, possibly of plague, in 684.
References
Bibliography
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684 deaths
7th-century Arabs
People of the Second Fitna
Umayyad dynasty
Umayyad governors of Medina