Bishr ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik () ( fl. 710–740s) 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 ...

prince and general who led military expeditions against the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

in 710/11 and 714/15 and later participated in the Umayyad opposition against his kinsman, Caliph al-Walid II (r. 743–744). He was later imprisoned by his erstwhile ally and kinsman, Caliph

Marwan II Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam ( ar, مروان بن محمد بن مروان بن الحكم, Marwān ibn Muḥammad ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam; – 6 August 750), commonly known as Marwan II, was the fourteenth and last caliph of ...

in 745 and presumably died in incarceration.

Life

Bishr was a son of the

caliph

al-Walid I Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ( ar, الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان, al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; ), commonly known as al-Walid I ( ar, الوليد الأول), was the sixth Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad ca ...

(r. 705–715).Vaglieri 1960, p. 1244. During his father's reign, he led a number of military campaigns against the

along the caliphate's northern frontier, including in 710/11 and the winter of 714/715. Also in 714, he was appointed '' amir al-hajj'' by his father, putting him in charge of leading the

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 ...

that year. Due to his high education, he was dubbed ''ʿalim Banū Marwān'' (scholar of the Marwanids), i.e. the ruling house of the Umayyad dynasty. Bishr returned to Syria after his father's death in early 715, according to 8th/9th-century historian

al-Waqidi Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami (Arabic ) (c. 130 – 207 AH; c. 747 – 823 AD) was a historian commonly referred to as al-Waqidi (Arabic: ). His surname is derived from his grandfather's name Waqid and thus he became fa ...

. Bishr is not mentioned again in the medieval sources until 743/44 when he became involved in the internecine struggle over the caliphate between the

Umayyad dynasty Umayyad dynasty ( ar, بَنُو أُمَيَّةَ, Banū Umayya, Sons of Umayya) or Umayyads ( ar, الأمويون, al-Umawiyyūn) were the ruling family of the Caliphate between 661 and 750 and later of Al-Andalus between 756 and 1031. In the ...

. To that end, he fought against his cousin Caliph al-Walid II in support of his brother,

Yazid III Yazīd ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (701 – 3/4 October 744) ( ar, يزيد بن الوليد بن عبد الملك) usually known simply as Yazid III was the twelfth Umayyad caliph. He reigned for six months, from April 15 to October 3 or ...

, despite warnings from his other brother and prominent wartime general, al-Abbas, to remain neutral. An account by Bishr's unnamed son of Bishr's disagreement with al-Abbas was recorded in the history of 9th-century historian

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 ...

.Hillenbrand 1989, p. 141. Twelve other brothers of Bishr likewise supported Yazid III, who went on to become caliph after al-Walid II's assassination in 744. Yazid III ruled for a few months before dying and being succeeded by his brother

Ibrahim Ibrahim ( ar, إبراهيم, links=no ') is the Arabic name for Abraham, a Biblical patriarch and prophet in Islam. For the Islamic view of Ibrahim, see Abraham in Islam. Ibrahim may also refer to: * Ibrahim (name), a name (and list of people ...

, who months later, in 745, surrendered the caliphate to

. At the time of the latter's accession, Bishr had been serving as governor of

Jund Qinnasrin ''Jund Qinnasrīn'' ( ar, جُـنْـد قِـنَّـسْـرِيْـن, "military district of Qinnasrin") was one of five sub-provinces of Syria under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, organized soon after the Muslim conquest of Syria in t ...

(military district of

Qinnasrin Qinnasrin ( ar, قنسرين; syr, ܩܢܫܪܝܢ, ''Qinnašrīn'', lit=Nest of Eagles), also known by numerous other romanizations and originally known as ( la, Chalcis ad Belum; grc-gre, Χαλκὶς, ''Khalkìs''), was a historical town in ...

) in northern Syria. Marwan II subsequently compelled the largely

Qays Qays ʿAylān ( ar, قيس عيلان), often referred to simply as Qays (''Kais'' or ''Ḳays'') were an Arab tribal confederation that branched from the Mudar group. The tribe does not appear to have functioned as a unit in the pre-Islamic er ...

i troops of Qinnasrin to arrest and hand over Bishr and the latter's full brother Masrur who became captives. They are not heard of again and are assumed to have died in prison.

References

Bibliography

* * *{{EI2, article=Bishr b. al-Walīd , last=Vaglieri , first=L. Veccia , authorlink=Laura Veccia Vaglieri , volume=1 , page=1244 740s deaths 8th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate Prisoners and detainees of the Umayyad Caliphate Sons of Umayyad caliphs Generals of the Umayyad Caliphate Umayyad people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Scholars from the Umayyad Caliphate 8th-century Arabs