ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam () 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 commander. He was the son of the Umayyad caliph

Marwan I 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 ...

() and the latter's wife Umm Aban al-Kubra, a daughter of Caliph

Uthman Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic proph ...

(). Ubayd Allah's half-brother Caliph Abd al-Malik () appointed him as one of the commanders of the near-annual raids against the

Byzantine 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 ...

frontier with 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 ...

. Abd al-Malik also appointed Ubayd Allah, for an unclear period, the governor of the Balqa, a subdistrict of the

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 = , ...

district spanning the area between Syria and

Wadi al-Qura Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water o ...

(in northwestern Arabia). Ubayd Allah's full brothers

Aban Apas (, ae, āpas) is the Avestan language term for "the waters", which, in its innumerable aggregate states, is represented by the Apas, the hypostases of the waters. ''Āb'' (plural ''Ābān'') is the Middle Persian-language form. Introdu ...

and Uthman also held command roles under Abd al-Malik.

References

Bibliography

* *{{cite book , last1=Donner , first1=Fred M. , editor1-last=Savant , editor1-first=Sarah Bowen , editor2-last=de Felipe , editor2-first=Helena , title=Genealogy and Knowledge in Muslim Societies: Understanding the Past , date=2014 , publisher=Edinburgh University Press , location=Edinburgh , isbn=978-0-7486-4497-1 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rySrBgAAQBAJ , chapter=Was Marwan ibn al-Hakam the First 'Real' Muslim , pages=105–114 7th-century Arabs Generals of the Umayyad Caliphate Sons of Umayyad caliphs 7th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate 8th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate 8th-century Arabs Umayyad people of the Arab–Byzantine wars