Abd al-Malik ibn
Marwan (Arabic: عبد الملك ابن
مروان ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān, 646 – 8 October 705) was
the 5th
Umayyad

Umayyad caliph. He was born in Medina, Hejaz,[1][3] Abd
al-Malik was a well-educated man and capable ruler who was able to
solve many political problems that impeded his rule. The 14th-century
Arab historian and philosopher
Ibn Khaldun

Ibn Khaldun stated that "`Abd al-Malik
ibn
Marwan was one of the greatest Arab and Muslim Caliphs. He
followed in the footsteps of `Umar ibn al-Khattab, the Commander of
the Believers, in regulating state affairs".[4]
During his reign, all important records were translated into Arabic,
and for the first time, a special currency for the Muslim world was
minted, which led to war with the
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire under Justinian II.
The Byzantines were led by
Leontios
_(14744350954).jpg/440px-Icones_imperatorvm_romanorvm,_ex_priscis_numismatibus_ad_viuum_delineatae,_and_breui_narratione_historicâ_(1645)_(14744350954).jpg)
Leontios at the
Battle of Sebastopolis in
692 in Asia Minor and were decisively defeated by al-Malik after the
defection of a large contingent of Slavs. The Islamic currency was
then made the only currency of exchange in the Muslim world. Also,
many reforms happened in his time relating to agriculture and
commerce. Al-Malik extended and consolidated Muslim rule, made Arabic
the state language and organised a regular postal service.[5]
Contents
1 Early life
2 Campaigns in
Iraq

Iraq and Hejaz
3 Campaigns in North Africa
4 Byzantines and Anatolia
5 Reforms
6 Art and Architecture
7 Relationship with
Abbasid

Abbasid Caliphate
8 Death
9 See also
10 References
11 Sources
12 External links
Early life[edit]
Abd al-Malik spent most of his early life in
Medina

Medina with his father.
There, he developed useful relationships with the religious circles of
the city. He studied
Islamic jurisprudence

Islamic jurisprudence under Umm Darda as Sughra
in Damascus.[6] At 16, he was given limited responsibilities by
Muawiya II. In 683, he and his father were driven out of
Medina

Medina by
local rebels. On the way to Damascus, he crossed paths with the Syrian
army, entailed with the task of ending the rebellion.
He was responsible for the giving of useful advice and information
that helped to end that problem.[1] His father was appointed to be
caliph in 684 but only created a feud between the northern and
southern Arab tribes.[1]
Campaigns in
Iraq

Iraq and Hejaz[edit]
Abd al-Malik became caliph after the death of his father
Marwan I

Marwan I in
685, amidst the ongoing Second Fitna. Within a few years, he
dispatched armies on a campaign to reassert
Umayyad

Umayyad control over the
Islamic empire. He first defeated the governor of Basra, Mu'sab ibn
al-Zubayr. In Iraq, he was facing three distinct groups (the
Kharijites, Shi'a, and
Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr and his followers) that
were fighting amongst themselves and against
Umayyad

Umayyad control.
Al-Zubayr was the more dangerous of the three, as he had been named
caliph in
Mecca

Mecca and other provinces were getting behind him.[1] Abd
al-Malik bided his time for three years while they weakened
themselves. During this hiatus, al-Zubayr's brother, Mus'ab, defeated
the
Shi'a

Shi'a in 687, which allowed them to commit a large force against
the Kharijites.
Abd al-Malik then appointed one of his most able generals and
administrators who would later change the face of the
Umayyad

Umayyad Empire,
al-Hajjaj bin Yousef to march against al-Zubayr, the now-governor of
Hejaz. He was initially unsuccessful in 689, as he needed to return to
Damascus

Damascus to help quell a rebellion. Again, in 690, he met with
failure. Only after the northern tribes had finally capitulated in 691
did success start. He defeated the weakened army of Mus'ab by bribing
many of his soldiers to switch sides and kill their leader.[1]
He then turned his attention to the caliph, al-Zubayr. It should be
noted that al-Zubayr controlled a large majority of the empire outside
Umayyad

Umayyad core in
Syria

Syria and Egypt, and more importantly, controlled
Mecca

Mecca and Medina. Ibn-al Zubayr was a living sahabah of Muhammad who
stood opposed to
Umayyad

Umayyad rule.[7] Hajjaj besieged
Mecca

Mecca in 692 with
almost 12,000 Syrian troops. He advanced unopposed as far as his
native Taif, which he took without any fighting and used as a base.
The caliph had charged him first to negotiate with al-Zubayr and to
assure him of freedom from punishment if he capitulated or, if
opposition continued, to starve him out by siege, but on no account to
let the affair result in bloodshed in Mecca. Since the negotiations
failed and al-Hajjaj lost patience, he sent a courier to ask Abd
al-Malik for reinforcements and also for permission to take
Mecca

Mecca by
force. He received both and thereupon bombarded the Holy City using
catapults from the mountain of Abu Qubays. The bombardment continued
during the month of the Pilgrimage or Hajj.
After the siege had lasted for seven months and 10,000 men, among them
two of Abdullah Ibn al-Zubair's sons, had gone over to Hajjaj,
Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr with a few loyal followers, including his
youngest son, were killed in the fighting around the
Kaaba

Kaaba (Jumadah I
73/October 692).
Hajjaj's success led Abd al-Malik to assign him the role of governor
of
Iraq

Iraq and give him free rein in the territories he controlled.
Hajjaj arrived when there were many deserters in
Basra

Basra and Kufa. He
continually faced rebellions from the
Kharijites

Kharijites but was always able
to put them down.[1] He promptly and forcefully impelled them to
return to combat. Hajjaj, after years of serious fighting, quelled
religious disturbances, including the rebellion launched by Salih ibn
Musarrih and continued after Salih's death by Shabib. The rebels
repeatedly defeated more numerous forces and at their height entered
Kufah. However, Abd al-Malik's Syrian reinforcements enabled Hajjaj to
turn the tide.
By 697, the
Kharijites

Kharijites were no longer much of a problem.[1] Under
Hajjaj, Arab armies put down the revolt of Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad
ibn al-Ash'ath in
Iraq

Iraq and Afghanistan from 699 to 704[1] and also
took most of Turkestan. Abd al-Rahman rebelled after Hajjaj's repeated
orders to push further into the lands of Zundil. After his defeat in
Iraq, again achieved through Abd al-Malik's dispatch of Syrian
reinforcements to Hajjaj, Abd al-Rahman returned east. There, one city
closed its gates to him, and in another, he was seized. However,
Zundil's army arrived and secured his release. Later, Abd al-Rahman
died and Zundil sent his head to Hajjaj, who sent it to Abd al-Malik.
These victories paved the way for greater expansions under Abd
al-Malik's son Al-Walid.
Hajjaj decided that the best way to rule
Iraq

Iraq was to treat them as
enemy territory. He built a new city, Wasit, which he used as a
garrison city for his Syrian troops and also as his private
residence.[1]
Campaigns in North Africa[edit]
He was effective in increasing the size of the empire. In Maghreb
(western North Africa) in 686, a force led by Zuhayr ibn Qais won the
Battle of Mamma over Byzantines and Berbers led by Kusaila, on the
Qairawan

Qairawan plain, retaking
Ifriqiya

Ifriqiya and its capital Kairouan.
In 695,
Hasan ibn al-Nu'man captured
Carthage

Carthage with the help of the
Berbers,[1] and advanced into the Atlas Mountains. A
Byzantine

Byzantine fleet
arrived, retaking Carthage, but in 698 al-Nu'man returned and defeated
Tiberios III

Tiberios III at the Battle of Carthage. The Byzantines withdrew from
all of Africa except Ceuta.
Hasan met trouble from the Zenata tribe of Berbers under al-Kahina. It
inflicted a serious defeat on him and drove him back to Barqa.
However, in 702, Abd al-Malik strongly reinforced Hasan. Now with a
large army and the support of the settled population of North Africa,
Hasan pushed forward. He decisively defeated the Zenata in a battle at
Tabarka, 85 miles west of Carthage. He then developed the village of
Tunis, 10 mi from the destroyed Carthage. Around 705, Musa ibn
Nusayr replaced Hasan. He had pacified much of Northern Africa despite
his failure to take Ceuta.
Byzantines and Anatolia[edit]
Gold Dinar of
Umayyad

Umayyad
Caliph

Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn
Marwan minted at
Damascus,
Syria

Syria in AH 79 (= 698/99 CE) having weight of almost 4.25
grams.
Relations between the
Arabs

Arabs and the Byzatines along their border in
Anatolia

Anatolia had been calm since 680, with a truce largely holding up.
Emboldened by success in his European provinces, however, Byzantine
Emperor
Justinian II

Justinian II managed by threat to augment the sum paid by the
Umayyad

Umayyad Caliphs as an annual tribute, and to regain control of part of
Cyprus.[8] The incomes of the provinces of
Armenia

Armenia and Iberia were
divided among the two empires.[9] In 687, as part of his agreements
with the Caliphate, Justinian removed from their native
Lebanon

Lebanon 12,000
Christian Maronites, who continually resisted the Arabs.[10] In 688,
Abd al-Malik signed a treaty with
Justinian II

Justinian II which rendered Cyprus
neutral ground, with its tax revenue split.[11] In 692, he resumed
fighting in
Anatolia

Anatolia and in that year Abd al-Malik fought and won the
Battle of Sebastopolis (mostly identified with
Elaiussa Sebaste

Elaiussa Sebaste in
Cilicia

Cilicia but also with modern Sulusaray). Initially looking like a
defeat, thousands of the
Byzantine

Byzantine Emperor's Slavic troops defected,
changing the tide of the fight. It was a crushing victory for Abd
al-Malik, and ended the peace that had existed between the two powers
since 680.
Reforms[edit]
Abd al-Malik instituted many reforms such as:
Making
Arabic

Arabic the sole official language of government across the
entire caliphate.[1]
Instituting a mint that produced a uniform set of Islamic currency[1]
which resulted in war with
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and defeat of the Romans
at the Battle of Sebastopolis;
Expansion and reorganization of postal service,
Repairing the damaged
Kaaba

Kaaba and beginning the tradition of weaving a
silk cover for the
Kaaba

Kaaba in Damascus.
Art and Architecture[edit]
The Dome of the Rock
He also built the Dome of the Rock[1] in Jerusalem. The Muslim scholar
al-Wasiti reports this event:
When Abd al-Malik intended to construct the Dome of the Rock, he came
from
Damascus

Damascus to Jerusalem. He wrote, "Abd al-Malik intends to build a
dome (qubba) over the Rock to house the Muslims from cold and heat,
and to construct the mosque (masjid). But before he starts he wants to
know his subjects' opinion." With their approval, the deputies wrote
back, "May Allah permit the completion of this enterprise, and may He
count the building of the dome and the masjid a good deed for Abd
al-Malik and his predecessors." He then gathered craftsmen from all
his dominions and asked them to provide him with the description and
form of the planned dome before he engaged in its construction. So, it
was marked for him in the sahn of the masjid. He then ordered the
building of the treasury (bayt al-mal) to the east of the Rock, which
is on the edge of the Rock, and filled it with money. He then
appointed Raja' ibn Hayweh and Yazid ibn Salam to supervise the
construction and ordered them to spend generously on its construction.
He then returned to Damascus. When the two men satisfactorily
completed the house, they wrote to Abd al-Malik to inform him that
they had completed the construction of the dome and al-Masjid al-Aqsa.
They said to him "There is nothing in the building that leaves room
for criticism." They wrote him that a hundred thousand dinars was left
from the budget he allocated. He offered the money to them as a
reward, but they declined, indicating that they had already been
generously compensated. Abd al-Malik ordered the gold coins to be
melted and cast on the Dome's exterior, which at the time had such a
strong glitter that no eye could look straight at it.[12][13]
The two engineers Raja' ibn Hayweh, from Baysan, and Yazid ibn Salam,
a Jerusalemite, were ordered to spend generously on the construction.
In his Book of the Geography,
Al-Muqaddasi

Al-Muqaddasi reported that seven times
the revenue of
Egypt

Egypt was used to build the Dome. During a discussion
with his uncle on why the
Caliph

Caliph spent lavishly on building the
mosques in
Jerusalem

Jerusalem and Damascus, al-Maqdisi writes:
O, my little son, thou hast no understanding. Verily he was right, and
he was prompted to a worthy work. For he beheld
Syria

Syria to be a country
that had long been occupied by the Christians, and he noted there are
beautiful churches still belonging to them, so enchantingly fair, and
so renowned for their splendour, as are the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, and the churches of Lydda and Edessa. So he sought to build
for the Muslims a mosque that should be unique and a wonder to the
world. And in like manner is it not evident that
Caliph

Caliph Abd al-Malik,
seeing the greatness of the martyrium of the Holy Sepulchre and its
magnificence was moved lest it should dazzle the minds of Muslims and
hence erected above the Rock the dome which is now seen there.[14][15]
Abd al-Malik's first issue of coins replaced images with words, to
appease aniconistic clerics. After this, the style became predominant
on Islamic coins.[16]
Relationship with
Abbasid

Abbasid Caliphate[edit]
The
Abbasid

Abbasid and
Umayyad

Umayyad Caliphates were strong adversaries and fought
on multiple occasions for control of the region. There existed a
strong animosity between the two dynasties, which can be traced back
to tribal ancestral relations.
Al Masudi

Al Masudi narrates an event where Al Mansur, the second Abbasid
Caliph, describes Abd al-Malik as "an arrogant tyrant who did not care
what he did."[17]
Salih ibn Ali, a famous
Abbasid

Abbasid general, mentions to Al Mansur, the
second
Abbasid

Abbasid Caliph, that Abd Allah (Abd Al-Malik), the son of
Marwan, fled to the land of the Christian
Nubians

Nubians with a small
following where he was questioned by the King as to their current
situation and what had befallen them.
Salih ibn Ali is unable to recall the rest of the narration and Abd
Allah, a prisoner in Al Mansur's court at the time, is brought before
Mansur and prompted to relay the event. Abd Allah claims that "I was
in Nubia three days when the King came to visit me" and although "I
had spread out a valuable carpet" to welcome the King, he chose to sit
on the ground stating that a king must humble himself. The Nubian king
criticized Abd Allah for drinking alcohol and wearing brocade and silk
and gold "in spite of the prohibitions of your Book and your
religion." Abd Allah replied saying, "as power fled from us, we have
adopted support from alien races...and we have adopted these clothes
from them."
The King bowed his head in silence, then lifted his head and replied,
"It is not the way you tell it! No! Your people permitted themselves
what God forbade. You broke God's commandments and oppressed those you
ruled. Then God stripped you of your power and dressed you in the
ignominy of your crimes." The King feared that divine punishment would
follow to his land, inadvertently striking him as well. Thus, the King
explains that the rights of the guest lasts for three days, Abd
Allah's visit was over, and that he should "take the provisions you
need and ride out of my country." Upon hearing this,
Al Mansur
.JPG/400px-Abbasid_Dinar_-_Al_Mansur_-_140_AH_(758_AD).JPG)
Al Mansur was
greatly moved and elected to release Abd Allah out of pity. However,
Isa ibn Ali, his uncle, reminded Mansur that Abd Allah had already
received the oath of allegiance as Marwan's heir, so they had him
escorted back to prison.[18]
Death[edit]
The last years of his reign were generally peaceful. He wanted his son
al-Walid I to succeed him, ignoring his father's decree that Abd
al-Malik should be succeeded by his brother, Abd al-Aziz. However,
al-Malik accepted advice not to create disturbances and so changed his
mind. In the event, Abd al-Aziz died before Abd al-Malik, who then had
his sons Al-Walid and Sulayman, in that order, accepted as heirs to
the throne. To history, Abd al-Malik is known as the "Father of
Kings": his four sons succeeded him as the caliph one after
another[19] though with Umar II, son of Abd al-Aziz succeeding
Sulayman. Abd al-Malik died at al-Sinnabra in 705.[20]
See also[edit]
Aban ibn al-Walid ibn Uqba
References[edit]
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "'Abd al-Malik". Encyclopædia
Britannica. I: A-Ak - Bayes (15th ed.). Chicago, Illinois:
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2010. pp. 14–15.
ISBN 978-1-59339-837-8.
^ a b Dr. Eli Munif Shahla, "Al-Ayam al-Akhira fi Hayat al-Kulafa",
Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, 1st ed., 1998, pp 236-238.
^ but there is uncertainty as to when his actual birth occurred.
Sources say 646 or 647.
^ Montefiore, Simon Sebag (2012-05-17). Titans of the Middle East.
Quercus Publishing. ISBN 9781743511237.
^ Classical Islam G.Gunebam
^ Suleman, Mehrunisha; Rajbee, Afaaf. "The Lost Female Scholars of
Islam". Emel magazine. Emel magazine. Retrieved 23 February
2015.
^ (cite webtitle=Islamic History, Part 16: the Caliphate of Abd
al-Malik
(685-705)url=https://attwiw.com/2014/01/22/islamic-history-part-16-the-caliphate-of-abd-al-malik-685-705/)
^ R. Scott Moore,
Justinian II

Justinian II (685-695 & 705-711 A.D.), De
Imperatoribus, http://www.roman-emperors.org/Just2.htm
^ Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the
Byzantine

Byzantine State. Oxford:
Basil Blackwell. pgs. 116-122
^ Bury, pg. 321
^ Romilly J.H. Jenkins, Studies on
Byzantine

Byzantine History of the 9th and
10th Centuries, p. 271.
^ Abu-Bakr al-Wasiti, Fada'il Bayt al-Maqdis, pp. 80-81, vol 136.
^ Nasser Rabbat, The
Dome of the Rock
-Jerusalem-Temple_Mount-Dome_of_the_Rock_(SE_exposure).jpg/440px-Israel-2013(2)-Jerusalem-Temple_Mount-Dome_of_the_Rock_(SE_exposure).jpg)
Dome of the Rock Rvisited: Some Remarks on
al-Wasiti's Accounts, Muqaranas, Vol. 10, Essays in Honor of Oleg
Grabar, pp. 66-75, 1993
^ Shams al-Din al-Maqdisi, Ahsan al-Taqasim fi Mar'rifat al-Aqalim,
2nd ed. (Leiden, 1967) pp. 159-171.
^ le Strange, 1890, p.117
^ Gold coin of Abd al-Malik profile, from the British Museum
^ Al Masudi, Meadows of Gold, A Conversation with the King of Nubia,
pg.24
^ Al Masudi, Meadows of Gold, A Conversation with the King of Nubia,
pg.24-25
^ Masudul Hasa, History of Islam
^ Bacharach in Necipogulu, 1996, p. 38.
Sources[edit]
Bacharach, Jere L. (1996). Gulru Necipogulu, ed. Muqarnas - An Annual
on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World (Illustrated ed.). BRILL.
ISBN 9789004106338.
le Strange, Guy (1890), Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of
Syria

Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500, Committee of the
Palestine Exploration Fund , London
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari v. 21 "The Victory of the Marwanids,"
transl. Michael Fishbein, SUNY, Albany, 1990; v.22 "The Marwanid
Restoration," transl. Everett K. Rowson, SUNY, Albany, 1989; v. 23
"The Zenith of the Marwanid House," transl. Martin Hinds, SUNY,
Albany, 1990.
John Bagot Glubb
.jpg/440px-Glubb_Pasha_(1953).jpg)
John Bagot Glubb The Empire of the Arabs, Hodder and Stoughton,
London, 1963
Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991), Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford
University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
Norwich, John Julius (1990), Byzantium: The Early Centuries, Penguin,
ISBN 0-14-011447-5
Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the
Byzantine

Byzantine State. Oxford:
Basil Blackwell.
Moore, R. Scott, "
Justinian II

Justinian II (685–695 & 705–711 A.D.)", De
Imperatoribus Romanis (1998)
Bury, J.B., A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to
Irene, Vol. II, MacMillan & Co., 1889
This article incorporates text from a publication now in
the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Justinian II.".
Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links[edit]
Wikisource

Wikisource has original works written by or about:
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan
Media related to Abd al-Malik ibn
Marwan at Wikimedia Commons
"Abdal-Malek". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan
Banu Umayya
Born: 646 Died: 8 October 705
Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam titles
Preceded by
Marwan ibn al-Hakam
Caliph

Caliph of Islam
Umayyad

Umayyad Caliph
685 – 8 October 705
Succeeded by
Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik
v
t
e
Umayyad

Umayyad Caliphs
Family tree
Media
Caliphs of Damascus
(661–750)
Muawiyah I
Yazid I
Muawiya II
Marwan I
Abd al-Malik
Al-Walid I
Sulayman
Umar II
Yazid II
Hisham
Al-Walid II
Yazid III
Ibrahim
Marwan II
Emirs of Córdoba
(756–929)
Abd al-Rahman I
Hisham I
Al-Hakam I
Abd ar-Rahman II
Muhammad I
Al-Mundhir
Abdullah
Abd-ar-Rahman III
Caliphs of Córdoba
(929–1031)
Abd-ar-Rahman III
Al-Hakam II
Hisham II
Muhammad II
Sulayman
Hisham II
Sulayman
Abd ar-Rahman IV
Ali ibn Hammud al-Nasir[H]
Al-Qasim al-Ma'mun

Al-Qasim al-Ma'mun ibn Hammud[H]
Yahya ibn Ali al-Mu'tali[H]
Al-Qasim al-Ma'mun

Al-Qasim al-Ma'mun ibn Hammud[H]
Abd ar-Rahman V
Muhammad III
Yahya ibn Ali al-Mu'tali[H]
Hisham III
[H] indicates Hammudid usurpers
Authority control
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 21988514
LCCN: nr89011244
ISNI: 0000 0001 1750 3243
GND: 12136903X
SELIBR: 243455
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