Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (646-705) (Arabic: عبد الملك بن مروان ) was an Umayyad caliph. A well-educated man, he was a capable ruler, despite the many political problems that impeded his
rule.
Abd al-Malik became caliph after the death of his father Marwan I in 685. Within a few years, he dispatched armies under Al-Hajjaj bin
Yousef on a campaign to reassert Umayyad control over the Islamic empire. Hajjaj first defeated the governor of
Basra, he then went on to the Hejaz where Ibn Zubayr was killed, ending his short claim to the caliphate.
Hajjaj's success led Abd al-Malik to make him the governor of Iraq, and give him a free rein in
his territories. Hajjaj arrived when there were many deserters in Basra and Kufa. 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. These 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.
Abd al-Malik was effective in increasing the size of the empire. In North Africa in 686 a force led by Zuhayr ibn Qais won a
battle over Byzantines and Berbers led by Kusaila, on the Qairawan plain, but could not follow
that up. In 695 Hasan ibn al-Nu'man captured Carthage and advanced into the Atlas
Mountains. A Byzantine fleet arrived, retook Carthage, but couldn't hold it. In 698 Hasan captured it again and this time
destroyed the city. The Byzantines withdrew from all of Africa except Ceuta.
Hasan met trouble from the Zenata tribe of Berbers under al-Kahina. They inflicted a serious
defeat on him and drove him back to Barqa. However, in 702 Abd al-Malik strongly reinforced him. 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 ten miles from the destroyed Carthage. Around 705
Musa ibn Nusayr replaced Hasan. He pacified much of North Africa, though he failed to
take Ceuta.
Under Hajjaj, Arab armies put down the revolt of 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath in Iraq from 699 to 701 CE, and
also took most of Turkestan. Abd al-Rahman rebelled following 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 ar 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 ar Rahman died and Zundil sent his head to Hajjaj who sent it
to Abd al-Malik. These victories paved the way for great expansions under Abd al-Malik's son.
Abd al-Malik instituted many reforms such as: making Arabic the official language of
government across the entire empire, instituting a mint that produced a uniform set of aniconic currency, expansion and
reorganization of postal service, repairing the damaged Kaaba and beginning the tradition of
weaving a silk cover for the Kaaba in Damascus.
He also built the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, but parts of that city were also destroyed when Abd al-Malik's armies put down an
uprising there. The Muslim scholar al-Wasiti reports this incidence:
| “ |
When Abd al-Malik intended to construct the Dome of the Rock, he came from
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 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 orders the gold coins to be melted and cast on the Dome's exterior, which at
the time had a strong glitter that no eye could look straight at it.[1][2] |
” |
The two engineers Yazid ibn Salam, a Jerusalemite, and Raja' ibn Hayweh, from Baysan,
were ordered to spend generously on the construction. In his Book of the Geography, al-Maqdisi reported that seven times the revenue of Egypt was used to build the
Dome. During a discussion with his uncle on why the Caliph spent lavishly on building the mosques in Jerusalem and Damascus, al-Maqdisi writes:
| “ |
O my little son, thou has no understanding. Verily he was right, and he was prompted
to a worthy work. For he beheld 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 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.[3] |
” |
The last years of his reign were generally peaceful. Abd al-Malik wanted to appoint his son al-Walid I as his successor, ignoring his father's orders to appoint Abd al-Malik's brother, Abd al-Aziz.
However, Abd al-Malik accepted advice not to create disturbances by carrying out this design. It turned out to be unnecessary, as
Abd al-Aziz died before Abd al-Malik. Abd al-Malik then had his sons al-Walid and Sulayman, in that order, accepted as heirs to
the throne.
References
- ^ Abu-Bakr al-Wasiti, Fada'il Bayt al-Maqdis, pp. 80-81, vol 136.
- ^ Nasser Rabbat, The 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.
Bibliography
- 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 The Empire of the Arabs, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1963
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