Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan
Fifth caliph of the Umayyad line, reigning 65-86/685-705. He restored the unity of the state after the defeat of Musab ibn al-Zubayr and the killing of Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr at Mecca, relied on al-Hajjaj to govern Iraq, made Arabic the language of the financial offices, issued an Islamic gold dinar, and, according to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, built the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem. He died in Shawwal 86/October 705 and was succeeded by his son al-Walid.
Reign · Umayyad Caliphate · no. 5 in the chain · 685–705 CE
Ruled the caliphate
Events of the reign
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The Transfer of Syria's Diwan from Greek
In al-Baladhuri: the diwan of Syria remained in Greek until Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ruled; in year 81 he ordered it transferred, and that because a man of the Roman scribes, needing to write something and finding no water, urinated in the inkwell — word reached Abd al-Malik, who was incensed and ordered Sulayman ibn Sa'd to transfer the diwan; Sulayman asked to be helped by a year's kharaj of al-Urdunn, which was done, and was made its governor — before the year ended he had finished the transfer and brought it to Abd al-Malik, who called his scribe Sarjun and displayed it to him, which grieved him, and he went out dejected; a group of the Roman scribes met him and he said 'seek your livelihood in a craft other than this — God has cut it off from you'; the levy of al-Urdunn granted as aid was a hundred and eighty thousand dinars, that of Filastin three hundred and fifty thousand dinars, of Damascus four hundred thousand dinars, and of Hims with Qinnasrin and the districts called today the Awasim eight hundred thousand dinars — or, it is said, seven hundred thousand.
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Battle of al-Madhar
A battle that Khalifa ibn Khayyat records under the year 67, the year in which al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd was killed in his palace at Kufa by two brothers of Banu Hanifa, who brought his head to Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr.
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Battle of al-Musalla
Draft card for Battle of al-Musalla; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Marash (694)
Draft card for Battle of Marash (694); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Meskiana
Draft card for the Battle of Meskiana in 698, the North African clash of Hassan's era; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Tabarka
Draft card for the Battle of Tabarka in 700, the conquerors' clash with Berbers and Byzantines in the Maghreb conquest; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Vardanakert
Draft card for the Battle of Vardanakert in 702, the Armenian victory over the Umayyad garrison; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Yawm al-Nahr
Draft card for Battle of Yawm al-Nahr; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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The Building of the Fortress of Masisa
In al-Baladhuri from al-Waqidi and others: in year 84 Abdullah ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan led the summer raid, entering by the pass of Antioch and coming to Masisa, where he built its fortress on the ancient foundation and settled garrison troops among them three hundred picked men of known valour and stoutness — the Muslims had never dwelt there before — and built a mosque atop the fortress hill; Abu al-Khattab al-Azdi says the first to build its fortress in Islam was Abd al-Malik through his son Abdullah in year 84, its building and garrisoning complete in year 85; the fortress held a church called Herya which the summer columns from Antioch would reach and winter at yearly, numbering a thousand five hundred to two thousand; Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz went out to Herya-Masisa meaning to demolish it and the forts between it and Antioch, saying 'I hate for the Byzantines to besiege its people', until the people showed him it was populated only to shield Antioch and that razing it would leave the enemy no barrier before it, so he held back and built them a congregational mosque by Kafarbayya with a cistern bearing his name — called the fortress mosque, ruined in al-Mu'tasim's caliphate; then Hisham built the rabad, Marwan ibn Muhammad built the suburb east of the Jayhan with a wall, timber gate and moat, and Abu al-Abbas set four hundred more men at Masisa, granting them estates.
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Conquest of Carthage
Draft card for the conquest of Carthage in 698, Hassan ibn al-Nu'man's capture of Byzantium's last Ifriqiyan stronghold; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Construction of the Dome of the Rock under Abd al-Malik
Building of the Dome of the Rock over the sacred rock in the Haram at Jerusalem, ordered by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan; begun in 66 AH (685 CE) and finished in 72 AH (691 CE), the book says, with its cost drawn from seven years of Egypt's land revenue.
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Al-Hajjaj Seals the Necks of the People of Medina
In year 74 al-Hajjaj marched to Medina and took to harassing its people, humbling the remaining Companions by stamping their necks and hands with seals — among them Anas, Jabir ibn Abdullah and Sahl ibn Sa'd al-Sa'idi.
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Hassan ibn al-Nu'man's Campaigns against al-Kahina
In al-Baladhuri: Hassan ibn al-Nu'man al-Ghassani was appointed and raided the Berbers' queen al-Kahina, who routed him; he came to castles within Barqa's bounds and lodged them — a keep among them roofed in glass, whence they were named Qusur Hassan; then Hassan raided her a second time, killed her, and sent a captivity of Berbers to Abd al-Aziz — whereupon Abu Muhjan Nusayb the poet would say 'I was present at Abd al-Aziz's when a captivity of Berbers came: I never saw faces fairer than theirs'.
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The killing of Amr ibn Sa'id al-Ashdaq
Marwan ibn al-Hakam had made Amr ibn Sa'id ibn al-As heir after his son; Abd al-Malik killed him — in Ibn al-Kalbi's reckoning the first treachery (ghadr) in Islam — mourned in the verse 'they have slain Amr and not done right'.
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The Papyrus Affair and the Striking of the Dinars
In al-Baladhuri: papyrus rolls entered Roman lands from Egypt and dinars came to the Arabs from the Romans; Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan was among the first to inscribe what was written at scroll-heads — 'Say He is God, One' and other mentions of God — so Rome's king wrote him: 'you have introduced an inscription on your papyri that we hate; if you leave it, we will put on the dinars of mention of you what you hate.' That weighed on Abd al-Malik — loath to abandon a good practice he had established — so he sent to Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Mu'awiya, who said: 'set your heart at ease, Commander of the Faithful: forbid their dinars that they not be traded, strike coinage for the people, and do not relieve these unbelievers of what they hated in the scrolls.' Abd al-Malik said 'you have relieved me, may God relieve you' and struck the dinars. Awana ibn al-Hakam said: the Copts used to mention Christ at scroll-heads attributing divinity to him, placing the cross where the basmala was — hence Rome's king was galled and Abd al-Malik's change weighed on him. Al-Mada'ini via Maslama ibn Muharib: Khalid ibn Yazid counselled Abd al-Malik to forbid their dinars, prevent trading in them, and stop papyrus entering Roman lands — so for a time none was carried to them.
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Muhammad ibn Marwan's Recovery of Armenia
In al-Baladhuri: when Ibn al-Zubayr's civil strife came, Armenia broke away, its nobles and their followers swearing league; when Muhammad ibn Marwan governed Armenia for his brother Abd al-Malik he fought and overcame them, killing and capturing, and mastered the land; then he promised the survivors he would lay before them in honour, and they gathered for it in churches of the Khilat district — whereupon he shut them in and posted guards at the doors, then terrified them; in that campaign Umm Yazid bint Usid of the Sisajan — a daughter of its patrikios — was taken captive; before this had run a chain of governors: Uthman gave al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba Adharbayjan and Armenia, then removed him for al-Qasim ibn Rabi'a ibn Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt al-Thaqafi — or, it is said, Amr ibn Mu'awiya ibn al-Mutaffiq al-Muqayli governed it, and some say a man of Banu Kilab held it fifteen years after al-Mughira, then al-Uqayli — al-Ash'ath ibn Qays held Armenia and Adharbayjan for Ali ibn Abi Talib, then Abdallah ibn Hatim ibn al-Nu'man ibn Amr al-Bahili for Mu'awiya until he died there, whence his brother Abd al-Aziz ibn Hatim ibn al-Nu'man — who built the city of Dabil, fortified it, enlarged its mosque, built the city of Nashwa, repaired Bardha'a — or, they say, renewed its building — dug the two Fariq moats about it soundly, and renewed the city of al-Baylaqan, these cities having been ruined and decayed; some say Muhammad ibn Marwan renewed Bardha'a's building in Abd al-Malik's days, and al-Waqidi says Abd al-Malik built Bardha'a by the hand of Hatim ibn al-Nu'man al-Bahili or his son — Abd al-Malik also appointing Uthman ibn al-Walid ibn Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt over Armenia.
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The Second Fitna
Draft card for the Second Fitna, the civil wars of the late Umayyad house after Yazid's death, from Ibn al-Zubayr's rising to the Marwanid restoration under Abd al-Malik; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Uprising of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi
Draft card for Uprising of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi; its sources are not yet checked on the page.