Abu Rakwa al-Walid al-Umawi

أبو ركوة الوليد الأموي

c. 1006 CE · c. 397 AH

Al-Walid, known as Abu Rakwa, a Umayyad of the descendants of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. He was given the kunya Abu Rakwa because of a water-flask he carried on his travels, in the manner of the Sufis. He met shaykhs and wrote down hadith in Egypt, then moved to Mecca, then to Yemen, and then returned to Syria. He called for a qa'im from the descendants of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik and took the pledge from those he found compliant. He settled in al-Hilla as a schoolmaster, and the boys of the Arabs gathered round him; then he told them that he was the imam to whom he had been calling. He styled himself al-Thair bi-amr Allah al-Muntasir min a'da' Allah. He entered Barqa, struck coins in his name, preached, and cursed al-Hakim. Al-Hakim sent al-Fadl ibn Abd Allah against him, and he defeated him; the lands of Nubia then handed him over, after they had brought him there under a covenant he claimed to have. He was taken to Egypt, where al-Hakim had him mounted on a camel and paraded, and then killed him ¹.