al-'Abbas ibn al-Walid

Al-'Abbas ibn al-Walid was an Umayyad general and son of the caliph al-Walid I. His celebrity rests mainly on his part in the long struggle between the Umayyads and the Byzantines. The Arabic and Byzantine sources do not always agree on the details. ²

Early in al-Walid I's reign he and his uncle Maslama ibn 'Abd al-Malik took Tuwana, a fortress in Cappadocia. Arab historians date its fall to Jumada II 88/May 707, the Byzantines two years later. The following years brought many expeditions by the two generals, sometimes together and sometimes alone. The most notable were the capture of Sebastopol in Cilicia by al-Abbas and of Amasia in Pontus by Maslama in 93/712. In the next year al-Abbas took Antioch in Pisidia. ¹

After the death of Umar II in 101/720, Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, governor of Iraq, raised a dangerous revolt. Al-Abbas was sent against him, first alone and then with Maslama. Yazid was killed in battle in 102/720 and peace returned. ³

In the reign of Walid II he was loyal enough to oppose the plot of his brother Yazid, and he warned the Marwanids not to let their revolts split the dynasty. In the end he yielded to force and joined the coup of 126/744. Later the last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II, imprisoned him. He died in prison at Harran of an epidemic in 132/750. ³