Amr ibn Sa'id ibn al-As

A Companion of Banu Abd Shams; he emigrated to Abyssinia with his wife Fatima bint Safwan, arrived in the two ships, and was killed at Ajnadayn in Abu Bakr's caliphate. ¹

Ibn Ishaq names him brother of Khalid ibn Sa'id, saying his wife Fatima bint Safwan ibn Umayya (may God be pleased with him) ibn Muharrith al-Kinani perished in the land of Abyssinia. ¹ He says he was killed at Ajnadayn in the land of Syria in Abu Bakr's caliphate. ¹ Verses addressed to him are ascribed to his father Sa'id ibn al-As. ¹

He belongs, per Ibn Ishaq, to Banu Abd Shams ¹

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), in the entry AL-ASHDAK by K. V. Zetterstéen, describes him as an Umayyad governor and general. He was governor of Mecca when Yazid ibn Mu'awiya came to the throne in 60/680, and the same year was appointed governor of Medina. On Yazid's orders he sent an army to Mecca against the anti-caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, entrusting the command to the anti-caliph's brother 'Amr; 'Amr was taken prisoner and, with his brother's consent, flogged to death by his personal enemies. He was dismissed at the end of the following year. ²

Later he went with the caliph Marwan on his Egyptian expedition, and when Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr invaded Palestine during the caliph's absence, Marwan sent him against Mus'ab, and he forced Mus'ab to withdraw. He had been mentioned as a possible successor to Marwan, being the caliph's nephew; but when Marwan consolidated his position he enforced the oath of allegiance for his two sons, Abd al-Malik and Abd al-Aziz. ²

When Abd al-Malik came to the throne he feared him, and in 69/689, while the caliph was campaigning in Iraq, al-Ashdaq asserted his claim to the caliphate and stirred up revolt at Damascus. Abd al-Malik had to return, and 'Amr submitted only after receiving a promise that his life and liberty would be safe. The caliph then decided to remove the threat: he had al-Ashdaq brought to the palace where, according to tradition, Abd al-Malik himself killed him. ²