Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik

Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, of the Banu Umayya, and son of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. ¹

Al-Baladhuri says that the land of Baghras was his, and he endowed it for the way of goodness. The spring of al-Sulur and its lake were also his. ¹

He set out as a raider against the Romans from the Jazira frontiers, and encamped at Balis. Its people, and the people of Nuwaylis, Qasirin, Ayidin and Safin, asked him to dig them a canal from the Euphrates, on condition that he should have a third of their produce after the sultan's tenth. He did so, and the canal was called "the Canal of Maslama". He also repaired the city wall. ¹

Balis and its villages passed to his heirs until Abu al-Abbas Sulayman ibn Ali granted them out. ¹

He took part as a commander in the siege of Constantinople. The book The Umayyad State says that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz wrote to him to return after a siege that lasted about two years, and sent him horses and food. ²

Iraq was gathered to him in the time of Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik, and then the governorships of the East were added to him along with Ibn Hubayra. ³

Al-Mas'udi relates that he reproached his brother Yazid when he secluded himself and turned to drinking and pleasure, and Yazid refrained for a time. ⁴