History of the Umayyad Caliphs by Jalal Ad-Din As-Suyuti

Author:Jalal Ad-Din As-Suyuti [As-Suyuti, Jalal Ad-Din]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik

86-96/705-15

A

l-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, Abū al-ʿAbbās. Ash-Shaʿbī said that his parents surrounded him with luxury, so he grew up without proper education (adab).

Rawḥ ibn Zinbāʿ said: One day I came to ʿAbd al-Malik, who was deep in thought. He said, “I was thinking about who to put in authority over the Arabs, but I could not find anyone.” I said, “What about al-Walīd?” He replied, “He is not very good at grammar.” Al-Walīd heard that and immediately went and gathered the grammarians and sat with them in a house for six months, but came out even more ignorant than before. Then ʿAbd al-Malik said, “Well, he is excused.”

Abū az-Zinād: al-Walīd made a lot of mistakes in his speech and once said on the minbar in the Prophet’s mosque, “O, people of Madina (yā ahlu’l-madīna, instead of yā ahla’l-madīna).”

Abū ʿIkrima aḍ-Ḍabbī said: al-Walīd recited on the minbar, “If only it had really been the end (yā laytuhā kānat al-qāḍiya, instead of yā laytahā kānat al-qāḍiya).” (Qurʾān 69:27) Below the minbar sat ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz and Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, and the latter said, “By Allah, I wish it had been.”

Al-Walīd was a tyrant and an oppressor.

Abū Nuʿaym records in the Ḥīlya from Ibn Shawdhab, who said: When al-Walīd was in Syria, al-Ḥajjāj in Iraq, ʿUthmān ibn Ḥayyān in Ḥijāz and Qurra ibn Sharīk in Egypt, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said, “By Allah, the earth has been filled with tyranny.”

Ibn Abī Ḥātim narrates in his Tafsīr from Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Zurʿa that al-Walīd asked him, “Will the caliph be taken to account?” He replied, “Commander of the Believers, are you more honoured by Allah than Dāwūd? Allah united prophecy and caliphate in him, and then warned him in His Book.” He recited, “Dāwūd! We have made you a successor (khalīfa) on the earth so judge between people with truth and do not follow your own desires, letting them misguide you from the Way of Allah. Those who are misguided from the Way of Allah will receive a harsh punishment because they forgot the Day of Reckoning.” (Qurʾān 38:26)

But al-Walīd undertook jihād during his reign and many great conquests took place during his caliphate. He also used to treat orphans well and appoint teachers for them. He appointed people to attend the disabled and to lead the blind. He renovated and enlarged the Prophet’s mosque. He provided for the fuqahāʾ, the weak and the poor, and prevented them from begging by allotting them what would be sufficient. He managed affairs with the most thorough administration.

Ibn Abī ʿAbla said, “May Allah have mercy on al-Walīd. Where is the like of al-Walīd? He conquered India (al-Hind) and Spain (al-Andalus), he built the mosque of Damascus and he used to give me a ṣāʿ of silver, which I shared among the reciters in the mosque of Jerusalem.”

Al-Walīd became caliph according to his father’s contract in the month of Shawwāl in 86/705.

In 87/705-6, he started building the jāmiʿ mosque in Damascus, and ordered the enlargement and reconstruction of the Prophet’s mosque.

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