The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate ad 661-750

Umayyad
caliphate,
 121–42; G.Rotter, 
Bürgerkrieg,
 107 ff.; article “Abd Allah ibn al-
Zubayr’ in EI2.
7. Article ‘Ka‘ba’ in 
EI2;
 J.Wellhausen, 
Arab Kingdom,
 212–15;
S.D.Goitein, ‘The historical background of the erection of the Dome of the
Rock’, 
JAOS,
 70 (1950). See further below, pp. 59–61.
8. J.Wellhausen, 
Religio-political factions,
 105–20; H.Lammens, 
Yazid
1er,
 117–81; articles ‘al-Husayn b. ‘Ali’ and ‘Karbala’ in 
EI2;
 S.M.Jafri,
Origins and early development of Shi‘a Islam
, 174 ff.; G.Rotter,
Bürgerkrieg,
 37–40.
9. G.E.von Grunebaum, 
Muslim festivals,
 85–94.
10. J.Wellhausen, 
Religio-political factions,
 121–59; articles ‘Al-
Mukhtar’ and ‘Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya’ in 
EI1,
 ‘Kaysaniyya’ in 
EI2;
K.A.Fariq, ‘The story of an Arab diplomat’, 
Studies in Islam,
 3 (1966) and 4

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The Second Civil War 
57
(1967); W.M.Watt, ‘Shi‘ism under the Umayyads’, 
JRAS
 (1960);
A.A.Dixon, 
Umayyad caliphate,
 25–81; S.M. Jafri, 
Origins and early
development of Shi‘a Islam,
 235 ff.; M.A.Shaban, 
New interpretation,
 94–6;
G.Rotter, 
Bürgerkrieg,
 93–106, 187–92.
11. J.Wellhausen, 
Arab kingdom,
 170–83, 201–9; A.A.Dixon, 
Umayyad
caliphate,
 83–120; P.Crone, 
Slaves on horses,
 34–6; G.Rotter, 
Bürgerkrieg,
126–51.
12. J.Wellhausen, 
Arab kingdom,
 209–10, 397–411; G.Rotter,
Bürgerkrieg,
 68– 84. See genealogical tables 1 and 2, above.
13. G.Rotter, 
Bürgerkrieg,
 243–51.
 

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58
Chapter 5
 
‘Abd al-Malik and al-Hajjaj
 
After Marwan’s accession to the caliphate in 684 all of the
remainder of the Umayyad caliphs were descended directly from
him. It is remarkable that his son ‘Abd al-Malik (caliph 685–705)
was himself succeeded in the caliphate by no fewer than four of his
own sons, the succession of the brothers continuing down until 743
and being interrupted only by the brief caliphate of their cousin
‘Umar b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (717–20).
1
 ‘Abd al-Malik’s immediate
successor was his eldest son al-Walid I (705–15) and his rule seems
hardly differentiated from that of his father, for, almost from the
time when the civil war ended until shortly before the death of al-
Walid, the dominant figure in the sources is the governor of Iraq and
viceroy of the east al-Hajjaj (governor 694–714). Like his
predecessor Ziyad, we tend to hear more about him than about the
caliphs in Syria and he thus serves to give a unity to the period of
‘Abd al-Malik and al-Walid. This period, although not without its
problems for the government, was in some ways the high point of
Umayyad power, witnessing significant territorial advances both in
the east and the west and the emergence of a more marked Arabic
and Islamic character in the state’s public face. Before discussing
the period following the civil war, however, there are some
developments in the earlier part of ‘Abd al-Malik’s caliphate which
need to be noted.
First, the grip of the Marwanids on the caliphate was tightened.
At the meeting which discussed the future of the caliphate before
Marj Rahit in 684 the Marwanids had not been the only branch of
the Umayyad family in contention, and acceptance of Marwan
seems to have been secured only at the price of guarantees regarding
the future right of succession of some of the other contenders. The
claims of the surviving members of the family of Yazid b. Mu‘awiya
may have been sidestepped by Marwan’s marriage to Yazid’s widow
Fakhita. Indeed some sources say that Marwan’s refusal to honour
the promises he had made about the succession of Khalid the son of

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