UMAYYAD CALIPHATE
GENEALOGY
(The Middle Marwānids)
705 - 715 Al-Walīd I ibn `Abd il-Malik al-Umawī, Commander of the Faithful and Sixth Umayyad Caliph. Born in 668, he had been groomed as a successor by his father, despite the fact that the heir was his uncle, `Abd al-Azīz. He led the summer campain against the Byzantine Empire in 696 and 699 and the Hajj (pilgrimage) in 697 and 710. His uncle predeceased his father and so al-Walīd succeeded as `Abd al-Malik had hoped. He continued the policies of his father, favouring monumental construction work and campaigns of conquest, which saw Spain, Sind and Transoxiana added to the Caliphate. Like his father before him he had been forced to make his younger brother heir. He tried to change the succession in favour of his own son, but died before he could force the matter. He married (first) his first cousin, Umm Banīn bint `Abd il-`Azīz al-Umawī, daughter of `Abd ul-`Azīz ibn Marwān al-Umawī, Governor of Egypt (685-705). He married (second) Fazāriyyah. He married (third) Shāh-i Āfrīd, supposedly the granddaughter of Yazdegerd III, the last Sassanid Shah of Persia - See SASSANIAN. He married several others. He died after a drawn out sickness in 715, but had issue:
1) `Abd ul-`Azīz ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī (son of Umm Banīn). He led the summer campaign against the Byzantine Empire in 710 and 713 and the Hajj in 712 and 713. He claimed the Caliphate and marched on Damascus on the death of his uncle in 717, but renounced his claim on finding the office had already been filled by `Umar II. He had issue:
`Atīq ibn `Abd il-`Azīz al-Umawī.
2) Muḥammad ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī (son of Umm Banīn)
3) Al-`Abbās ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī.
4) Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī, Thirteenth Umayyad Caliph
5) Tammām ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī.
6) Khālid ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī.
7) `Abd ur-Raḥmān ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī.
8) Mubashshir ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī.
9) Masrūr ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī. He was dispatched against a revolt in Hims in 744. (full brother of Bishr)
10) Abū `Ubaydah ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī (son of Fazāriyyah).
11) Ṣadaqah ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī.
12) Manṣūr ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī.
13) Marwān ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī. He led the summer campaign against the Byzantine Empire in 712.
14) `Anbasah ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī.
15) `Umar ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī. He led the Hajj in 714 and the summer campaign against the Byzantine Empire in 711.
16) Rawḥ ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī.
Al-Walīd ibn Rawḥ al-Umawī. He was dispatched against a revolt in Hims in 744. He was Governor of Qinnasrin in 744.
17) Bishr ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī. He led the Hajj in 714 and the winter campaign against the Byzantine Empire in 715. He was Governor of Qinnasrin in 744, but fought against Marwan II and was disgraced when the latter seized power. (full brother of Masrūr)
A son, who was a source to aṭ-Ṭabarī.
18) Abū Khālid Yazid III an-Nāqis ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī, Twelfth Umayyad Caliph (son of Shāh-i Āfrīd).
19) Yahyā ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī.
715 - 717 Sulaymān ibn `Abd il-Malik al-Umawī, Commander of the Faithful and Seventh Umayyad Caliph. Born in 674. He led the Hajj in 700 and 716 and served as Governor of Palestine during the reign of al-Walīd I. His father had designated him as successor to al-Walīd, and al-Walīd died before he was able to change this. As Caliph, most of his attention was spent on the luxuries of office: extravagant banquets and slave girls. He made few policy decisions aside from replacing the Governor of Iraq and the East with Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, who was totally in his thrall, but who would ultimatly prove dangerously ambitious. At the very end of his reign he launched the Great Arab Siege of Constantinople. He became very sick and died in 717, while leading an army into Byzantine territory to reinforce the siege and was convinced to make his virtuous cousin `Umar successor, for which he is highly praised in the historical tradition. He had issue, including:
1) Ayyūb ibn Sulaymān al-Umawī. He was his father's designated successor, but he died in 716, while all his brothers were still children.
2) Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Umawī. Born 705, he was briefly considered as heir after his brother's death, but at only nine years old was deemed too young.
3) Dāwūd ibn Sulaymān al-Umawī. He led the summer campaign against the Byzantine Empire in 716, but ought to have been very young at the time.
4) `Abd ul-Wāhid ibn Sulaymān al-Umawī. Governor of the Hejaz (747-748), he led the Hajj in 747.
5) Yazīd ibn Sulaymān al-Umawī. He rebelled, claiming the Caliphate, in 744, but was defeated.
717 - 720 Abū Ḥafṣ `Umar II ibn `Abd al-`Azīz al-Umawī, Commander of the Faithful and Eighth Umayyad Caliph. Born in 682, he was named after his maternal great grandfather, the second Rashidun Caliph. He served as a general, was Governor of Medina (706-711) and led the Hajj in 706, 707, 708 and 711. He was chosen as Caliph because of his virtuous character, which he continued to display as Caliph; living like a common person rather than in a palace, being parsimonious with public money, rewarding knowledge and punishing ignorance of the Qur'an and offering to stand down if any Muslim disputed his rule. These characteristics are much like those of his namesake, with whom tradition may have confused him- Tabari gives him the Kunya "Father of Hafs;" but Umar II had no son Hafs and this is Umar I's kunya. At any rate, the only major act of his reign was abandoning the Great Arab Siege of Constantinople. He died in 720. He had issue, including:
1) `Abdullāh ibn `Umar al-Umawī, briefly Governor of Iraq in 744.
2) `Abd al-`Azīz ibn `Umar al-Umawī, Governor of Hejaz (744-748).
3) A son, who died during his father's Caliphate. `Umar II supposedly displayed his virtue by admonishing a governor who sent him a letter of condolence, for wasting state paper.
720 - 724 Yazīd II ibn `Abd il-Malik al-Umawī, Commander of the Faithful and Ninth Umayyad Caliph. Born in 687. His reign marked the beginning of Umayyad decline; he faced several serious rebellions, had precious few military successes and spent most of his time in his harem. It was during his reign that the `Abbasids began their insurgency. He married (first) Su`dah al-'Umawī, apparently a descendant of Abū `Abdillāh Abū `Amr `Uthmān Thun-Nurayn ibn `Affān al-Umawī, Third Rashidun Caliph. He married (second) Umm ul-Ḥajjāj Zaynab bint Muḥammad ath-Thaqafī, sister of Yūsuf ibn Muhammad ath-Thaqafī Governor of Hejaz (743-744) and niece of the famous Kulayb al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ath-Thaqafī, who won the Second Fitna for the Umayyads, led the Hajj every year between 691 and 693, Governed the Hejaz (693-694), Iraq (694-713), and the East (697-713) with impeccable loyalty and extreme severity. He married (third) Umm Kulthūm. He took as concubines Sallāmah and Habābah, to singing slavegirls provided by his first wife, with which he had become completely enamoured He died of grief after inadvertently causing Habābah's death in 724. He had issue, including:
1) Al-Walid II ibn Yazīd al-Umawī, Commander of the Faithful and Eleventh Umayyad Caliph (son of Umm ul-Ḥajjāj)
2) An-Nu`mān ibn Yazīd al-Umawī. He led the summer campaign against the Byzantines in 743. This seems to have been the last Umayyad summer campaign.
3) Al-Ghamr ibn Yazīd al-Umawī
4) Sulaymān ibn Yazīd al-Umawī
5) `Abdullāh ibn Yazīd al-Umawī (son of Umm Kulthūm)