Umayyad 5

UMAYYAD CALIPHATE

GENEALOGY

(The Later Marwānids)

724 - 743 Abūl-Walīd Hishām al-Kusafah ibn 'Abd al-Malik al-'Umawī, Commander of the Faithful and Tenth Umayyad Caliph. Born in 691. He served as a general before succeeding to the Caliphate- the fourth son of `Abd ul-Malik to hold that office. His long reign was mostly peaceful, though punctuated by several serious rebellions, but it also saw the Umayyad armies defeated in Transoxiana, France and Anatolia and expansion cease. His rule was the last time that the entire Muslim world was indisputedly united under a single ruler. He died in 743. He married his second cousin Umm Ḥakīm bint Yahyā al-Umawī, daughter of Yahyā ibn al-Hakam al-Umawī, Governor of Medina (694-695) - see above. He also  married others. He had issue, including:

• 1) Abū Shākir Maslamah ibn Hishām al-Umawī. He led the Hajj (pilgrimage) in 737 (son of Umm Ḥakīm). 

• 2) Yazīd al-Afqam ibn Hishām al-Umawī. He led the Hajj in 738 (son of Umm Ḥakīm).

• 3) Sa`īd ibn Hishām al-Umawī. He led the summer campaign against the Byzantines in 729 and later served as Governor of Homs, Syria. He died in 750, during the `Abbasid Revolution.

• 4) Abū Ghanr Sulaymān ibn Hishām al-Umawī. He led the Hajj in 730, 731 and 738 and the summer campaign against the Byzantines in 732, 735, 736 and 738. He commanded the Dhakwaniyyah, the secret police of Al-Walīd II, Eleventh Umayyad Caliph. He was imprisoned by al-Walid II, which ultimatly led to al-Walid II's assassination. He rebelled, claiming the Caliphate in 744 but failed. He died in 750, during the `Abbasid Revolution. He had issue, including:

  • a) `Abd ul-Ghafar ibn Sulaymān al-Umawī, Governor of Africa (what is now Libya).

  • b) Ibrāhīm ibn Sulaymān al-Umawī.

• 5) Mu`āwiyah ibn Hishām al-Umawī. He led the summer campaign against the Byzantines in 725, 727, and every year from 729 until 736. He married a lady of the Nafza clan and had issue:

  • a) `Abd ur-Raḥmān I ibn Mu`āwiyah al-Umawī, First Emir of al-Andalus - see below.

  • b) Yahyā ibn Mu`āwiyah al-Umawī. He died in 750 during the `Abbasid Revolution.

  • c) Abān ibn Mu`āwiyah al-Umawī He died in 750 during the `Abbasid Revolution.

  • d) Al-Walīd ibn Mu`āwiyah al-Umawī. He had issue, including:

    • i) Al-Mughīrah ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī, he rebelled against his cousin Hisham I, Second Emir of al-Andalus, claiming the Emirate, but was defeated.

• 1) `Ā'ishah bint Hishām al-Umawī. She married Abūl-Ḥakam `Abdallāh ibn Marwān al-Umawī, son of the Fourteenth Umayyad Caliph, who was the Umayyad pretender from 750 until he was killed by the `Abbasids in 787.

• 2) Umm Salamah bint Hishām al-Umawī. She married `Abd ul-`Azīz ibn al-Ḥajjāj al-Umawī, an Umayyad General.

• 3) Umm Hishām bint Hishām al-Umawī. She married (first) Abū Khālid Yazid III an-Nāqis ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī, Twelfth Umayyad Caliph. She married (second) `Ubaydullāh ibn Marwān al-Umawī, son of the Fourteenth Umayyad Caliph.

743 - 744 Al-Walīd II ibn Yazīd al-Umawī, Commander of the Faithful and Eleventh Umayyad Caliph. Born in 709. He led the Hajj in 734. He succeeded to the Caliphate in 743 at a crucial juncture but he was not up to the task. He spent his reign in one long party, consumed alcohol (forbidden in Islam) and is claimed to have been an apostate. He married, among others, a daughter of `Uthmān ibn Muhammad al-Umawī, himself a nephew of Mu`āwiyah I Katib al-Waḥi ibn Abī Sufyān al-Umawī, First Umayyad Caliph. He imprisoned Sulaymān ibn Hishām al-Umawī and several of his other cousins, provoking the ire of the Umayyad Clan which rose against him  He was beseiged at al-Bakhra` and died defending himself in 744. He had issue, including:

• 1) Al-Ḥakam ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī. He was his father's heir and was imprisoned by Yazid III after his revolt and died in 744.

• 2) `Uthmān ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī. He was his father's heir and was imprisoned by Yazid III after his revolt and died in 749 (son of the daughter of `Uthmān).

• 3) Sa`īd ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī.

744 Abū Khālid Yazīd III  ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī, Commander of the Faithful and Twelfth Umayyad Caliph. Born in 707. He was outraged by the impiety of al-Walīd II and led a rebellion against him, seizing power for himself and imprisoning al-Walīd II's heirs, who were only children. He promised to rule more responsibly than his predecessor, which included lowering the soldiers' pay, for which he was nicknamed "an-Nāqis," the reducer. His situation was already unstable, with several revolts moving against him, and this cannot have helped. He married Umm Hishām bint Hishām al-Umawī., daughter of the Tenth Umayyad Caliph. He had ruled for less than a year before he became sick and died in 744.

744 Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm ibn al-Walīd al-Umawī, Commander of the Faithful and Thirteenth Umayyad Caliph. His position was precarious; his brother, whom he succeeded had seized the Caliphate and imprisoned the rightful heirs and lowered the soldiers' pay, and faced several revolts. Even the people of the capital, Damascus, were unsure whether to accept him, acknowledging him one day as Caliph, and the next only as Emir. His cousin, Marwān II, who had already led a revolt against Yazīd, marched on Damascus and Ibrāhīm had no choice but to abdicate. He died in 750, during the `Abbasid Revolution.

744 - 750 Marwān II ibn Muhammad al-'Umawī, Commander of the Faithful and Fourteenth Umayyad Caliph. Born in 695. He was Governor of Armenia and Azerbaijan (732-744), leading annual military campaigns deep into the Caucasus. He tried to dissuade Yazīd III from seizing power, for the sake of the dynasty, and rebeled against him when he did. They came to terms, but he rebelled again when Ibrāhīm suceeded, taking the Caliphate for himself. He was competant and restored Umayyad authority, but in 747 the `Abbasids began the revolt they had been planning for nearly thirty years. They rapidly seized Iran and defeated Marwan at the Battle of the Zāb, sealing the fate of the Umayyad Caliphate. He died in 750 fighting against the `Abbasids in Northern Egypt. Most of the Umayyad family were massacred shortly thereafter. He had issue, including:

• 1) Abūl-Ḥakam `Abdallāh ibn Marwān al-Umawī, son of the Fourteenth Umayyad Caliph, who was the Umayyad pretender from 750, he launched a revolt against the `Abbasids in 787, but was killed. He married `Ā'ishah bint Hishām al-Umawī, daughter of the Tenth Umayyad Caliph.

• 2) `Abd ul-Malik ibn Marwān al-Umawī, an Umayyad General. He had issue, including:

  • a) Muḥammad ibn `Abd al-Malik al-Umawī, He led the Hajj in 748 and was Governor of the Hejaz in the same year.

• 3) `Ubaydullāh ibn Marwān al-Umawī. He married Umm Hishām bint Hishām al-Umawī, daughter of the Tenth Umayyad Caliph and died in 749.

• 1) Umm ul-Walīd bint Marwān al-Umawī. She married Walīd ibn Mu`āwiyah al-Umawī. He was Governor of Palestine in 745 and of Damascus in 749 and died defending the latter from the `Abbasids.