Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik هِشَام ابْن عَبْد الْمَلِك | |||||
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10th Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate | |||||
Reign | 26 January 724 – 6 February 743 | ||||
Predecessor | Yazid II | ||||
Successor | Al-Walid II | ||||
Born | 691 Damascus, Syria, Umayyad Caliphate | ||||
Died | 6 February 743 (aged 52) (6 Rabiʽ al-Thani 125 AH) Damascus, Syria, Umayyad Caliphate | ||||
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Issue |
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Dynasty | Umayyad | ||||
Father | Abd al-Malik | ||||
Mother | A'isha, daughter of Hisham al-Makhzumi | ||||
Religion | Islam |
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (
Early life
Hisham was born in
There is little information about Hisham's early life. He was too young to play any political or military role during his father's reign. He supposedly led the
Hisham began to demonstrate aspirations for the caliphate at the death of his brother, Caliph
Caliphate
Accession
Upon the counsel of their brother, the prominent general Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik, Yazid nominated Hisham as his successor over his own son al-Walid II, whom he had originally intended to designate as first-in-line. Hisham acceded after Yazid died in January 724.[7] He received the news while at his Syrian desert estate, al-Zaytuna, which is identified as Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, near Hisham's favored residence, al-Rusafa,[8] which is identified as Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi. He was given the caliphal ring and staff by a postal messenger, after which he rode to Damascus,[3] where he was publicly acclaimed as caliph.[9]
Overview
Hisham inherited an empire with many different problems. He would, however, be effective in attending to these problems, and in allowing the Umayyad empire to continue as an entity. His long rule was an effective one, and it saw a rebirth of reforms that were originated by
Like a-Walid I, Hisham was a great patron of the arts, and he again encouraged arts in the empire. He also encouraged the growth of education by building more schools, and perhaps most importantly, by overseeing the translation of numerous literary and scientific masterpieces into
According to tradition, Hisham ordered the
Military activities
On the military front his empire suffered a series of setbacks, especially in the
Under Hisham's rule, regular raids against the
Mu'awiya raided the Byzantine Empire in 731–732 (A.H. 113). The next year he captured Aqrun (Akroinos), while
In North Africa, Kharijite teachings combined with natural local restlessness to produce a significant
Hisham also faced a revolt by the armies of
In
Death and succession
Hisham died on 6 February 743 (6
Al-Walid II acceded and immediately ordered his cousin, the veteran commander al-Abbas ibn al-Walid, to arrest Hisham's sons at Rusafa, near Palmyra, but expressly forbade that Maslama or his household be disturbed in deference to their old companionship and Maslama's defense of al-Walid II from Hisham.[16][20]
Assessment
In general, Hisham is viewed by modern historians and the early Islamic tradition to have overseen a successful reign,[21] on par with the similarly long reigns of the Umayyad Caliphate's founder Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) and Abd al-Malik.[1] In the summation of the historian Francesco Gabrieli, Hisham's rule "on the whole was glorious for the Arabs and fruitful in the development of Islamic faith and culture" and "marks the final period of prosperity and splendour of the Umayyad caliphate".[22] By dint of his sobriety, austerity and work ethic, Hisham is held by most modern historians to have kept the Caliphate in good-standing. They largely assign blame to his successor al-Walid II, and longer-standing internal factors that Hisham could not resolve, for the Umayyad dynasty's unraveling in the few years after Hisham's death.[23] Similarly, the Islamic tradition portrays Hisham as "a conscientious and efficient, if severe and tightfisted, administrator", according to Blankinship.[21] In the view of the historian Hugh N. Kennedy, the Umayyad state "had never been as strong as it had been under Hisham only a decade before the final collapse" in 750.[24]
Blankinship, on the other hand, concludes that the military disasters of Hisham's reign brought about the Umayyad dynasty's demise.[25] The state struggled to absorb the significant losses incurred by these defeats. Its treasury was dependent on war booty and it lacked efficient means to collect tax revenue from its subjects. An unprecedented economic crisis ensued, precipitating stringent taxation efforts and a substantial reduction in spending. This caused widespread discontent throughout the Caliphate, while also failing to remedy state finances. Meanwhile, the harshness and diminishing material returns from campaigning along the frontiers sapped the enthusiasm of the provincial garrisons and further increased Hisham's dependence on the Syrian army, the bedrock of the dynasty, to the chagrin of the locally-established troops. As Syrian troops were dispatched against external forces on the frontiers and to quell major internal revolts throughout the Caliphate, they suffered the brunt of the military debacles. The Syrians were mostly Yamani and their dispersal and heavy losses disrupted the factional balance, upon which the Umayyad state depended, in favor of the Qays/Mudar of the Jazira. The Qays/Mudar became the main component of the army under Marwan II (r. 744–750) and their rout by the Khurasani troops of the Abbasids marked the end of the Umayyad dynasty.[26]
Family
Hisham's favored wife was Umm Hakim, the daughter of Yahya ibn al-Hakam, brother of Hisham's grandfather caliph Marwan I (r. 684–685),[27] and Zaynab bint Abd al-Rahman, the granddaughter of the Syrian conquest commander al-Harith ibn Hisham of the Banu Makhzum.[28] Umm Hakim, like her mother, was well-known for her beauty and love for wine.[29] She gave Hisham five sons,[30] including Sulayman,[31] Maslama,[32] Yazid al-Afqam,[16] and Mu'awiya.[33]
Hisham was also married to Umm Uthman, a daughter of Sa'id ibn Khalid. The latter was a grandson of the third caliph Uthman (r. 644–656) and one of the wealthiest people of his day, who used to divide his time between Syria and Medina. Umm Uthman gave birth to Hisham's son Sa'id.[34] His other sons were called Muhammad, Abd Allah, Marwan, Abd al-Rahman and Quraysh.[35] He had a daughter, A'isha, to whom he granted an estate at Ras Kayfa.[36]
Notes
- ^ An anecdote cited in several early Islamic sources holds that Abd al-Malik had wanted to name Hisham 'al-Mansur' ('the Victor') because he heard the news of his birth shortly after his victory over the ruler of Iraq, Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr. A'isha, who had been divorced by the caliph by that time, named their son Hisham after her father instead.[2]
References
- ^ a b c Gabrieli 1971, p. 493.
- ^ a b Khleifat 1973, p. 51.
- ^ a b Blankinship 1989, p. 2.
- ^ Khleifat 1973, p. 52.
- ^ Khleifat 1973, pp. 52–53.
- ^ Khleifat 1973, p. 53.
- ^ Khleifat 1973, p. 54.
- ^ Marsham 2009, p. 137.
- ^ Marsham 2009, p. 136.
- ISBN 978-0-8478-0081-0.
- ^ Hillenbrand 1989, p. 68.
- ^ Hillenbrand 1989, p. 72.
- ^ Marsham 2009, pp. 119–120.
- ^ a b c Hillenbrand 1989, p. 89.
- ^ Bosworth 1994, p. 279.
- ^ a b c Judd 2008, p. 453.
- ^ a b Marsham 2009, p. 121.
- ^ Marsham 2009, p. 131, note 30.
- ^ Hillenbrand 1989, pp. 90–91.
- ^ Hillenbrand 1989, p. 100.
- ^ a b Blankinship 1994, p. 4.
- ^ Gabrieli 1971, pp. 493–494.
- ^ Blankinship 1994, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 116.
- ^ Blankinship 1994, p. 6.
- ^ Blankinship 1994, pp. 6–9.
- ^ Kilpatrick 2003, pp. 72, 82.
- ^ Ahmed 2010, p. 56.
- ^ Hillenbrand 1989, p. 90, notes 455 and 456.
- ^ Blankinship 1989, p. 65.
- ^ Intagliata 2018, p. 141.
- ^ Hillenbrand 1989, p. 90.
- ^ Ahmed 2010, p. 78.
- ^ Ahmed 2010, pp. 119–120.
- ^ Gordon et al. 2018, p. 1048.
- ^ Blankinship 1994, p. 83.
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- Judd, Steven (July–September 2008). "Reinterpreting al-Walīd b. Yazīd". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 128 (3): 439–458. JSTOR 25608405.
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- Khleifat, Awad Mohammad (May 1973). The Caliphate of Hishām b. ʿAbd al-Malik (105–125/724–743) with Special Reference to Internal Problems (PhD). University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies.
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- Marsham, Andrew (2009). The Rituals of Islamic Monarchy: Accession and Succession in the First Muslim Empire. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2512-3.
- Powers, David S., ed. (1989). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXIV: The Empire in Transition: The Caliphates of Sulaymān, ʿUmar, and Yazīd, A.D. 715–724/A.H. 96–105. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-0072-2.