Maslama ibn Hisham
Maslama ibn Hisham مسلمة بن هشام | |||||
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Died | c. 750 | ||||
Wife | Umm Salama bint Ya'qub ibn Salama | ||||
Children | Sa'id ibn Maslama | ||||
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House | Marwanid | ||||
Dynasty | Umayyad | ||||
Father | Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik | ||||
Mother | Umm Hakim bint Yahya | ||||
Religion | Islam | ||||
Occupation | Umayyad commander and confidant of Caliph al-Walid II | ||||
Military career | |||||
Allegiance | Umayyad Caliphate | ||||
Rank | Commander | ||||
Battles/wars |
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Relations | Al-Walid II (cousin) Yazid III (cousin) Mu'awiya (brother) Sulayman (brother) Yazid al-Afqam (brother) |
Maslama ibn Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (
His capture of the southern caverns of
Early life and plans for caliphal succession
Maslama was the son of the
Following his accession, Hisham attempted to secure Maslama as his successor in place of the appointed successor, his predecessor's son al-Walid ibn Yazid II (known as al-Walid II).[3] Hisham's initial attempts following the Hajj of 735 to persuade al-Walid to step down in favor of Maslama or give Maslama the oath of allegiance as al-Walid's successor were rejected by al-Walid.[4][5][6] Afterward, Hisham sought to undermine al-Walid and secretly gathered support for Maslama.[4] The latter's nomination was supported by his paternal uncle, the famous general Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik, Hisham's maternal grandfather, the former governor of Medina Hisham ibn Isma'il al-Makhzumi,[7] and his sons Ibrahim and Muhammad, and the sons of the influential Banu Abs chief of northern Syria, al-Qa'qa' ibn Khulayd.[4] Maslama's mother Umm Hakim also lobbied for her son's succession.[8] Opposed to Maslama's proposed succession was Khalid al-Qasri, the governor of Iraq, to which Maslama responded by insulting him and his dead brother Asad.[9] Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik's death in the late 730s was a major setback to Hisham's succession plans as it represented the loss of the plan's key supporter in the Umayyad family.[7]
Career under Hisham
Despite the animosity toward al-Walid by Hisham and the latter's stern and austere lifestyle, Maslama had become al-Walid's drinking companion, which al-Walid used to mock Hisham when the caliph reprimanded him for consuming wine.[10] His insult to Hisham became a celebrated poetic verse:
Oh you who ask about our religion / we follow the religion of Abu Shakir (Maslama)
We drink the wine both straight and mixed / sometimes warm and sometimes chilled[6]
In response, Hisham castigated Maslama, ordering him to attend the congregational
Maslama commanded the summer expedition against the
Later life and death
Hisham died in February 743 and Maslama led the funeral prayers.[15] Al-Walid acceded to the caliphate and immediately ordered that Hisham's sons at Rusafa, near Palmyra, be arrested by their cousin al-Abbas ibn al-Walid, but expressly forbade that Maslama or his household be disturbed in deference to their old companionship and Maslama's defense of al-Walid from Caliph Hisham.[6][16] Al-Walid's endearment and generosity toward Maslama is noted in the poems preserved by al-Isfahani.[17] Although he avoided arrest by al-Walid, nothing is heard of him in the sources thereafter and the historian Clifford Edmund Bosworth presumes he may have been executed by the Abbasids during the massacre of the Umayyad family at the river of Antipatris (Nahr Abi Futrus in Arabic) in 750, following the Umayyad dynasty's collapse in the Abbasid Revolution.[5]
Maslama had been infertile until he was reportedly healed by the father of
References
- ^ Hillenbrand 1989, p. 90, note 455.
- ^ a b Elad 2016, p. 289.
- ^ Marsham 2009, pp. 119–120.
- ^ a b c Hillenbrand 1989, p. 89.
- ^ a b 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, pp. 89–90.
- ^ a b c Hillenbrand 1989, p. 90.
- ^ a b Judd 2014, p. 55.
- ^ Blankinship 1989, p. 166.
- ^ a b c d e Blankinship 1994, p. 169.
- ^ Hillenbrand 1989, p. 72.
- ^ Hillenbrand 1989, p. 100.
- ^ Hillenbrand 1989, pp. 89–90, note 451.
- ^ Bosworth 1994, pp. 270–271, 271 note 23.
- ^ Bosworth 1994, p. 274.
- ^ a b Bosworth 1994, pp. 279–280.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-88706-569-9.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-1827-7.
- Bosworth, C. Edmund (1994). "Abū Ḥafṣ 'Umar al-Kirmānī and the Rise of the Barmakids". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 57 (2): 268–282. JSTOR 620573.
- Elad, Amikam (2016). The Rebellion of Muḥammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya in 145/762: Ṭālibīs and Early ʿAbbāsīs in Conflict. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-22989-1.
- ISBN 978-0-88706-810-2.
- Judd, Steven (July–September 2008). "Reinterpreting al-Walīd b. Yazīd". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 128 (3): 439–458. JSTOR 25608405.
- Judd, Steven (2014). Religious Scholars and the Umayyads: Piety-Minded Supporters of the Marwanid Caliphate. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-84497-0.
- 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.