Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik
Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik سُلَيْمَان ٱبْن عَبْد الْمَلِك | |||||
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Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate | |||||
Reign | 24 February 715 – 24 September 717 | ||||
Predecessor | Al-Walid I | ||||
Successor | Umar | ||||
Born | c. 675 Medina, Umayyad Caliphate | ||||
Died | 24 September 717 (aged c. 42) Dabiq, Umayyad Caliphate | ||||
Burial | Dabiq, Umayyad Caliphate | ||||
Wives |
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Issue |
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House | Marwanid | ||||
Dynasty | Umayyad | ||||
Father | Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan | ||||
Mother | Wallada bint al-Abbas | ||||
Religion | Islam |
Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (
After acceding as caliph, Sulayman dismissed his predecessor's governors and generals. Many had been handpicked by al-Hajjaj and had led the war efforts which brought the Caliphate to its greatest territorial extent. Among them were the conqueror of
Sulayman died in Dabiq during the siege. His eldest son and chosen successor, Ayyub, had predeceased him. Sulayman made the unconventional choice of nominating his cousin, Umar, as caliph, rather than a son or a brother. The siege of Constantinople and the coinciding of his reign with the approaching centennial of the Hijra (start of the Islamic calendar), led contemporary Arab poets to view Sulayman in messianic terms.
Early life
The details about Sulayman's first thirty years of life in the medieval sources are scant.[1] He was likely born in Medina around 675.[1][a] His father, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, belonged to the Umayyad clan of the Quraysh tribe, while his mother, Wallada bint al-Abbas ibn al-Jaz, was a great-granddaughter of Zuhayr ibn Jadhima,[3] a prominent 6th-century chieftain of the Arab tribe of Banu Abs.[4] Sulayman was partly raised in the desert by his Banu Abs kinsmen.[5]
At the time of his birth, the Caliphate was ruled by Sulayman's distant cousin, Mu'awiya I,[6] who had founded the ruling Umayyad dynasty in 661.[7] Following the deaths of Mu'awiya I's successors, Yazid I and Mu'awiya II, in 683 and 684, Umayyad authority collapsed across the Caliphate and most provinces recognized the non-Umayyad, Mecca-based, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, as caliph.[8][9] The Umayyads of Medina, including Sulayman, were therefore expelled from the city and became refugees in Syria,[1] where they were supported by loyalist Arab tribes.[10] These tribes elected Sulayman's grandfather, Marwan I, as caliph and formed the Yaman confederation in opposition to the Qaysi tribes, who dominated northern Syria and the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) and supported Ibn al-Zubayr.[11] By 685, Marwan had reestablished Umayyad control over Syria and Egypt.[12] Abd al-Malik, who succeeded him, had by 692 reconquered the rest of the Caliphate.[13]
Governorship of Palestine
At an unknown date, Abd al-Malik appointed Sulayman governor of Jund Filastin (the military district of Palestine), a post Abd al-Malik formerly held under Marwan.[1][14] Sulayman's appointment followed stints by the Caliph's uncle, Yahya ibn al-Hakam, and half-brother, Aban ibn Marwan.[15] In 701, Sulayman led the Hajj rituals in Mecca.[1] Before Abd al-Malik died in 705, he nominated his eldest son, al-Walid I, as his successor, to be followed by Sulayman.[1] Sulayman remained governor of Palestine throughout al-Walid's reign, which lasted until 715.[1][16] His governorship likely brought him in close contact with the Yamani chieftains who dominated the district.[17] He established a strong relationship with Raja ibn Haywa al-Kindi, a local, Yamani-affiliated religious scholar who had previously supervised the construction of Abd al-Malik's Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.[17] Raja became Sulayman's tutor and senior aide.[17]
Sulayman resented the influence of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, the viceroy of Iraq and the eastern parts of the Caliphate, over al-Walid,[18] and cultivated ties with his opponents.[17] In 708 or 709, he gave refuge to the fugitive and former governor of Khurasan, Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, and his family, the Muhallabids. Al-Hajjaj had dismissed and imprisoned Yazid but he had escaped to Palestine.[1][17] There, Yazid used his tribal connections with the district's large Yamani Azdi population to gain Sulayman's protection.[19][20] Al-Walid was angered with Yazid's defiance of al-Hajjaj, so Sulayman offered to pay the fine al-Hajjaj had imposed on Yazid. He also sent the latter and his own son, Ayyub, in shackles to the Caliph, with a letter pleading for the Muhallabids' pardon, which the Caliph granted.[18][21] Yazid became a close confidant of Sulayman, who held him in "the highest regard", according to a report by the historian Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (737–819).[22] Hisham further noted "Yazid ... stayed with him [Sulayman], teaching him how to dress well, making delicious dishes for him, and giving him large presents".[22] Yazid remained with Sulayman for nine months, or until al-Hajjaj died in 714, and highly influenced and prejudiced him against al-Hajjaj.[23][24]
Foundation of Ramla
As governor, Sulayman founded the city of Ramla as the seat of his administration,[1][25][26] replacing Lydda, the Muslims' original provincial capital[1][25] and Sulayman's first residence in Palestine.[27] Ramla remained the capital of Palestine through the Fatimid period (10th–11th centuries).[28] His motives for founding Ramla were personal ambition and practical considerations.[29] The location of Lydda, a long-established and prosperous city, was logistically and economically advantageous. Sulayman established his capital outside of the city proper.[26] According to the historian Nimrod Luz, this was likely due to a lack of available space for wide-scale development and agreements dating to the Muslim conquest in the 630s that, at least formally, precluded him from confiscating desirable property within the city.[29] In a tradition recorded by the historian Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari (d. 1347), a determined local Christian cleric refused Sulayman's requests for plots in the middle of Lydda. Infuriated, he attempted to have the cleric executed, but Raja dissuaded him and instead proposed building a new city at a superior, adjacent site.[30] The historian Moshe Sharon holds that Lydda was "too Christian in ethos for the taste of the Umayyad rulers", particularly following the Arabization and Islamization reforms instituted by Abd al-Malik.[27] According to al-Jahshiyari (d. 942), Sulayman sought a lasting reputation as a great builder following the example of his father and al-Walid, the respective founders of the Dome of the Rock and Great Mosque of Damascus.[31] The construction of Ramla was his "way to immortality" and "his personal stamp on the landscape of Palestine", according to Luz.[32] In choosing the site, Sulayman utilized the strategic advantages of Lydda's vicinity while avoiding the physical constraints of an already-established urban center.[33]
The first structure Sulayman erected in Ramla was his palatial residence,
Jerusalem, located 40 kilometers (25 mi) southeast of Ramla,
Caliphate
Accession
In 714, al-Walid, encouraged or supported by al-Hajjaj, attempted to install his son Abd al-Aziz as his successor, voiding the arrangements set by Abd al-Malik, which made Sulayman heir apparent.[46][47] According to the historian Umar ibn Shabba (d. 878), al-Walid offered Sulayman generous financial incentives to agree to the change, but he refused.[46] Al-Walid, nonetheless, issued requests to his provincial governors to recognize Abd al-Aziz, but only received favorable responses from al-Hajjaj and Qutayba ibn Muslim, the governor of Khurasan and conqueror of Transoxiana.[46] An adviser of al-Walid, Abbad ibn Ziyad, counseled the Caliph to pressure Sulayman by summoning him to the Caliph's court in Damascus, and then, after Sulayman stalled in his response, to mobilize his shurta (select troops) and move against Sulayman in Ramla.[46] Al-Walid died shortly after, on 24 February 715.[1] Sulayman received the news at his estate in al-Sab' (Bayt Jibrin),[48] and acceded to the caliphate unopposed.[46]
Sulayman obtained oaths of allegiance in Ramla,[49] and in Damascus during his only recorded visit to that city.[5] He continued to govern from Palestine, where he "was much beloved", in the words of the historian Julius Wellhausen, instead of Damascus,[50] the Umayyads' traditional administrative capital.[5] The historian Reinhard Eisener asserted that the medieval "Syrian sources prove he obviously chose Jerusalem as his principal seat of government",[1] while Wellhausen and the historian Hugh N. Kennedy held that he remained in Ramla.[51]
Provincial politics
In his first year in office, Sulayman replaced most of al-Walid's and al-Hajjaj's provincial appointees with governors loyal to him.[1][52] It is unclear whether these changes were the result of resentment and suspicion toward previous opponents of his accession, a means to ensure control over the provinces by appointing loyal officials, or a policy to end the rule of strong, old-established governors.[1] While Eisener argued Sulayman's "choice of governors does not give the impression of bias" toward the Yaman faction,[1] Kennedy asserted that the Caliph's reign marked the political comeback of the Yaman and "reflected his Yamani leanings".[17] One of his immediate decisions was to install his confidant, Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, as governor of Iraq.[51] According to the historian Muhammad Abdulhayy Shaban, Sulayman considered Yazid to be his "own al-Hajjaj".[53] Yazid acted with a staunch preference for the Yaman, but according to Wellhausen, there is no indication that Sulayman favored one faction over the other.[54] Wellhausen held that Sulayman, from the time he was governor of Palestine, "may have been persuaded" that the rule of al-Hajjaj engendered hatred among the Iraqis toward the Umayyads rather than fostering their loyalty.[55] Sulayman thus opposed him and his influence and deposed his appointees and allies, not because of their Qaysi affiliation, but because of their personal connection with al-Hajjaj.[55] Sulayman kept close ties with the Qaysi troops of the Jazira.[56]
A protege of al-Hajjaj, Qutayba ibn Muslim, whose relations with Sulayman had been antagonistic, was confirmed in his post by the Caliph, but remained wary that his dismissal was pending.
Waki's provisional governorship lasted nine months,[20] ending in mid-716.[57] Yazid had persuaded Sulayman that Waki was a troublesome Bedouin (Arab nomad) lacking administrative qualities.[20] Khurasan, along with the other eastern parts of the Caliphate, were attached to Yazid's Iraqi governorship.[1] The Caliph directed Yazid to relocate to Khurasan and leave lieutenant governors in the Iraqi garrison towns of Kufa, Basra and Wasit, while entrusting Iraq's fiscal affairs to his own appointee, a mawla (pl. mawali; non-Arab freedman or client) with lengthy experience in the province, Salih ibn Abd al-Rahman.[60]
Between 715 and 716, Sulayman dismissed
In the west, Sulayman dismissed
War efforts
Although he largely replaced their governors, Sulayman maintained his predecessors'
Transoxiana
On the eastern front, in Transoxiana, further conquests were not achieved for a quarter century after Qutayba's death, during which time the Arabs began to lose territory in the region.[66] Sulayman ordered the withdrawal of the Khurasani army from Ferghana to Merv, and its subsequent disbandment.[57] No military activity was carried out under Waki. Under Yazid's deputy in Transoxiana, his son Mukhallad, expeditions were limited to summertime raids against Sogdian villages. The historian H. A. R. Gibb attributed the Arab military regression in Transoxiana to the void in leadership and organization left by Qutayba's death.[66] Eisener partly attributed it to more effective resistance along the frontiers. The halt in the conquests was not an indication that "the impulse of expansion and conquest slackened" under Sulayman, according to Eisener.[1]
Jurjan and Tabaristan
In 716, Yazid attempted to conquer the principalities of
Siege of Constantinople
The Caliph's principal military focus was the perennial war with Byzantium,
Following the death of al-Walid I, Sulayman took up the project to capture Constantinople with increased vigor.
Sulayman's efforts ultimately failed.[1] The Byzantines repulsed the Umayyad fleet from Constantinople in the summer of 717, while Maslama's army maintained its siege of the city.[90] Umayyad fleets sent in the summer of 718 to aid the besiegers were destroyed by the Byzantines, while an Umayyad relief army was routed and repulsed in Anatolia.[91] Having failed in the siege, Maslama's army withdrew from Constantinople in August 718.[92] The massive losses incurred during the campaign led to a partial retrenchment of the Umayyad forces from the captured Byzantine frontier districts,[93][94] but already in 720, Umayyad raids against Byzantium recommenced. Nevertheless, the goal of conquering Constantinople was effectively abandoned, and the frontier between the two empires stabilized along the line of the Taurus and Anti-Taurus Mountains, over which both sides continued to launch regular raids and counter-raids during the next centuries.[95][96]
Death and succession
Sulayman died in Dabiq in September 717,[1] and was buried there.[97] The 11th-century Nestorian Christian chronicler Elias of Nisibis dated his death to 20 September or 21 September, while the 8th-century Muslim historian Abu Mikhnaf placed it on 23 September or 24 September.[50] He fell ill after returning from the Friday prayers and died a few days later.[98]
Sulayman designated his eldest son Ayyub as his successor in 715 or 716, after the death of his brother and potential successor,
The Imam, whose gifts will be hoped for, after the Imam [Sulayman], is the chosen successor, Ayyub ... You [Ayyub] are the successor to the merciful one [Sulayman], the one whom the people who recite the Psalms recognize, the one whose name is inscribed in the Torah.[99][c]
But Ayyub died in early 717,[100] succumbing to the so-called ta'un al-Ashraf ("plague of the Notables"), that afflicted Syria and Iraq.[101] The same plague may have caused Sulayman's death.[102] On his deathbed, Sulayman considered nominating his other son Dawud, but Raja advised against it, arguing that Dawud was away fighting in Constantinople and that it was unclear if he was still alive.[98] Raja counseled Sulayman to choose his paternal cousin and adviser, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, describing him as a "worthy, excellent man and a sincere Muslim".[98] To avoid potential intra-dynastic strife between Umar and Sulayman's brothers, Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik was appointed Umar's successor.[98] Sulayman's nomination of Umar over his own brothers defied the general assumptions among the Umayyad family that the office of the caliph would be restricted to the household of Abd al-Malik.[103] Raja was chosen to execute Sulayman's will and secured allegiance to Umar from the Caliph's brothers by threatening them with the use of force, following their protestations at being bypassed.[104] According to Eisener, Raja's personal connections to the traditional Muslim reports about Sulayman's nomination of Umar render Raja's role in the succession arrangements as "likely ... exaggerated".[100] According to Shaban, Sulayman nominated Umar because he was the contender "most sympathetic to his policies".[103]
Assessment and legacy
According to Eisener, it is challenging "to form an appropriate picture of Sulayman's reign", due to its short duration.[1] Shaban held that Sulayman's short rule would "permit more than one interpretation", which is the reason "he is such an ambiguous figure for the historian."[103] Shaban has noted that the "importance of Sulayman's reign does not seem to have been realized" due to the medieval sources' "overwhelming emphasis" on the reign of his successor, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz.[105] While Shaban and Kennedy have emphasized Sulayman's championing of the Yaman faction and opposition to the Qays,[103] Eisener has viewed his provincial and military appointments as motivated by a desire to consolidate his control over the Caliphate by installing loyalists in positions of power, factional affiliations notwithstanding.[1] Eisener and Shaban have noted that Sulayman generally maintained the expansionist policies of al-Walid and Abd al-Malik.[1][103]
While Shaban has highlighted Sulayman's attempts to further integrate the mawali into the military hierarchy,[103] the historian Patricia Crone has rejected that Sulayman oversaw any policy change regarding their integration.[106] Several Islamic traditional sources credited Sulayman for reversing al-Hajjaj's measures against non-Arab, Muslim converts by allowing the return to Basra of either the urban mawali who had supported the anti-Umayyad revolt of Ibn al-Ash'ath in 700–701, or the Iraqi peasants who converted to Islam and moved to Basra to avoid the jizya (poll tax designated for non-Muslims). Crone has viewed the traditional accounts of Sulayman's policies regarding the runaway peasant converts as "badly attested".[107]
In the panegyrics of Sulayman's contemporary poets, al-Farazdaq and Jarir, Sulayman is viewed in messianic terms as the Mahdi ("rightly guided one") sent to restore justice after a period of oppression.[100][108] Al-Farazdaq praised Sulayman for addressing all grievances and heralded him as the one "predicted by priests and rabbis".[108] The messianic views of Sulayman may have been connected to the approaching centennial of the Hijrah and the associated Muslim hopes for the conquest of Constantinople during his reign.[100] Several hadiths (sayings or traditions attributed to Muhammad) associated the conquest of the city with the Mahdi and Sulayman entered the role in his attempt to conquer it.[109] "Sensibly", according to Crone, Sulayman did not publicly reference the widespread belief among Muslims that their community or the world would be destroyed on the centennial.[109]
Sulayman was known to lead a licentious life and the traditional sources hold that he was gluttonous and promiscuous.[110] Al-Ya'qubi described him as "a voracious eater ... attractive and eloquent ... a tall man, white, and with a body that could not bear hunger".[111] He was highly skilled in Arabic oratory.[100] Despite his lifestyle, his political sympathies laid with the pious, chiefly evidenced by his deference to Raja's counsel.[112] He also cultivated ties to the religious opponents of al-Hajjaj in Iraq. He was financially generous toward the Alids (the closest surviving kinsmen of the Islamic prophet Muhammad). He installed as governor of Medina Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad al-Ansari, a member of the city's pious circles, despite his family's role in the fatal rebellion against the early clansman and patron of the Umayyads, Caliph Uthman (r. 644–656), revenge for whom had served as an ideological rallying point and foundational event for the Umayyad dynasty.[113] In contrast to contemporary poetry, the Islamic tradition considers Sulayman to have been cruel and unjust, his overtures to the pious stemming from the guilt of his immoral conduct.[100]
Family
Sulayman had four wives from different branches of the Umayyad family.
Among his other wives were Su'da bint Yahya, a granddaughter of
Sulayman's sons remained in Palestine and maintained strong ties with the district's Yamani tribal nobility.[121][122] The Arab tribes which formed Palestine's garrison were committed to the family. In 744, they unsuccessfully attempted to install its head, Sulayman's son Yazid, as caliph.[121] Sulayman's property in Palestine remained in his family's possession until the Abbasid Revolution toppled the Umayyad dynasty in 750,[121] after which they were confiscated by the Abbasid family.[114] Some of his descendants, from the lines of Dawud and Abd al-Wahid, were recorded by the sources living in the Umayyad emirate (756–929) and caliphate (929–1031) of al-Andalus.[123]
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad Eisener 1997, p. 821.
- ^ Bosworth 1982, p. 45.
- ^ Hinds 1990, p. 118.
- ^ Fück 1965, p. 1023.
- ^ a b c d Bosworth 1982, p. 90.
- ^ Kennedy 2002, p. 127.
- ^ Hinds 1993, p. 265.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 90–91.
- ^ Hawting 2000, p. 48.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, p. 91.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 91–93.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 92, 98.
- ^ Crone 1980, p. 125.
- ^ Crone 1980, pp. 124–125.
- ^ Crone 1980, p. 126.
- ^ a b c d e f Kennedy 2004, p. 105.
- ^ a b Wellhausen 1927, p. 257.
- ^ Crone 1994, p. 26.
- ^ a b c Bosworth 1968, p. 66.
- ^ Hinds 1990, pp. 160–162.
- ^ a b Hinds 1990, p. 162.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 257–258.
- ^ Hinds 1990, p. 163, note 540.
- ^ a b c Bacharach 1996, p. 35.
- ^ a b Luz 1997, p. 52.
- ^ a b Sharon 1986, p. 799.
- ^ Taxel 2013, p. 161.
- ^ a b Luz 1997, pp. 52–53.
- ^ a b Luz 1997, p. 48.
- ^ a b Luz 1997, p. 47.
- ^ Luz 1997, pp. 53–54.
- ^ a b Luz 1997, p. 53.
- ^ a b Luz 1997, p. 43.
- ^ Luz 1997, pp. 37–38, 41.
- ^ Bacharach 1996, pp. 27, 35–36.
- ^ Luz 1997, pp. 43–45.
- ^ Luz 1997, pp. 38–39.
- ^ Luz 1997, p. 42.
- ^ Gordon et al. 2018, p. 1005.
- ^ Sharon 1986, p. 800.
- ^ Gordon et al. 2018, p. 1004, note 2278.
- ^ Luz 1997, p. 49.
- ^ a b Elad 1999, p. 28.
- ^ Bacharach 1996, p. 36.
- ^ a b c d e Hinds 1990, pp. 222–223.
- ^ Shaban 1970, p. 74.
- ^ Lecker 1989, pp. 33, 35.
- ^ Powers 1989, p. 3.
- ^ a b Wellhausen 1927, p. 263.
- ^ a b c Kennedy 2004, pp. 105–106.
- ^ Powers 1989, pp. 28–29.
- ^ Shaban 1970, p. 78.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 259–261.
- ^ a b c d Wellhausen 1927, p. 260.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 261.
- ^ a b c d e Shaban 1970, p. 75.
- ^ Shaban 1970, pp. 78–79.
- ^ a b Wellhausen 1927, p. 258.
- ^ Shaban 1971, p. 128.
- ^ Powers 1989, pp. 28–30.
- ^ James 2009, p. 53.
- ^ Powers 1989, p. 30.
- ^ Crone 1994, pp. 18, 21, note 97.
- ^ Crone 1994, p. 21, note 97.
- ^ a b Gibb 1923, p. 54.
- ^ Madelung 1975, pp. 198–199.
- ^ Powers 1989, pp. 42–43.
- ^ Hawting 2000, p. 74.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 446.
- ^ Madelung 1975, p. 198.
- ^ Powers 1989, pp. 58–59.
- ^ Madelung 1993.
- ^ Malek 2017, p. 105.
- ^ Madelung 1975, p. 200.
- ^ Madelung 1975, pp. 200–206.
- ^ Blankinship 1994, pp. 104, 117.
- ^ Hinds 1993, pp. 265–266.
- ^ Blankinship 1994, pp. 25–26, 31.
- ^ a b Blankinship 1994, p. 31.
- ^ Haldon 1990, pp. 72, 80.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, pp. 343–344.
- ^ Haldon 1990, p. 80.
- ^ Lilie 1976, pp. 120–122, 139–140.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, p. 344.
- ^ Guilland 1959, pp. 110–111.
- ^ Powers 1989, pp. 39–40.
- ^ Lilie 1976, p. 132.
- ^ Powers 1989, p. 38.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, p. 347.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, pp. 347–348.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, p. 349.
- ^ Blankinship 1994, pp. 33–34.
- ^ Lilie 1976, pp. 132–133.
- ^ Blankinship 1994, pp. 117–121.
- ^ Lilie 1976, pp. 143–144, 158–162.
- ^ Powers 1989, p. 65.
- ^ a b c d Powers 1989, p. 70.
- ^ a b c d e Bosworth 1982, p. 93.
- ^ a b c d e f Eisener 1997, p. 822.
- ^ Dols 1974, p. 379.
- ^ Dols 1974, pp. 379–380.
- ^ a b c d e f Shaban 1971, p. 130.
- ^ Shaban 1971, pp. 130–131.
- ^ Shaban 1970, p. 76.
- ^ Crone 1994, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Crone 1994, pp. 21–22.
- ^ a b Crone 2004, p. 75.
- ^ a b Crone 2004, p. 76.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 262.
- ^ Gordon et al. 2018, p. 1012.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 264.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 263–264.
- ^ a b c d e f g Mayer 2016.
- ^ Robinson 2020, p. 145.
- ^ Ahmed 2010, p. 119.
- ^ Williams 1985, p. 92.
- ^ Ahmed 2010, p. 93.
- ^ Ahmed 2010, p. 124.
- ^ Powers 1989, p. 71, note 250.
- ^ a b c Bosworth 1982, p. 92.
- ^ Hillenbrand 1989, pp. 189–190.
- ^ Uzquiza Bartolomé 1994, p. 459.
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