Abān ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿUqba ibn Abī Muʿayṭ () was a member of the Umayyad family who served as governor of

Hims Hims could refer to: * Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Locate ...

Qinnasrin Qinnašrīn (; ; ; ), was a historical town in northern Syria. The town was situated southwest of Aleppo on the west bank of the Queiq (historically, the Belus) and was connected to Aleppo with a major road during Roman times. Some scholars p ...

(with the

Jazira Jazira, al-Jazira, Jazeera, al-Jazeera, etc. are all transcriptions of Arabic language, Arabic meaning "the island" or "the peninsula". The term may refer to: Business *Jazeera Airways, an airlines company based in Kuwait Locations * Al-Jazir ...

) and

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

for the caliphs

Marwan I Marwan ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As ibn Umayya (; 623 or 626April/May 685), commonly known as MarwanI, was the fourth Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad caliph, ruling for less than a year in 684–685. He founded the Marwanid ruling house of the Umayyad ...

(r. 684–685) and

Abd al-Malik Abdul Malik () is an Arabic (Muslim or Christian) male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', ''al-'' and ''Malik''. The name means "servant of the King", in the Christian instance 'King' meaning 'King ...

(r. 685–705). His brother Uthman may have been his deputy in Armenia, or a governor in his own right, while another deputy of his was Dinar ibn Dinar, who defeated the Byzantines in 694/5. In circa 688/89, Abd al-Malik tasked Aban with suppressing the rebellion of the

Qays Qays ʿAylān (), often referred to simply as Qays (''Kais'' or ''Ḳays'') were an Arab tribal confederation that branched from the Mudar group. The tribe may not have functioned as a unit in pre-Islamic Arabia (before 630). However, by the ea ...

i chieftain

Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi Abu al-Hudhayl Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi (; died ) was a Muslim commander, a chieftain of the Arabian tribe of Banu Amir, and the preeminent leader of the Qays tribal–political faction in the late 7th century. During the First Muslim ...

, who, from his fortified, strategic outpost of

al-Qarqisiya Circesium ( ', ), known in Arabic as al-Qarqisiya, was a Roman fortress city near the junction of the Euphrates and Khabur rivers, located at the empire's eastern frontier with the Sasanian Empire. Procopius calls it the "farthest fortress" (φ� ...

on the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

, posed a nagging obstacle to the caliph's planned conquest of Iraq. That province was controlled by

Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr Mu'sab ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam al-Asadi (; died October 691) was the governor of Basra in 686–691 for his brother, the Mecca-based counter-caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, during the Second Fitna. Mus'ab was a son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam ...

on behalf of his

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

-based brother,

Abd Allah Abd Allah (), also spelled Abdullah, Abdhullah, Abdellah, Abdollah, Abdallah, Abdulla, Abdalla and many others, is an Arabic theophoric name meaning ''servant of God'' or "God's follower". It is built from the Arabic words '' abd'' () and ''All� ...

, a rival caliph to Abd al-Malik. Zufar recognized the suzerainty of Ibn al-Zubayr and had previously staved off the Umayyad commander,

Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad () was the Umayyad governor of Basra, Kufa and Khurasan during the reigns of caliphs Mu'awiya I () and Yazid I (), and the leading general of the Umayyad army under caliphs Marwan I () and Abd al-Malik (). He virtually ...

, in 685/86. Aban defeated Zufar in battle, during which one of the latter's sons was slain, but was unable to dislodge him from al-Qarqisiya.

References

Sources

* *{{cite book , last=Dixon , first='Abd al-Ameer , title=The Umayyad Caliphate, 65–86/684–705: (A Political Study) , year=1971 , publisher=Luzac , location=London , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GiPNl429iuEC , isbn=978-0718901493 7th-century Arab people Umayyad dynasty Umayyad governors of Arminiya Umayyad governors of Hims Umayyad governors of Qinnasrin

See also

References

Sources