ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān (), commonly known as al-Uswār, was an

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

prince from the

Sufyanid The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member ...

line of the dynasty. He was the son of Caliph

Yazid I Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan (; 11 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from April 680 until his death in November 683. His appointment by his father Mu'awiya I () was the first ...

(). After the death of his brother, Caliph

Mu'awiya II Mu'awiya ibn Yazid ibn Mu'awiya (; –684), commonly known as Mu'awiya II, was the third Umayyad caliph, ruling for less than a year in 683–684. He succeeded his father Yazid I as the third caliph and last caliph of the Sufyanid line in the ...

, in 684, he and his brother, Khalid ibn Yazid, were deemed too young to succeed by the pro-Umayyad tribes of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, and Umayyad rule was vested in the line of a distant kinsman,

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 ...

(). Abd Allah was a famed archer and horseman and commanded part of the army which took over Iraq from anti-Umayyad forces during the

Second Fitna The Second Fitna was a period of general political and military disorder and civil war in the Islamic community during the early Umayyad Caliphate. It followed the death of the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I in 680, and lasted for about twelve y ...

in 691.

Life

Abd Allah was the son of the

caliph

() and his wife Umm Kulthum, the daughter of the veteran commander Abd Allah ibn Amir of the

Banu Abd Shams Banu Abd Shams () refers to a clan within the Meccan tribe of Quraysh (tribe), Quraysh. Ancestry The clan names itself after Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf, the son of Abd Manaf ibn Qusai and brother of Hashim ibn 'Abd Manaf, who was the great-grandfat ...

, the clan to which the Umayyad family belonged. After the deaths of Yazid and his eldest son and successor,

, in 683 and 684, Umayyad rule collapsed across the Caliphate. Most of the provinces and the military districts of Syria, the metropolitan province of the Umayyads, recognized the anti-Umayyad

Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (; May 624October/November 692) was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the Umayyads from 683 until his death. The son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Asma bint Abi Bakr, and grandson of ...

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 ...

as caliph. The

Banu Kalb The Banu Kalb () was an Arab tribe which mainly dwelt in the desert and steppe of northwestern Arabia and central Syria. It was involved in the tribal politics of the Byzantine Empire's eastern frontiers, possibly as early as the 4th century. ...

, old tribal allies of the Sufyanids (the line of Umayyads descended from Yazid's father, founder of the Umayyad Caliphate

Mu'awiya I Mu'awiya I (–April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

) under whom they held privileged positions in the caliphal court, rallied the Umayyad loyalist tribes in Syria to appoint Mu'awiya II's replacement. In the recriminations in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

between supporters and opponents of the Umayyads, the governor Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri, who backed Ibn al-Zubayr, arrested Yazid's cousin Walid ibn Utba ibn Abi Sufyan. Still, he was freed by Abd Allah, his brother Khalid, and their Kalbite backers. The chief of the Kalb, Ibn Bahdal, was a cousin of Yazid, and he nominated Khalid and Abd Allah as his candidates for the caliphal office. The other loyalist tribesmen opposed him due to Khalid and Abd Allah's young ages. Instead, a distant Umayyad relative, Marwan ibn al-Hakam, was appointed and led the Umayyad war efforts against the pro-Zubayrid tribes in Syria, defeating their leader Dahhak at the Battle of Marj Rahit in 684. Abd Allah was known as the "finest archer of the Arabs of his time," according to the historian

al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...

(d. 923). He was called "''al-Uswar,''" from the Persian word for "horseman." Al-Tabari quoted an unnamed poet as saying of Abd Allah:

The people claim that the best of all
Quraysh The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...
he tribe of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and all the caliph">Muhammad.html" ;"title="he tribe of the Islamic prophet Muhammad">he tribe of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and all the caliphs]
when they are mentioned is al-Uswār.

Marwan was succeeded by his son Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, Abd al-Malik, voiding the previous succession arrangements whereby Khalid was heir apparent, followed by another Umayyad, Amr al-Ashdaq ibn Sa'id ibn al-As. The latter led an attempted coup against Abd al-Malik in Damascus in 689, which the Caliph squashed. Abd Allah was married to al-Ashdaq's daughter and counselled him not to respond to summons following the failed coup. Al-Ashdaq dismissed his brother-in-law's concerns and met with the Caliph, who had him executed. Abd Allah later served as the right-wing commander of Caliph Abd al-Malik's army when it wrested control of Iraq from the Zubayrids in the Battle of Maskin in 691. His brother Khalid commanded the left wing.

Marriages and children

Abd Allah was married to his cousin Atika, the daughter of Yazid's brother Abd Allah. He was married to another Sufyanid kinswoman, Umm Kulthum, the daughter of Mu'awiya I's brother Anbasa ibn Abi Sufyan. Other Umayyad wives of Abd Allah included A'isha, the daughter of

Sa'id ibn Uthman Sa'id ibn Uthman ibn Affan al-Umawi (; died ) was an Umayyad general and military governor of Khurasan in 676–677 during the reign of Caliph Mu'awiya I. He was a son of Caliph Uthman () and a one-time seeker of the caliphate in 675/76. During ...

(a son of Caliph

Uthman Uthman ibn Affan (17 June 656) was the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruling from 644 until his assassination in 656. Uthman, a second cousin, son-in-law, and notable companion of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, played a major role ...

) and Ramla bint Abi Sufyan. He was also wed to Umm Uthman, the daughter of a distant Umayyad kinsman, Sa'id ibn al-As, after the death of her first husband, Khalid ibn Amr, a grandson of Caliph Uthman. With Umm Uthman, Abd Allah had his sons Abu Utba and Abu Sufyan (or Abu Aban, according to al-Baladhuri). He later married Umm Uthman's niece, Umm Musa, who was the daughter of Amr al-Ashdaq ibn Sa'id ibn al-As. Abd Allah was also wed to a woman of the

tribe, A'isha bint Zabban. One of Abd Allah's daughters married Caliph

Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (; 6 February 743) was the tenth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 724 until his death in 743. Early life Hisham was born in Damascus, the administrative capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, in AH 72 (691–692 CE). Hi ...

(). Abd Allah's son Ziyad (Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani) was a Damascus-based commander in the service of Hisham's successor

al-Walid II Al-Walid ibn Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik (; 70917 April 744), commonly known as al-Walid II, was the eleventh Umayyad caliph, ruling from 743 until his assassination in 744. He succeeded his uncle, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. Birth and background Al-W ...

and later proclaimed himself caliph and led a rebellion in Syria against the

Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes i ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *{{cite book , last1=Robinson , first1=Majied , title=Marriage in the Tribe of Muhammad: A Statistical Study of Early Arabic Genealogical Literature , date=2020 , publisher=Walter de Gruyter , location=Berlin , isbn=9783110624168 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TiXGDwAAQBAJ 7th-century Arab people 7th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate Sons of Umayyad caliphs Generals of the Umayyad Caliphate Military archers