Bishr ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik () ( fl. 710–740s) was an

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

prince and general who led military expeditions against the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

in 710/11 and 714/15 and later participated in the Umayyad opposition against his kinsman, Caliph

al-Walid II Al-Walīd ibn Yazīd (709 – 17 April 744) ( ar, الوليد بن يزيد) usually known simply as Al-Walid II was an Umayyad Caliph who ruled from 743 until his assassination in the year 744. He succeeded his uncle, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. ...

(r. 743–744). He was later imprisoned by his erstwhile ally and kinsman, Caliph

Marwan II Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam ( ar, مروان بن محمد بن مروان بن الحكم, Marwān ibn Muḥammad ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam; – 6 August 750), commonly known as Marwan II, was the fourteenth and last caliph of ...

in 745 and presumably died in incarceration.

Life

Bishr was a son of the

caliph

al-Walid I Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ( ar, الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان, al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; ), commonly known as al-Walid I ( ar, الوليد الأول), was the sixth Umayyad caliph, ruling from ...

(r. 705–715).Vaglieri 1960, p. 1244. During his father's reign, he led a number of military campaigns against the

along the caliphate's northern frontier, including in 710/11 and the winter of 714/715. Also in 714, he was appointed '' amir al-hajj'' by his father, putting him in charge of leading the Hajj pilgrimage to

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow val ...

that year. Due to his high education, he was dubbed ''ʿalim Banū Marwān'' (scholar of the Marwanids), i.e. the ruling house of the Umayyad dynasty. Bishr returned to Syria after his father's death in early 715, according to 8th/9th-century historian

al-Waqidi Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami (Arabic ) (c. 130 – 207 AH; c. 747 – 823 AD) was a historian commonly referred to as al-Waqidi (Arabic: ). His surname is derived from his grandfather's name Waqid and thus he became fa ...

. Bishr is not mentioned again in the medieval sources until 743/44 when he became involved in the internecine struggle over the caliphate between the

Umayyad dynasty Umayyad dynasty ( ar, بَنُو أُمَيَّةَ, Banū Umayya, Sons of Umayya) or Umayyads ( ar, الأمويون, al-Umawiyyūn) were the ruling family of the Caliphate between 661 and 750 and later of Al-Andalus between 756 and 1031. In the ...

. To that end, he fought against his cousin Caliph

in support of his brother,

Yazid III Yazīd ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (701 – 3/4 October 744) ( ar, يزيد بن الوليد بن عبد الملك) usually known simply as Yazid III was the twelfth Umayyad caliph. He reigned for six months, from April 15 to October 3 or ...

, despite warnings from his other brother and prominent wartime general, al-Abbas, to remain neutral. An account by Bishr's unnamed son of Bishr's disagreement with al-Abbas was recorded in the history of 9th-century historian

al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...

.Hillenbrand 1989, p. 141. Twelve other brothers of Bishr likewise supported Yazid III, who went on to become caliph after al-Walid II's assassination in 744. Yazid III ruled for a few months before dying and being succeeded by his brother Ibrahim, who months later, in 745, surrendered the caliphate to

. At the time of the latter's accession, Bishr had been serving as governor of Jund Qinnasrin (military district of Qinnasrin) in northern Syria. Marwan II subsequently compelled the largely Qaysi troops of Qinnasrin to arrest and hand over Bishr and the latter's full brother Masrur who became captives. They are not heard of again and are assumed to have died in prison.

References

Bibliography

* * *{{EI2, article=Bishr b. al-Walīd , last=Vaglieri , first=L. Veccia , authorlink=Laura Veccia Vaglieri , volume=1 , page=1244 740s deaths 8th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate Prisoners and detainees of the Umayyad Caliphate Sons of Umayyad caliphs Generals of the Umayyad Caliphate Umayyad people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Scholars from the Umayyad Caliphate 8th-century Arabs