He was given the pledge of allegiance in Damascus upon the death of his brother Yazīd. He was light-skinned, handsome and well-favoured, tall and inclined to stoutness.

Maʿmar said, “I saw a man of the Umayyads called Ibrāhīm ibn al-Walīd. He came to al-Zuhrī with a written text, presented it to him, and then asked, ‘May I relate this from you?’ Al-Zuhrī replied, ‘Indeed—by my life! Who besides me would relate it to you?’ ”

Burd ibn Sinān recounted: “I was present with Yazīd ibn al-Walīd when he was in the throes of death. Qutn came in and said, ‘I am the messenger of those outside; they adjure you by Allah to invest your brother Ibrāhīm with authority.’ Yazīd became angry, struck his forehead with his hand and said, ‘Shall I appoint Ibrāhīm!’ Then he turned to me and asked, ‘Abū al-ʿAlāʾ, to whom do you think I should bequeath the office?’ I replied, ‘It is a matter I already forbade you to enter; I will not advise you about it now that it is ending.’

“He fainted, and I thought he had breathed his last. Qutn then sat down, forged a document in Yazīd’s name appointing a successor, summoned some people and made them witness it—yet, by Allah, Yazīd had appointed no one.”

Abū Maʿshar said: “Ibrāhīm ibn al-Walīd reigned for seventy nights, after which he was deposed and Marwān al-Ḥimār assumed the caliphate.”

The author adds: “He lived as a prisoner until the year 132 AH. He was courageous; his mother was a Berber woman. Affairs never settled for him: some people greeted him as ‘Caliph’, others as ‘Amīr’, while yet others refused to pledge allegiance at all. It was said:
‘They pay allegiance to Ibrāhīm every Friday—
Know that a cause with you in charge is doomed to stray.’

Aḥmad ibn Zuhayr, citing his authorities, said: “Marwān advanced with eighty thousand men. Ibrāhīm sent Sulaymān ibn Hishām against him at the head of one hundred thousand. When the two forces met, Sulaymān was put to flight and fled to Damascus; ʿUthmān and al-Ḥakam—sons of al-Walīd—were killed. Marwān’s cavalry pressed on, and Ibrāhīm went into hiding.

“The public treasury was plundered. Yazīd al-Nāqiṣ was exhumed and crucified at Bāb al-Jābiyah. Once Marwān was firmly in control he granted safety to Ibrāhīm and to Sulaymān ibn Hishām.”

Ibrāhīm had four sons.

He was later killed in the Battle of the Zab—may Allah forgive him.