He assumed power after his father, and his reign lasted a long time. He bore the honorific al-Murtaḍā, yet he never adopted the title “Commander of the Believers.”

He was a man of prowess—valiant, courageous, overbearing, tyrannical, shrewd, and politically astute.

He lived fifty years, and his rule endured for twenty-seven years.

Ibn Ḥazm (1) said: “He brazenly committed sins and shed blood. He would seize the handsome sons of the people, castrate them, and keep them for himself. He also composed poetry.”

I say: He is the one who attacked the inhabitants of al-Rabaḍ, a suburb adjoining his palace, demolishing it and tearing down its mosques; what he did to the people of Toledo (2) was even worse. He flaunted debauchery and wine-drinking, so the jurists and notables rose against him and deposed him in the year 189 AH. They later reinstated him when he disavowed his deeds and repented, but once he had consolidated power he executed about seventy leading figures and crucified them—a horrific spectacle. The populace cursed him, nursed resentment, and spoke to him with bitterness. He therefore fortified himself and made preparations, and many events followed whose details are too lengthy to recount here (3), until he died in 206 AH. His son, Abū al-Muṭarrif ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (4), succeeded him.

204 – Yaḥyā ibn Ādam ibn Sulaymān al-Umawī, their client * (ʿ)
The erudite scholar, ḥadīth master, and meticulous verifier, Abū Zakariyyā al-Umawī