Biographical Entry of Marwān b. al-Ḥakam (1)
He is Marwān b. al-Ḥakam b. Abī al-ʿĀṣ b. Umayya b. [ʿAbd] (2) Shams b. ʿAbd Manāf, of the Qurashi Umayyad clan. His kunya is Abū ʿAbd al-Malik; some say Abū al-Ḥakam, and others Abū al-Qāsim.
A large number of scholars count him among the Companions, for he was born during the lifetime of the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—and narrated from him the ḥadīth concerning the Treaty of Ḥudaybiya. There is likewise a full narration in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī related at length on the authority of Marwān and al-Miswar b. Makhrama from a group of Companions (3).
Marwān transmitted ḥadīth from ʿUmar and ʿUthmān—he served as the latter’s scribe—, from ʿAlī, Zayd b. Thābit, and from Busra (4) bt. Ṣafwān al-Asadiyya, who was his mother-in-law. Al-Ḥākim Abū Aḥmad said she was also his maternal aunt; there is no contradiction between her being both his aunt and his mother-in-law.
Those who narrated from Marwān include his son ʿAbd al-Malik, Sahl b. Saʿd, Saʿīd b. al-Musayyib, ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr, ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn, Mujāhid, and others.
Al-Wāqidī and Muḥammad b. Saʿd stated that Marwān encountered the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—but preserved nothing directly from him, and that he was eight years old when the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—passed away (5).
Ibn Saʿd placed him in the first tier of the Followers (6).
Marwān was regarded as one of Quraysh’s nobles and leading figures.
(1) Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqāt (The Biographical Classes), vol. 5, p. 35; Nasab Quraysh (Genealogies of Quraysh), pp. 159–160; al-Khalīfa, Tabaqāt (d. 1984); al-Muḥbir, pp. 22, 55, 58, 228, 377; Tārīkh al-Bukhārī al-Kabīr (The Major History of al-Bukhārī), vol. 7, p. 368; al-Ma‘ārif, p. 353; al-Akhbār al-Ṭiwāl, p. 285; al-Jarḥ wa-al-Ta‘dīl (Criticism and Evaluation), vol. 8, p. 271; Tārīkh al- Ṭabarī (History of al-Ṭabarī), vol. 5, p. 530; vol. 6, p. 610; Murūj al-Dhahab (Meadows of Gold), vol. 3, p. 94; Mu‘jam al-Shu‘arā’ (Dictionary of Poets), p. 317; Jamharat Ansāb al-‘Arab (Compendium of Arab Genealogies), p. 87; al-Istī‘āb fī Ma‘rifat al-Aṣḥāb, vol. 3, p. 1387; al-Jam‘ bayn Rijāl al-Ṣaḥīḥayn, vol. 2, p. 501; Tārīkh Ibn ‘Asākir, vol. 16, pt. A, p. 170; Asad al-Ghāba (Lion of the Forest), vol. 5, p. 144; al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh (The Complete History), vol. 4, p. 191; al-Ḥilla al-Sirā’ (The Biographies), vol. 1, p. 28; Tahdhīb al-Asmā’ wa-al-Lughāt (Refinement of Names and Languages), vol. 1, p. 87, note 2; Mukhtaṣar Tārīkh Dimashq (Abridged History of Damascus), vol. 24, p. 172; Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (Refinement of Perfection), fol. 1315; Tārīkh al-Islām (History of Islam), vol. 3, p. 70; al-‘Ibar (The Lessons), vol. 1, p. 71; Taḍhīb al-Tahdhīb (The Refinement of Refinement), vol. 4, p. 30, note A; Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ (Lives of Noble Figures), vol. 3, p. 476; al-Kāshif (The Revealer), vol. 3, p. 116; Fawāt al-Wafayāt (Missed Obituaries), vol. 4, p. 125; al-‘Uqd al-Thamīn (The Precious Necklace), vol. 7, p. 165; al-Isāba (The Attainment), vol. 3, p. 477; Taḍhīb al-Tahdhīb, vol. 10, p. 91; al-Nujūm al-Zāhira (The Shining Stars), pp. 164, 169; Ḥasan al-Muḥāḍara (Fine Lecture), p. 234; Khulāṣat al-Khuzrajī (Compendium of al-Khuzrajī), p. 373; Shudhurāt al-Dhahab (Fragments of Gold), p. 289.
(2) Omitted from the printed edition.
(3) It appears in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī in several passages. See the authentication (takhrīj) of this ḥadīth and others in al-Mizzī’s Tuhfat al-Ashrāf, vol. 8, p. 51 (Bishāra edition).
(4) As recorded by al-Ḥāfiẓ in at-Taqrīb, it is vocalized with a ḍamma on the first letter and a sukun on the final one; in the printed edition it is misprinted as bi-sirah.
(5) Tārīkh Dimashq (History of Damascus), vol. 57, p. 232.
(6) al-Tabaqāt al-Kubrá (The Major Classes), vol. 5, p. 35.