Ibn ʿAsākir ⦗1⦘ and others report that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb asked a woman’s hand in marriage through her mother. The mother replied, “She has already been sought by Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Bajalī, the foremost of the young men of the East; by Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, the foremost of the young men of Quraysh; and by ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar, whose standing you all know.” The young woman then said, “O Commander of the Believers, are you serious?” He answered, “Yes.” She said, “Then we give her to you in marriage, O Commander of the Believers!”

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān used to honor and exalt Marwān, who served as his scribe for official rulings. From beneath Marwān’s pillow the affair of “the House” began, and it was on his account that ʿUthmān was besieged there. The assailants pressed ʿUthmān to hand Marwān over, but he refused most adamantly. On the Day of the House Marwān fought fiercely, killing a number of the Kharijites; and on the Day of the Camel he commanded the left flank. It is also said that he shot Ṭalḥa with an arrow in the knee, causing his death—Allah knows best.

Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam ⦗2⦘ said: “I heard al-Shāfiʿī say: On the Day of the Camel, when the people scattered, ʿAlī repeatedly asked about Marwān. When someone questioned him about that, he replied, ‘A close bond of kinship draws me to him, and he is a leader among the young men of Quraysh.’”

Ibn al-Mubārak narrated—through Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr, from Qabīṣa ibn Jābir—that he said to Muʿāwiya, “Whom will you leave in charge of this matter after you?” Muʿāwiya answered, “The man who recites the Book of Allah, is learned in the religion of Allah, and is strict in enforcing the limits set by Allah—Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam.” Muʿāwiya appointed him governor of Medina on several occasions, dismissing him and then reinstating him, and Marwān led the people in the ḥajj for a number of years.

Ḥanbal relates that Imām Aḥmad said, “It is said that Marwān possessed sound judicial discernment (qaḍāʾ) and would look closely into the verdicts of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.”

Ibn Wahb said: “I heard Mālik remark—when he mentioned Marwān one day—‘Marwān said: I have been reading the Book of Allah for forty years, yet I now find myself involved in the shedding of blood and matters such as these!’”

Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated—from Ṣafwān ibn ʿAmr ⦗3⦘, from Shurayḥ ibn ʿUbayd and others—that whenever Islam was mentioned, Marwān would say:

By my Lord’s favor, not by what my hands have done,
Nor by my lineage, ⦗4⦘ for I was a sinner.