His intention, once that affair was concluded, was to move next against Musʿab ibn al-Zubayr. When he set out for the campaign he appointed ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd al-Ashdaq in charge of Damascus, whereupon al-Ashdaq fortified the city and seized the contents of the bayt al-māl (state treasury).
Another report relates that al-Ashdaq had initially marched out with ʿAbd al-Malik but slipped away from the army and returned to Damascus by night, accompanied by Ḥumayd ibn Ḥurayth ibn Baḥdal al-Kalbī and Zuhayr ibn al-Abrad al-Kalbī. They reached the city while ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Umm al-Ḥakam was acting there as governor for ʿAbd al-Malik. Sensing their arrival, he fled and abandoned the town. Al-Ashdaq entered, took possession of its treasuries, and addressed the people, promising them justice, fairness, generous stipends, and honorable praise.
When ʿAbd al-Malik learned what al-Ashdaq had done he turned back at once. He found that al-Ashdaq had already strengthened Damascus, hanging curtains and coarse cloth over its walls, and had withdrawn to a strong Roman citadel within the city. ʿAbd al-Malik laid siege to him, and al-Ashdaq fought him for sixteen nights.
Then ʿAbd al-Malik sent him a message: “I adjure you by Allah and by the ties of kinship: do not ruin the cause of your own house and the unity it now enjoys; what you have done only strengthens Ibn al-Zubayr. Return to your oath of allegiance, and I give you Allah’s covenant and binding pledge.” He swore additional emphatic oaths, “You are my heir-apparent after me.” They committed this to writing, whereupon ʿAmr was deceived and opened the gates of Damascus (1).
The two agreed to cease fighting, that ʿAmr would be the crown prince after ʿAbd al-Malik, and that for every governor serving ʿAbd al-Malik there would be a matching governor appointed by ʿAmr. This took place on Thursday evening. ʿAbd al-Malik entered Damascus and proceeded to the palace as was his habit.
He sent word to al-Ashdaq: “Return to the people the stipends you took for them from the bayt al-māl.”
Al-Ashdaq replied: “That is not yours to command, and this city is not yours. Leave it.”
On Monday ʿAbd al-Malik dispatched a messenger ordering al-Ashdaq to come to his residence in the Green Palace of the emirate. When the messenger arrived he found beside al-Ashdaq ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah, the husband of al-Ashdaq’s daughter Umm Mūsā.
ʿAmr sought his advice about going. He said, “Abū Saʿīd (2), by Allah, you are dearer to me than my hearing and my sight, and I think you should not go to him. For Tubayʿan al-Ḥimyarī—son of the wife of Kaʿb al-Ahbār—once said: ‘A great man from among the descendants of Ismāʿīl will shut the gates of Damascus, and he will soon afterwards be killed.’”
ʿAmr replied, “By Allah, even if I were asleep I would not fear that Ibn al-Zarqāʾ would dare to wake me, nor would he have the audacity to act against me. Moreover, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān came to me in a dream last night and clothed me in his shirt.”
ʿAmr then said to the messenger, “Convey my greetings to him and say: ‘If Allah wills, I shall come to you this evening.’”
When the evening came—meaning after midday—ʿAmr put on a coat of mail beneath his clothes, girded on his sword, and rose. He stumbled on the carpet, whereupon his wife and some of those present said, “We think you should not go to him.” He paid them no heed and set out with a hundred of his retainers.
ʿAbd al-Malik, meanwhile, had ordered the sons of Marwān to gather; they all assembled around him. When ʿAmr reached the gate, ʿAbd al-Malik ordered that he be admitted while groups of his followers were held back at each entrance. ʿAmr advanced until he reached the courtyard where ʿAbd al-Malik was sitting; none of his retainers remained with him except a single page. He cast his gaze and saw the Banū—