[ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān]
(1) He is ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ ibn Umayya ibn ʿAbd Shams, Abū al-Aṣbagh, the Qurashī Umayyad. Born in Madinah, he later moved to Syria with his father Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam. Marwān designated him heir-apparent after his brother ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān and appointed him governor of the Egyptian provinces in 65 AH, a post he held until the year under discussion. He was present at the slaying of ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ, as mentioned earlier. He owned a residence in Damascus— the house that later became the Sufi lodge known as the Samaysāṭī khānqāh (2)— which after his death passed to his son ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, [and thence was transferred a number of times until it became a khānqāh for the Sufis].
ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated hadith from his father, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, from ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir, and from Abū Hurayrah. One of his reports appears in the Musnad of Aḥmad and the Sunan of Abū Dāwūd, in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,
“The worst thing in a man is paralysing cowardice and grasping miserliness.” (3)
Those who transmitted from him include his son ʿUmar, al-Zuhrī, ʿAlī ibn Rabāḥ, and others.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd (4) said: “He was reliable and related only a few hadith.” Others remarked: “He used to make grammatical mistakes, both in hadith and in ordinary speech; then he set himself to learn Arabic, mastered it, and became one of the most eloquent of people.”
The reason was that a man once came to him complaining about his khatin— that is, the husband of his daughter. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz asked him, “Man khatana-ka? (Who circumcised you?)” The man replied, “The khātin who circumcises people khatana-nī.” He then turned to his scribe and said, “Woe to you! What answer did he give me?” The scribe explained, “O Commander of the Believers, you ought to have said: man khatanuka?” So he swore an oath not to leave his house until he had learned proper Arabic. He remained indoors for a single week, learned the language, and emerged among the most eloquent of men.
[After that] he would enlarge the stipend of anyone who spoke correctly and reduce the stipend of anyone who committed grammatical errors, [so the people of his time hastened to study Arabic].
One day ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz asked a man, “Where are you from?” The man replied, “Min banū ʿAbd al-Dār (from the sons of ʿAbd al-Dār).” He said, “You will find that reflected in your allowance,” and deducted one hundred dinars from it.