for by it they obtained what he had been hoping for—namely, that he would entrust both of them with the covenant of succession after him.

Al-Ḥajjāj had already written to ʿAbd al-Malik, adorning for him the idea that al-Walīd should succeed him, and he dispatched a delegation for that purpose headed by ʿImrān ibn ʿIṣām al-ʿAnazī (1). When they entered upon the Caliph, ʿImrān rose to speak; he addressed the assembly, the other envoys added their words, and they all urged ʿAbd al-Malik to adopt their view. In the course of his speech ʿImrān ibn ʿIṣām recited:

Commander of the Faithful, to you we send—
though far away—our greetings and peace.

Give ear to me concerning your sons; my reply
will be for them a mighty champion (2) and for us a mainstay.

If, regarding al-Walīd, you were obeyed,
you would grant him the caliphate and its sacred pledge (3).

Around his pavilion your Qurayshite peers would gather;
through him the people would implore the laden clouds for rain.

Never has a man of your piety inclined for a single day
since he cast aside the necklaces and adornments of paganism.

Should you still prefer your brother, then—by your grandsire—
we could never lay a charge against you for it.

Yet we fear his sons, the half-brothers,
whose vaunted pedigree may prove a deadly sting.

We dread that, were you to lodge kingship with them,
a cloud might return to them barren (4).

Let not the milk you draw tomorrow be for other folk,
while the day after your own sons stand milkless.

I swear, were ʿIṣām to censure me for this,
I would nonetheless not excuse ʿIṣām.

If ever I granted a brother a favor
merely for fine words and elevated rank,

he would repay it to my children instead of his (5) —
or else I would have sought another goal for him.

Whoever finds fissures among his kinsmen
should know that a fissure in kingship is slowest to mend.

He (the historian) says: These verses stirred ʿAbd al-Malik to write to his brother, asking him to relinquish the caliphate for al-Walīd, but his brother refused. Allah had decreed that ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz would die one year before ʿAbd al-Malik, and thus the latter was able to secure the oath of allegiance for al-Walīd and for Sulaymān. Allah—subḥānahu wa taʿālā—knows best.

[The oath of allegiance sworn by ʿAbd al-Malik to his son al-Walīd and, after him, to his son Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik]

In that same year, after the death of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān, the oath was sworn in Damascus and then throughout all the provinces—first to al-Walīd and, after him, to Sulaymān. When the pledge reached Madinah, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab refused to give the oath of allegiance while ʿAbd al-Malik was still alive.