passed away:

• the Commander of the Faithful ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān (1), father of later caliphs. His full line is ʿAbd al-Malik son of Marwān son of al-Ḥakam son of Abī al-ʿĀṣ son of Umayya, Abū al-Walīd of the Umayyad house. His mother was ʿĀʾishah daughter of Muʿāwiyah son of al-Mughīrah son of Abī al-ʿĀṣ son of Umayya.

He heard ḥadith from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān and was present at the siege of ʿUthmān’s house with his father when he was ten years old. In 42 AH he was the first to lead the Muslims into Byzantine lands. At the age of sixteen he served as governor of Madinah, an office to which Muʿāwiyah (2) appointed him. He used to sit with jurists, scholars, devoted worshippers, and the righteous.

He transmitted reports from his father, from Jābir, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, Abū Hurayrah, Ibn ʿUmar, Muʿāwiyah, Umm Salamah, and Barīrah, the freedwoman of ʿĀʾishah.

Among those who narrated from him were Khālid ibn Maʿdān, ʿUrwah, al-Zuhrī, ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith, Rajāʾ ibn Ḥaywah, and Ḥarīz ibn ʿUthmān.

Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn related that his father had first named him al-Qāsim and that he was therefore called Abū al-Qāsim, but when he learned of the prohibition against that kunya he changed the name to ʿAbd al-Malik.

Ibn Abī Khaythamah and Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī said: “He was the first person in Islam to be named ʿAbd al-Malik; and the first to be named Aḥmad was the father of Khalīl ibn Aḥmad, the philologist.” He received the oath of allegiance as caliph in 65 AH while his father was still alive, during the counter-caliphate of Ibn al-Zubayr. After Ibn al-Zubayr was killed in 73 AH he became sole ruler over all regions and provinces, continuing until the present year, as already mentioned.

He and Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah were both born in 26 AH. Before the caliphate ʿAbd al-Malik was one of the ascetic worshippers and jurists who kept to the mosque, constantly reciting the Quran (3). He was of medium height, tending toward shortness; his teeth were fastened with gold. He had a wide mouth that would sometimes fall open so that flies entered, and for that reason he was nicknamed “Abū al-Dẖabāb” (4) — “Father of the Flies.” Fair-skinned and of moderate build—neither thin nor stout—he had joined eyebrows, slightly hazel eyes, large eyes, a prominent nose, delicate features, white hair and beard, and a handsome face. He did not dye his hair, though some said he later did so.

Nāfiʿ said, “I have seen Madinah, and there was no youth in it more diligent, more knowledgeable in jurisprudence, or a better reciter of the Book of Allah than ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān.”