Al-Asmaʿī related—from his father, from his grandfather—that ʿAbd al-Malik once delivered an eloquent sermon, then suddenly stopped, burst into tears, and said, “O Lord, my sins are vast, yet the least of Your pardon is greater than they. So, O Allah, erase my grievous sins with but a small portion of Your forgiveness.”

When these words reached al-Hasan, he wept and said, “If any speech deserved to be written in gold, it would be these words.” (1) A number of other transmitters report the same reaction: when they heard this supplication, they said exactly what al-Hasan said.

Abū Mushir al-Dimashqī recounted: One day a banquet was set before ʿAbd al-Malik. He said to his chamberlain, “Admit Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khālid ibn Asīd.” The chamberlain replied, “He has died, O Commander of the Believers.” ʿAbd al-Malik said, “Then admit his father ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khālid ibn Asīd.” “He too has died,” the man answered. ʿAbd al-Malik said, “Then Khālid ibn Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah.” “He has died,” came the reply. The caliph went on naming so-and-so and so-and-so, listing men whom he knew had already passed away. He then wept, ordered the food to be removed, and recited:

My comrades are gone, their days are past;
I remain after them—yet no man is immortal. (2)

[It is also said that when he lay dying, his son al-Walīd entered and began to weep. ʿAbd al-Malik said, “What is this? Do you wail like a servant-girl? When I die, roll up your sleeves, tighten your waist-cloth, don the tiger-skin cloak, place each matter in the hands of those fit for it, and beware of the Quraysh.

“O Walīd, fear Allah with respect to what I entrust to you, and keep my counsel. Look to my brother Muʿāwiyah: maintain the bonds of kinship with him and honor me through him. As for my brother Muḥammad, appoint him over al-Jazīrah and do not remove him from it. As for our cousin ʿAlī ibn ʿAbbās, he has devoted himself to us with affection and sincere advice; he has blood-ties and rights, so maintain his kinship and recognize his due. Concerning al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf—show him honor, for he is the one who prepared the lands for you, subdued the enemies, secured the kingdom for you, and scattered the Khārijites.

“I enjoin you and your brothers to avoid discord: be as sons of a single mother; in war be free men, and in beneficence a guiding beacon. Warfare never hastens a death before its appointed time. Goodness exalts the name of its doer, inclines hearts to love, and compels tongues to fair mention.

“Well has the poet said:

When matters (3) are united and a furious hand
Would shatter them with reckless, brutal force, (4)
They grow in strength and cannot be broken;
But if they are scattered, breaking and weakness befall the scattered one. (5)

“When I die, call the people to pledge allegiance to you; whoever refuses—then the sword. Show kindness to your sisters and honor them. The dearest of them to me is Fāṭimah—I have already granted her the orchard of Māriyah and the lone pearl.

“Then he said, ‘O Allah—’”