Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (9/231)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

Then he himself swore allegiance to him, and the people followed suit after him.

Al-Waqidi reports:
He praised Allah and extolled Him as He deserves, then said:
“O people, nothing can be brought forward when Allah has set it back, and nothing can be put off when Allah has brought it forward. Part of Allah’s decree and His eternal precedent is that He has written death for His Prophets, the bearers of His Throne, and His angels. The Commander of the Believers has now gone to the dwellings of the righteous because of what he faced in this community—namely the duty he owed to Allah—showing sternness toward the dubious, gentleness toward the people of truth and merit, upholding the standards that Allah has raised for Islam, ennobling the pilgrimage to this House, campaigning on these frontiers, and launching raids against the enemies of Allah—exalted is He. He was neither weak nor negligent.

O people, hold fast to obedience and to the main body, for Satan is with the solitary. O people, whoever exposes his very self to us, we shall strike him squarely between the eyes, and whoever keeps silent will die of his own malady.”

He then stepped down, inspected the mounts belonging to the caliphate, and took them for himself. He was a harsh and obstinate man (1).

A peculiar hadith has been circulated concerning the accession of al-Walid (2); in fact it pertains to al-Walid ibn Yazid ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, as will be explained later—just as it has already been clarified in the chapter on prophetic proofs dealing with foreknowledge of future events relating to the Umayyad dynasty. As for this al-Walid ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, he was personally chaste and politically resolute; it is said that no youthful indiscretion is known of him.

Among his praiseworthy statements, authentically reported from him, is his remark: “Had Allah not recounted for us in His Book the story of the people of Lot, we would never have imagined that a male could mount another male as women are mounted.” This will be mentioned again in his biography under the year 96 AH, Allah willing.

He is the one who built the Great Mosque of Damascus, a structure whose equal is unknown across the horizons. He began its construction in Dhu al-Qiʿdah of this very year and continued building for the whole span of his caliphate—ten years in all. When he completed it, his reign likewise came to an end, as will be detailed.

The site of this mosque had originally been a church called the Church of John. When the Companions conquered Damascus, they divided it in half: they took the eastern side and turned it into a mosque, while the western side remained a church from the year 14 AH until this year. Al-Walid resolved to take the remaining portion from them and compensated them with the Church of Mary because it lay on the sword side of the city; some say he compensated them with the Church of Thomas. He then demolished the rest of that church, incorporated its land into the mosque, and made the whole a single house of worship of wondrous design—hardly anyone, or at least the majority of people, knows anything comparable to it in architecture, visitations (3), relics, and edifices. Allah, Glorified and Exalted, knows best.

(1) al-Tabari, History of the Prophets and Kings, vol. 6, p. 423. (2) This hadith is recorded by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad (1/18) on the authority of ʿUmar, who said: “A son was born to my brother, the husband of Umm Salama; they named him al-Walid, and the Prophet ﷺ remarked: ‘You have given him the names of your Pharaohs, so that in this ummah there may be a man called al-Walid; he will be more harmful to this ummah than Pharaoh was to his people.’ ” The hadith is weak. (3) In the al-Zaynāt edition.

ثم بايعه وبايع الناس بعده. وذكر الواقدي: أنه حمد اللّه وأثنى عليه بما هو أهله ثم قال: أيها الناس إنه لا مُقدِّم لما أخَّر اللّه، ولا مؤخِّر لما قدّم الله، وقد كان من قضاء اللّه وسابقته ما كتبه على أنبيائه وحملة عرشه وملائكته الموت، وقد صار إلى منازل الأبرار بما لاقاه في هذه الأمة - يعني بالذي يحق للّه عليه - من الشدّة على المريب، واللّين لأهل الحقِّ والفضل، وإقامة ما أقام اللّه من منار الإسلام، وإعلائه من حجِّ هذا البيت، وغزو هذه الثغور، وشنِّ هذا الغارات على أعداء اللّه – Exalté soit-Il – فلم يكن عاجزًا ولا مفرّطًا، أيها الناس عليكم بالطاعة ولزوم الجماعة فإن الشيطان مع الواحد، أيها الناس من أبدى لنا ذات نفسه ضربنا الذي فيه عيناه، ومن سكت مات بدائه. ثم نزل فنظر ما كان من دواب الخلافة فحازها. وكان جبارًا عنيدًا (١) . وقد ورد في ولاية الوليد حديث غريب (٢) ، وإنما هو الوليد بن يزيد بن عبد الملك كما سيأتي، وكما تقدم تقريره في دلائل النبوة في باب الأخبار عن الغيوب المستقبلة، فيما يتعلق بدولة بني أمية، وأما الوليد بن عبد الملك هذا فقد كان صينًا في نفسه حازمًا في رأيه، يقال إنه لا تعرف له صبوة، ومن جملة محاسنه ما صح عنه أنه قال: لولا أن اللّه قص لنا خبر قوم لوط في كتابه ما ظننا أن ذكرًا يعلو ذكرًا كما تؤتى النساء، كما سيأتي ذلك في ترجمته عند ذكر وفاته في سنة ست وتسعين إن شاء اللّه، وهو باني مسجد جامع دمشق الذي لا يعرف في الآفاق أحسن بناءً منه، وقد شرع في بنائه في ذي القعدة من هذه السنة، فلم يزل يبني فيه مدّة خلافته وهي عشر سنين، فلما أنهاه انتهت أيام خلافته كما سيأتي بيان ذلك مفصّلًا. وقد كان موضع هذا المسجد كنيسة يقال لها كنيسة يوحنا، فلما فتحت الصحابة دمشق جعلوها مناصفة، فأخذوا منها الجانب الشرقي فحوّلوه مسجدًا، وبقي الجانب الغربي كنيسة بحاله من لدن سنة أربع عشرة إلى هذه السنة، فعزم الوليد على أخذ بقية الكنيسة منهم وعوَّضهم عنها كنيسة مريم لدخولها في جانب السيف، وقيل عوضهم عنها كنيسة توما، وهدم بقية هذه الكنيسة وأضافها إلى هذا، وجعل الجميع مسجدًا واحدًا على هيئة بديعة لا يعرف كثير من الناس أو أكثرهم لها نظيرًا في البنيان والزيارات (٣) والآثار والعمارات، واللّه سبحانه أعلم.

(١) تاريخ الطبري (٦/ ٤٢٣). (٢) الحديث رواه الإمام أحمد في مسنده (١/ ١٨) بسنده عن عمر، قال: وُلد لأخي أم سلمة ولد، فسمّوه الوليد، فقال النبي ﷺ : "سميتموه باسماء فراعنتكم، ليكونن في هذه الأمة رجل يقال له الوليد، لهو أشد لهذه الأمة من فرعون لقومه" وهو حديث ضعيف. (٣) في ط: والزينات.