[Year 87 AH]
In this year al-Walid ibn ʿAbd al-Malik dismissed Hisham ibn Ismāʿīl from the governorship of Madinah and appointed in his place his cousin and brother-in-law ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, the husband of his sister Fāṭimah bint ʿAbd al-Malik. ʿUmar entered the city in the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, accompanied by no more than thirty camels. He took up residence in the House of Marwān, and people came to greet him. At the time he was twenty-five years old.
After performing the ẓuhr prayer he summoned ten of the jurists of Madinah: ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah, Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām, Abū Bakr ibn Sulaymān ibn Abī Ḥathmah, Sulaymān ibn Yasār, al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, his brother ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr (1), ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah, and Khārijah ibn Zayd ibn Thābit. When they had sat down, he praised Allah and extolled Him as is His due, then said:
“I have called you together for a matter by which you will earn reward and through which you will help uphold the truth. I do not wish to take any decision except after consulting you—or those of you who are present. If you see anyone overstepping the limits, or if word reaches you that any of my officials has committed an injustice, I place you under solemn obligation: whoever learns of such a thing must inform me.”
They left his presence praying for his well-being, and they dispersed on that understanding.
Al-Walid then wrote to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz instructing him to make Hisham ibn Ismāʿīl stand before the people at the House of Marwān—al-Walid had a low opinion of him—because Hisham had mistreated the inhabitants of Madinah during his four-year tenure, especially Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib and ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn and their household.
When Hisham was placed before the people he said, “I fear none but Saʿīd and ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn.” Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib therefore said to his son and his freedmen, “Let none of you molest this man; I have left the matter to Allah and to the bond of kinship. As for speaking to him, I shall never address him again.”
As for ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, he passed by Hisham while the latter was standing there and did not harm him. He had already instructed his close companions that none of them should molest Hisham. When ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn had passed and gone a little distance, Hisham ibn Ismāʿīl called out, “Allah knows best where to place His message” (Qurʾān 6:124).
In this same year Maslamah ibn ʿAbd al-Malik campaigned against the Byzantines, killing great numbers of them, capturing many fortresses, and collecting abundant spoils. It is also said that the one who campaigned in Byzantine territory this year was Hisham ibn ʿAbd al-Malik; he captured the fort of Būlaq, the fort of al-Akhram [and Buḥayrat al-Fursān] (3), the fort of Būlus, Qamqam, killed about one thousand of the Arabized foreigners, and took their families captive.