Marwān; he had previously been entrusted with the governorship of Ifriqiya by Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik and by his two sons, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Marwād (1).
Among the judges who attended were Abū Idrīs al-Khawlānī, Namir ibn Aws al-Ashʿarī, Yazīd ibn Abī Mālik al-Hamdānī, Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Muhāribī, and Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Labīd al-Asadī.
And from the jurists, hadith scholars, preservers, and Qurʾān reciters were: Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Qāsim ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, the client of the family of Muʿāwiyah; Makḥūl; Sulaymān ibn Mūsā al-Ashdaq; ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Zabr; Abū Idrīs the Younger, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿArāk; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀmir al-Yaḥṣubī—the brother of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir; Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥārith al-Dhimārī (2); ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Nuʿmān al-Muzanī; Anas ibn Anīs al-ʿUḏarī; Sulaymān ibn Bazīʿ (3) the reciter; Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd al-Khushnī; ʿArrān—or Hazzān—ibn Ḥakīm al-Qurashī; Muḥammad ibn Khālid ibn Abī Ẓubyān al-Azdī; Yazīd ibn ʿUbaydah ibn Abī al-Muhājir; ʿAyyāsh ibn Dīnār; and others besides them.
This is the way Ibn ʿAsākir (4) lists them.
He adds: “It is related from some of them that they disliked this gathering and censured it, but there is no sound reason for such censure.”
He then produced—through the chain of Abū Bakr ibn Abī Dāwūd:
“ʿAmr (5) ibn ʿUthmān narrated to us; al-Walīd—meaning Ibn Muslim—narrated to us from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAlāʾ, who said: ‘I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿArzab (6) objecting to this collective review, saying, “I have neither seen nor heard of it, although I met the Companions of the Prophet—Allah bless him and grant him peace.”’”
Ibn ʿAsākir (7) comments: “Al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was governor of Damascus toward the end of the year 86 AH (8), during the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz.”
Section
Construction of the Damascus Mosque began in the latter part of 86 AH. The church standing there was demolished in Dhū al-Qaʿdah of that year; once the demolition was finished they commenced building, and the work was completed in ten full years (9). Its completion fell in this year—that is, the year