He was handsome—though others said he was actually plain—and the front of his beard had already turned grey. He met Sahl ibn Saʿd and heard directly from Anas ibn Mālik when he asked him about what he had learned concerning the signs of the Hour, as mentioned earlier in Anas’s biography. He also heard from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab and related reports from al-Zuhrī and others.

It is narrated that ʿAbd al-Malik wanted to designate him as heir but hesitated because al-Walid’s command of Arabic was weak. Al-Walid therefore gathered a group of grammarians who stayed with him for six months. Yet when he finally appeared, he was more ignorant than before. ʿAbd al-Malik remarked, “He has exerted himself and is therefore excused.” ⦗1⦘

Another report says that his father ʿAbd al-Malik advised him on his death-bed, saying: “When I die, do not let me find you sitting there wringing your eyes and wailing like a slave-girl. Rather, roll up your sleeves, tie your waist-cloth, lower me into my grave and leave me to my Lord. Then summon the people to pledge allegiance; if anyone nods his head like this, strike him with your sword like that.” ⦗2⦘

Al-Layth said: In the year 78 AH ⦗3⦘ al-Walid campaigned against the Byzantines, and in that same year he also led the people in the Hajj. Others maintain that he campaigned the year before and the year after as well, attacking Malatya and other regions. He was given the oath of allegiance as caliph after his father in Shawwāl of the year 86 AH. ⦗4⦘

The inscription on his signet-ring read: “I believe in Allah, with sincere devotion.” Another version has: “O Walid, you are mortal.” It is said that the last words he spoke were: “Subḥān Allāh, al-ḥamdu lillāh, lā ilāha illā Allāh.”

Ibrāhīm ibn Abī ʿAbla related: “One day al-Walid ibn ʿAbd al-Malik asked me, ‘How long does it take you to complete a reading of the Quran?’ I replied, ‘Such-and-such a period.’ He said, ‘The Commander of the Believers, despite all his responsibilities, completes it every three days’—and some said every seven. During every Ramadan he would recite it seventeen times.” ⦗5⦘

Ibrāhīm added: “May Allah have mercy on al-Walid—where can his like be found? He built the Damascus Mosque, and he used to give me bars of silver that I would distribute among the Quran-reciters of Jerusalem.” ⦗6⦘

Ibn ʿAsākir ⦗7⦘ reports, with a chain of transmitters all deemed trustworthy, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd ibn Jābir, from his father, who said: “One day al-Walid ibn ʿAbd al-Malik came out of the Lesser Gate and saw a man by the eastern minaret eating something. He approached and discovered that the man was eating bread mixed with earth. He asked, ‘What has led you to this?’ The man replied, ‘Contentment, O Commander of the Believers.’ Al-Walid returned to his seat, then had the man summoned and said, ‘You must have some remarkable story—tell me, or I will strike the very eyes in your head!’ The man answered, ‘Indeed, O Commander—’