It is related that when the maid-servant brought him the wash-basin she was shaking with fever. He asked, “Where is So-and-so?” She answered, “She has a fever.” “And So-and-so?” “She is feverish as well.” He was then at Marj Dabiq in the land of Qinnasrin. He ordered his maternal uncle to help him perform ablution, after which he went out and led the people in prayer. During the sermon a hoarseness seized his voice. When he stepped down, a fever struck him and did not leave him until he died the following Friday (1).

Others say that pleurisy (dhāt al-janb) (2) overtook him and that he died from it—may Allah have mercy on him and honor his resting place. [He had sworn that he would not leave Marj Dabiq until news reached him of the conquest of Constantinople, or else that he would die before that, and he did indeed die before it—may Allah have mercy on him and honor his resting place] (3).

They report that in the throes of illness he kept repeating:
“My sons are but little boys; / Prosperous is he whose sons are grown.”
ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz would say to him, “The believers have indeed prospered, O Commander of the Believers.” Then Sulaymān would go on:
“My sons are children of the summer; / Fortunate is he whose sons are children of the winter.” (4)

It is said that these were his final words, though the sound account is that the last thing he said was, “I ask You for an honorable homecoming,” after which his soul departed.

Ibn Jarīr (5) narrated from Rajāʾ ibn Ḥaywah—who was a truthful adviser to the Umayyads—that Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, while ill, consulted him about appointing one of his very young sons who had not yet reached puberty. I said, “Among the things that safeguard a caliph in his grave is that he appoints a righteous man over the Muslims.” He then asked me about making his son Dāwūd the heir. I said, “He is away from you in Constantinople, and you do not know whether he is alive or dead.” “Whom do you recommend, then?” he asked. I replied, “That is for you to decide, O Commander of the Believers.” He said, “What do you think of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz?” I answered, “By Allah, I know him to be pious, virtuous, and a true Muslim who loves goodness and its people. Yet I fear that your brothers may not agree to it.” Rajāʾ (6) therefore advised that Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik be named heir apparent after ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, in order to satisfy the Banū Marwān.

So Sulaymān wrote:
“In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Compassionate. This is a document from the servant of Allah, Sulaymān, Commander of the Believers, to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz: I have …”