Al-Walid said, “Did I not ward death off from you? Did I not provide for your poor? Did I not serve you throughout my days?”
Yazid answered, “What we resent in you is your violation of what is sacred, your drinking of wine, your marrying the concubine-mothers of your father’s children, and your flippancy toward the command of Allah—exalted is He.”
Al-Walid retorted, “Enough, O brother of the Sakāsik; you have spoken at length and gone too far. Within the lawful that Allah has granted me there is ample room beyond what you mention.”
He then added, “By Allah, if you kill me your fitnah will never be mended.” Taking up the Qur’an, he began to read and said, “A day like the day of ʿUthman.” He yielded himself, whereupon they scaled the wall. The first to reach him was Yazid ibn ʿAnbasah, who approached with a sword at his side and said, “Put it away.”
Al-Walid replied, “Had I meant to fight, I would not be holding it like this.” Yazid seized his hand, intending to detain him and send him to Yazid ibn al-Walid, but ten commanders rushed forward. They fell upon al-Walid, striking his head and face with their swords until they killed him. They then dragged him out by the leg, but let him go when the women screamed.
Abu ʿIlāqah al-Qudāʿī severed his head, stitched the wounds in his face, and sent it to Yazid with ten men: Manṣur ibn Jamhur, Rawḥ ibn Muqbil, Bishr the freedman of Kinānah of the Banū Kalb, ʿAbd al-Raḥman nicknamed Wajh al-Fals, and others. On reaching Yazid they gave him the glad tidings of al-Walid’s death and greeted him as caliph, whereupon he granted each of the ten men 10,000 dirhams.
Rawḥ ibn Bishr ibn Muqbil said, “Rejoice, O Commander of the Faithful, in the slaying of the profligate al-Walid.” Yazid prostrated in gratitude to Allah. The troops returned to him, and the first to take his hand in allegiance was Yazid ibn ʿAnbasah al-Saksaki; Yazid, however, drew back his hand and said, “O Allah, if this is pleasing to You, then help me in it.”
He had promised 100,000 dirhams to whoever brought him al-Walid’s head. When it arrived—on the night of Friday (some say Wednesday, with two nights of Jumada al-Akhirah remaining in 126 AH)—he ordered the head to be fixed to a spear and paraded through the city.
Someone objected, “Only the head of a rebel (khariji) is displayed.” He replied, “By Allah, I shall display it.” So it was shown throughout the city on a spear, then left with a man for a month before being sent to his brother Sulayman ibn Yazid.
Sulayman exclaimed, “Away with him! I testify that you were a wine-bibber, a wanton libertine; indeed, this reprobate even sought to violate me—his own brother—and felt no shame.”
It is said that his head remained hanging on the eastern wall of the Great Mosque of Damascus, overlooking the courtyard, until the Umayyad state came to an end. Others say the mark was merely his bloodstain. He was 36 years old when killed; some say 38, others 31, 32, 35, or even 46. The length of his caliphate was a year and six months according to the more reliable report, though some say three months.
Ibn Jarir (1) said, “He was exceedingly powerful, with long toes. An iron stake would be driven into the ground, a cord tied from it to his foot, and he would vault onto a horse, mounting it without touching the animal; with his leap the stake would be torn from the earth.”