ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān

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Abū l-Asbagh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān ( Arabic أبو الأصبغ عبد العزيز بن مروان; died 703 or 705) was the half-brother and designated heir to the throne of the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān and served him from 685 to 705 as governor of Egypt and North Africa. He played an important role in securing the rule of the Marwānids, operated an independent tax policy in Egypt and created a new residential city with Hulwān . At the instigation of al-Hajjaj ibn Yūsuf , ʿAbd al-Malik urged him towards the end of his reign to give up his right to the throne in favor of al-Walid I. However, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz successfully fended off this request. From the Arab conquest to the early 10th century, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān was the governor of Egypt with the longest tenure.

Lineage and early years

ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was the second eldest son of Caliph Marwan I. His mother, Lailā bint Zabbān, belonged to the calf nobility. From his father ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz received half of the estate in Fadak near Medina , which at that time produced an annual harvest of 10,000 dinars. ʿAbd al-Malik received the other half. The Arab historiographer Ibn al-Chaiyāt al-ʿUsfurī (st. 854) mentions that ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz held the office of governor over Medina in 59 dH (= 678/679 AD). A statement by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, which the Arab historiographer al-Kindī quotes, indicates that he traveled to Egypt once while Maslama ibn al-Muchallad (667-682) was in office.

Securing the Marwānid rule

The balance of power in the year 686. The territory of the Marwanids is marked in red.

In 684 at the conference of al-Jābiya Marwān, the father of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, was proclaimed caliph. At the end of the year he carried out a campaign against Egypt, which at that time was under the Meccan caliph ʿAbdallāh ibn az-Zubair and was ruled by Ibn Jahdam. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz took part in this campaign and led one of the two armies. While the father and his army were advancing towards Egypt on the northern edge of Sinai, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz penetrated further south through Ailat into Egypt. Ibn Jahdam sent Zuhair ibn Qais against ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, but the latter was able to beat him at Ailat.

After the victory over Ibn Jahdam, Marwān stayed in Egypt for two months. On the 1st Rajab of the year 65 dH (= February 11, 685 AD) he appointed ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz as governor "on prayer and taxes (ḫarāǧ) " and returned to Syria himself. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz filled the leading military offices in Egypt with pro-Umaiyad personalities from the Arab tribal nobility.

At the conference of al-Jābiya, the various branches of the Umayyad family had agreed to settle their dispute that Marwān should be elevated to caliph, but that after his death two members of other branches of the Umayyad family, namely Chālid ibn Yazīd and should follow him ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd al-Ashdaq. Enforce after returning from Egypt took Marwan its military success and the absence'Amrs to a new succession plan in favor of his own sons' Abd al-Malik and Abd al-'Azīz: He left them as heirs to the throne the oath of allegiance sworn, in such a way that first ʿAbd al-Malik and after his death ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz should exercise the office of caliph.

When Marwān died at the beginning of Ramadan 65 (April 10, 685), ʿAbd al-Malik took over the caliphate as planned. Al-Ashdaq, excluded from the line of succession, undertook an uprising in 689, which ʿAbd al-Malik was only able to suppress with difficulty. Unlike ʿAbd al-Malik, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz obviously had inhibitions about cracking down on this opponent and his family. When he was visiting his brother in Syria, he refused to kill al-Ashdaq, who had been captured by the caliph, so ʿAbd al-Malik finally committed the bloody act himself. Later he also interceded with ʿAbd al-Malik on behalf of al-Ashdaq's relatives, so that they escaped assassination and could fall back on the Iraqi territory of ʿAbdallāh ibn az-Zubair.

After the victory over al-Ashdaq, the Meccan caliph ʿAbdallāh ibn az-Zubair was the main opponent of the Marwanids. In order to win the propaganda campaign against the Zubairid, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz made contact with important companions of the Prophets who lived under the Zubairid rule. For example, he sent ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿUmar money, which he also accepted. The military struggle against ʿAbdallāh ibn az-Zubair did not begin until 691 after ʿAbd al-Malik had defeated his northern Syrian opponents. According to the report of al-Kindīs, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz supported his brother militarily by sending out an aid contingent of 3,000 men, led by Mālik ibn Sharāhīl from the South Arab tribe of the Chaulān. It was shipped across the Red Sea to the Hejaz and reached Mecca in mid-May 692 at the latest. After all, it was also a man from the Egyptian auxiliary contingent, ʿAbd ar-Rahmān ibn Bahnas, who killed bAbdallāh ibn az-Zubair on November 5, 692. Until the victory over ʿAbdallāh ibn az-Zubair, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz had the Charaj property tax levied in Egypt on a weekly basis because he feared that unrest in his own country might deprive him of his financial basis.

The new Hulwān residence and other construction activities

ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz initially resided in Fustāt , the Arab military settlement founded by ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀs in 643. In 67 dH (686/687 AD) he had the so-called "gilded house" (ad-Dār al-muḏahhaba) built there in Sūq al-Hammām west of the Friday mosque , which is also known as al-Madīna ( "The court"?) Was known.

After a plague epidemic in 70 (689/690 AD), ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz moved his seat of government on the advice of doctors to the district of ash-Sharqīya south of Fustāt, where he founded Hulwān as the new residential city . ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz had palaces and mosques built here, vineyards and palm gardens and an aqueduct built that brought water from a spring in the Mukattam Mountains . The water filled a pond at the end of the aqueduct. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz had a “throne made of glass” (ʿarš min zuǧāǧ) built there. To measure the water level of the Nile, he also had a nilometer built in Hulwān .

According to the report of Eutychios of Alexandria , ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz spent a total of one million dinars on the construction of the new residence in Hulwān. The Arab historiographer al-Kindī (st. 961) reports that his entire court, which included guards, servants and police personnel, moved to Hulwān. As head of the court he served Janāb ibn Murthad ar-Ruainī. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz only went to the old capital of Fustāt once a week, on Thursdays. He then passed the time there until noon the next day and returned to Hulwān after the Friday prayers . Eutychios reports that ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz had other plans for his new royal seat. These included relocating the Nile Bridge, the promenades and the markets from Fustāt to Hulwān. However, the plans did not materialize.

AlAbd al-ʿAzīz was also active in building work in al-Fustāt. In 77 (696/697 AD) he had the mosque of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀs demolished and rebuilt there, adding more areas on the sides. According to Eutychius, the mosque was demolished in connection with the previous plague epidemic that had spread from here.

Politics in Egypt

Eutychius reports that ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz allowed his servants, who belonged to the Melkite church, to build a small church in Hulwān. It was dedicated to Saint George . He also allowed a secretary named Athanasios, who belonged to the Jacobite Church , to build a church in the immediate vicinity of Qasr al-Shamʿ, the central fortress of al-Fustāt. Apart from these personal favors, however, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz seems to have pursued a rather restrictive policy towards the local Christian population. In 74 dH (693/694 AD) he went to Alexandria , had the leading personalities of the city seized and distributed them over the various villages and districts of the country. He then obliged each district to pay taxes according to the yield of his fields and gardens. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz had his son Asbagh carry out a census of all monks in the country. Then he forbade the recruitment of new monks and imposed a poll tax of one dinar on each monks . Previously, the monks were exempt from this tax. He also monitored the elections of the Coptic patriarchs very closely and obliged the patriarchs to take their seat in the new capital Hulwān. The public display of Christian symbols was banned, and a Christian source even reports that ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz had all crosses in Egypt destroyed.

In contrast, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was opposed to a higher tax burden on the population who had converted to Islam. This can be seen in a report by Ibn ʿAbd al-Hakam . Accordingly, al-Hajjaj ibn Yūsuf introduced the rule in Iraq that such Ahl adh-Dhimma also had to pay the jizya who had converted to Islam. When the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik called on his brother in a letter to follow the example of al-Hajjaj and also to introduce this rule in Egypt, Abd al-ʿAzīz, on the advice of his qādī and financial administrator, took aAbd ar-Rahmān Ibn Hujaira from him Plan distance.

ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was also known for his generosity. Al-Kindī cites a report according to which he set up a thousand bowls of food around his palace every day and had a hundred more bowls hurriedly brought to the tribes of al-Fustāt. These bowls (ǧifān) are also mentioned in a well-known eulogy by the poet ʿUbaidullāh ibn Qais ar-Ruqaiyāt in ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, which at-Tabarī, among others, cites:

Ḏāka Bnu Lailā ʿAbdu l-ʿAzīzi bi-Bā-
bilyūn taġdū ǧifānu-hū ruḏuman .

This is the son of Lailā, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz in Bābilyūn (= Fustāt),
every morning his bowls are so full that they overflow

Al-Kindī reports that ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz also introduced a new religious ritual. This consisted of a sitting (quʿūd) on the 9th Dhū l-Hiddscha , the ʿArafa day , and was held in the mosques of Egypt after the afternoon prayer of that day.

The Baghdad writer Abū ʿUbaidallāh al-Marzubānī (st. 995) praises ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz for having also campaigned for the promotion of the Arabic language. After he himself had caused a misunderstanding through his incorrect pronunciation (laḥn) of Arabic, he is said to have tried to learn the correct pronunciation and later made his gifts dependent on their command of the Arabic language for supplicants who came to him.

The conquest movement in North Africa

As governor of Egypt, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was also responsible for North Africa, where important conquests took place during this period. According to the report of al-Wāqidīs , he appointed his former opponent Zuhair ibn Qais as deputy of Ifrīqiya . He was able to defeat the Berber leader Kusaila and conquer Tunis , but later fell in the fight against the Byzantines.

ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz had a tense relationship with the general Hassān ibn an-Nuʿmān , appointed by ʿAbd al-Malik , who had conquered Carthage in 695/696 and defeated the Kāhina . When Hassan returned to the east via Egypt, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz withdrew all of his booty. The prisoners of war are said to have included 200 female slaves, each worth 1,000 dinars. NeuAbd al-ʿAzīz did not agree to a new dispatch of Hassān to North Africa, because Hassān did not want to adhere to the conditions he had imposed. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz replaced him with his confidante Mūsā ibn Nusair , who later was able to conquer important places in the Maghreb .

The intrigue of Hajjaj

Even before the revolt of Ibn al-Ash'ath, which began at 699, developed Abd al-Malik's governor in Iraq, Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf , plans to change the set of Marwan throne and the Caliph's son al-Waleed to the place of Abd to set al-ʿAzīz. Al-Hajjaj, who was hostile to ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, feared his deposition if ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz rose to the throne. He first wrote to the caliph to transfer the successor to al-Walīd and, when this was unsuccessful, sent an embassy to his court under the direction of the poet and orator ʿImrān ibn ʿIsām al-ʿAnazī. ʿImrān is said to have recited the following poem to ʿAbd al-Malik:

Amīra l-muʾminīn ilai-ka nuhdī ʿalā
naʾyi t-taḥīyata wa-s-salāmā
aǧib-nī fī banī-ka yakun ǧawābī
la-hum ukrūmatan wa-la-nā qiwāmā hi
-lau anna l-Waluda ualt-
wa -hū l-ḫilāfata wa-z-zimāmā
wa-miṯlu-kā fī t-tuqā lam yaṣbu yauman
ladā ḫalʿi l-qalāʾid wa-l-ḫidāmā
fa-in tuʾṯir aḫā-ka bi-hā fa-innā
wa-ǧaddi- hā fa-innā wa-ǧaddi- hā mā nuṭīqu la-hā ittihāmā
wa-lākinnā nuḥāḏiru min banī-hi
banī l-ʿilāt in nusqā simāmā
wa-naḫšā in ǧaʿalta l-mulka fī-him
saḥāban an yakūna la-hā ǧahāmā

Ruler of the believers, we cheer
and greet you from afar,
welcome me to your sons, let the answer to me
be a noble deed for them and a support for us.
If I were to be heard on al-Walīd,
you would have the caliphate and the reins of rule for him.
Careful like you, he has never acted childishly
since he took off collars and bracelets.
If you prefer your brother for it (the caliphate), we,
with your grandfather, cannot raise anything against him,
but we are on our guard against his sons,
the sons of the concubines, that we get poison to drink.
And we fear that in the event that you give them rulership,
the clouds will come back with no rain.

Another contemporary poet named Ashā Abī Rabīʿa tried to persuade ʿAbd al-Malik to transfer the line of succession to his son. In this context, the following verses have been handed down from him: “Your son (al-Walīd) is more suitable for (taking over) the rule of his father (ʿAbd al-Malik), and if your uncle (ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz) will be with you (al -Walīd), he will be hurled "

In this context, Al-Yaʿqūbī also mentions an embassy of the Kufic traditionalist asch-Shaʿbī to Egypt. He was sent to Syria at the request of the caliph of al-Hajjaj and from there moved on to ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz to persuade him to renounce the throne. The waiver should be made palatable to him by the fact that he was allowed to keep the tax revenue from Egypt. The visit of ah-Shaʿbī to ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz is also mentioned by other authors.

At-Tabarī reports that ʿAbd al-Malik wrote a letter to his half-brother, suggesting that he transfer his right of succession to al-Walīd. When ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz refused, ʿAbd al-Malik asked him to at least designate al-Walīd as his own successor on the grounds that he was "the dearest creature to the commander of the believers". ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz is said to have replied that he could say the same for his own son Abū Bakr. To the brother's letter requesting that he then deliver the property tax ( ḫarāǧ ) for Egypt, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz is said to have replied:

“O Ruler of the Faithful, we have both reached an age when most members of your family had little time left. Neither of us knows who will die first. And if you think it's good, then you won't make me purulent for the rest of my life. "

On the advice of his secretary and brother-in-law Qabīsa ibn Dhuʾaib, ʿAbd al-Malik is said to have dropped the plan altogether. Qabīsa warned him of the consequences of breaking up with his brother and advised him to patiently await his death. The problem soon resolved itself, because in Jumādā l-ūlā 84 (= May / June 703) or on 13 Jumādā l-ūlā 86 (= 12 May 705) ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz died surprisingly. His body was transferred from al-Hulwān to al-Fustāt that night and buried there. When ʿAbd al-Malik received the news of his death, he had the people gathered and swear allegiance to his two sons al-Walīd and Sulaimān , who would rule after his death. After Sulaimān's death in 717, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, a son of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, finally came to the train as caliph.

Family relationships

According to Muhammad ibn Saʿd , ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was married to a total of three women. He had four sons from Umm ʿĀṣim, a granddaughter of ʿUmar ibn al-Chattāb , ʿUmar , who later became caliph, ʿĀsim, Abū Bakr and Muhammad; from Umm ʿAbdallāh, a granddaughter of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀs , he had three daughters, Sahlā, Suhailā and Umm Hakam. Another woman, Lailā bint Suhali, bore him a daughter. In addition, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz had five other children from two slaves. This also included his firstborn son Asbagh, from whom ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz had his Kunya Abū l-Asbagh. He installed him temporarily as governor in Alexandria and during his absence in Syria in 695 as his deputy over all of Egypt.

Ibn ʿAbd al-Hakam mentions another Byzantine slave named Maria, with whom ʿAbd ʿAzīz had a son named Muhammad. He built a palace for her in Fustat, which was known as the Palace of Mary (qaṣr Māriya) .

literature

Arabic sources:

Secondary literature:

  • Carl Heinrich Becker : Contributions to the history of Egypt under Islam . Trübner, Strasbourg, 1902/03, pp. 97-100. Digitized
  • Khalid Yahya Blankinship: Article ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Marwān. In: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE . Edited by Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Brill Online, 2014, [1]
  • Reinhard Eisener: Between fact and fiction. A study on the Umayyad caliph Sulaimān b. Abdalmalik and his picture in the sources. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, pp. 14-17.
  • Daniel C. Dennett, Jr .: Conversion and the Poll Tax in Early Islam . Harvard Univ. Pr. U. a., Cambridge, Mass. u. a. 1950. Reprint Idarah-i Adabyat-i Delli, Delhi, 2000, pp. 73-77.
  • Saiyida Ismāʿīl Kāšif: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān . Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, Cairo 1967.
  • Joshua Mabra: Princely authority in the early Marwānid state: the life of ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz ibn Marwān . Gorgias Press, Piscataway NJ, 2017.
  • Gernot Rotter : The Umayyads and the Second Civil War (680–692). Steiner, Wiesbaden 1982.
  • KV Zetterstéen: Article ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Marwān. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Volume I, p. 58a.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 55, lines 15-16.
  2. ↑ See Rotter 121.
  3. ↑ See Rotter 120.
  4. ↑ Cf. Ḫalīfa ibn al-Ḫaiyāṭ al-ʿUṣfurī: Taʾrīḫ. Ed. Akram Ḍiyāʾ al-ʿUmar. Maṭbaʿat al-Ādāb, Nadschaf 1967, p. 220.
  5. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 54, lines 12-16.
  6. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 42f and Rotter: The Umayyads and the Second Civil War . 1982, p. 157.
  7. ↑ See Rotter: The Umayyads and the Second Civil War . 1982, p. 157f.
  8. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 48f.
  9. ↑ See Rotter: The Umayyads and the Second Civil War . 1982, p. 164.
  10. ↑ Cf. at-Tabarī II 576, lines 16-17 .
  11. ↑ See Rotter: The Umayyads and the Second Civil War . 1982, p. 168.
  12. ↑ See Rotter: The Umayyads and the Second Civil War . 1982, p. 244.
  13. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 51, lines 1–2 and Rotter: The Umayyads and the Second Civil War . 1982, p. 239.
  14. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 51, lines 3–4.
  15. ↑ Cf. Eutychios 41, lines 3–5 and Becker 98.
  16. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 49, lines 1–3.
  17. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 49, lines 16f and Eutychius 40, lines 17f.
  18. ↑ Cf. Eutychius 40, lines 18–22 and JMB Jones: Article Artikelulwān. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Volume III, p. 572a.
  19. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 49, lines 17-18.
  20. ↑ Cf. Eutychius 41, lines 7–9.
  21. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 51, lines 14-15.
  22. ↑ Cf. Eutychius 40, lines 17f.
  23. ↑ Cf. Eutychius 41, lines 1–3.
  24. ↑ Cf. Eutychius 41, lines 10-12.
  25. ↑ Cf. Becker 98 and Dennett 75, who quote from Eutychius 41, line 5. The incursion of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz into Alexandria is also mentioned in Ibn al-Chaiyāt 267.
  26. ↑ See Dennett 5, 73 and Becker 99.
  27. ↑ See Blankinship.
  28. ↑ Cf. Chase F. Robinson : ʿAbd al-Malik. Oneworld, Oxford 2005, p. 80.
  29. ↑ Cf. Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam Futūḥ Miṣr 156, lines 1–6 digitized and Dennett 76.
  30. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 51, lines 16-17.
  31. ↑ Quoted from at-Tabarī II 790, lines 11-12
  32. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 50, lines 11-15.
  33. ↑ See the scholarly biographies of Abū ʿUbaidallāh al-Marzubānī: in the review of Ḥāfiẓ al-Yaġmūrī. Edited by Rudolf Sellheim. F. Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden 1964, p. 3.
  34. ↑ See Rotter 181f.
  35. ↑ Cf. M. Talbi: Article Ḥassān b. al-Nu'man al- Gh Assani. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Volume III, p. 271.
  36. ↑ Cf. Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam p. 202, lines 5–7
  37. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 52f.
  38. ^ Cf. Jean Périer: Vie d'al-Hadjdjâdj Ibn Yousof (41–95 de l'hégire = 661 - 714 de J.-C.) d'après les sources arabes . Paris 1904. p. 228
  39. ↑ al-Balāḏurī, here quoted from Anonyme Arabische Chronik, ed. Wilhelm Ahlwardt. Greifswald 1883, p. 241 . See the longer version in at-Tabarī Volume II, pp. 1166–1167
  40. ↑ Quoted from Eisener 17.
  41. ↑ Cf. al-Yaʿqūbī: Taʾrīḫ. 2 Vol. Al-Aʿlamī, Beirut, 2010. Volume II, p. 201 .
  42. ↑ Cf. al-Marzubānī 250, lines 9-10 and Wakīʿ Muḥamad ibn Ḫalaf: Aḫbār al-quḍāt. ʿĀlam al-kutub, Beirut ca.1980, Volume I, p. 79.
  43. ↑ At-Tabarī Volume II, p. 1167, lines 13-16.
  44. ↑ See Eisener 14f.
  45. ↑ So Ibn Saʿd: Kitāb aṭ-Ṭabaqāt al-kabīr . Vol. V, p. 93.
  46. ↑ So al-Kindī: Kitāb al-Wulāt wa-Kitāb al-Quḍāt . 1912, pp. 54f.
  47. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī: Kitāb al-Wulāt wa-Kitāb al-Quḍāt . 1912, pp. 54f.
  48. ↑ Cf. Ibn Saʿd Z. 9-11.
  49. ↑ Cf. al-Kindī 51.
  50. ↑ See Ibn ʿAbd al-Hakam, p. 112.
personal data
SURNAME ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abū l-Asbagh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān; Abū l-Aṣbaġ ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Governor of Egypt and North Africa
DATE OF BIRTH 7th century
DATE OF DEATH 703 or May 12, 705