Sa'id ibn Abd al-Malik

Sa'id ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (Arabic: سعيد بن عبد الملك بن مروان‎, romanized: Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; died 750), also known as Saʿīd al-Khayr ("Sa'id the Good"), was an Umayyad prince and governor. He served as governor of Mosul for an undetermined period under his father Caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) and was responsible for several building and infrastructural works. He also played a role in the construction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. He was later granted property in Mosul's vicinity by Caliph al-Walid I (r. 705–715) or Caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (r. 717–720), which he developed into an agricultural tract with a canal. In 724 and 725, he led summer campaigns against the Byzantines in Anatolia. During the brief rule of Caliph al-Walid II (r. 743–744), between February 743 to April 744, Sa'id served as governor of Palestine, but was expelled by rebels in the district after al-Walid's death. Sa'id was ultimately killed during the massacre of the Umayyad family near Ramla after the Abbasid victory over the dynasty in 750.

Biography

Sa'id was the son of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik and one of the latter's concubines.[1] He became known as Sa'id al-Khayr,[2] which translates as "Sa'id the Good", because of his piety, pleasantness and charitable works.[3][4] The 9th-century historian al-Tabari notes that he was "man of good character",[5] while the historian al-Baladhuri claimed he practiced asceticism.[2] Between 688 and 692, Sa'id was the supervisory representative of Abd al-Malik for the construction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.[6]

Governor of Mosul

He was appointed by Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) as governor of Mosul,[7] which came under Abd al-Malik's control in c. 691. Others who served the post at some point during Abd al-Malik's reign were Sa'id's uncle Muhammad ibn Marwan and cousin Yusuf, the son of Yahya ibn al-Hakam.[7] Sa'id was responsible for a number of building works in the city during his rule. The historian al-Waqidi attributes that Sa'id built the city walls, which were later tore down by the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid in 796.[8] Sa'id is further credited in the medieval Muslim sources for the construction of a mosque, a monastery, a market and the paving of the city's streets.[9][10]

Al-Baladhuri asserts that Caliph al-Walid I (r. 705–715) or his successor Caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (r. 717–720) granted property in the Diyar Mudar district, in the vicinity of Mosul, to Sa'id as a qati'a (land grant).[2][3] He had a canal dug through the property, which was later named Nahr Sa'id (Sa'id River) after him.[3][11] Through his irrigation and infrastructural works, he transformed his qati'a from a lion-infested swamp into an agriculturally-productive area.[11] Umar recalled Sa'id to Syria and replaced him with Yahya ibn Yahya al-Ghassani.[12]

Campaigns against the Byzantines

Under caliphs Yazid II (r. 720–724) and Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 724–743), Sa'id led a number of summer campaigns against the Byzantines in Anatolia.[3] In one of the campaigns, he commanded the left flank of the Umayyad army during the summer expedition of 724, but his forces incurred heavy losses.[13] Yazid II was said to have considered Sa'id as a suitable chosen successor to the caliphate and may have encouraged Sa'id to entertain such notions.[3] In 725, Sa'id again led the summer campaign against the Byzantines.[12]

Governor of Palestine

During the relatively short caliphate of al-Walid II (r. 743–744), Sa'id was appointed governor of Palestine.[3] He was known to have governed the district well.[14] According to al-Tabari, when al-Walid II was killed in 744, the Arab tribes of Palestine, led by Sa'id ibn Rawh, a chieftain of the Banu Judham and son of Rawh ibn Zinba, opted for their local Umayyad patron, Yazid ibn Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, to be their governor.[5] To that end, they demanded that Sa'id, who was encamped in Beersheba or in the vicinity of Bayt Jibrin, vacate the governorship.[5][14] Sa'id obliged and sought safety with al-Walid II's successor, Yazid III, in Damascus.[5] The latter subsequently sent an expedition against the rebels in Palestine.[5] Sa'id's governorship lasted fourteen months, between February 743 and April 744.[15]

In excavations carried out by an Israeli archaeological team in Beit Shean in 1990, a broken bronze weight produced on the orders of Sa'id was unearthed.[16] The weight was most likely produced in Ramla or Jerusalem.[15] In addition to the Muslim statement of belief, the surviving portion of the rare weight bore an inscription in Kufic Arabic that read: "Ordered by the Amir (Governor) Sa'id ibn Abd al-Malik at the hands of ...".[4]

Death

Sa'id was killed alongside dozens of other Umayyads in a massacre by the Abbasids at the Abu Futrus river near Ramla in the wake of the Abbasids' toppling of the Umayyad state in 750.[3]

References
  1. Hinds 1990, p. 118.
  2. Al-Baladhuri, p. 280.
  3. The Islamic Quarterly, Volume 16, 1972, p. 61.
  4. Khamis 2002, p. 145.
  5. Hillenbrand 1989, pp. 189–190.
  6. Gil 1997, p. 92.
  7. Robinson 2004, p. 77.
  8. Robinson 2004, pp. 79–80.
  9. Robinson 2004, p. 80.
  10. Khamis 2002, pp. 145–146.
  11. Kennedy 2006, p. 293.
  12. Khamis 2002, p. 146.
  13. Blankinship 1994, p. 119.
  14. Khamis 2002, p. 147.
  15. Khamis 2002, p. 148.
  16. Khamis 2002, p. 143.

Bibliography
  • Al-Baladhuri (1916). Hitti, Philip Khuri (ed.). The Origins of the Islamic State: Being a Translation from the Arabic Accompanied With Annotations, Geographic and Historic Notes of the Kitab Futuh al-buldan. New York: Columbia University. p. 280.
  • Blankinship, Khalid Yahya (1994). The End of the Jihâd State: The Reign of Hishām ibn ʻAbd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-1827-7.
  • Gil, Moshe (1997) [1983]. A History of Palestine, 634–1099. Translated by Ethel Broido. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-59984-9.
  • Hillenbrand, Carole, ed. (1989). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXVI: The Waning of the Umayyad Caliphate: Prelude to Revolution, A.D. 738–744/A.H. 121–126. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-810-2.
  • Hinds, Martin, ed. (1990). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXIII: The Zenith of the Marwānid House: The Last Years of ʿAbd al-Malik and the Caliphate of al-Walīd, A.D. 700–715/A.H. 81–95. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-721-1.
  • Kennedy, Hugh N. (2006). The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East. Ashgate Variorum. ISBN 0-7546-5909-7.
  • Khamis, Elias (July 2002). "A Bronze Weight of Saʿîd b. ʿAbd al-Malik from Bet Shean/Baysân". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 12 (2): 143–154. JSTOR 25188250.
  • Robinson, Chase F. (2004). Empire and Elites after the Muslim Conquest: The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-511-03072-X.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.