Suleiman bin Abdul Malik, the seventh Umayyad caliph, was born in 54 AH in Medina. His father on Palestine, and when the Crown of the Caliphate made a broad reform movement, isolated the workers of the caliph who preceded him and near the opponents of pilgrims such as Yazid bin Muhallab, and ruled about 3 years, and recommended the caliphate after him to Omar bin Abdul Aziz, and died in Safar year 99 AH at the age of 45 years.

Origin and formation

Abu Ayyub Suleiman bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan was born in Medina in 54 AH in the caliphate of Muawiyah (may Allah be pleased with him).

His mother was born bint Al-Abbas Al-Absiya, who is the mother of his brother Al-Walid, and when his uncles Bani Abs resided for a period of his boyhood, so he grew up on the morals of the desert and the eloquence of its people.

Since he was in Sham with his father 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, he entrusted his discipline to two prominent imams, 'Amir ibn Sharahil al-Sha'bi and Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Shihab al-Zuhri.

His father took over Palestine, and remained on it during the reign of his brother Al-Walid, so he went down to Lod and created the city of Ramla because it is located in the middle between the coastal plain along the Mediterranean Sea and the valley in the east, and he built a mosque and a house for the emirate and made it a water cistern, and kept wells, and they stated that out of his love for it, he wanted not to leave it after his caliphate, intending to transfer the capital of the caliphate to Jerusalem.

His brother Al-Waleed wanted – with the advice of pilgrims – to depose him from the mandate of the Covenant, but the death urgently, Vboea Suleiman caliphate mid-Jumada II year 96 AH, and was then in Ramla, took Omar bin Abdul Aziz pledge allegiance to him in Damascus.

His succession

Some historians argue that Suleiman's succession was another return to the path of justice, harmony and redressing grievances after years of internal strife that colored the Umayyad caliphate during the reign of his father Abd al-Malik and his brother al-Walid.

Since Suleiman ascended the pulpit in his first sermon during his accession to the office of caliphate, he reminded people to return to God, sincerity of intentions, taking the Book of God as an imam and being satisfied with it as a rule.

He also gave scholars and righteous people care and appreciation, and entrusted to the people of experience and knowledge of them the tasks of advice and ministry, so he took Omar bin Abdul Aziz as his adviser, as accompanied by the venerable Tabi Raja bin Haywa, so he did not cut something without them.

Their advice included the dismissal of pilgrim workers who committed injustices against the parish, including Yazid bin Abi Muslim, the writer of pilgrims and the repository of his secrets, Uthman bin Hayyan, the governor of Medina, Khalid bin Abdullah al-Qasri, the governor of Mecca, and Muhammad bin Yusuf al-Thaqafi, the brother of al-Hajjaj, the governor of Yemen.

They also advised him to release prisoners from prisons, and to give gifts and gifts to those against whom grievances were committed, as Omar bin Abdul Aziz advised him to return the prayer to its time after it was delayed until the end of its time.

The Dome of Suleiman attributed to the Umayyad Caliph Suleiman bin Abd al-Malik, used as a place of worship, meditation and retreat (Al-Jazeera)

Reform in politics and economics

Ibn Abi al-Dunya narrated that Muhammad ibn Yazid said: "Sulayman ibn 'Abd al-Malik sent me to Iraq to the imprisoned people of Dimas, who were imprisoned by the pilgrims in Wasit. I violated Ibn Abi Muslim al-Thaqafi, the minister of pilgrims, for his work, and clothed every man who released two garments."

Suleiman's dismissal of unjust governors marked the beginning of the political and economic reforms he undertook during his rule, as well as the separation of the wilayat al-Kharag from the general wilayat so that he could control public funds.

He also established the Expenditure Bureau to record imports and exports of state funds and control expenditures, as the state was undergoing a major expansion, which requires rationalization of spending.

Conquests in his reign

Suleiman was by nature "soft side does not hasten to bloodshed" as described by Masoudi, and his natural inclination to the material, as well as the mentioned comprehensive change of governors and workers in the cities and on the outposts, the conquests during his reign were not as they were during the era of his predecessor Walid or his father Abdul Malik.

Pictures of parts of the walls of Constantinople in Istanbul (island)

Among the most prominent military campaigns during the reign of Suleiman bin Abdul Malik:

The conquest of the city of Saqalba near the land of the Bulgarians in 98 AH, and the conquest of Dahistan, Gorgan and Tabaristan south of the Caspian Sea by Yazid bin Muhallab.

He also besieged Constantinople under the leadership of his brother Muslima, and Suleiman launched several armies in the land of the Romans to keep their eyes away from the main goal of the campaign, so he opened a number of cities and fortresses north of the Levant and eastern Anatolia, and also ordered the manufacture of new ships in Egypt to support the naval fleet, and collect weapons and machines for war and siege.

When he ordered the siege of Constantinople, he moved to Marj Dabiq to be closer to the battlefield, and swore that he would not leave until God opened his brother there.

However, the immunity of the walls, the skill of the Roman engineers in restoring what was quickly destroyed, the availability of their defense tools, the attack of the Bulgarians from the northwest, and the lethality of the cold on the Muslim army, the army and its commander returned and turned it back, until he heard the news of the death of his brother and the assumption of the caliphate by Omar bin Abdul Aziz, who was sent to him to lift the siege and return to the Levant.

Omar bin Abdul Aziz took over the caliphate after Suleiman bin Abdul Malik (social networking sites - imaginary image)

The succession of Omar bin Abdul Aziz

Omar bin Abdul Aziz had a high status and a special status without Bani Marwan, as he took him as an advisor who does not cut something without him, because of his knowledge, good manners and integrity, so he was keen to accompany him throughout the period of his caliphate in his dissolution and travel.

When Suleiman fell ill in Marj Dabiq and felt that his life was near, he decided to conclude his life with work that would benefit him in the hereafter on the one hand and preserve the Muslims in their worldly affairs on the other. He consulted his minister Raja bin Haywa on the matter of the mandate of the covenant, and Raja referred to him as Omar bin Abdul Aziz, and then said to a group of Umayyads when they asked him about the mandate of the covenant, "Let me make a contract in which the devil does not have a share."

Al-Tabari mentioned in the news of the succession of 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz on the authority of Raja ibn Haywa that he said: "When Suleiman made a covenant in a book he wrote to some of his sons, a boy who had not attained the age, I said: 'What are you doing, O Commander of the Faithful?' It is what keeps the caliph in his grave to succeed the Muslims with the righteous man. Solomon said: I seek the help of Allah and look at him and I did not intend to do so, he said: So he stayed for a day or two, and then he broke it and called me and said: What do you see in Dawood son of Solomon? I said, "He is absent from you in Constantinople, and you do not know whether he is alive or dead," and he said to me, "Who do you see?" I said: Your opinion, O Commander of the Faithful, and I want to see who remembers, he said: How do you see Omar bin Abdul Aziz? I said, "I teach him, by Allah, a virtuous Muslim," and he said, "He and Allah are on that."

Then he entrusted the caliphate after Umar to Yazid bin Abdul Malik to please the Umayyads, and they were keen that the caliphate remain in the children of Abd al-Malik, so he kept it for them and satisfied them with that.

Death

Suleiman fell ill with a dabiq, but when it was Friday, his uncle ordered his chaos, and he wore a green suit and darkened with a green turban and sat on a green bed, and he spread what was around him with greenery, then he looked in the mirror and liked his goodness and rolled up his arms and said: "I and God the young king" So he went out to pray with people on Friday, but he did not return until he was aware.

Raja entered on Solomon and if he dies, he directed him to the qiblah and woke up saying "it is not yet for that, O Raja", when it was the third he said, "From now on, please, if you want something, I testify that there is no god but Allah and I testify that Muhammad is his servant and messenger" and he directed him to the qiblah and died.

Raja covered him with green velvet and closed the door on him, and sent to Kaab bin Hamed and gathered people in the mosque of Dabiq, and he said: Pledge allegiance to those in this book, and they said: Have pledged allegiance to us, and he said: Pledge allegiance again, and they did, and then he said: Arise to your friend, he died, and read the book on them, when he mentioned Omar bin Abdul Aziz changed the faces of Bani Marwan, when he read and that Yazid bin Abdul Malik after him, they retreated somewhat. Hisham called out, saying: We will never pledge allegiance to him, and he said, "Please strike your neck, by Allah, arise and pledge allegiance."

The death of Suleiman on the tenth of Safar 99 AH corresponding to September 22, 717 AD, in Marj Dabiq, historians have differed in the cause of his death and some of them are likely to have been a poultice on his son Job, who preceded him by a month and a half.