Hisham b. ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwan b. Hakem b. Abī al-ʿĀṣ b. Umayya b. ʿAbd Shams, Abū al-Walīd al-Qurashī al-Umawī al-Dimashqī, was the Commander of the Faithful (amīr al-muʾminīn). His mother was Umm Hisham bint Hisham b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhzūmī. His house was in Damascus, next to the Gate of Hawwāsīn. Part of his house is today used as the Nūriyya al-Kabīra, known as the Madrasa of the martyr Nureddin, and is also called Dār al-Qabbābīn (the House of the Tentmakers). The whole neighborhood was considered his residence. Allah knows best.
After the death of his brother Yazid b. ʿAbd al-Malik, he was pledged allegiance to as caliph due to his position as heir apparent. His bayʿa (pledge of allegiance) was given on a Friday, four days before the end of Shaʿbān in the year 105 AH. At that time, he was thirty-four years old. He was handsome, fair-skinned, and slightly cross-eyed. He used to dye his hair black. He was the fourth son of ʿAbd al-Malik to become caliph.
ʿAbd al-Malik had seen in a dream that he urinated four times in the mihrab. He asked Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab about it, who interpreted it as meaning that four of his sons would become caliphs, and the dream came true exactly as foretold. Hisham was the fourth son of ʿAbd al-Malik to become caliph. When he assumed the caliphate, he managed affairs wisely, gathered and managed wealth and funds, and enriched the treasury. He was intelligent and managed matters with foresight. He kept everything, great and small, under his control. He was gentle and dignified.
Once, he insulted a nobleman, and the man replied:
"You are Allah's deputy on earth; how can you insult me?" Hisham was ashamed and said to him:
"Either exact retribution from me, or insult me in return. If I insult you, I would be as foolish as you."
"Then take compensation for it."
"No, I will not take it."
"Then, for Allah's sake, forgo it and do not take it."
"Let the compensation be for Allah and then for you."
"By Allah, I will never insult anyone again."
Al-Asmaʿī said: A man once spoke harshly to Hisham. Hisham said to him: "Do you speak to me like this while I am your caliph?"
On another occasion, Hisham became angry with a man and said: "Be quiet, or I will have you flogged."
ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn had borrowed 4,000 dinars from Marwan b. al-Ḥakam. None of Marwan's sons ever asked him for the money. Eventually, when Hisham became caliph, he asked ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn:
"What about the debt you owe us?"
"It is ready to be paid in full, and I am grateful to you."
"The money is yours."
I say: There is doubt in this report, for ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn died in the year 94 AH, known as the Year of the Jurists, which is eleven years before Hisham became caliph in 105 AH.
The author says: "None of Marwan's caliph sons ever demanded the money from ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn. Eventually, when Hisham became caliph, he demanded the aforementioned money from him." There is doubt in this statement and it is not authentic, because ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn died before Hisham's accession to the caliphate. Allah, exalted and free from all deficiencies, knows best.
Hisham was among those who most strongly opposed bloodshed. He disliked it intensely. He was greatly disturbed by the killing of Zayd b. ʿAlī and his son Yaḥyā, and said: "If only I had given away all my wealth so that they would not have been killed."
According to al-Madāʾinī, once a slave girl, wine, and a man with a musical instrument called a barbut resembling a guitar were brought before Hisham. Hisham ordered: "Break that drum over the man's head." The man began to cry. When Hisham beat him, the man said: "Do you think I am crying because you beat me? I am crying because you insulted the barbut by calling it a drum."
One day, a man spoke harshly to Hisham. Hisham replied: "You have no right to speak to your imam in this way."
When Hisham saw that one of his sons did not attend Friday prayer, he summoned him and asked: "Why did you not come to Friday prayer?" His son replied: "My mule was sick and could not bring me." Hisham said: "Are you incapable of walking?" and forbade him from riding for a year, ordering him to attend Friday prayer on foot.
According to al-Madāʾinī, a man once presented Hisham with two birds. The messenger brought them to Hisham, who was sitting on his throne in the middle of his house. Hisham said: "Release them inside the house." When the man did so, he asked: "O Commander of the Faithful, what about my reward?" Hisham replied: "Woe to you! What reward do you expect for giving two birds? Take one of your birds." The man chased after one of the birds, trying to catch it. Hisham asked: "Woe to you! What are you doing?" The man replied: "I am trying to catch the better one." Hisham said: "You want to take the better and leave the worse?" Then he ordered that the man be given forty or fifty dirhams.
Al-Madāʾinī relates from Mur-Trem, the secretary of Yūsuf b. ʿUmar:
"Yūsuf sent me to Hisham with a red ruby and a pearl. These belonged to Rabīʿa, the slave girl of Khālid b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Qusarī. The ruby had been bought for 73,000 dinars. I entered Hisham's presence. He was on a couch with bird wings above it, so that his head could not be seen. When I showed him the ruby, he asked about its weight. I said: 'No one has ever seen or possessed a ruby like this.' He remained silent."
They said: Once, Hisham saw people shaking olive trees to make the olives fall and then gathering them. He said: "Do not shake the trees; pick the olives one by one, otherwise the branches will be damaged and the limbs broken."
Hisham used to say: "Three things never diminish the honor of an honorable man:
1. Making some compromises to get along with people.
2. Managing one's livelihood and being frugal.
3. Seeking and demanding one's rights, even if only a little."
Abū Bakr al-Kharaʾiṭī said that it is said Hisham never recited any poetry except this verse:
"If you do not resist your desires, your desires will drag you into things that will be gossiped about."
It is also reported that he recited other poetry.
Al-Madāʾinī relates from ʿAqqāl b. Shabba:
"Once I entered Hisham's presence; he was wearing a green fur-lined robe. He was giving me advice about things to take to Khurasan. I was looking at his robe. Hisham noticed and asked why. I said: 'I saw you wearing such a robe before you became caliph, and I am wondering if this is the same one.' Hisham replied: 'By Allah, besides whom there is no god, this is that very robe. All the wealth you see with me, I am saving for you and preserving it to leave for you.'"
Hisham was an intelligent but also a stingy man.
ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAlī, the uncle of al-Saffāḥ, said: "I collected the records of the Umayyads. I never saw any record or register more beneficial to the people and rulers than that of Hisham."
Al-Madāʾinī relates from Hisham b. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd:
"Among the sons of Marwan, I never saw anyone as attentive to his companions and registers, or as careful in examining and investigating them, as Hisham."
It was Hisham who had the Qadarite Gaylān executed. When Gaylān was brought before him, Hisham said: "Woe to you! Tell us what you know, explain your views! If your view is true, we will follow it; if it is false, abandon it."
Maymūn b. Mihrān debated with Gaylān. Gaylān said something to him. Hisham asked: "Is he disobeying Allah under compulsion and without choice?" When Gaylān fell silent, Hisham had him bound and executed.
Al-Asmaʿī relates from Mundhir b. ʿUbayy:
"We saw 12,000 shirts in Hisham's treasury, all of which had been worn and were worn out."
Hisham complained to his father about three things:
1. I am nervous when I ascend the pulpit.
2. I have no appetite and eat little.
3. There are a hundred beautiful slave girls in the palace, but I cannot sleep with any of them.
His father replied:
1. You are nervous about ascending the pulpit. When you ascend, fix your gaze on the men at the very back of the congregation; this will make it easier and more comfortable for you.
2. You say you have no appetite and eat little. Order the cook to prepare a variety of dishes for you; perhaps you will take a bite of each and satisfy your hunger.
3. Sleep with the slender, fair-skinned, beautiful, and striking slave girls.
Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shāfiʿī said: When Hisham b. ʿAbd al-Malik founded the city of Rusāfa, he said: "I want to spend a day here alone, and on that day, may no distressing news reach me." Before noon, news of bloodshed from the frontier reached him. He said: "Will I never have a day of peace?"
Sufyān b. ʿUyayna said: "No letter was ever written to Hisham mentioning death."
Abū Bakr b. Abī Khaythama relates from ʿUmar b. ʿAlī:
"I went with Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib to his house next to the bathhouse. I said to him: 'Hisham's rule and sovereignty have lasted nearly twenty years. People say that the Prophet Solomon asked his Lord for a dominion that would not be granted to anyone after him. According to people, Solomon's reign lasted twenty years. What do you say?' Muḥammad b. ʿAlī replied: 'I do not know what people say, but my father told me, through his ancestor ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
"Allah does not allow any ruler from a prophet's community to rule longer than that prophet did. Allah caused the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to live thirteen years in Mecca and ten in Medina, making twenty-three years as a prophet."
Ibn Abī Khaythama said: "I know of no other hadith on this subject."
Muslim b. Ibrāhīm relates from ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him):
"The Umayyads will end during the time of a cross-eyed man (Hisham)."
Abū Bakr b. Abī al-Dunyā relates from Sālim, the secretary of Hisham b. ʿAbd al-Malik:
"One day Hisham came to us in distress. He summoned Abresh b. Wahd. When Abresh arrived, he said:
'O Commander of the Faithful, what troubles you?'
'Why should I not be troubled? According to those skilled in astrology, I will die in thirty-three days.'
We noted it down. On the thirty-third night, his messenger came to me and said: 'Prepare your medicine for shortness of breath, for he has suffered from this illness before and recovered with this medicine.' I took my medicine and went with his messenger to Hisham. He took the medicine, but was seized with severe pain. The pain lasted all night. Then Hisham said to me:
'O Sālim, go home; I feel a little better, but leave the medicine with me.' I went home, and as soon as I arrived, wailing was heard from the palace. I went back and found that he had died."
According to others, when Hisham saw his children sitting around him weeping, he said to them:
"Hisham gave you the world generously, and you are generous with your tears for him. He left you his amassed wealth, and you left him his deeds. If Allah does not forgive him, what a wretched place Hisham will go to."
When Hisham died, the treasurer came and sealed his belongings. When those in the palace wanted to heat water to wash his body, they could not find any coal. Eventually, they borrowed some coal from elsewhere. On Hisham's ring was inscribed: "Judgment belongs to the Wise Judge." Hisham died in Rusāfa, six days before the end of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir in the year 125 AH, at a little over fifty years old. It is also said that he was over sixty at his death. His funeral prayer was led by Walīd b. Yazīd b. ʿAbd al-Malik, who succeeded him as caliph. Hisham ruled for nineteen years, seven months, and eleven days. It is also said he ruled for nineteen years, eight months, and a few days. Allah knows best.
Ibn Abī Fudayk, through Abū Salama b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, narrated that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "In the year 125 AH, the adornment of the world will be removed."
Ibn Abī Fudayk said: "By 'adornment' in this hadith, the light and beauty of Islam is meant."
Another said: "By 'adornment' in this hadith, the men of Islam are meant." Allah knows best.
I say: When Hisham b. ʿAbd al-Malik died, the Umayyad rule also died. Jihad declined, governance was seriously shaken, and order was disrupted. Although the Umayyads ruled for another seven years after Hisham, their rule continued in conflict and turmoil. Eventually, the Abbasids rose against them, seized their blessings and rule, and killed some of them. As will be explained in detail later, God willing, they took the caliphate from them. Allah, exalted and free from all deficiencies, knows best.