Marwan ibn Abd al-Malik

Marwan ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (d. 715/16 or 716/17), referred to as Marwan al-Akbar to distinguish from younger half brother with the same name, was an Umayyad prince, son of Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, (r. 685–705) and one-time heir to the caliphate.

Life

Marwan was a son of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and his first wife Wallada bint al-Abbas ibn al-Jaz, a member of the Banu Abs tribe and fourth-generation descendant of Zuhayr ibn Jadhima. He was a full brother of the caliphs al-Walid I (r. 705–715) and Sulayman (r. 715–717). According to the historian al-Tabari Abd al-Malik instructed his immediate chosen successors al-Walid and Sulayman to invest the succession after them to their half-brother Yazid II (son of Atika bint Yazid) and then to Marwan al-Akbar. According to al-Baladhuri, however, it was to be passed to Marwan al-Asghar (another son of Atika). Marwan al-Akbar died on his return to Syria from the Hajj in Mecca in 715/16 or 716/17. He left no children. After his death, Caliph Sulayman maneuvered to remove Yazid II from the succession and install his own son Ayyub, but the latter predeceased Sulayman.