The Dove Who Became a Hawk | Umayyad Khalifa Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan

Описание: A young man sits in the mosque of Medina, the Quran in his lap. They call him the Dove. One day, someone tells him he is khalifa. He closes the book and whispers: "Farewell. From now onwards, we are to be separated from each other."

This is the story of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan — the fifth Umayyad khalifa who inherited a shattered empire and forged it into the most powerful state on earth.

When Abd al-Malik took power in 685 CE, he controlled only Syria and Egypt — paying daily tribute to the Byzantines. His rival held Mecca. Rebels burned through Iraq. Within twenty years, his empire stretched from the Atlantic to the borders of China.

He built the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem — a dome of gold so bright no one could look at it. He replaced Greek and Persian with Arabic as the language of government. He minted the first purely Islamic coins. He sent al-Hajjaj, the most feared governor in Islamic history, to break the provinces that would not bend.

And on his deathbed, he hit his own head and said: "I wish I earned my daily bread day by day."

Sources: al-Tabari, al-Baladhuri, Ibn Kathir, al-Suyuti, al-Maqdisi, Chase Robinson, Patricia Crone, Hugh Kennedy, Robert Hoyland.