Historical Tales and Anecdotes of the Time of the Early Khalifahs/The Reign of el-Walld-ibn-'Abd-el-Malik
THE REIGN OF EL-WALÎD-IBN-ʾABD-EL-
MÁLIK-IBN-MARWÂN.
IT was his custom to read through the whole Kurân every three days; during Ramadhân[1] he used to read it through seventeen times. Ibrahîm-ibn-ʾUlîah relates, "He sent me bags of dinârs to be distributed amongst the pious." And the Hâfiz, ibn-Asâkir,[2] says, "The Syrians considered el-Walîd as the best of their Khalîfahs. He built the mosque at Damascus; and he set apart a sufficiency for lepers, and said to cripples and to the blind, "Do not beg from other people, and I will give to each a servant or a guide.'"
And it is recorded that the sum total of what el-Walîd laid out in building the mosque of el-ʾUmmawy was four hundred chests, each chest containing eight-and-forty thousand dinârs; and six hundred chains of gold for the lamps. [But the building would not have been completed had not his brother Sulaimân, when he reigned over the Khalîfate, done many good deeds, and left behind him traces of excellence.] And yet, after all this, it is recorded by ʾOmar-ibn-ʾAbd-el-Azîz[3] that when el-Walîd was wrapt in his winding-sheet his hands were chained to his neck.[4]
NOTE TO ABOVE.
El-Walîd was proclaimed Khalîfah the same day that his father died, A.H. 85. He died A.H.. 96 (A.D. 715), and was buried at Damascus, having reigned nine years and eight months. Historians differ much in their accounts of his character; those of Syria represent him as the greatest prince of the house of ʾOmeyyah, whereas Persian and other Muslim writers describe him as naturally cruel and violent, and subject to intemperate fits of passion. He is said to have had some skill in architecture, and expended large sums upon public buildings. El-Makîn's estimate of the sum laid out upon the mosque at Damascus, is, however, considerably less than that of the historian quoted in the text. The former reckons it at four hundred chests, each containing fourteen thousand, instead of forty-eight thousand, dinârs.
- ↑ Ramadhân. "The month of Ramadhân shall ye fast, in which the Kurân was sent down from Heaven. … Therefore let him among you who shall be present in this month fast the same month; but he who shall be sick or on a journey shall fast the like number of other days."—el-Kurân, Sûr. 2., V. 181. Muslims are extremely particular in their observance of this fast, which, as their year is reckoned by lunar months, varies in the season at which it takes place, being a few days earlier every year. When Ramadhân occurs during the heat of summer, when the days are longest, the trial to bodily health and strength is excessive; for they neither eat, nor drink, nor even smoke, from early dawn till sunset, and the nights are spent in eating and drinking, visiting the mosques, and reading the Kurân or hearing it read. A true Muslim should not, however, betray weariness or languor on account of what he endures during Ramadhân; but at the same time it is a pious act on the part of those in authority to spare their servants and show them as much consideration as possible.
- ↑ Abu-ʾl-Kâsim-ʾAly, commonly known by his surname of ibn-Asâkir, was the chief Hafiz, or Traditionist, of the age in which he lived. He was born A.H. 499, and died A.H. 571 (A.D. 1176).
- ↑ First cousin to el-Walîd and Sulaimân, and successor to the latter in the Khalîfate, A.H. 99 (A.D. 718).
- ↑ That is, that in spite of all his good deeds he chose to appear as a criminal at the Day of Resurrection.