Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik

Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (born 691, Damascus [now in Syria]—died Feb. 6, 743, Damascus) was the tenth caliph, who reigned during the final period of prosperity and glory of the Umayyads.

Before his accession to the throne in 724, Hishām led a quiet life in the Umayyad court, holding no important public offices. He reigned during a time of relative calm. Hishām easily maintained internal security but was forced to mount a number of military campaigns along the frontiers of the empire. His main concern was to consolidate administrative control over the vast lands that he had inherited. Though it is often difficult to determine which policies stemmed from the caliph’s personal initiative and which from the decisions of subordinate officials, the outlines of some of his more important policies are clear. In particular he recognized the danger of centrifugal forces among the Arabs, who then constituted the dominant elements in the Islāmic empire. The Arabs were divided into two large factions, the northern and the southern, and Hishām sought to draw both elements into his administration.

A careful and frugal administrator, he devoted much attention to the receipt and expenditure of the imperial revenues, and some sources even credit him with reforming and reorganizing the whole system of agricultural taxation. In addition he pursued an energetic building policy, constructing a whole series of castles and palaces in Syria. In religious affairs he was strictly orthodox. Throughout his reign he sought to have his own son named heir presumptive, but he was forced to accept as heir his nephew al-Walīd ibn Yazīd, who had been nominated by the previous caliph, Yazīd II.