The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

A.D. 692-705] HIS CHARACTER 545
lasting impression on him. He was earl)- emplo}'ed in the A.H. 73-86.
affairs of Mecca, and accompanied his father Merwan thither
in the negotiations held with Ibn az-Zubeir. During the
first half of his reign the throne was often in jeopard)-, and
a coalition of his adversaries would probably have overthrown
it. Yet, with but one exception, we never hear of his being
betrayed into acts of bitterness and retaliation : on the
contrary, before resorting to extremities, he repeatedly made
offers of pardon and reconciliation. Like 'Othman, most of
his stadtholders were relatives of his own, but they were able
men, and there was none left to oppose, lie seemed to like
to give iniquitous governors to Medma, like Hisham ibn
Ismii'il. In the end, having triumphed over all his enemies,
he left to his sons a splendid inheritance, and with it the
ample and ready means for extending the kingdom on
every side.^
* He had fifteen sons by eight wives, Ijesides slave-girls. Four of his
sons, as we shall see, succeeded to the throne.