Bishr ibn Marwan

Abu Marwan Bishr ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam (; –694) was an Umayyad prince and governor of Iraq during the reign of his brother, Caliph Abd al-Malik. Bishr fought at Marj Rahit with his father, Caliph Marwan I. Marwan posted Bishr to Egypt to keep his brother Abd al-Aziz company. In 690/91, Bishr was made governor of Kufa and about one year later, Basra was added to his governorship, giving him full control of Iraq. During his governorship of Iraq, Bishr was known to be highly accessible and relatively merciful. Fond of poetry, he had many Arab poets, including Jarir, al-Farazdaq and al-Ra'i, in his entourage and was elegized in many panegyrics. He eliminated the remaining partisans of Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr in Basra and was officially in command of the war effort against Kharijite rebels in the province. However, he was forced to hand over command of the Iraqi army to al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra. He died in office of an unknown illness and was buried in Basra. Early life and career Bishr's father was Marwan ibn al-Hakam of the Banu Umayya (Umayyads) and his mother was Qutayya bint Bishr, who hailed from the aristocratic clan of the Banu Kilab, the Banu Ja'far. Bishr killed a chieftain of the Banu Kilab during the Battle of Marj Rahit in 684. The Umayyad victory at Marj Rahit against the supporters of the rival Mecca-based caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr consolidated Marwan's caliphate in Syria. Bishr accompanied Marwan when he wrested Egypt from its Zubayrid governor, Abd al-Rahman ibn Utba al-Fihri, by early 685. Marwan appointed another of his sons, Abd al-Aziz, governor of Egypt and had Bishr remain in the province to keep Abd al-Aziz company as the latter was posted far from the rest of his kinsmen in Syria. Relations between the brothers may have become tense, prompting Bishr to return to Syria. By then, the caliphal throne had passed to another son of Marwan, Abd al-Malik. Bishr's activities in Syria upon his return are not specified by the literary sources, though an originally Byzantine bronze weight chiseled and re-inscribed with the Kufic Arabic inscription: "In the name of God: Bishr ibn Marwan, the amir; this is a weight of twelve" was likely produced in Syria. According to the numismatist George C. Miles, the bronze weight indicates that Bishr occupied a government office in Syria, whether as a local governor or a controller of finance.