Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (; died 750) was an Umayyad prince, the son of Caliph Abd al-Malik, who played a role in the intra-dynastic politics of the Umayyad Caliphate, including the Third Muslim Civil War and the succession of Caliph Marwan II. He served as Marwan II's governor of Mecca, Medina and Ta'if in 747/48 and was executed by the Abbasids in the massacre of the Umayyads at Nahr Abi Futrus in Palestine in 750. Early life and career Muhammad was a son of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik and one of his slave women (umm walad). According to the historian Shiv Rai Chowdhry, Muhammad and his brother al-Hajjaj were named by Abd al-Malik because their names "were the most dear" to the caliph's staunchly loyal governor of Iraq al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (d. 714). Muhammad lived in Tiberias, the capital of Jund al-Urdunn (the military district of Jordan, e.g. modern-day northwestern Jordan, northern Israel and southern Lebanon). He had an estate at Raysun, also located in Jund al-Urdunn, which may have been granted to him by his half-brother Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. The latter had appointed Muhammad as his first governor of Egypt on 6 March 724. He resigned over a policy difference with the caliph and was replaced by another Umayyad, al-Hurr ibn Yusuf, on 2 May 724. Role in Third Fitna Muhammad played a role in the Third Muslim Civil War, which came about following the assassination of his nephew, Caliph al-Walid II, in 744 and the subsequent accession of the leader of al-Walid's opponents within the Umayyad family, Muhammad's other nephew Yazid III. When news of al-Walid II's slaying reached the troops of Jund Filastin (the military district of Palestine) they deposed al-Walid II's governor, Muhammad's brother Sa'id al-Khayr, and proclaimed as their caliph Yazid ibn Sulayman, the son of Muhammad's and Sa'id's brother Caliph Sulayman. Afterward, the troops of Jund al-Urdunn, led by the grandsons of Hubaysh ibn Dulja from the Balqayn tribe, joined the rebellion against Yazid III and appointed Muhammad as their leader. Yazid III dispatched Muhammad's nephew Sulayman ibn Hisham against the rebels. According to one account, Muhammad was persuaded by Yazid III's envoys to give the caliph his allegiance.