Yazid III

Yazīd ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (701 – 3/4 October 744) usually known simply as Yazid III was the twelfth Umayyad caliph. He reigned for six months, from April 15 to October 3 or 4, 744, and he reigned until his death. Birth and background Yazid was the member of the influential Umayyad dynasty. His father, al-Walid was survived by several sons: al-Ya'qubi names sixteen, while historian al-Tabari (d. 923) names nineteen. Yazid III was the grandson of great Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik and his grand mother was Wallada bint al-Abbas ibn al-Jaz al-Absiyya. Yazid was the son of a Persian princess who had been given as a concubine to Caliph al-Walid I. His mother was Shah-i Afrid, a daughter of Peroz. Al-Tabari quotes a couplet of Yazid's on his own ancestry: I am the son of Chosroes, my ancestor was Marwan, Caesar was my grandsire and my grandsire was Khagan. Tabari further records descriptions of Yazid as being tall and handsome. Downfall of Al-Walid During the reign of his cousin al-Walid II, Yazid spoke out against Walid's "immorality" which included discrimination on behalf of the Banu Qays Arabs against Yemenis and non-Arab Muslims, and Yazid received further support from the Qadariya and Murji'iya (believers in human free will). Yazid slipped into Damascus and deposed Walid in a coup, following this up with a disbursement of funds from the treasury.