ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān b. al-Ḥakam b. Abū al-ʿĀṣ b. Umayya, Abū al-Walīd (d. 86/705), the fifth Umayyad caliph, who is credited with reviving and consolidating Umayyad rule which was in disarray before his reign.

Until the reign of the third Umayyad caliph, Muʿāwiya (II) b. Yazīd, power had been in the hands of the Sufyānid branch of the dynasty; but when Muʿāwiya died without choosing a successor, this task was left to the other surviving members of the family. After som…