رجاء بن حيْوة الكندي

Counsellor of Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, who advised him to settle the succession on Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz with Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik after him, and to write the deed sealed so the people would swear allegiance to its unnamed contents; he kept the secret from both Hisham and Umar himself until Sulayman's death unveiled the letter — and transmitted hadith from Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ¹.

Overview

Raja ibn Haywa al-Kindi, adviser to Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. al-Suyuti reports that he advised Sulayman to name Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz as his successor, and after him Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik, and that the document should be written and sealed and the community called to pledge allegiance to it ².

al-Sallabi says that Sulayman wrote the document during his illness at Dabiq, and that Raja undertook to take the pledge ³. He refused to tell Hisham what the document contained ⁴. al-Mas'udi relates that when Sulayman was dying at Marj Dabiq, he summoned Raja, together with al-Zuhri and Makhul; they wrote his will and had them witness it ⁵.

al-Sallabi describes him as held in high esteem by both Sulayman and Umar ⁶.

Sources

Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition), p. 371-372

Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition), p.371-372

الدولة الأموية: عوامل الازدهار وتداعيات الانهيار — علي محمد الصلابي (الجزء الثاني، 2005), p.155-157

الدولة الأموية: عوامل الازدهار وتداعيات الانهيار — علي محمد الصلابي (الجزء الثاني، 2005), p.184-186

Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi, p.172

الدولة الأموية: عوامل الازدهار وتداعيات الانهيار — علي محمد الصلابي (الجزء الثاني، 2005), p.278

The Founding of al-Ramla

In al-Baladhuri: al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik gave his brother Sulayman command of the Filastin jund, and he settled at Lydda then founded the city of al-Ramla and made it an amsar — the first thing he built being his palace and the house known as Dar al-Sabbaghin with a central cistern, then he laid out the mosque's plan and built it, taking the caliphate before completing it and finishing it in his reign, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz completing it while reducing the plan, saying 'the people of al-Ramla are content with this measure'; when Sulayman built for himself he gave people leave to build and they did, digging the canal called Barada and wells for them, a Christian clerk of Lydda named al-Batriq ibn al-Nakka overseeing the expenditure on the works and the congregational mosque; the city of al-Ramla did not exist before Sulayman, its site being a sandy tract; the Umayyads spent on its wells and canal after him, then the Abbasids did likewise, the charge issuing yearly from caliph to caliph until al-Mu'tasim entered it in the register, whence it became a standing annuity reckoned to the claimants.

رجاء بن حيْوة الكندي

At a glance

Overview

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

People

The Founding of al-Ramla