Abd al-Malik's family were among the most powerful clans during the early Abbasid era. They played an important role in the final overthrow of the
Umayyads in
Syria, which thereafter became their particular power base. He was the nephew of
Abd Allah ibn Ali, the first Abbasid governor of Syria, and a son of
Salih ibn Ali, the first Abbasid governor of
Egypt and successor of Abdallah in Syria after the latter staged a failed uprising in 754. Abd al-Malik's elder brothers
al-Fadl and
Ibrahim also served as governors in Syria and Egypt. From his father's side, he was a cousin of Caliphs
al-Saffah () and
al-Mansur (). His mother was one of the
concubines of the last Umayyad Caliph,
Marwan II (). After Marwan's death, she was bought by Salih. Some sources alleged that she was already pregnant at the time, which would mean that Abd al-Malik was a son of Marwan II. '') and its provinces under the
Abbasid Caliphate Under
Harun al-Rashid (), Abd al-Malik held his first major commands: from to 793, he was governor of the strategically critical
Jund Qinnasrin (a district in northern Syria) and of the newly created
jund of
al-Awasim, which comprised the Caliphate's borderlands with the
Byzantine Empire. From this position, he led expeditions into Byzantine
Asia Minor in 790/791 and possibly also in 792/793, when his son Abd al-Rahman captured the fortress of Thebasa. In 792, after the death of Ibrahim, Abd al-Malik became the head of his clan, and in 794 he was appointed as governor of the
Jund Dimashq (a Syrian district which included
Damascus), with his brother Abdallah succeeding him in governing the borderlands with the Byzantine Empire. In , Abd al-Malik was also placed as tutor for Harun's son
al-Qasim. His prominence and influence with the army led Harun distrust him and in 803 he was arrested and thrown into prison. The actual reason remains unclear, although most sources agree that his own son, Abd ar-Rahman, informed the Caliph that he was allegedly planning to overthrow him. Abd al-Malik remained imprisoned until Harun's death six years later, when the Caliph
al-Amin () released him.
Al-Amin's succession was contested by his elder half-brother
al-Ma'mun, and there was unrest in Syria. Abd al-Malik still wielded considerable influence over the frontier troops, and therefore he was appointed governor of Syria and
al-Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) and tasked with securing these regions for al-Amin and raising troops to confront al-Ma'mun. However, soon after reaching
Raqqa, Abd al-Malik fell ill and died. His grave was demolished a few years later by the victorious al-Ma'mun, allegedly because Abd al-Malik had sworn never to accept al-Ma'mun's rule. ==References==