'ABD AL-MALIK

in full 'abd Al-malik Ibn Marwan born 646/647, Medina, Arabia died October 705, Damascus fifth caliph (685-705) of the Umayyad Arab dynasty centred in Damascus. He reorganized and strengthened governmental administration and, throughout the empire, adopted Arabic as the language of administration. Additional reading The best account of 'Abd al-Malik's reign is in J. Wellhausen, Das arabische Reich und sein Sturz (1902; The Arab Kingdom and Its Fall, 1927). Also useful are Sir William Muir, The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall, new ed. (1924); and P.K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, 10th ed. (1970).