Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

ABDUL MALIK
(685-705 A.D./68-85 A.H.)
Abdul Malik \vas the second founder of the Umayyad dynasty. He came to the throne when it was threatened from external dangers and internal enemies. By his extraordinary ability and wise statesmanship, he freed the empire from external dangers and saved it against internal enemies. Having triumphed over all his enemies, he left to his sons a flourishing empire. By his reforms, he laid the foundation of Islamic culture and civilization. He had in him the gift of originality. He was also a great builder. He built the famous Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra) at Jerusalem wrongly called by the Europeans ”the Mosque of Umar (Rad.A)” which stands to this day as a beautiful specimen of early Muslim architecture. He also built another mosque in Jerusalem called Masjid al-Aqsa (Aqsa Mosque). Himself a composer of no mean merit, he encouraged poets by a princely liberality. Historians called him greedy and cruel, and ”his lieutenants”, says Masudi ”followed his foot-steps in the reckless shedding of blood”.
In his youth he was an orthodox Muslim, but after his accession to the throne he was quite indifferent to religion. He was the first, says the Arabian Historians, who acted treacherously to Islanr. the first to conduct the exchequer in Arabic instead of Persian, the first to prohibit men from talking in the Khalifah’s presence and the first who prohibited exhortations to justice saying-”Let no one enjoin equity and the fear of God upon me or I will strike his head off from his shoulders”’. In character Abdul Malik can be compared with Charlemagne (of Germany) ”but he \\as certainly less cruel than
Charlemagne,” says Ameer Mi. If he was cruel, his cruelty like his frequent breaches of faith was due to an anxiety to safeguard and promote the interest of his dynasty. When this dynastic interest was absent, he was daring and energetic, resolute and ambitious and he never faltered in the pursuit of his design. He was undoubtedly one of the best rulers and successful statesmen the Islamic world has ever seen. He will remain fresh in the memory of the Muslims against the wear and tear of time.