2021-01-28 Thu

Yazid bin Abd al-Malik also referred to as Yazid II, was the ninth Caliph of the Umayyad dynasty reigning from 9 February 720 until his death in 724.

Yazid was born in Damascus to Caliph Abd al-Malik and his influential wife Atika. Yazid did not possess military or administrative experience before his reign. He rarely left Syria except for a number of visits to the Hejaz (western Arabia, home of the Islamic holy cities Mecca and Medina), including once for the annual Hajj pilgrimage sometime between 715 and 717. He was possibly granted control of the region around Amman by Abd al-Malik.

Yazid built the Umayyad desert palaces of al-Qastal and al-Muwaqqar, both in the general vicinity of Amman. The palaces are conventionally held to have been built during his caliphate, though a number of archaeologists suggest Yazid began their construction before 720.

For much of his reign, he resided in Damascus or his estates in Jund al-Urdunn (the military district of Jordan), which was centred in Tiberias and roughly corresponded with the Byzantine province of Palaestina Secunda.

His Coins depicts the Kalima ‘la ilah illa / Allah wahdahu / la sherikh lahu’ on the obverse face while the reverse of the coin engraved ‘Allah ahad Allah / al-Samad lam yalid wa / lam yulad’. Image Source: Wikipedia.org