Al-Walid I

Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik was born around 674, eldest son of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik. As a prince he led annual Byzantine raids from 695 to 698 and fortified the desert road to Mecca; he became heir after his uncle's death and took power in October 705. He continued his father's centralizing drive, leaning heavily on al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, the viceroy who oversaw the conquests of Sind and Transoxiana, while in the west Musa ibn Nusayr's forces swept through the Maghreb and into Hispania, bringing the caliphate to its largest span. The flood of war spoils funded monumental building - the Great Mosque of Damascus, the al-Aqsa Mosque, expansions at Medina and Mecca, the city of Anjar - and the first state welfare for the Arab disabled and poor. His decade in power, ending with his death on 23 February 715, likely marked the Umayyad peak: domestic peace, full coffers, a careful balance among rival army factions. His successors inherited the glory and the debt.