Abdul-malik died in October at the age of sixty ,and was succeeded by his son al-walid who reaped the stability and prosperity already achieved. Al-walid proved to be a worthy successor and continued to build on the achievement ,both military and civil, of his father. During his reign, the first European country spain was conquered and annexed to the muslim world.
In Iraq ,which was traditionally the most turbulent part of the empire, he retained the old faithful Hajjaj bn yusuf as governor and gave him his full support, as his father had done before him.Hajjaj eventually gained complete control of the eastern half of the empire and maintained peace and order for his sovereign. In addition, there was considerable eastern expansion .
India was invaded for the first time by the muslims, and a small western part of it came under the muslim rule. The conquest of the region of Transoxiana which had started in 667 CE, including Balkh, Bukhara, Samarqand ,Khwarizm empire stretching from Samarqand to Toledo.
With the eastern boundaries into Transoxiana,the muslimworld came into contact for the first with a new culture and race of people the Mongols. These barbarians later played a devastating role in the history of Islam. Al-Walid's reign was one of the peace and opulent, and witnessed the construction of many buildings of public welfare such as schools ,poor-homes and hospitals, in addition to many beautiful places of worship.
He appointed his cousin and later caliph,`Umar bn Abdul-Azeez as governor of Arabia under whom the prophets[peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] mosque in Madinah was enlarged and many improvements for the pilgrims were made in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited