The Rebellious Son: The Umayyad Hereditary Succession and the Origins of Ḥijāzī.

This article concerns early representations in Arabic-Islamic sources of Ḥijāzī opposition to the dynastic succession initiated by Muʿāwiya b. Abī Sufyān shortly before his death in 41/661. The study emphasizes the importance of Qurʾānic exegesis for understanding the origin of the Ḥijāzī-Umayyad debate over rightful caliphal succession. It also demonstrates that examining how this episode is depicted in various literary genres offers a wider perspective on the construction of historical narratives in terms of provenance, protagonists, and objectives. The analysis of tafsīr interpretations of Q 46:17, which serve as the article’s underpinning, reveals that the Umayyad court promoted the view that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr was the rebellious son mentioned in this verse. Depictions of this dispute in the ḥadīth, ansāb, and adab genres clearly connect Marwān b. al- Ḥakam with this interpretation after ʿAbd al-Raḥmān questioned Muʿāwiya’s appointment of his son Yazīd as his successor. The portrayals of the Ḥijāzī-Umayyad debate in taʾrīkh accounts represent a different perspective, one that shows a transition from a tribal and provincial setting to a broader caliphal political framework. The gradual shift from a reliance on Medinan transmitters to a focus on Iraqi authorities testifies to this orientation, as does the appearance of new leading protagonists. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s central role as a leader of the Ḥijāzī opposition to the Umayyads in the tafsīr, ḥadīth, and adab literature becomes secondary and overshadowed by other Ḥijāzī figures, particularly ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Zubayr.