Amr ibn Said al-Ashdaq

Amr ibn Said al-Ashdaq ibn al-As ibn Said (died 69 AH / 688 CE) was an Umayyad prince of the Sufyanid branch whose political career ended in one of the most dramatic executions of the early caliphate. He was the nephew of Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan and served as governor of various territories under the Umayyads, known for his eloquence — hence the epithet al-Ashdaq (the one with the prominent jaw or the eloquent one).

He held governorships in the Hijaz and other regions under Marwan ibn al-Hakam and subsequently under Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. When Abd al-Malik consolidated Umayyad power after the Second Fitna, Amr ibn Said saw an opportunity to claim the caliphate for the Sufyanid line (descendants of Abu Sufyan) rather than the Marwanid line that had taken power.

He was initially given a position of trust by Abd al-Malik, who appointed him to roles in Syria. But when Amr ibn Said made a move to assert his own caliphal claims and gathered support in Damascus, Abd al-Malik summoned him and, in a meeting that ended in treachery, had him executed in 69 AH. The manner of his death — invited for a meeting and then killed — shocked contemporaries and was considered a stain on Abd al-Malik's caliphate.

His story is one of the frequent conflicts within the Umayyad family over succession and legitimacy that punctuated the dynasty's history. His eloquence and political ambition made him a figure noted by chroniclers, but his death removed the last significant Sufyanid claimant to the caliphate.