When Yazid II died in January 724, after less than four years as caliph, he was succeeded by his half-brother, Hisham b. ‘Abd al-Malik (r. 724–43; see Figure 8.1). Yazid II had nominated Hisham to succeed him before his own son al-Walid b. Yazid (r. 743–4). Hisham's claims on the caliphate had been too strong for Yazid II to ignore: Hisham was a senior son of ‘Abd al-Malik, with powerful allies among his maternal relatives in the Banu Makhzum branch of Quraysh, as well as support from his half-brothers and their sons, all of whom were well connected with the tribes of the Roman–Arabian frontier in northern Syria, eastern Anatolia and the Jazira. As one of the younger sons of ‘Abd al-Malik, born in the 690s, Hisham was in his early thirties when he became caliph. However, unlike his immediate predecessors, who had all died aged about forty, Hisham would live into his mid-fifties and so rule for nineteen years.

The challenges that had confronted ‘Umar II and Yazid II persisted: Rome, Iraq, and economic, religious and social change. Hisham had time to consolidate his grip on the revenues of Egypt and Iraq and to recommit to an existential struggle against the Roman Empire. In so doing, he consciously imitated aspects of the reigns of his father, ‘Abd al-Malik, and his older brothers al-Walid I and Sulayman. Like them, Hisham prioritised military success against Rome, using loyal governors and tax reform to seek more revenue from Egypt and Iraq, and publicly promoting the religious legitimacy of his rule. Hisham's focus on both tax revenues and his own investments in land and commercial infrastructure in the Syrian towns and countryside perhaps led to his image as a ‘miser’ (bakhīl) in more hostile strands of the later tradition. These policies were probably a response to the declining opportunities for tribute and loot to be taken on the frontiers and a recognition that the institutional and economic strength of Umayyad rule needed reinforcement.