Habib ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marwani

Ḥabīb ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Qurashī al-Marwānī (Arabic: حبيب بن عبد الملك بن عمر بن الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان بن الحكم القرشي المرواني) was an Umayyad prince in al-Andalus and descendant of caliph al-Walid I.

Habib ibn 'Abd al-Malik حبيب بن عبد الملك
Umayyad Governor of Toledo
Born	c. 730 Damascus
Died	778 Córdoba
Children	Sulayman 'Umar al-Walid al-Mubarak Aban al-Jiyar
Names Habib ibn 'Abd al-Malik ibn 'Umar ibn al-Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam al-Qurashi al-Marwani
Dynasty	Umayyad (Marwanid)
Father	'Abd al-Malik ibn Umar ibn al-Walid
Religion	Sunni Islam
Military career
Allegiance	Umayyad Caliphate Umayyad state of Córdoba
Branch	Umayyad army of Córdoba
Years of service	c. 750s-778
Rank	Cavalry Commander
Unit	Syrian Cavalry Jund
Battles / wars	Battle of Alameda (756 CE)
Relations	Ibrahim (great-uncle) Yazid III (great-uncle) al-Abbas ibn al-Walid (great-uncle) Umar ibn al-Walid (grandfather) Al-Walid I (great-grandfather) Abd al-Rahman I (cousin)

Following the fall of the Umayyad dynasty in 749/750 CE, he fled to al-Andalus, arriving there prior to his cousin ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muʿāwiya (the future ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I of Córdoba), whom he later supported upon the latter’s arrival.

On the eve of the Battle of al-Musara (also known as Alameda), Habib was entrusted with command of the Umayyad cavalry and played a decisive role in securing victory. Subsequently, he was appointed governor of Toledo, which had previously been under the control of the Fihrids, supporters of the former governor Yusuf al-Fihri (يوسف الفهري). In this position he governed with vigor, maintaining order and preventing rebellion. Toledo served as his base of operations in suppressing several uprisings, notably that of the Berber leader Shakya (شكية) in 768 CE, as well as other lesser yet perilous insurrections.

He successfully captured the fortress of Sopetrán in Guadalajara, the principal stronghold of the Berbers, and in 778 CE he fought against the rebellion of the qaʾid al-Sulami (السلمي). His tenure was marked by the confiscation of numerous lands, often without legal justification; on one occasion, when a Cordoban judge ruled in favor of the dispossessed, the emir personally compensated them from his own funds to allow his cousin Habib to retain the estates.

The date of Habib’s death is unknown. He was the progenitor of the Habibi lineage (الأسرة الحبيبية, al-Ḥabībiyyūn), a distinguished family that produced several notable men of letters and science, and from which also descended the branch known as the Banū Dahhūn (بنو دحّون). Among his descendants were the poets Habib Dahhun (حبيب دحّون) and Bishr ibn Habib Dahhun (بشر بن حبيب دحّون), renowned poets of the reign of ʿAbd al-Rahman II (عبد الرحمن الثاني), and SaʿI’d ibn Hisham ibn Dahhun (سعيد بن هشام بن دحّون), a poet of the twelfth century.