ll-equipped fleet under Omar b.
Hobaira sailed out to second him. It is said that Suleiman was firmly
persuaded that Constantinople would be conquered during his reign, in
accordance with a Sibylline prophecy which said that the city would be
subdued by a caliph bearing the name of a prophet, he himself being the
first to fulfil this condition.[20] Moreover, the Byzantine empire was
in these years disturbed by internal troubles. The first year of the
expedition was not unsuccessful. The siege of Amorium in Phrygia was
broken up, but Pergamum and Sardis were taken. On the 25th of August 716
the blockade of Constantinople began from the land side, and two weeks
later from the sea side. A few months before, Leo the Isaurian had
ascended the throne and prepared the city for the siege. This lasted
about a year. The besieged were hard pressed, but the besiegers suffered
by the severe winter, and were at last obliged to raise the siege.
Maslama brought back the rest of his army in a pitiful state, while the
fleet, on its return, was partly destroyed by a violent tempest. The
Moslems regard this failure as one of the great evils that have befallen
the human race, and one which retarded the progress of the world for
ages,[21] the other calamity being the defeat in the battle of Tours by
Charles Martel.

Maslama was still on his way back when Suleiman died at Dabiq in
northern Syria, which was the base of the expeditions into Asia Minor.
He seems not to have had the firmness of character nor the frugality of
Walid; but he was very severe against the looseness of manners that
reigned at Medina, and was highly religious. Raja b. Haywa, renowned for
his piety, whose influence began under Abdalmalik and increased under
Walid, was his constant adviser and even determined him to designate as
his successor his devout cousin Omar b. Abdalaziz. Suleiman was kind
towards the Alids and was visited by several of them, amongst others by
Abu Hashim, the son of Mahommed b. al Hanafiya, who after his father's
death had become the secret Imam (head) of the Shi'ites. On his way back
to Hejaz this man visited the family of Abdallah b. 'Abbas, which
resided at Homaima, a place situated in the vicinity of 'Amman, and died
there, after having imparted to Mahommed b. Ali b. Abdallah b. Abbas the
names of the chiefs of the Shi'a in Irak and Khorasan, and disclosed his
way of corresponding with them. From that time the Abbasids began their
machinations a