عبد الله بن الزبير
At the time of his birth, the Caliphate was ruled by Sulayman's distant cousin, Mu'awiya I, who had founded the ruling Umayyad dynasty in 661. Following the deaths of Mu'awiya I's successors, Yazid I and Mu'awiya II, in 683 and 684, Umayyad authority collapsed across the Caliphate and most provinces recognized the non-Umayyad, Mecca-based, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, as caliph. The Umayyads of Medina, including Sulayman, were therefore expelled from the city and became refugees in Syria, where they were supported by loyalist Arab tribes. These tribes elected Sulayman's grandfather, Marwan I, as caliph and formed the Yaman confederation in opposition to the Qaysi tribes, who dominated northern Syria and the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) and supported Ibn al-Zubayr. By 685, Marwan had reestablished Umayyad control over Syria and Egypt. Abd al-Malik, who succeeded him, had by 692 reconquered the rest of the Caliphate.