يزيد بن عبد الملك
The two Umayyad factions present at Dabiq were an anonymous group of Sulayman's inner circle represented by Raja and the family of Abd al-Malik, apparently represented by the caliph's brother Hisham. The latter faction favored another of Sulayman's brothers, Yazid II, who was away on the Hajj pilgrimage, to succeed, while the former favored Umar. In al-Waqidi's accounts, which are ultimately traced back to Raja's own account of the events, Raja persuaded Sulayman to bypass his own sons and brothers in favor of Umar. Raja was chosen to execute Sulayman's will. He secured the decision by securing oaths of allegiance from the Umayyad family to Sulayman's willed successor whose name was kept secret in a sealed letter. Once he gained their oaths, Umar was revealed as the next caliph and Yazid II as the next in line. He threatened the use of force against Sulayman's brothers following their protestations at being bypassed. Raja's role in the affair is considered to be a likely exaggeration by the modern historian Reinhard Eisener because Raja's personal account was the original authority for the early Muslim sources.