His name has become proverbial for ferocity and brutality.

His name has become proverbial for ferocity and brutality. Muhallab, who was the most baseless and shameless governor in the history of the People of khurasan (in eastern Iran). Hisham, the son of Isma'il, who was the governor of Medina. Abdullah, who was Abd al-Malik 's own son .He was appointed to serve in the government in Egypt. Musa ibn Nasir who was the governor of Maghrib (the present day Morocco). Muhammad, son of Yusuf ath-Thaqafi and brother of Hajjaj who lived in Yemen.

Muhammad ibn Marwan who ruled in the Arabian peninsula. All these ministers or representatives of Abd al-Malik were corrupt and tyrannical. Abd al-Mlaik became famous by the name Abu Dhubab (the father of the flies) .It is said that his mouth emitted such a foul stench that flies passing anyway near the face, would perish because of the intensity of the smell.

He was also notorious under the name Rashah al-Hajar ,indicating that he was excessively miserly.(It was the same Abd al-Malik who initiated the minting of dirhams and dinars with specifically Islamic designs ; upto that time Roman coins had been the normal currency.) Abd al-Malik was perhaps the first so-called Islamic ruler to deliberately try to do away with the divine injunction "command others to do good deeds and forbid them from doing bad deeds" (al amr ibl-ma'ruf wan-nahy anil -munkar).He did not allow trained teachers to teach the people about the din of Islam ; moreover he did not allow anyone to talk publicity about the reality of this world and the next.

Despite this anti-Islamic activity ,he nevertheless decided to change his political position with regard to the family of Prophet (s.a.w.a) ,and the sons of Ali (a.s). With this mind, he wrote to his governor Hajjaj that he should stop harassing the progeny of the Prophet. The reason for this change was that he had seen with his own eyes how, soon after Abu Sufyan 's family had bloodied their hands in the slaughter of Ali's sons, their government weakened and they lost political power.

From this, it is obvious that Abd al-Malik changed his mind about killing the progeny of the Prophet (s.a.w.a) and the other leaders of the Muslims; not because he feared God, but for fear of losing his position as King. After twenty-one years of dictatorial rule, he died.