Editing Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (section)

===Final years===
The last years of Abd al-Malik's reign were generally characterized by the sources as a domestically peaceful and prosperous consolidation of power.{{sfn|Gibb|1960|p=77}} The blood feuds between the Qays and Yaman, which persisted despite the former's reconciliation with the Umayyads in 691, had dissipated toward the end of his rule.{{sfn|Dixon|1971|p=120}} Dixon credits this to Abd al-Malik's success at "harnessing tribal feeling to the interests of the government, [while] at the same time suppressing its violent manifestations".{{sfn|Dixon|1971|p=120}}{{efn|After the reconciliation of 691, violence between the [[Banu Kalb]] and the [[Qays]]i [[Banu Fazara]] of the [[Hejaz]] flared up until 692–694.{{sfn|Dixon|1971|pp=96–98}} The blood feud between the Qaysi [[Banu Sulaym]] and the Yamani-allied [[Banu Taghlib]] persisted until 692.{{sfn|Dixon|1971|pp=103–104}} Abd al-Malik intervened in both cases and put a definitive end to the tit-for-tat raids by means of financial compensation, threat of force and executions of tribal chieftains.{{sfn|Dixon|1971|pp=96–98, 103–104}}}}

The remaining principal issue faced by the caliph was ensuring the succession of his eldest son, al-Walid, in place of the designated successor, Abd al-Aziz.{{sfn|Gibb|1960|p=77}} The latter consistently refused Abd al-Malik's entreaties to step down from the line of succession, but potential conflict was avoided when Abd al-Aziz died in May 705.{{sfn|Gibb|1960|p=77}} He was promptly replaced as governor of Egypt by the caliph's son Abd Allah.{{sfn|Becker|1960|p=42}} Abd al-Malik died five months later, on 9 October.{{sfn|Hinds|1990|pp=125–126}} The cause of his death was attributed by the historian [[al-Asma'i]] (d. 828) to the 'Plague of the Maidens', so-called because it originated with the young women of Basra before spreading across Iraq and Syria.{{sfn|Conrad|1981|p=55}} He was buried outside of the [[Bab al-Jabiya]] gate of Damascus.{{sfn|Hinds|1990|pp=125–126}}