Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik is the son of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (reigned 685–705) and half-brother of the caliphs al-Walid I (r. 705–715), Sulayman (r. 715–717), Yazid II (r. 720–724) and Hisham (r. 724–743).

Maslama himself had been excluded from the line of succession as his mother was an enslaved woman.

He is first mentioned as leading, along with his nephew al-'Abbas ibn al-Walid, the annual summer campaign (ṣawā'if) against the Empire in 705.

His first major expedition is the 707–708 campaign against the imperial city of Tyana in southeastern Asia Minor, which had been launched in retaliation for the defeat and death of the distinguished general Maimun the Mardaite the year before.

The siege lasts through winter and the Arab army faces great hardship, but after the Arabs defeat an imperial relief force in spring 708, the city surrenders.

A few months later, in the summer, …