AbÃÂn ibn al-Walëd ibn ÿUqba ibn Abë Muÿayá¹ () was a member of the Umayyad family who served as governor of Hims, Qinnasrin (with the Jazira) and Armenia for the caliphs Marwan I (r. 684âÂÂ685) and Abd al-Malik (r. 685âÂÂ705). His brother Uthman may have been his deputy in Armenia, or a governor in his own right, while another deputy of his was Dinar ibn Dinar, who defeated the Byzantines in 694/5.
In circa 688/89, Abd al-Malik tasked Aban with suppressing the rebellion of the Qaysi chieftain Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi, who, from his fortified, strategic outpost of al-Qarqisiya on the Euphrates, posed a nagging obstacle to the caliph's planned conquest of Iraq. That province was controlled by Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr on behalf of his Mecca-based brother, Abd Allah, a rival caliph to Abd al-Malik. Zufar recognized the suzerainty of Ibn al-Zubayr and had previously staved off the Umayyad commander, Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, in 685/86. Aban defeated Zufar in battle, during which Zufar's son, Waki', was killed. This death turned the conflict into a personal vendetta, making it much harder for Abd al-Malik to negotiate with Zufar until several years later.
Aban was a member of the Banu Abi Mu'ayt, a sub-lineage of the Umayyad dynasty. He was the son of al-Walid ibn Uqba, who served as the governor of Kufa under Caliph Uthman (). His father and Caliph Uthman were half-brothers, sharing the same mother, Arwa bint Kurayz. Through Arwa, Aban was a great-grandson of Umm Hakim bint Abd al-Muttalib, the paternal aunt of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. This lineage placed Aban's family in the inner circle of the early Muslim elite, though they remained a distinct branch from the Marwanid line that assumed the caliphate in 684.