Abān ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿUqba ibn Abī Muʿayṭ (Arabic: أبان بن الوليد بن عقبة بن أبي معيط) 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. 684–685) and Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705).^[1] 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.^[1]

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 one of the latter's sons^[who?] was slain, but was unable to dislodge him from al-Qarqisiya.^[2]