Khālid’s youth, the caliphate was then given to a relative by the name of Marwan, with the condition that Khālid would succeed him. But Marwan then married Khālid’s widowed mother, promised the line of succession to his own sons, and declared Khālid a bastard. Khālid’s mother’s response was to smother her new husband with a pillow while he slept (some sources say she poisoned him). Given such a loving family, Khālid fled to Egypt. There, to put his lost caliphate behind him, the young prince began to study Greek learning, and found alchemy most to his liking.
