He owed his position both to his leadership of the powerful Kalb, a major source of troops, and his kinship with the Umayyads through his aunt Maysun bint Bahdal, the wife of Mu'awiya and mother of Yazid.
Amid the political instability and rebellions that ensued in the caliphate, Ibn Bahdal attempted to secure the succession Mu'awiya II's brother Khalid, but ultimately threw his support behind Marwan I, who hailed from a different branch of the Umayyads.
Ibn Bahdal and his tribal allies defeated Marwan's opponents at the Battle of Marj Rahit and secured for themselves the most prominent roles in the Umayyad administration and military.
[1] Yazid also appointed Ibn Bahdal's brother, Sa'id, as governor of Jund Qinnasrin (military district of Chalcis).
[2] Meanwhile, Yazid died in 683 and Ibn Bahdal became the guardian of his young sons,[5] Mu'awiya II, Khalid and Abd Allah.
[6] Ibn Bahdal supported Mu'awiya's younger half brothers' claims to succession, though their youth and inexperience generally precluded either of them from being accepted as caliphs by the ashraf (tribal nobility) of Syria.
[1][6][7] Ibn Bahdal fervently sought to maintain Umayyad rule, and by extension, the administrative and courtly privileges of his household and the Banu Kalb.
[1] The meeting was not held in the capital Damascus where al-Dahhak, whose allegiance was still under suspicion, ruled, but in Jabiya, a major town in the Jordan district.
[12] In July 684, the two sides fought in the Battle of Marj Rahit, which ended with a massive rout for the Qays and the slaying of al-Dahhak.
[4] Medieval sources do not mention if Ibn Bahdal resumed his governorship of Palestine following the Umayyad–Kalbi triumph at Marj Rahit, "but this is clearly not impossible", according to Crone.