Lesson 5: Rise of the Umayyads Flashcards
Ashraf
Tribal chiefs during the Umayyad times
Abu’l-Mughira Ziyad ibn Abihi
also known as Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan was the governor of Basra in 665–670 and ultimately the first governor of Iraq and virtual viceroy of the eastern Caliphate between 670 and his death.
Ziyad’s parentage is obscure, but he was raised among the Banu Thaqif in Ta’if and arrived with his adoptive tribesmen in Basra upon its foundation in 636 as the Muslim Arabs’ springboard for the conquest of the Sasanian Empire. He was initially employed by the city’s first governor, Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini, and was kept on as a scribe or secretary by his successors. Caliph Ali (r. 656–661) appointed Ziyad to Fars to suppress a local rebellion and he maintained his loyalty to Ali’s caliphate after the latter’s assassination in 661 and the subsequent rule of Ali’s enemy, Mu’awiya I (r. 661–680). The latter ultimately overcame Ziyad’s opposition, formally recognized him as his own paternal half-brother and appointed him governor of Basra. Ziyad’s inaugural speech, in which he announced his carrot-and-stick policies to the city’s turbulent population, is celebrated in Arab history for its eloquence. After the death of Kufa’s governor, Ziyad’s mentor al-Mughira ibn Shu’ba, Mu’awiya made Ziyad the first governor of a unified Iraqi province. He administratively reorganized the garrison cities and minted Sasanian-style silver dirhams in his own name. He firmly established Arab power and recommenced conquests in the Caliphate’s easternmost province of Khurasan by relocating there 50,000 Arab soldiers and their families from Iraq and dispatching expeditionary forces against Tukharistan, Balkh and Quhistan. Though the mass resettlement improved Iraq’s economic and political conditions by siphoning off Arab tribal soldiers from the overcrowded garrisons and creating new opportunities for war spoils, the move had major ramifications for the Caliphate as the descendants of these Khurasani Arab troops formed the army that toppled the Umayyads in 750.
Shuurta
its precise meaning is that of a “picked” or elite force. Bodies termed shurṭa were established in the early days of the Caliphate, perhaps as early as the caliphate of Uthman (644–656). In the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, the shurṭa had considerable power, and its head, the ṣāḥib al-shurṭa, was an important official, whether at the provincial level or in the central government. The duties of the shurṭa varied with time and place: it was primarily a police and internal security force and also had judicial functions, but it could also be entrusted with suppressing brigandage, enforcing the ḥisbah, customs and tax duties, rubbish collection, acting as a bodyguard for governors, etc.
Banu Kalb
The Kalb formed political and marital ties with the Umayyad family, and were the main source of military and political power during the reigns of the Umayyad caliphs Mu’awiyah I, Yazid I, Mu’awiyah II and Marwan I. It was during early Umayyad rule, that the Kalb became a chief belligerent in the long-running Qays–Yaman feud, being the leading tribe of the Yaman. Under their leadership, the Yaman dealt a heavy blow to the Qays in the Battle of Marj Rahit in 684. the Umayyad Caliphate. The accession of Yazid’s son Mu’awiyah II (r. 683–684) was largely due to the machinations of the Kalbid chieftain, Hassan ibn Malik ibn Bahdal. However, Mu’awiyah II soon died, leaving the caliphate in political disarray. Ibn Bahdal favored anointing one of Yazid’s young sons to succeed Mu’awiyah, while the governor of Kufa, Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, favored an Umayyad from a different branch of the ruling family, Marwan ibn al-Hakam.
The Battle of al-Harra
was fought between the Syrian army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683) led by Muslim ibn Uqba and the local defenders of Medina, namely the Ansar and Muhajirun factions, who had rebelled against the caliph. The battle took place at the lava field of Harrat Waqim in the northeastern outskirts of Medina on 26 August 683.
The elite factions of Medina disapproved of the hereditary succession of Yazid, unprecedented in Islamic history until that point, resented the caliph’s impious lifestyle, and chafed under Umayyad economic policies. After declaring their rebellion, they besieged the Umayyad clan resident in Medina and dug a defensive trench around the city. The expeditionary force sent by Yazid together with the local Umayyads, who had since been released from the siege, encamped at Harrat Waqim where they were confronted by the rebels. The Medinese were routed as a result of the defection of one of their factions, which enabled Umayyad horsemen led by Marwan ibn al-Hakam to attack them from the rear.
Afterward, the army pillaged Medina for three days, though accounts of the plunder vary considerably. The Syrian army proceeded to besiege the rebel leader Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca, though Ibn Uqba, who was maligned in Muslim traditional sources for his role in Medina’s plunder, died en route. The Battle of al-Harra is described as one of the Umayyads’ “major” crimes by the traditional sources.
Al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib
was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad’s daughter Fatimah. Prior to his death, the Umayyad ruler Mu’awiya appointed his son Yazid as his successor, contrary to the Hasan-Muawiya treaty When Muawiya died in 680 CE, Yazid demanded that Husayn pledge allegiance to him. Husayn refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid, even though it meant sacrificing his life. As a consequence, he left Medina, his hometown, to take refuge in Mecca in AH 60. There, the people of Kufa sent letters to him, asking for his help and pledging their allegiance to him. So he traveled towards Kufa, after getting some favorable indications along with a small caravan of his relatives and followers but near Karbala, his caravan was intercepted by Yazid’s army. He was killed and beheaded in the Battle of Karbala on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram 61 AH) by Yazid, along with most of his family and companions, including Husayn’s six-month-old son, Ali al-Asghar, with the women and children were taken as prisoners Anger at Husayn’s death was turned into a rallying cry that helped undermine the Umayyad caliphate’s legitimacy, and ultimately its overthrow by the Abbasid Revolution.
Battle of Karbala
was fought on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram in the year 61 AH of the Islamic calendar) between the army of the second Umayyad caliph Yazid I and a small army led by Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, at Karbala, Iraq.
The battle was followed by the Second Islamic Civil War, during which the Iraqis organized two separate campaigns to avenge the death of Husayn; the first one by the Tawwabin and the other one by Mukhtar al-Thaqafi and his supporters. The Battle of Karbala galvanized the development of the pro-Alid party (Shi’at Ali) into a unique religious sect with its own rituals and collective memory. It has a central place in the Shi’a history, tradition, and theology, and has frequently been recounted in Shi’a literature. For the Shi’a, Husayn’s suffering and death became a symbol of sacrifice in the struggle for right against wrong, and for justice and truth against injustice and falsehood.
Yom Ashura
or Ashura is the tenth day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar. It marks the day that Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, was martyred in the Battle of Karbala. Ashura is a major holiday and occasion for pilgrimage and fasting in Shia Islam. Holiday developed from the guilt of the Kufans who did not provide aid to al-Husay. They mark the day with self flagellation. Lots of anger and a sense of injustice emerge from this date.
Al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd al-Thaqafī
was a pro-Alid revolutionary based in Kufa, who led a rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate in 685 and ruled over most of Iraq for eighteen months during the Second Islamic Civil War.Born in Ta’if, Mukhtar moved to Iraq at a young age and grew up in Kufa. Following the death of Husayn ibn Ali, a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, at the hands of the Umayyad army in the Battle of Karbala in 680, he allied with the rival caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca, but the alliance was short-lived. Mukhtar returned to Kufa where he declared Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, a son of caliph Ali (r. 656–661) and brother of Husayn, the mahdi and the imam, and called for the establishment of an Alid caliphate and retaliation for Husayn’s killing. He took over Kufa in October 685, after expelling its Zubayrid governor, and later ordered the execution of those involved in the killing of Husayn. Hostile relations with Ibn al-Zubayr ultimately led to Mukhtar’s death by the forces of the Zubayrid governor of Basra, Mus’ab ibn al-Zubayr, following a four-month siege.
Although Mukhtar was defeated, his movement would have far-reaching consequences. After his death, his followers formed a radical Shia sect, later known as the Kaysanites, who developed several novel doctrines and influenced later Shi’a ideology. Mukhtar raised the social status of mawali (local converts to Islam) and they became an important political entity. The mawali and Kaysanites went on to play a significant role in the Abbasid Revolution sixty years later. Mukhtar is a controversial figure among Muslims; condemned by many as a false prophet, but revered by Shi’a because of his support for the Alids.
Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah
was born in Medina about AD 633 , the third of Ali’s sons. He was called Ibn al-Hanafiyyah after his mother, Khawlah bint Ja’far; she was known as Hanafiyyah, “the Hanafi woman”, after her tribe Banu Hanifah. Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah was the only child of Khawlah bint Ja’far. During his father’s lifetime he distinguished himself for piety, rectitude, and courage and effectiveness in war. During Ali’s caliphate at Kufa he was one of the caliph’s four chief lieutenants. He particularly distinguished himself at the battles of Jamal and Siffin. During the Battle of Siffin, Ali described ibn al-Hanafiyyah as his hand due to his bravery and strength while fighting.
After Husayn and so many of his kinsmen died at Karbala and the young Ali ibn Husayn adopted a life of retirement and prayer, Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah became the visible head of the house of Ali. It was in his name that Al-Mukhtar rebelled in Kufa in 686. In the hajj of 688, four men led their respective followers in the rites of pilgrimage, claiming the headship of Islam. One was Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, leading the Shi’ites. The others were Abdullah ibn Zubayr, who ruled in Mecca; Abd al-Malik, the Umayyad, who ruled in Damascus; and Najdah ibn ‘Amir, leader of the Kharijites.
Ibn al-Hanafiyyah was called “the Mahdi,” “the rightly-guided,” which then was simply a pledge of confidence in his knowledge, character, and judgment over those of the rival caliphs. In 692 he traveled to Damascus and swore allegiance to Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. In 700 he died in Medina, but thereafter a legend grew up that he was not dead, but living in seclusion on Mount Radwa near Medina, protected and fed by wild animals, and that he would, in God’s good time, return to establish justice and true religion in the world. Thus arose the legend of the Mahdi as savior.
After Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya died, his son Abu Hashim claimed the imamate. After his death the Abbasids claimed that on his deathbed Abu Hashim nominated his distant cousin Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abdullah ibn Abbas ibn Abdu’l-Muttalib ibn Hashim as the imam. This man’s son Abu’l-Abbas Abdullah as-Saffah became the first Abbasid caliph, repudiating Shi’ism, which effectively extinguished the sect that had recognized Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah as an imam.
Mukhtariyya
The followers of Al-Mukhtar who emerged from his movement (including all subsequent sub-sects which evolved from his movement) who firstly upheld the Imamate of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah and his descendants or any other designated successors were initially named the “Mukhtariyya” (after Al-Mukhtar), but were soon more commonly referred to as the “Kaysānīyya” (i.e. Kaysanites). It is nonetheless established that Muhammad al-Hanafiyyah never claimed the Imamat for himself but later the first Abbasid Caliph as-Saffah referred it to him and his descendants.
Ahl al-Bayt
is a phrase meaning “People of the House” , “People of the Household” or “Family of the House”. Within the Islamic tradition, the term mainly refers to the family of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. In Shia Islam, the Ahl al-Bayt are central to Islam and interpreters of the Quran and Sunnah. Shias believe they are successors of Muhammad and consist of Muhammad, his daughter Fatimah, his son-in-law Ali, and their children Hasan and Husayn, known collectively as the Ahl al-Kisa (“People of the Cloak”), in addition to the Twelve Imams of Muhammad’s grandchildren children.
In Sunni Islam, Muhammad’s Ahl al-Bayt refers to Muhammad himself; his wives his sons Qasim, Abdullah, Ibrahim his daughters Zainab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum and Fatimah; his cousin and son-in-law Ali; and their two sons, Hasan and Husayn.[2] In the interpretation of certain traditions the term may also be extended to include the descendants of Muhammad’s paternal uncles, Abu Talib and al-‘Abbas, or according to Malik ibn Anas and Abu Hanifa, all of the Banu Hashim.
The Mahdi
meaning the guided one is an eschatological redeemer of Islam who, according to some Islamic traditions, will appear and rule before the Day of Judgment and rid the world of evil. There is no direct reference to the Mahdi in the Quran, only in the hadith (the reports and traditions of Muhammad’s teachings collected after his death). In most traditions, the Mahdi will arrive with ‘Isa (Jesus) to defeat Al-Masih ad-Dajjal (“the false Messiah”, or Antichrist). Although the concept of a Mahdi is not an essential doctrine in Sunni Islam, it is popular among both Sunni and Shia Muslims. Both agree that he will rule over Muslims and establish justice; however, they differ extensively on his attributes and status.
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam
May 624 — October/November 692) was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the Umayyads from 683 until his death. The son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Asma bint Abi Bakr, Ibn al-Zubayr belonged to the Quraysh, the leading tribe of the nascent Muslim community, and was the first child born to the Muhajirun, Islam’s earliest converts. As a youth, he participated in the early Muslim conquests alongside his father in Syria and Egypt, and later played a role in the Muslim conquests of North Africa and northern Iran in 647 and 650, respectively. During the First Muslim Civil War, he fought on the side of his aunt A’isha against Caliph Ali (r. 656–661). Though little is heard of Ibn al-Zubayr during the subsequent reign of the first Umayyad caliph Mu’awiya I (r. 661–680), it was known that he opposed the latter’s designation of his son, Yazid I, as his successor. Ibn al-Zubayr, along with much of the Quraysh and the Ansar, the leading Muslim groups of the Hejaz (western Arabia), opposed the caliphate becoming an inheritable institution of the Umayyads.
Ibn al-Zubayr established himself in Mecca where he rallied opposition to Yazid (r. 680–683), before proclaiming himself caliph in the wake of Yazid’s death in 683, marking the beginning of the Second Muslim Civil War. Meanwhile, Yazid’s son and successor died weeks into his reign, precipitating the collapse of Umayyad authority across the Caliphate, most of whose provinces subsequently accepted the suzerainty of Ibn al-Zubayr. Though widely recognized as caliph, his authority was largely nominal outside of the Hejaz. By 685, the Umayyad Caliphate had been reconstituted under Marwan I in Syria and Egypt, while Zubayrid authority was being challenged in Iraq and Arabia by pro-Alid and Kharijite forces. Ibn al-Zubayr’s brother Mus’ab reasserted Ibn al-Zubayr’s suzerainty in Iraq by 687, but was defeated and killed by Marwan’s successor Abd al-Malik in 691. The Umayyad commander al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf proceeded to besiege Ibn al-Zubayr in his Meccan stronghold, where he was ultimately slain in 692.
Through the prestige of his family ties and social links with the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his strong association with the holy city of Mecca, Ibn al-Zubayr was able to lead the influential, disaffected Muslim factions opposed to Umayyad rule. He sought to reestablish the Hejaz as the political center of the Caliphate. However, his refusal to leave Mecca precluded him from exercising power in the more populous provinces where he depended on his brother Mus’ab and other loyalists, who ruled with virtual independence. He thus played a minor active role in the struggle carried out in his name.
Mus’ab ibn al-Zubayr
died 691, was an Arab military commander of the second Islamic civil war. He was a younger brother of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr and a son of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. After the establishment of the Mecca-based, counter-caliphate of his brother, he led an unsuccessful campaign against Umayyad-held Palestine. Later he served as governor of Basra from 686 to 691, with brief interruption. He killed the pro-Alid revolutionary Mukhtar al-Thaqafi in 687 and came to control the whole of Iraq. His policies in Iraq caused his removal from the office by his elder brother, but was restored shortly afterwards. He was killed by the Umayyad forces in the Battle of Maskin four years later.
