Second Fitna
Second Fitna | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Fitnas | |||||||||
Territorial control by the contenders to the caliphate during the peak of the civil war (686) | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Belligerents | |||||||||
Umayyad Caliphate | Zubayrid Caliphate | Alids | Kharijites | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Hajjaj ibn Yusuf |
Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra (Defected) |
Husayn ibn Ali (680) † Sulayman ibn Surad (685) † Mukhtar al-Thaqafi (687) † Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar (Defected) |
Nafi ibn al-Azraq (685) † Najda ibn Amir al-Hanafi (691/92) † |
The Second Fitna was a period of general political and military disorder and civil war in the
The roots of the civil war go back to the
Abd al-Malik made key reforms in the administrative structure of the caliphate, including increasing caliphal power, restructuring the army, and Arabizing and Islamizing the bureaucracy. The events of the Second Fitna intensified sectarian tendencies in Islam, and various doctrines were developed within what would later become the Sunni and Shi'a denominations of Islam.
Background
After the third caliph
Yazid's succession
The treaty brought a temporary peace, but no framework of succession was established.
Historian Fred Donner writes that contentions over the leadership of the Muslim community had not been settled in the First Fitna and resurfaced with the death of Mu'awiya in April 680.[8] Before his death, Mu'awiya cautioned Yazid that Husayn and Ibn al-Zubayr might challenge his rule and instructed him to defeat them if they did. Ibn al-Zubayr, in particular, was considered dangerous and was to be treated harshly, unless he came to terms.[16] Upon his succession, Yazid charged the governor of Medina, his cousin Walid ibn Utba ibn Abi Sufyan, to secure allegiance from Husayn, Ibn al-Zubayr and Ibn Umar, with force if necessary. Walid sought the advice of his kinsman Marwan ibn al-Hakam. He counseled that Ibn al-Zubayr and Husayn should be forced to give allegiance as they were dangerous, while Ibn Umar should be left alone since he posed no threat.[17][18] Walid summoned the two, but Ibn al-Zubayr escaped to Mecca. Husayn answered the summons but declined to give allegiance in the secretive environment of the meeting, suggesting it should be done in public. Marwan threatened to imprison him, but due to Husayn's kinship with Muhammad, Walid was unwilling to take any action against him. A few days later, Husayn left for Mecca without giving allegiance.[19] In the view of the Islamicist G. R. Hawting, "... tensions and pressures which had been suppressed by Mu'awiya came to the surface during Yazid's caliphate and erupted after his death, when Umayyad authority was temporarily eclipsed."[14]
Revolts against Yazid
Revolt of Husayn ibn Ali
Husayn had considerable support in Kufa. The inhabitants of the town had fought the Umayyads and their Syrian allies during the First Fitna.
Opposition in Mecca and Medina
Following Husayn's death, Yazid faced increased opposition to his rule from Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, a son of Muhammad's companion Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and a grandson of the first caliph Abu Bakr (r. 632–634). Ibn al-Zubayr secretly began taking allegiance in Mecca,[24] though publicly he only called for a shura to elect a new caliph.[3] At first, Yazid tried placating him by sending gifts and delegations in an attempt to reach a settlement.[24] After Ibn al-Zubayr's refusal to recognize him, Yazid sent a force led by Ibn al-Zubayr's estranged brother Amr to arrest him. The force was defeated and Amr was executed.[25] In addition to the growing influence of Ibn al-Zubayr in Medina, the city's inhabitants were disillusioned with Umayyad rule and Mu'awiya's agricultural projects,[3] which included confiscation of their lands to increase government revenue.[12] Yazid invited the notables of Medina to Damascus and tried to win them over with gifts. They were unpersuaded, however, and on their return to Medina narrated tales of Yazid's lavish lifestyle and practices considered by many to be impious, including drinking wine, hunting with hounds and his love for music. The Medinese, under the leadership of Abd Allah ibn Hanzala, renounced their allegiance to Yazid and expelled the governor, Yazid's cousin Uthman ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Sufyan, and the Umayyads residing in the city. Yazid dispatched a 12,000-strong army under the command of Muslim ibn Uqba to reconquer the Hejaz (western Arabia). After failed negotiations, the Medinese were defeated in the Battle of al-Harra, and the city was plundered for three days. Having forced the rebels to renew their allegiance, Yazid's army headed for Mecca to subdue Ibn al-Zubayr.[26][27]
Ibn Uqba died on the way and command passed to
Counter-caliphate of Ibn al-Zubayr
With the demise of Yazid and the withdrawal of Syrian troops, Ibn al-Zubayr was now de facto ruler of the Hejaz and the rest of Arabia,[note 3] and he openly declared himself caliph. Soon afterwards, he was recognized in Egypt, as well as in Iraq where the Umayyad governor Ibn Ziyad had been expelled by the tribal nobility (ashraf).[30] Coins bearing Ibn al-Zubayr's name were minted in parts of southern Persia (Fars and Kirman).[28][31]
Struggle for control of Syria
After Yazid's death, his son and nominated successor
Marwan's accession was a turning point as Syria was reunited under the Umayyads and the Umayyads' focus was turned to regaining lost territories.[38] Marwan and his son Abd al-Aziz expelled the Zubayrid governor of Egypt with the help of local tribes.[38] The Zubayrid attack on Palestine led by Mus'ab was repulsed,[39] but an Umayyad campaign to retake the Hejaz was defeated near Medina.[40] Marwan dispatched Ibn Ziyad to restore Umayyad control in Iraq.[39] After Marwan died in April 685, he was succeeded by his son Abd al-Malik.[38]
Eastern provinces
About the time of caliph Yazid's death, the Umayyad governor of
The weakening of central authority resulted in the outbreak of tribal factionalism and rivalries that the Arab emigrants of the Muslim armies had brought with them in the conquered lands. Talha's successor, who was from
Dissensions
During his revolt, Ibn al-Zubayr had allied with the Kharijites, who opposed the Umayyads and the Alids. After claiming the caliphate, he denounced their religious views and refused to accept their form of governance, which led to the breakup of their alliance.[47] A group of Kharijites went to Basra, the rest to central Arabia, and began destabilizing his rule.[48][49][note 5] Until then he had been supported by the pro-Alid Kufan nobleman Mukhtar al-Thaqafi in his opposition to Yazid. Ibn al-Zubayr denied him a prominent official position, which they had agreed upon earlier. In April 684, Mukhtar deserted him and went on to incite pro-Alid sentiment in Kufa.[53]
Pro-Alid movements
Tawwabin uprising
A few prominent Alid supporters in Kufa seeking to atone for their failure to assist Husayn, which they considered a sin, launched a movement under Sulayman ibn Surad, a companion of Muhammad and an ally of Ali, to fight the Umayyads. Calling themselves the "Tawwabin" (Penitents), they remained underground while the Umayyads controlled Iraq. After caliph Yazid's death and the subsequent ouster of Ibn Ziyad, the Tawwabin openly called for avenging Husayn's slaying.[54] Although they attracted large-scale support in Kufa,[55] they lacked a political program, their chief objective being to punish the Umayyads or sacrifice themselves in the process.[56] When Mukhtar returned to Kufa, he attempted to dissuade the Tawwabin from their endeavor in favor of an organized movement to gain control of the city. Ibn Surad's stature prevented his followers from accepting Mukhtar's proposal.[57] Out of the 16,000 men who enlisted, 4,000 mobilized for the fight. In November 684, the Tawwabin left to confront the Umayyads, after mourning for a day at Husayn's grave in Karbala. The two armies met in January 685 at the Battle of Ayn al-Warda in the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia). The battle lasted for three days during which most of the Tawwabin, including Ibn Surad, were killed, while a few escaped to Kufa.[58]
Revolt of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi
Since his return to Kufa, Mukhtar had been calling for revenge against Husayn's killers and the establishment of an Alid caliphate in the name of Ali's son
Victory of the Umayyads
Following Marwan's accession in June 684, Ibn Ziyad had been sent to reconquer Iraq. It was then he defeated the Tawwabin at Ayn al-Warda. After their disastrous defeat at Marj Rahit, the Qays had regrouped in the Jazira and had hampered Ibn Ziyad's efforts to reconquer the province for a year. They continued supporting the Zubayrids.[39] Unable to defeat them in their fortified positions, Ibn Ziyad moved on to capture Mosul from Mukhtar's governor. Mukhtar sent a small army of 3,000 cavalrymen to retake the city. Despite its victory in the battle (July 686), the force retreated due to the Syrians' numerical superiority.[67] A month later, Ibn Ziyad was killed by Mukhtar's reinforced army at the Battle of Khazir.[68] With Ibn Ziyad dead, Abd al-Malik abandoned his plans to reconquer Iraq for several years and focused on consolidating Syria,[69] where his rule was threatened by internal disturbances and renewed hostilities with the Byzantines.[70] Nonetheless, he led two abortive campaigns in Iraq (689 and 690),[71] and instigated a failed anti-Zubayrid revolt in Basra through his agents. Abd al-Malik's Basran supporters were severely repressed by Mus'ab in retaliation.[72]
After entering a truce with the Byzantines and overcoming internal dissent, Abd al-Malik returned his attention to Iraq.
Having secured Iraq, and consequently most of its dependencies,
Aftermath
With the victory of Abd al-Malik, Umayyad authority was restored and hereditary rule in the caliphate was solidified. Abd al-Malik and his descendants, in two cases his nephews, ruled for another fifty-eight years, before being overthrown by the Abbasid Revolution in 750.[80]
Administrative changes
After winning the war, Abd al-Malik enacted significant administrative changes in the caliphate. Mu'awiya had ruled through personal connections with individuals loyal to him and did not rely on his relatives.[81] Although he had developed a highly trained army of Syrians, it was only deployed in raids against the Byzantines. Domestically he relied upon his diplomatic skills to enforce his will.[82] The ashraf, rather than government officials, were the intermediaries between the provincial governors and the public.[83] The military units in the provinces were derived from local tribes whose command also fell to the ashraf.[83] Provinces retained much of the tax revenue and forwarded a small portion to the caliph.[82][84] The former administrative system of the conquered lands was left intact. Officials who had served under the Sasanian Persians or the Byzantines retained their positions. The native languages of the provinces continued to be used officially, and Byzantine and Sasanian coinage was used in the formerly Byzantine and Sasanian territories.[85]
The defection of the ashraf, like Dahhak and Ibn Khazim and various Iraqi nobles, to Ibn al-Zubayr during the civil war convinced Abd al-Malik that Mu'awiya's decentralized system was difficult to maintain. He thus set out to centralize his power.[80] A professional army was developed in Syria and was used to impose government authority in the provinces.[86] Moreover, key government positions were awarded to close relatives of the caliph. Abd al-Malik required the governors to forward the provincial surplus to the capital.[87] In addition, Arabic was made the official language of the bureaucracy and a single Islamic currency replaced Byzantine and Sasanian coinage,[88] giving the Umayyad administration an increasingly Muslim character.[79] He terminated the permanent pensions of the participants in the early conquests and established a fixed salary for active servicemen.[89] Abd al-Malik's model was adopted by many Muslim governments that followed.[80]
Tribal rifts
It was during this period, especially following the Battle of Marj Rahit, that the longstanding
Sectarian and eschatological developments
The death of Husayn produced widespread outcry and helped crystallize opposition to Yazid into an anti-Umayyad movement based on Alid aspirations.
The Second Fitna also gave rise to the idea of the Islamic Messiah, the Mahdi.[105] Mukhtar applied the title of Mahdi to Ali's son Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya.[105] Although the title had previously been applied to Muhammad, Ali, Husayn, and others as an honorific, Mukhtar employed the term in a messianic sense: a divinely guided ruler, who would redeem Islam.[106][107] Ibn al-Zubayr's rebellion was seen by many as an attempt to return to the pristine values of the early Islamic community. His revolt was welcomed by a number of parties that were unhappy with Umayyad rule.[47][108] To them, the defeat of Ibn al-Zubayr meant that all hope of restoring the old ideals of Islamic governance was lost.[108] In this atmosphere, Ibn al-Zubayr's role as the anti-caliph shaped the later development of the concept of the Mahdi. Some aspects of his career were already formulated into hadiths ascribed to Muhammad during Ibn al-Zubayr's lifetime—quarrels over the caliphate after the death of a caliph (Mu'awiya I), escape of the Mahdi from Medina to Mecca, taking refuge in the Ka'aba, defeat of an army sent against him by a person whose maternal tribe is Banu Kalb (Yazid I), Mahdi's recognition by the righteous people of Syria and Iraq[109]—which then became characteristics of the Mahdi who was to appear in the future to restore the old glory of the Islamic community.[106][110][111][112] This idea subsequently developed into an established doctrine in Islam.[113]
Notes
- Qur'an in the sense of test of faith of the believers, especially as a Divine punishment for sinful behavior. Historically, it came to mean civil war or rebellion which causes rifts in the unified community and endangers believers' faith.[1]
- ^ Political supporters of Ali and his descendants (Alids). The religious sect Shi'a emerged from this party of Alid supporters.[2][3]
- ^ Oman was independently ruled by the Banu Juland, while the situation in Hadhramaut is unclear.[29]
- ^ The Qaysites supported Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr out of opposition to Kalbite hegemony in Syria under the Sufyanid caliphs.[35]
- Hajjaj ibn Yusuf after the caliphate had been reunited under Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (r. 685–705).[50][52]
- ^ Despite being awarded equality by Islam, most local converts were often treated as second-class citizens. They paid higher taxes than Arabs, were paid lower military salaries and were deprived of war booty.[61]
References
Citations
- ^ Gardet 1965, p. 930.
- ^ a b c Donner 2010, p. 178.
- ^ a b c d Kennedy 2016, p. 77.
- ^ Donner 2010, pp. 157–159.
- ^ Donner 2010, pp. 161–162.
- ^ Donner 2010, p. 166.
- ^ Donner 2010, p. 167.
- ^ a b Donner 2010, p. 177.
- ^ a b c Lewis 2002, p. 67.
- ^ a b Wellhausen 1927, p. 140.
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. 322.
- ^ a b Kennedy 2016, p. 76.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 145.
- ^ a b Hawting 2000, p. 46.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 141–145.
- ^ Lammens 1921, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 145–146.
- ^ Howard 1990, pp. 2–3.
- ^ Howard 1990, pp. 5–7.
- ^ Daftary 1990, p. 47.
- ^ Wellhausen 1901, p. 61.
- ^ Daftary 1990, p. 48.
- ^ Daftary 1990, p. 49.
- ^ a b Wellhausen 1927, pp. 148–150.
- ^ Donner 2010, p. 180.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 152–156.
- ^ Donner 2010, pp. 180–181.
- ^ a b Hawting 2000, p. 48.
- ^ a b c Rotter 1982, p. 84.
- ^ Donner 2010, pp. 181–182.
- ^ Rotter 1982, p. 85.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 168–169.
- ^ a b Wellhausen 1927, p. 182.
- ^ Hawting 1989, pp. 49–51.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 170.
- ^ a b Kennedy 2016, pp. 78–79.
- ^ Kennedy 2016, p. 78.
- ^ a b c Kennedy 2016, p. 80.
- ^ a b c Wellhausen 1927, pp. 185–186.
- ^ Hawting 1989, pp. 162–163.
- ^ a b Dixon 1971, pp. 104–105.
- ^ a b Rotter 1982, pp. 87–88.
- ^ Dixon 1971, pp. 105–108.
- ^ Rotter 1982, pp. 89–92.
- ^ Dixon 1971, p. 110.
- ^ Kennedy 2007, pp. 239, 241.
- ^ a b Hawting 2000, p. 49.
- ^ Hawting 1989, pp. 98–102.
- ^ a b Gibb 1960a, p. 55.
- ^ a b Lewis 2002, p. 76.
- ^ Watt 1973, p. 20.
- ^ a b c d Kennedy 2016, p. 84.
- ^ Dixon 1971, pp. 34–35.
- ^ Wellhausen 1901, pp. 71–72.
- ^ Wellhausen 1901, p. 72.
- ^ Sharon 1983, pp. 104–105.
- ^ Dixon 1971, p. 37.
- ^ Wellhausen 1901, p. 73.
- ^ Daftary 1990, p. 52.
- ^ Dixon 1971, p. 45.
- ^ Daftary 1990, pp. 55–56.
- ^ Donner 2010, p. 185.
- ^ Hawting 2000, p. 53.
- ^ Wellhausen 1901, p. 85.
- ^ Dixon 1971, pp. 73–75.
- ^ Hawting 2000, pp. 47–49.
- ^ Dixon 1971, pp. 59–60.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 186.
- ^ Kennedy 2016, p. 81.
- ^ a b c d Gibb 1960b, p. 76.
- ^ Dixon 1971, pp. 126–127.
- ^ Dixon 1971, pp. 127–129.
- ^ Dixon 1971, pp. 92–93.
- ^ a b Lammens & Pellat 1993, pp. 649–650.
- ^ Rotter 1982, pp. 84–85.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 188–189.
- ^ Gibb 1960a, p. 54.
- ^ Donner 2010, p. 188.
- ^ a b Gibb 1960b, p. 77.
- ^ a b c Kennedy 2016, p. 85.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 137.
- ^ a b Kennedy 2016, p. 72.
- ^ a b Crone 1980, p. 31.
- ^ Crone 1980, pp. 32–33.
- ^ Kennedy 2016, pp. 75–76.
- ^ Hawting 2000, p. 62.
- ^ Kennedy 2016, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Lewis 2002, p. 78.
- ^ Kennedy 2016, p. 89.
- ^ Hawting 2000, pp. 54–55.
- ^ Kennedy 2001, p. 105.
- ^ Kennedy 2001, pp. 99–115.
- ^ Kennedy 2001, p. 92.
- ^ Lewis 2002, p. 68.
- ^ a b Halm 1997, p. 16.
- ^ Daftary 1990, p. 50.
- ^ Hawting 2000, p. 50.
- ^ Daftary 1990, pp. 51–52.
- ^ Wellhausen 1901, pp. 79–80.
- ^ Hawting 2000, pp. 51–52.
- ^ Kennedy 2016, p. 83.
- ^ Daftary 1990, pp. 59–60.
- ^ Daftary 1990, p. 62.
- ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 504–506.
- ^ a b Arjomand 2016, p. 34.
- ^ a b Madelung 1986, p. 1231.
- ^ Sachedina 1981, p. 9.
- ^ a b Madelung 1971, p. 1164.
- ^ Abu Dawood 2008, pp. 509–510.
- ^ Madelung 1981.
- ^ Arjomand 2007, pp. 134–136.
- ^ Campbell 2009.
- ^ Hawting 2000, p. 52.
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