Muawiya
bin Yazid
At the time of Yazid's death,
Muawiya bin Yazid also known as Abu Laila and Abu Abdur Rahman was twenty years
and a few months old. He was young, pious and devout. The Syrians took bay'at
at his hands after Yazid's death. When Haseen bin Numer along with his army and
those of Banu Umayyah who left Madinah, reached Syria, the bay'at for him had
already taken place. Muawiya was not interested in his own caliphate and the
taking of ba'it. He was a little sickly also, and in that state of sickness, people
took bay'at for him. He took bay'at under pressure and after forty days or
according to a second tradition after two months and yet according to a third
tradition after three months died as caliph. During that short period, he was
not able to do anything worth mentioning. When his condition worsened, they
requested him to nominate someone to be caliph after him. Muawiya said to them:
"I had no power to run the
caliphate from the beginning. You made me caliph by force. I thought to hand it
over to a person like Umar bin Khattab رضى الله عنه
if available but in vain. Then again, I wanted to do just as he had done and
nominate a few persons entrusted with the task of selecting the caliph but I
failed to find such persons. You are at liberty to make caliph anyone whom you
like because I will have nothing to do with it."
Saying that Muawiya made the people
leave his palace and had the doors closed. After that, it was not he but his
dead body that went out of the palace.
Bay'at
for Ibn Zeyad in Basra
The caliphate of Muawiya bin Yazid
was accepted only by the Syrians and the Egyptians. The people of the Hijaz had
taken bay'at at Abdullah bin Zubair's hands. When the news of Yazid's death
reached Iraq, Obaidullah bin Zeyad was present in Basra. He collected the
people and said to them:
"The Amir al-Muminin is dead.
There is no one in sight who has the capacity to run the caliphate. I am born
in this country and I have been brought up here. My father ruled here and at
present, I am the ruler here.
The income of our territory is more
than before. The treasury is stronger than before. Salaries and stipends given
to the people are far more than before. The country is free from the presence
of the mischievous and the wicked. You may establish your own separate
caliphate if you like because you are not dependent on the Syrians."
Having heard the speech, everyone
expressed their readiness to take ba'it at his hands. Therefore, the people of
Basra took bay'at at his hands but in the heart, they did not like him. Taking
ba'it from them, Obaidullah went to Kufa in order to take bay'at from the
people there but they refused him openly. When the people of Basra came to know
that the inhabitants of Kufa did not accept Ibn Zeyad, they annulled their
oaths. Compelled and helpless Ibn Zeyad fled from Iraq and arrived in Damascus.
He reached there when Muawiya bin Yazid had breathed his last, there were many
disputes and the country was in an uproar of confusion in connection with the
selection of the caliph.
Ibn
Zubair's Caliphate in Iraq
The situation in Kufa showed that
after the disaster of Karbala the people felt very moved by the martyrdom of
Imam Husain رضى الله عنه. Those who called him
by sending letters to him and then took part in killing him, felt very ashamed
and repentant. Ibn Zeyad did not get reward rather a part of Khorasan
(corresponding to modern northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, and northern
Afghanistan) was taken from under his control and he too was repentant
concerning Imam Husain's killing and did not stop the people of Kufa from
repentance. The partisans of Husain in Kufa gathered at Sulaiman bin Sard
Khazai's house and held a closed-door meeting, they confessed their faults and
in order to expiate their errors agreed to the proposal to avenge Imam Husain's
blood. Consequently, all of them took bay'at at Sulaiman's hands. He exhorted
them to stick to their determination and avoid giving vent to it prematurely
and gradually convert the people to their opinion and when the opportunity
presented itself, they would rise up and avenge his assassination.
When Obaidullah bin Zeyad wanted to
turn the attention of the people of Kufa towards taking bay'at for him, they
refused in keeping with Sulaiman's instructions and plans and they continued
making preparations for taking revenge. Hearing of Yazid's death the partisans
of Ali requested Sulaiman to rebel. But he asked them not to do so at that time
because a good number of the people of Kufa were still not in favor of
undertaking the work agreed upon and it was more prudent to keep trying
separately for a few days more to increase their numbers and strength.
After rejecting Ibn Zeyad's proposal
the people of Kufa drove out Amr bin Harith who was the appointed governor of
Kufa by Ibn Zeyad and accepted Abdullah bin Zubair's caliphate. Abdullah bin
Zubair رضى الله عنه sent Abdullah bin
Yazid Ansari and Ibrahim bin Mohammad bin Talha as governor and tax collector
of Kufa respectively. One week before the arrival of Abdullah bin Zubair's
governor, Mukhtar bin Abu Obaida who had gone to Mohammad bin Al Hanafia,
returned to Kufa. This took place in Ramadan 64 A.H. The people of Basra also
made Abdullah bin Harith their chief after Ibn Zeyad's expulsion and in
imitation of the people of Kufa, sent their delegation to Abdullah bin Zubair رضى الله عنه and recognized his caliphate. Thus,
Abdullah bin Zubair's reign over the whole of Iraq was fully established.
Ibn
Zubair's Caliphate in Egypt
The Egyptian governor was Abdur
Rahman bin Jehdan. When he heard the news of Muawiya bin Yazid's death, he at
once took bay'at, (oath of allegiance) for Abdullah bin Zubair's caliphate
through a delegation. Noman bin Basheer and Zafar bin Harith were the governors
of Hims (also spelled Homs, city, central Syria) and Qansareen (one of the five
original provinces that the conquering Arabs divided greater Syria into, now
northern Syria) respectively. Both of them thought it proper to recognize
Abdullah bin Zubair's caliphate on hearing about Muawiya bin Yazid's death.
Because no caliph could be selected quickly after Muawiya bin Yazid's death,
the people of Damascus took bay'at for Dahhak bin Qais on the condition that
they accept him as their Amir and Imam and obey him until the selection by the
Muslims of the Amir and Caliph of all of them. Dahhak bin Qais also thought
Abdullah bin Zubair رضى الله عنه alone to be superior
to the others. The governor of Palestine Hassan bin Malik wanted the new caliph
to be from the tribe of Banu Umayyah. In short at Muawiya bin Yazid's death the
whole Islamic world had agreed to Abdullah bin Zubair's caliphate and with the
exception of Banu Umayyah, all the rest of the influential people were
determined upon finishing for good the matter of hereditary succession in
connection with the caliphate and they wanted Abdullah bin Zubair as the
caliph.
We have read about Obaidullah bin
Zeyad's fate after Yazid in the previous pages. Now we will read about the fate
of his brother Muslim bin Zeyad who governed Khorasan.
When the news of Yazid's death
reached Khorasan, Muslim bin Zeyad said to the people that as Yazid was dead
and so long as a new caliph was not selected and had not issued instructions,
they should take bay'at for him. The people of Khorasan gladly did so but a few
days after they nullified it. Muslim bin Zeyad also met the same fate, as his brother
Obaidullah bin Zeyad in Iraq. Muslim bin Zeyad, deputed Muhallab bin Abi Sufra
governor of Khorasan in his place, and intended to go to Damascus. He met
Abdullah bin Hazim on the way and he appointed ibn Hazim, the governor of
Khorasan, and Muhallab bin Sufra remained as the commander in chief as usual.
Abdullah bin Hazim reached Khorasan and humbled and disciplined all the rebels.
While the matter of the caliphate was being decided in Damascus in Khorasan
Abdullah bin Hazim was fighting and defeating the Turks and Mongols and
establishing and popularizing Islam.
Had Abdullah bin Zubair agreed to
Haseen bin Numer's proposal and gone to Syria, there is little doubt that his
caliphate would have been established and stabilized and after becoming the caliph
of the Islamic World, he alone could have exterminated all the evils which had
already taken deep root in the Islamic territories. However, it was not to be
and the inevitable, which was against this, happened.
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