al-Dahhak ibn Qays Takes Kufa and Agrees a Division with Ibn Umar

ملك الضحاك بن قيس الكوفة وصالح ابن عمر على القسمة

c. 745 CE · 127 AH

In 127, when Marwan ibn Muhammad had secured Syria and appointed Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra as governor of Iraq, bringing with him the armies of al-Jazira, Abdallah ibn Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, governor of Kufa, made terms with al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani, leader of the Kharijites, on the basis that al-Dahhak would hold what he had seized of Kufa and its countryside, while Ibn Umar would keep what he held of Wasit, Maysan, Tustar, the districts of al-Jiddah, al-Ahwaz and Fars. Al-Dahhak surged forward and drove Marwan out to Kafr Tutha in the Jazira, having taken Mosul in Dhu al-Qa'da. He appointed Mulhan al-Shaybani over Kufa, and Mulhan was killed by al-Nadr ibn Sa'id, agent of Ibn Hubayra. Al-Dahhak then appointed al-Muthanna ibn Imran al-A'idhi, who met Ibn Hubayra at Ghazza, and they fought fiercely for several days. Al-Muthanna, Uzayr and Amr, leaders of al-Dahhak's companions, were killed and the Kharijites were routed, and Mansur ibn Jumhur drew near. Mansur gathered the people of Kufa, Yemeni and Mudari, who had held back from al-Dahhak, and marched with them until they camped at al-Rawha. Ibn Hubayra came with his troops and fought them for days, then defeated them and killed al-Bardun ibn Marzuq al-Shaybani, and Mansur fled. Ibn Hubayra then came and camped in Kufa and expelled the Kharijites from it ¹.