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Death of Yazid ibn Mu'awiya

وفاة يزيد بن معاوية

c. November 683 CE · Rabi' I 64 AH

Yazid ibn Mu'awiya perished in mid-Rabi' I of year 64 while his army besieged Ibn al-Zubayr at Mecca; the news reached them mid-battle — 'people of Syria, your tyrant has perished' — and they broke away humiliated. Al-Dhahabi remarks that after what he did to the people of Medina, with his wine and outrages, men rose against him on every side and his years were not blessed 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Umayyad Period
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In time

670680690700 c.
The Umayyad Period

Overview

Yazid ibn Mu'awiya died in the middle of Rabi' al-Awwal 64 AH, while his army was besieging Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca. 2

The effect on the siege

al-Suyuti says that the news came while the fighting was still going on. Ibn al-Zubayr called out to the people of Syria that their "tyrant" had perished, so the army dispersed, humiliated. The description in the call is Ibn al-Zubayr's, not the museum's. 2

al-Dhahabi's judgement

al-Suyuti quotes al-Dhahabi that when Yazid did to the people of Medina what he did, along with his drinking of wine and his committing of abominations, the people became hostile to him, and more than one rose against him, and God did not bless his life. This is al-Dhahabi's judgement as quoted by al-Suyuti. 2

Dating

The Gregorian date (around November 683 CE) is derived from the Hijri date. 2

Connections

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Had participant
Yazid ibn Mu'awiya

People and things also explored

The pledge to Yazid as heir apparent· The pledge to Yazid as heir apparent· The Conquest of Rhodes and the Demolition of Its Fort· The Second Raid on Cyprus· The Battle of al-Harra· Banu Umayya ibn Abd Shams· ميسون بنت بجدل الكلبية· Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan

Sources

  1. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p. 345
  2. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p.345
  • Muhammad Qabbani, The Umayyad State from Birth to Fall (Damascus: Dar Wahy al-Qalam, 2006)
  • The Umayyad State — Bakr Muhammad Ibrahim Bakr (1st ed., Markaz al-Raya lil-Nashr wal-I'lam, Cairo 2002)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Death of Yazid ibn Mu'awiya”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/death-of-yazid-ibn-muawiya/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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The pledge to Yazid as heir apparent

Mu'awiya summoned the Syrians to pledge the succession to his son Yazid — the first to bequeath the caliphate to a son and the first to do so in his own lifetime — and wrote to Marwan at Medina to take the pledge. Marwan preached that the caliph wished to appoint Yazid 'after the manner of Abu Bakr and Umar'; Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr rose: 'rather after the manner of Chosroes and Caesar — neither of them gave it to a son or any of their house'. When Muawiya made the hajj in 51 he took the pledge in person: Ibn Umar answered that earlier caliphs had sons no worse than Yazid yet chose for the Muslims, while disclaiming any wish to break the community's staff; Ibn Abi Bakr leapt up vowing to return the matter to shura; Ibn al-Zubayr retorted 'if you are weary of rule, retire and bring your son — whom would we obey if we pledged you both?'. Muawiya then announced from the minbar that the three had 'heard, obeyed and pledged' — which the crowd affirmed and they denied.