The pledge to Yazid as heir apparent

All stops in this story

1. The pledge to Yazid as heir apparent — c. 670 CE · 50 AH

   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 .

2. The Founding of Qayrawan — c. 670 CE · c. 50 AH

   In al-Baladhuri: Mu'awiya ibn Khudayj sent — or, some say, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan gave him the Maghreb — Uqba ibn Nafi' al-Fihri, who raided Ifriqiya with ten thousand Muslims, conquered it, and laid out its Qayrawan, whose site was a thicket of trees and thickets unapproachable for beasts, snakes and deadly vermin; Uqba being a righteous man whose prayer was answered, he prayed to his Lord and all that was removed — till the very beasts carried away their young in flight; and Musa ibn Ali said the first to build it was Uqba ibn Nafi', who laid it out then built — the people building houses and dwellings with him — and built its congregational mosque; and a body of Ifriqiya's people told from their shaykhs that when Uqba wished to make Qayrawan a misr he pondered where its mosque should be, and saw in a dream as though a man gave the call to prayer in the place where its minaret stood — so when morning came he built the minarets in the man's station, then built the mosque. Al-Waqidi said Abdallah ibn Sa'd stayed governor until Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfa seized Egypt; then Mu'awiya gave Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari Egypt and the Maghreb, and he gave the Maghreb to his mawla Abu al-Muhajir; when Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ruled he restored Uqba to his office — who raided Sus al-Adna beyond Tangier, roaming unchallenged till he returned; Abu al-Abbas gave Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath al-Khuza'i Ifriqiya — he repaired Qayrawan's city and mosque — then al-Mansur dismissed him and gave his place to Umar ibn Hafs Hazarmard.

3. The Taking of Hisn Kamkh — c. 678 CE · 59 AH

   In al-Baladhuri: Habib ibn Maslama raided the fortress of Kamkh after taking Shimshat without success, as did Safwan; then in year 59 — the year he died — Safwan raided it with Umayr ibn al-Habab al-Sulami, who scaled the wall and fought alone until the Byzantines gave way and the Muslims climbed — it fell to Umayr ibn al-Habab, his lasting glory; the Byzantines retook it, Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik took it again, and it kept changing hands until year 149, when al-Mansur marched from Baghdad to Hadithat al-Mawsil, sent al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba then Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath, and set al-Abbas ibn Muhammad over the expedition against Kamkh — Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath remaining at Amid — al-Abbas and al-Hasan reached Malatya, took provisions, camped on Kamkh, and al-Abbas ordered mangonels set; the defenders hung juniper wood over their fort so the stones would not bite, and stoned the Muslims killing two hundred men, whereupon the Muslims employed armoured shelters and fought bitterly until they took it — Matar al-Warraq was with al-Abbas; the Byzantines re-seized it, and in year 177 Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Amr al-Ansari — Abd al-Malik ibn Salih's governor of Shimshat — took it, entering on the fourteenth of Rabi' II; it stayed Muslim until Muhammad ibn al-Rashid's time when its people fled — or, it is said, Ubaydallah ibn al-Aqta' handed it over — then Abdallah ibn Tahir took it in al-Ma'mun's caliphate, and it remained in Muslim hands until a group of Shimshat's Christians conspired with Yiqala and Baqrat ibn Ashut by way of Khilat to deliver it to the Byzantines over estates in the Shimshat district.

4. The Martyrdom of Zuhayr ibn Qays at Barqa — between 685 and 705 CE

   In al-Baladhuri: Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan gave Zuhayr ibn Qays al-Balawi Ifriqiya — he opened Tutus, then returned to Barqa, where word reached him that a body of Romans had come out of ships of theirs and were ravaging; he rode against them with a light cavalry band, met them, and was martyred with those with him — he was buried there, and their graves are called Qubur al-Shuhada.

5. The Papyrus Affair and the Striking of the Dinars — c. 692 CE · c. 73 AH†

   In al-Baladhuri: papyrus rolls entered Roman lands from Egypt and dinars came to the Arabs from the Romans; Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan was among the first to inscribe what was written at scroll-heads — 'Say He is God, One' and other mentions of God — so Rome's king wrote him: 'you have introduced an inscription on your papyri that we hate; if you leave it, we will put on the dinars of mention of you what you hate.' That weighed on Abd al-Malik — loath to abandon a good practice he had established — so he sent to Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Mu'awiya, who said: 'set your heart at ease, Commander of the Faithful: forbid their dinars that they not be traded, strike coinage for the people, and do not relieve these unbelievers of what they hated in the scrolls.' Abd al-Malik said 'you have relieved me, may God relieve you' and struck the dinars. Awana ibn al-Hakam said: the Copts used to mention Christ at scroll-heads attributing divinity to him, placing the cross where the basmala was — hence Rome's king was galled and Abd al-Malik's change weighed on him. Al-Mada'ini via Maslama ibn Muharib: Khalid ibn Yazid counselled Abd al-Malik to forbid their dinars, prevent trading in them, and stop papyrus entering Roman lands — so for a time none was carried to them.

6. Muhammad ibn Marwan's Recovery of Armenia — c. 692 CE · c. 73 AH

   In al-Baladhuri: when Ibn al-Zubayr's civil strife came, Armenia broke away, its nobles and their followers swearing league; when Muhammad ibn Marwan governed Armenia for his brother Abd al-Malik he fought and overcame them, killing and capturing, and mastered the land; then he promised the survivors he would lay before them in honour, and they gathered for it in churches of the Khilat district — whereupon he shut them in and posted guards at the doors, then terrified them; in that campaign Umm Yazid bint Usid of the Sisajan — a daughter of its patrikios — was taken captive; before this had run a chain of governors: Uthman gave al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba Adharbayjan and Armenia, then removed him for al-Qasim ibn Rabi'a ibn Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt al-Thaqafi — or, it is said, Amr ibn Mu'awiya ibn al-Mutaffiq al-Muqayli governed it, and some say a man of Banu Kilab held it fifteen years after al-Mughira, then al-Uqayli — al-Ash'ath ibn Qays held Armenia and Adharbayjan for Ali ibn Abi Talib, then Abdallah ibn Hatim ibn al-Nu'man ibn Amr al-Bahili for Mu'awiya until he died there, whence his brother Abd al-Aziz ibn Hatim ibn al-Nu'man — who built the city of Dabil, fortified it, enlarged its mosque, built the city of Nashwa, repaired Bardha'a — or, they say, renewed its building — dug the two Fariq moats about it soundly, and renewed the city of al-Baylaqan, these cities having been ruined and decayed; some say Muhammad ibn Marwan renewed Bardha'a's building in Abd al-Malik's days, and al-Waqidi says Abd al-Malik built Bardha'a by the hand of Hatim ibn al-Nu'man al-Bahili or his son — Abd al-Malik also appointing Uthman ibn al-Walid ibn Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt over Armenia.

7. Killing of Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr — c. November 692 CE · Jumada I 73 AH

   Abd al-Malik sent al-Hajjaj with forty thousand against Ibn al-Zubayr; he besieged him in Mecca for months and cast mangonels at him until his men deserted to al-Hajjaj, who took and killed him and crucified the body — Tuesday, 17 Jumada I or II of year 73. Muhammad ibn Zayd ibn Abdullah ibn Umar was atop Abu Qubays when the mangonel was planted and saw a lightning bolt like a red veil burn some fifty of its crew. Ibn al-Zubayr had been praying within the Hijr while mangonel stones clipped the edge of his garment and he never turned .

8. Hassan ibn al-Nu'man's Campaigns against al-Kahina — between 698 and 703 CE

   In al-Baladhuri: Hassan ibn al-Nu'man al-Ghassani was appointed and raided the Berbers' queen al-Kahina, who routed him; he came to castles within Barqa's bounds and lodged them — a keep among them roofed in glass, whence they were named Qusur Hassan; then Hassan raided her a second time, killed her, and sent a captivity of Berbers to Abd al-Aziz — whereupon Abu Muhjan Nusayb the poet would say 'I was present at Abd al-Aziz's when a captivity of Berbers came: I never saw faces fairer than theirs'.

9. The Transfer of Syria's Diwan from Greek — c. 700 CE · 81 AH

   In al-Baladhuri: the diwan of Syria remained in Greek until Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ruled; in year 81 he ordered it transferred, and that because a man of the Roman scribes, needing to write something and finding no water, urinated in the inkwell — word reached Abd al-Malik, who was incensed and ordered Sulayman ibn Sa'd to transfer the diwan; Sulayman asked to be helped by a year's kharaj of al-Urdunn, which was done, and was made its governor — before the year ended he had finished the transfer and brought it to Abd al-Malik, who called his scribe Sarjun and displayed it to him, which grieved him, and he went out dejected; a group of the Roman scribes met him and he said 'seek your livelihood in a craft other than this — God has cut it off from you'; the levy of al-Urdunn granted as aid was a hundred and eighty thousand dinars, that of Filastin three hundred and fifty thousand dinars, of Damascus four hundred thousand dinars, and of Hims with Qinnasrin and the districts called today the Awasim eight hundred thousand dinars — or, it is said, seven hundred thousand.

10. The Building of the Fortress of Masisa — 703 CE · 84 AH

    In al-Baladhuri from al-Waqidi and others: in year 84 Abdullah ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan led the summer raid, entering by the pass of Antioch and coming to Masisa, where he built its fortress on the ancient foundation and settled garrison troops among them three hundred picked men of known valour and stoutness — the Muslims had never dwelt there before — and built a mosque atop the fortress hill; Abu al-Khattab al-Azdi says the first to build its fortress in Islam was Abd al-Malik through his son Abdullah in year 84, its building and garrisoning complete in year 85; the fortress held a church called Herya which the summer columns from Antioch would reach and winter at yearly, numbering a thousand five hundred to two thousand; Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz went out to Herya-Masisa meaning to demolish it and the forts between it and Antioch, saying 'I hate for the Byzantines to besiege its people', until the people showed him it was populated only to shield Antioch and that razing it would leave the enemy no barrier before it, so he held back and built them a congregational mosque by Kafarbayya with a cistern bearing his name — called the fortress mosque, ruined in al-Mu'tasim's caliphate; then Hisham built the rabad, Marwan ibn Muhammad built the suburb east of the Jayhan with a wall, timber gate and moat, and Abu al-Abbas set four hundred more men at Masisa, granting them estates.

11. Al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah's Governorship of Armenia — between 717 and 730 CE · c. 99 AH

    In al-Baladhuri: Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik gave Armenia to Adi ibn Adi ibn Amira al-Kindi — Adi ibn Amira being one of those who settled al-Raqqa having parted with Ali ibn Abi Talib — then Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz appointed him, he being the owner of the Nahr Adi at al-Baylaqan, though some say Umar's governor was Hatim ibn al-Nu'man, which is unsound; then Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik appointed Mi'laq ibn Saffar al-Bahrani, removed him for al-Harith ibn Amr al-Ta'i, who raided the Lakz and took Rustaq Hamsadan; and al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah al-Hakami of Mudhhij governed Armenia, settling at Bardha'a, where its conflicting measures and weights were laid before him and he set them on justice and fulness, making a measure called al-Jarrahi which its people deal by to this day; then he crossed the Kurr and marched until he passed the river called al-Samur, reaching the Khazars and killing them in a great slaughter, and fought the people of Bilad Hamzin, then compounded with them to transfer them to a rustaq.

12. Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik's Khazar Campaign and the Taking of al-Bab — c. 731 CE · c. 113 AH

    In al-Baladhuri: Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik gave Armenia to Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik and sent ahead as his vanguard Sa'id ibn Amr ibn Aswad al-Harashi — with him Ishaq ibn Muslim al-Uqayli and his brothers, Jamwana ibn al-Harith ibn Khalid of Banu Amir ibn Rabi'a ibn Sa'sa'a, Dhufafa and Khalid the sons of Umayr ibn al-Habab al-Sulami, al-Furat ibn Salman al-Bahili and al-Walid ibn al-Qa'qa' al-Absi — who met the Khazars besieging Wartan, drove them off and routed them, coming to Maymadh of Adharbayjan; as he readied for battle, Maslama's letter reached him blaming him for fighting before his arrival and telling him Abd al-Malik ibn Muslim al-Uqayli had been given his army's command — when he handed the army over, Maslama's messenger seized him, bound him, carried him to Bardha'a and jailed him; the Khazars withdrew, Maslama pursued, and wrote of it to Hisham, who wrote back the verse 'leave them to waste — you see them — and chase them till the dust is cut off', ordering al-Harashi released from prison; Maslama compounded with the people of Khayzan, ordered its fortress demolished and took estates there known today as Hawz Khayzan; the mountain kings made peace with him, and to him came the Shirwanshah, the Liranshah, the Tabarsaranshah, the Filanshah, the Jarshanshah and the lord of Masmumat; he advanced on Madinat al-Bab and took it — in its citadel were a thousand Khazar households whom he besieged and stoned, then had a mantlet built in stone-shape which availed nothing, whereupon he went to the spring Anushirwan had led into their cistern, slaughtered cattle and sheep and threw in the offal and dung, so that by nightfall their water wormed, stank and fouled — and when night covered them they fled, abandoning the citadel; Maslama settled in the city of Bab wa-l-Abwab twenty-four thousand Syrians on mount-allowances — whence Bab's folk today admit no governor unless he brings money to share among them — built a granary for food, one for barley and an arms-storehouse, ordered the cistern sealed, and repaired and honoured the city; Marwan ibn Muhammad was with Maslama, engaging the Khazars at his side and fighting bitterly.

13. Marwan ibn Muhammad's Expedition through Khazar and Mountain Lands — between 732 and 744 CE · c. 114 AH

    In al-Baladhuri: after Maslama, Hisham gave the march to Sa'id al-Harashi, who held it two years, then to Marwan ibn Muhammad — who camped at Kisal, having built its city (forty farsakhs from Bardha'a, twenty from Tiflis), then entered the Khazar land by way of Bab al-Lan, Asid ibn Zafir al-Sulami Abu Yazid guiding him in with the mountain kings by way of Bab wa-l-Abwab; Marwan raided Slavs in the Khazar land, carrying off ten thousand households whom he settled in Khakhit — they later killed their amir and fled, and he overtook and slew them; when the Khazar great-king learned the numbers Marwan trod into his lands and their strength and array, it stung his heart and filled it with dread, and as Marwan drew near he sent a messenger summoning him to Islam or war — Marwan answered 'I accept Islam; send me one to present it', which was done, and the Khaqan showed forth Islam, Marwan making peace confirming him in his kingdom; with him Marwan settled a body of Khazars between al-Samur and al-Shabiran in the Lakz plain; then Marwan entered the land of al-Sarir, fell upon its people, took castles, and its king submitted and obeyed — he compounded with him for a thousand heads, five hundred lads and five hundred girls black of hair, brow and lash each year, and a hundred thousand mudd poured into Bab's granaries, taking hostages of him; Marwan compounded with Tuman's people for a hundred heads — fifty girls and fifty five-year-old boys black of hair, brow and lash — and twenty thousand mudd yearly to the granaries; then entered Zirikeran's land, whose king compounded for fifty heads and ten thousand mudd yearly; then came to Hamzin's land — Hamzin refusing peace — took their fortress after a month's siege, burned and demolished it, its treaty then being five hundred heads delivered in one payment, no further claim on him, and thirty thousand mudd borne yearly to Bab's granaries; then came to Sadan, which he opened by treaty for a hundred heads its lord delivered at once, no claim thereafter, and five thousand mudd borne yearly to Bab's granaries; and he assessed the people of Tabarsaranshah at ten thousand mudd borne yearly to the granaries, while assessing Filanshah nothing — for his fine service, handsome conduct and praiseworthy way; then Marwan camped on the fortress of al-Lakz — its lord having withheld the levy and gone out to join the Khazar king, whereupon a herdsman killed him with an arrow not knowing him — so the Lakz people compounded for twenty thousand mudd borne to the granaries, and he set Khashrama al-Sulami over them; and Marwan went to Shirwan's lord's fortress called Khirsh upon the sea — he submitted, was ordered down to the plain, and they were bound to ten thousand mudd yearly; on Shirwan's lord he laid it that he be in the van when the Muslims began raiding the Khazars and in the rear when they returned; on Filanshah, that he raid with them only; and on Tabarsaranshah, in the rear at the outset and the van at the return; and Marwan went to the Dudaniyya and fell on them — then word of al-Walid ibn Yazid's killing reached him.

14. The Fall of Qaliqala, 133, and its Rebuilding — c. 750 CE · 133 AH

    In al-Baladhuri from Muhammad ibn Bishr and Ibn Warz al-Qaliyan from the shaykhs of Qaliqala: the city had remained defiant with its folk since its conquest until the tyrant came out in year 133, besieged Malatya's people, razed its wall and evacuated its Muslims to the Jazira, then camped at Marj al-Hasa and sent Kusan the Armenian, who camped on Qaliqala and besieged it — its people then few and its governor Abu Karima — whereupon two Armenian brothers of the city undermined an earthwork in its wall, went out to Kusan and let him into the city; he took it, killed, captured, demolished, drove the spoil to the tyrant and divided the captives among his men; al-Waqidi says: in year 139 al-Mansur ransomed those of Qaliqala's captives still alive, rebuilt and resettled the city, returned the ransomed to it and levied for it a garrison of Jazirans and others; and the Roman tyrant had come out against Qaliqala in al-Mu'tasim's caliphate and battered its wall near collapse, whereupon al-Mu'tasim spent five hundred thousand dirhams on it until it was fortified.