He put al-Ḥārith ibn Yazīd in charge of leading the prayers in Mecca and confirmed Muṣʿab ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf in his position. He would not decide any matter without first consulting al-Miswar ibn Makhramah, Muṣʿab ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Jubayr ibn Shaybah, and ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah. In all his affairs he sought their counsel, making it clear that the matter was one of mutual consultation and that he would do nothing without them. He himself led the Friday prayer and performed the ḥajj with the people without formally claiming the office of ruler.

The Khārijites and other rebels had also come to him, saying, “He is the man who has sought refuge in the House of Allah.” A little later he invited the people to give him their bayʿah; they did so, whereupon the Khārijites parted from him.

He appointed his brother Muṣʿab over Medina; over Baṣra, al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Rabīʿah; over Kufa, ʿAbd Allah ibn Muṭīʿ; over Egypt, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jahdam al-Fihri; and he likewise set governors over Yemen and over Khurasan. He placed al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Qays over Syria. The great majority of the people of Syria swore allegiance to him, but a faction refused and rallied around Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam. Lengthy developments and exhausting wars ensued, among them the battle of Marj Rāhiṭ, where thousands of Arabs were slain and al-Ḍaḥḥāk himself was killed. Marwān’s power then swelled until he took control of Syria; he marched at the head of a vast army, seized Egypt, and installed his son ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz as governor there, after which death overtook him.

His son, the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik, succeeded him. He continued to fight Ibn al-Zubayr until, after advancing into Iraq, he defeated him and killed Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr (1).

Shuʿayb ibn Isḥāq said: Hishām ibn ʿUrwah narrated to us from his father that Yazīd wrote to Ibn al-Zubayr: “I have sent you a silver chain, a golden fetter, and a silver collar, and I have sworn that you shall come to me wearing them.” Ibn al-Zubayr threw the letter aside and recited:

I shall never bend except to truth, the only goal I seek,
Until the grinding molar softens the very stone it meets. (2)