The Caliphate of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān

He was pledged allegiance as caliph during his father’s lifetime. When his father died on the third of Ramadan of that very year—namely, 65 AH (1)—the pledge was renewed for him in Damascus, in Egypt, and in all the territories attached to them, so that his authority extended over everything that had been under his father’s control.

Before his death, the father had dispatched two military contingents. The first, led by ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyād, was sent to Iraq to wrest it (2) from the governors appointed there by Ibn al-Zubayr. On the way he encountered the army of the tawwābūn (the Penitents) under Sulaymān ibn Ṣurad at ʿAyn al-Warda (3); as we have already related (4), he defeated them, killing their commander and most of their men.

The second expedition was entrusted to Ḥubaysh (5) ibn Dulaja, who was ordered to regain Madinah from Ibn al-Zubayr’s deputy. He marched toward the city, and when he arrived, its governor Jābir ibn al-Aswad ibn ʿAwf—a nephew of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf—fled. Ibn al-Zubayr’s governor of Basra, al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Rabīʿa, then mustered an army in Basra and sent it against Ibn Dulaja to drive him from Madinah. When Ḥubaysh ibn Dulaja heard of this, he advanced to meet them.

Meanwhile Ibn al-Zubayr appointed ʿAbbās ibn Sahl ibn Saʿd as governor of Madinah and instructed him to pursue Ḥubaysh. He followed their trail until he overtook them at al-Rabadha, where Yazīd ibn Siyyāh (6) shot Ḥubaysh with an arrow and killed him. Some of his companions were also slain, the rest were routed, and five hundred of them took refuge inside Madinah. They then surrendered to the judgment of ʿAbbās ibn Sahl, who had them executed in cold blood, while the survivors (7) withdrew to Syria.

Ibn Jarīr (8) said: When Yazīd ibn Siyyāh al-Aswārī, the killer of Ḥubaysh ibn Dulaja, entered Madinah together with ʿAbbās ibn—