\

Al3STRACT

This stuQy deals with the characteristics of Arabie historiog­

raphy in Iraq down to the time of Abli Ja'fer Tabarl (d. :510/92:5).

The historical annals of ~aberi provide both the specifie focus of

the s'tudy and 0. methodological approach. Since ~abari' s york JIUQ'

be rega:r:ded as an anthologr of the ni tings of the ear11' historians,

our first question concerns the characteristics of Iraqi historiog-. .

raphy as they are refiected in the annals. Then we are concer.ned

wi th the ~s in which Tabari' s 1I'Ork diff'ered from his predecessors.

Part One of the study comprises a historical survey of the main

historians of the period including Tabari. Part 'ho deals with certain

specifie characteristics of histor" writing, suoh as the khabar

element, based upon illustrative material provided by a tr8Zls1ated

portion of the annals, which i tself appears as an Appendix to the

s~. Age.in drawing upon the translated material, 1I'e deal with oer­

tain problems, such as the nature of' the sources, with 1I'hich Tabari

1I'&S confronted in compiling his own 1I'Ork.

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ABU JA 'FAR ~ABARî AND . HIS S~URCES

An Introduc:t;iolL to Ear17 'Iraq! ... Historiograpby- .

David Waines

A ther:sis submitted to·the Faculty of Graduate Studies andRese~ch

in partial fu1filment of the requirements for the degree

of .Master. of Arts

Institute of Is1amic Studies McGil1 Universit7

Montreal

April, 1968

, @ David Waines 1969 1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Several pers ons who have contributed to the

preparation of this study it is MY pleasure to thank.

Dr. John A. Williams, formerly of the Institute of

Islamic Studies, first suggested the field of enquiry.

l also gathered valuable insights into early Islamic

historiography from his seminar on the historians of

the Umayyad periode My present advisor, Dr. Donald

Little, has always provided pertinent and penetrating

criticisms of the study throughout the various stages

of its preparation. Dr. Hermann Landolt also read the

completed essay and offered timely and helpful

suggestions. To each of these scholars my indebtedness

cannot be adequately expressed.

ii

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

PART ONE

I. Arabism and Is1amism II. Medinan Historiography III. Pre-~abari Historians IV. Abü Ja'far ~abari

PART TWO

I. The Elements of Historieal Writing II.~abarI·s Princip1e of Organization

(a) Chrono1ogy (b) Signifieant Events

III.The Nature of the Sources IV. The Place of God in History

NOTES

BI BLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX

NOTES TO APPENDIX

iii

ii

1

9-34

9 14 19 30

35-89

35 47

48

53

58 72

90-108

109-113

1-87

88-97

INTRODUCTION

Broadly speaking, the tocus of this es say is

the characteristics of Arabie historical writing in

'Iraq trom its origins at the beginning of the eighth

to the beginning of the tenth century. The discussion

of the nature, purpose and method of history in this

period of Islam is, however, impeded by certain

obstacles. First is the condition of the sources with

which the student has to deal. Our knowledge of the

overwhelming majority of historical works does not

extend beyond their titles; the books themselves are

not extant. Often of course, the title will reveal

the content of the book: Kitab Maqtal BusayAb. 'Ali

(The Death of ijusayn b. 'AlI) would deal with the

back ground and circumstances of the death of 'Ali's

son ijusayn at Karbala. While this and numerous other

works have not survived, what has come to us are frag­

ments of some of these early writings preserved in

large compilations which appeared towards the end of

our period, that is, at the end of the ninth and early

tenth centuries. One such compilation is the Ansab al­

Ashraf of Baladhuri (d. 279/892); another is the great

2

annalistic history of Abu Ja'far ~abarr (d. 310/923).

A second obstacle to our investigation is that

not until the end of our period does the historian

begin to formulate explicitly any reflection upon his

discipline. ~abar! appears to have been the first to

compose an introduction to his work, albeit brief and

unsystematic, in which he expresses some reflection

upon the subJect matter and method of history. Hitherto,

such notions had been implicit in the products of

hsitorical scholarship.

Bearing these two points in mind a problem ot

methodology is posed of how to proceed with a discussion

of the characteristics of early 'Iraq! historiography.

While the scope and depth of our study may be limited

by these two factors, they also indicate a possible

methodological approach.

The compilations of Baladhur! and tabar! may

be analysed from two perspectives, 1) each, as a

fundamental source book for early historians such as

'Awana b. al-ijakam (d. 147/764) and Abu Mikhnaf

(d. 157/774), may be treated as a kind of anthology of

these early historianJ writings and -2) each ean be

hand1ed as an independent contribution to the Islamic

historiographieal tradition. It shou1d be possible,

therefore, from the first perspective, to describe

certain characterietics of early 'Iraqi historiography

in terms of either one or the other (or both) of these

major compilations. From the second perspective, Tabar!

has been aelected as the work upon which this study

shall be based, in arder to narrow thefocus of the

essaye Two primary reasons may be noted for th1s choice.

First, the central position which ~abari occupies in

early Arabic historiography led Professor Gibb to say

that his was "the work in which the classical tradition

reaches its,culmination ••• by its authority and

comprehensiveness, (it) marked the close of an epoch.

No later compiler ever set himself to collect and

investigate afresh the materials for the early history

of Islam, but either abstracted them from al-Tabarr

[sometimes supplemented from al-Baladh~ri] or else

began wl:èœ .al..;rabari left off. ,,1 Secondly, ~abari' s

introduction, alluded to above, has an important

bearing upon certain questions ofmethod and nature of

history while Baladhuri is inconvenient in this respect

since he provides no introduction at all.

A third reason forusing Tabar! concerns the

presentation of illustrative historical material which

will be discussed presently. Again, BaladhurI's Ansab

al-Ashraf which is primarily a biographical and

e·

genealogical compendium is less convenient than

~abarI's history which is cbronologically arranged

4

and therefore provides a more methodical framework than

BaladhurI's for the narrative of events.

It is now appropriate to pose these questions

to define the specifie focus of the study: First, what

can be said of the characteristics of early 'IraqI

historiography insofar as they are reflected in ~abarI's

history! Second, since ~abarI's work itself marks a

stage in the development of Arabie historiography, in

what respects does his history differ from previous

works! Clearly the answers to these questions will

involve treating ~abarI from the two perspectives

already mentioned. In the same way that the entire work

of ~abarI could be treated in the fashion outlined

here, it follows that a portion of the same work would

lend i tself to .similar analysis. Therefore a portion of

~abarI's history has been translated for the purpose of

providing illustrative material for analysis.

A word needs be said, however, of certain

prior conditions which the translated portion should

fulfil. Firs~,it should be of manage able length to

provide sufficient material while at the same time

becoming neither unwieldy nor tedious. Secondly, the

5

passage should be as far as possible a coherent unit,

that is, the material should provide a central 'theme'

wi th à re(c:.o~gnizable beginning and end. Thirdly, the

passage should comprise as many of the major sources as

possible from among the early 'Iraq! historians. This

last provision would, for example, rule out the selec­

tion of a passage from the period dealing with the

prophet Muoammad; Medinese sources are the most

important for this period and these are not our

concern here. Moreover two of the important early

'IraqI historians (Abü Mikhnaf and 'Awina) did not deal

wi th the Prophet a.t all. Furthermore a passage dealing

with the period after 840 A.D. would exclude the

writings of the outstanding figure of al-Mada'in! who

died in that year. Beyond these general pre-conditions,

selection becomes largely arbitrary.

The passage which we have selected (which

incidentally, has not before appeared in translation)

deals with a portion of the reign of the Caliph 'Abd

al-Malik (685 A.D. - 705 A.D.). The selection covers

the five years from 69/688 to 73/692 and meets our

first condition. The passage depicts the efforts of

that Caliph to re-establish the power of the Umayyad

dynasty in 'Iraq and the ijijaz which were then in the

6

hands of his strongest opponents the anti-Caliph 'Abd

AllSh b. az-Zubayr and his brother Mue' ab. Year 69

marks the first campaign against Mue'ab who was his

brother's governor in 'Iraq. The campaign was abortive

owing to a rebellion in Damascus led by the Caliph's

cousin 'Amr b. Sa'Id. Indeed, before Mue'ab can be

successfully removed, 'Abd al-Malik is faced with the

threat in northern Syria and al-JazIra respectively

from the Byzantine emperor and from the rebellious

tribal chief of the Qays, Zufar b. al-ijirith, who was

siding with 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr. With these threats

removed Mue'ab is dealt vith and killed in the year 72.

In the following year 'Abd Allih b. az-Zubayr meets

the same fate, and except for certain pockets of

resistance from the Khaviri" in 'Iraq, Umayyad power

is finally reasserted throughout the empire. So far

our second condition"of a theme is fulfilled. Finally,

the passage contains fragments from the writing of all

the major figures in 'IraqI historiography from Abu

Mikhnaf and 'Awana to the lesser known 'Umar b. Shabba

(d. 262/875).

Developed by itself, the analysis would be

abstracted from any historical frame of reference, and

the sources which ~abari employs would be mere names.

Part One of the study will therefore be a descriptive

survey based largely upon secondary materials, of the

development of 'Iraq! historiography, in order to

7

de scribe and identify the principal historians and to

provide a frame of reference for the two questions

mentioned above. We noted that one of the conditions

which the translation ought to tulfil was to comprise

portions from each of the principal historians down to

~abari's time. Each of these writers will be briefly

discussed in the survey. ~abar! himself naturally finds

a place here, too. However, since one of the features

which distinguishes him from his predecessors is bis

conception of history, ~abarI can be best understood

against a wider background which embraces the work of

the Medinese historians as welle These latter will be

briefly discussed. Finally, 'IraqI historiography, as

the product of Muslim writers, is intelligible as such,

only in reference to the Qur'anic world view which

differed dramatically from the pre-Islamic or Jâb:±l.~ .'v~oint.

Part Two will comprise an interpretive analysis

based upon the translated material. Four aspects of

'IriqI bis.toriography will be deal t wi th separately.

The tirst discussion is concerned with the elements of

~abarI's compos~io~, the essential feature of which is

8

the khabar (which was common to all historical wri ting

down to and inc1uding ~abar!) and the effects of the

influence of this tradition. The second aspect concerns

~abar!'s princip1e of organization, which raises the

prob1em of chronoiogy in 'Iraq! historiography. The

other aspect of ~abari's princip1e raises the question

concerning the meaning of 'significant event' which is

1eft unanswered"until the final section. The third

section of the analysis discusses the problems arising

from the nature of ~abari's sources, particularly the

problem of the fUDCtion of reason. In the fourth and

final section this problem and that of 'significant

events' are discussed in relation to the place of God

in history.

The translation itself appears as an appendix.

It is assumed that the reader possesses at least a

general familiarity with the events of the period, since

our study is in the main historiographical and not

historical.2 The footnotes to the translation will be

restricted largely to the identification of place

names.

PART ONE

I. Arabism and Islam1sm

In his essay upon the idea of history in early

Islam, Professor Obermann postulates the antinomy of

two forces which influenced that idea; these vere

Arabism and Islamism. l Each force influenced historical

investigation in widely scattered centres such as

Medina in the :ijijaz, Küfa and Ba'ira in 'Iraq and in

Syria. However, the impulse to historical enquiry in

'Iraq was derived initially rather from Arabism than

Islamism, while in Medina the.· latter played a rela­

tively more important role. To place 'IraqI historio­

graphy in its proper perspective we shall commence by

summarizing the content of the forces of Arabism and

Islamism, and then note briefly the primary concerns of

the Medinan 'school'. While these interests do not

directly concern the earliest 'Iraq! historians, they

do contribute to and later influence the " univers al "

concept of history elaborated by ~abarI.

The content of Arabism is the heritage of the

pre-Islamic (or JahilI) Arab whose life was permeated

9

e

10

by an intense clan consciousness, a spirit of tribal

solidarity and a pride in the nobility of his lineage.

The tribal st~ucture of his society produced a morali­

ty based upon the custom of his ancestors; the only

ethical imperative recognized was of the form "X is

good because our forefathers did it".2 The Arab was

the iOOeri tor and guardian and transmi tter of his

tribal heritage which, apart from moral values,

included tales of the deeds of his ancestors. This

is expr~ssed in the famous line of Mu~arir b. Abi 'Amr,

We inherited our glory from our fathers. Lo1 it has grown in our hands to a lofty height.3

The tribal ethos was therefore 'the strongest

influence upon the Arab's historical perspective. The

record of his past was preserved in an oral poe tic '

tradition, or in the prose-poetry narratives of the

type which recounted the Battle Days of the Arabs

('A,yyam al-' Arab).4 The poet would exalt the heroic

deeds of his tribe in war thereby adding to its collec­

tive glory and honour while at the same time he would

vilify its enemies. On the other hand, the Arabis

genealogical consciousness often extended beyond the,

confines of his own tribe to others, which like his

own, descended from an eponymous hero-founder. 5 This

meant, for example, that the northern Arabs of

11

Muoammad's generation would have, been conscious of a

span of about 1000 years of genealogical antecedence.6

Their perspective as to pragmatic history however,

would have been much shorter than that span.

Coupled wi t;h this attenua'ted historical pers­

pective was a hedonistic world view which allowed no

room for speculation beyond the present. Man was

governed by a blind, irreversable and irresistable Fate

(~).7 The Qur'an has preserved an expression of

this view,

"n''I They assert: There is~our world; we die, we live us but Time (~).8

life in the present andnaught destroys

Pre-Islamic Arab thought reflected an extreme

pessimism which stemmed from the recognition of the

essential vanity of life. Nothing existed beyond the

present, so one lived only ~ the present and enjoyed

the goods of this ephemeral life to the utmost. Man's

actions therefore had no meaning beyond their conse­

quences seen in terms of immediate and maximum pleasure

wrought by them. The earthly life is well summed up by

an early poet, 'AbId b. al-Abra~,

All that is pleasant must be snatched away and every one that gathers spoil ia spoiled intur.n~

12

A transformation of pre-Is1amic values and

perspec~ives occured with the Prophet Mu~ammad and the

rise of Islam. The transformation affected the two

aspects of Jâhili life we have a1ready noted, triba­

lism and the hedonistic world view.

As a socio-political unit Y tribalism was

threatened by M~ammad's efforts to establish a new

unity based upon religious rather than blood ties. The

common faith was the be1ief in the One and Only God.

The new orientation shattered the narrow limits of the

Arab's perspective of his past. The Qur'in, for

example, is replete with references to great epochs

and upheavals of bygone times commencing with the very

act of God's creation of the world and man. Furthermore

at various points in history God intervened through his

prophets (NOah, Moses, Hüd, and 9ali~, for example) to

warn their people against evil living and p1easure

seeking owing to the dire consequences of such life.

Man will have to account for his actions on the Day of

Judgement and the evil (the Companions of Hell) shall

enter everlasting perdition while the good (the Compa­

nions of Paradise) shall receive heavenly recompense. IO

The ethical imperative becomes "Do as God commands."

13

The implications of these teachings amspunted

to a revolut10n in the Arab's idea of history. The past

was no longer the glory of the tribe, but mankind it­

self; God, and not a blind Fate governed the destiny

of man; God's command gave a new significance to man's

actions, for disobedience was punished and obedience

rewarded. Man's actions were no longer ultimately

relevant to the present, but to the future; history,

therefore, as the record of man's actions spanned the

past and was projected into the future. The present, in

the Islamic context, acquired an additional dimension

and gave impetus to the recording of deeds and events.

Despite these changes however, it would be a

mistake to assume that the forces of Arabism were

spent. They were evident throughout the dynasty of

the Umayyad Caliphs whose rule has been well described

by Professor Gibb as

the ou"Gcome of a coalition or compromise between those who represented the Islamic ideal of a rel1gious community, united by common allegiance to the heritage of the Prophet, and the Meccan secular interpretat10n of uni~, as against the threat of anarchy implicit in tribalism.ll

Tribal factional and particularistic impulses

passed over into the Umayyad contexte The survival of

14

inter-tribal enmit,. and the remembrance of the ' Anam al-'Arab are witnessed in the famous slanging matches

between the 'Iraq! poets JarIr and al-Farazdaq known

as the naga'id.12 In other instances, such as the

Medinan interest in the maghaz! of the Prophet, it is

difficult to assert conclusively that this merely

rep~çô;)nts an extension of the Arab' s preoecup'ation

with tales of raids common to the 'ayyam narratives.13

It would be more correct to account for Medinan histo­

rical interests as the product of a fusion of pre­

Islamic and Islamic influences.

II. Medinan Historioe;raphl

From the very beginning the Muslim community

appears to have sought information to elucidate the

historical allusions in the Qur'iin and to record the

deeds of the Prophet Mu~ammad (d. 10/632).14 The latter

pursuit resulted in the collection of material on the

maghaz! of the Prophet. SpeciGcally, maghaz! was the

term used to designate the early battles and raids

(razzia, variant of the Arabie ghazwa) of the community;

but the maghaz! collections from the start seem to have

included details from the pre-Hijra period of Mu~ammad's

career.15 This interest was then more inclusive than

15

simp1y the stories of the maghazi. Furthermore, since

Medina was also the major center of badith study, it

would not be surprising to find that among the ear1iest

transmitters of the maghazi were men who were also

expert in thé gadith of the Prophet. One such expert

was 'Aban b. 'Uthman. His dates are uncertain; he was

born around 20/640 and died,according to different

authorities,either in the reign of al-Walid (86-96/

705-715) or YazId ( 101-105/720-724).16 A second trans­

mitter of maghazI material, a famous mubaddith and

also a contemporary of 'Aban b. 'Uthman, was 'Urwa b.

az-Zubayr, who lived from about 25/645 to 94/712.17

'Urwa had excellent sources for his material in the

pers ons of ~is father Zubayr b. al-'Awwam, his mother --------------~--------

and particularly his aunt 'l'isha, the wife of the

Prophet. Apart from the oral reports he had from them,

he also quoted from written documents. His own words

were transmitted in both oral and written form by his

son Hishim and the famous az-ZuhrI (51/671-125/742).

Professor Horowitz has concluded that his writings

"represent the oldest written notes o~ particular events

in the life of the Prophet preserved for us, and at the

same time the oldest monuments of Arabie historical

prose. 1I18 The interest in all aspects of the Prophe~s

16

life served both the religious and secular interests of

the Muslim community; and while the Prophet's life as a

... subject for investigation was obviously of purely

Islamic inspiration, the maghazi accounts do reflect a

long standing Arab tradition.

The form in which Islam19hiétoriography was

transmitted also reflected the continuing influence of

the narratives of the pre-Islamic 'AyySm al-'Arab.19

This form is known as khabar (pl. akhbir). Professor

'Abbott has drawn attention to an important distinction

to be made between khabar and badith.

In a general sense both badith and khabar mean 'a report' or 'information' irrespective of its nature or source, But early in Islam Àadith acquired a specifie technical meaning. It became a handy abbreviation of the phrase Àadith al-nabI, 1 sayings of the Prophet " at.. the same time that the phrase Ùadith al-saÙabah or 'athir al-sagabah • indicated the sayings of Mu~ammad's companions. These sayings were, as a rule, short and simple. In this same period, khabar as distinguished trom technical gadIth, came to mean a short narrative or bits of related information from whatever source available. Strictly speaking eve~ gadith was a khabar but not every khabar was a Oadith. 20

The characteristics of the pre-Islamic khabar narrative

which largely survived into the new era are th~~old:

17

no causal nexus between historical events is ever

established; the narrative is recounted in colourful

detail of exaggeration as against the use of cold

sober detail; the prose portions are interspersed with

poetic pieces.2l

Even the khabar, however, underwent some change

in the early Islamic periode Towards the close of the

first century the traditionist and historian fell under

each other's influence. The historian began to use the

device of the isnad (chain of authorities) which had

meanwhile gained acceptance in Àad!th; the traditionist,

on the other hand, found it expedient to imitate the

historian's practice by giving greater weight to the

written record as an ajd~emoire and a protection

against fraude In treating their respective subject

matters, however, the traditionist and historian were

drawing further apart. The traditionist was restricted

to literal accuracy in transmission while the historian

had a wider latitude of stylistic free play. He was able

to combine several reports from different sources into

an integrated narrative, citing his main authority at

the beginning of his work or at the beginning of each

main division.22

18

The study and collection of maghaz! material

which was the chief characteristic of the Medinan

'school' developed with Mu~ammad b. Muslim b. Shihib

az-ZuhrI •. His connection with the previous generation

was through his teacher, the above mentioned 'Urwa b.

az-Zubayr. Both an interest in the community's experi­

ence and more purely religious motives apparently

stimulated his composition of the sIra (life) of

Mu~ammad.23 His perspective was wider than his prede­

cessora' since he included in his study relevant pre­

Ialamic details. While both traditionist and historian

converge in his person, he was the first to combine

tradi tions of variou·s sources into a single narrative

(y.adIth al-' ifk) , which ,·tas preceded by a list of his

authorities. 24 With this major technical advance, az­

Zuhr! also provided the general outline and framework

.. of the sIra and did much to stabilize the Medinan

tradition.25

It was the famous Ibn Is~iq (d. 150/767) who

elaborated upon the foundation of az-Zuhr!'s work. Ibn

Is~iq's biography of the Prophet, which became the

claasie of its kind, was conceived as a history ot

prophecy cUlminating in the career of Mu~ammad. The

SIrat-an-NabI marked an advance beyond az-ZuhrI in

19

both concept and technique; it also reflected the stage

of the community's development in stature and confi­

dence where its self-image was expressed explicitly in

a wider historical contexte From the Med1nan perspective,

Muslim history was a continuum not of tribal or intra­

tribal history but of a theocentric world history.26

III. Pre-;abar! Historians

It is ooly now that we may turn to the subject

proper of the present study: historiography in 'Iraq.

The centres of scholarship in 'Iraq, Küfa and Ba§ra,

were founded as garrison towns for the tribes of the

conquering Arab armies. 27 They were therefore subject

to different influences than Medina28 and consequently

the products of their historians reflected more the

ethnic forces of Arabism than the religious forces of

Islam. Nevertheless, the emerging tradition of the

Islamic community challenged and slowly altered tribal

values just as the course of the Muslim conquests

diverted the focus of the tribal perspective of the

past.

At first the ancienttraditions of the 'ayyim

narratives, anecdotes relating to the recent conquests

and genealogical lore were circulated in the assemblies

20

of the tribes. The transmitters of this vast body of

tradition were principally the rawis. 29 In time, the

ro1e of the rawi broadened from that of being the trans­

mitter of his master's poems (and often a poet in bis

own right) to a collector of all his tribê's tradition

regardless of its source. This reulted in the appearance

of the tribal monograph (kitib, pl. kutub) containing

genealogical lore, poetry and historical notices

(akhbar). The names of some of these works are known

although their contents are not extant. ijammid ar­

Riwiya (d. 156/772) seems to have used the kutub of

the Quraysh and Thaqif tribes whi1e gathering informa­

tion at the request of the Caliph Wal!d II (d. 127/

744).30 The kutub of Nawfal and '!mir are mentioned in

the Fihrist as col1ected byHisham b. al-KalbI (d. 204/

820) who received them from his father. 3l Similar

books were collected by a1-Madi'inI (d. 226/840) and

al-Haytham b. 'Ad! (d. 207/822).32

The transition from the simple tribal raw!

to the early historian occurred rapidly down to the

Middle of the second century of Islam. Scholars such

as the above mentioned ijammid and 'Amr b. al-'A1I

(ca. 70/689-154/770) whom Blachère cal1s 'les grands

transmetteurs· 33 continued the rawi tradition but

21 -

greatly extended their field of interest beyond their

own particular tribe. At the same time there emerged

the akhbirI, whose special interest was the traditions

(akhbir) relevant to a particular event or theme and

who compiled a coherent monograph upon that subaect.34

Many forces helpedto shape the interests of these

akhbirIs.There was first the local or regional interest

of the mier or province, • part y politics' which

developed in these locales, and also the creation of

empire which fashioned a new consciousness and pers­

pective. The Muslim community and not the tribe had

become the new centre.of focus. 35

Among the earliest of these akhbiris was the

Kufan Abu MikhnafLut B. YaQ.ya b. Sa'id

(d. 157/774). Credited by Ibn Nadim vith thirty-two

monographs, Abu Mikhnaf dealt vith early Islamic

history in several books, and then with 'Iraqi affairs

down to the end of the Umayyad Caliphate.36 The works

which fal1into this latter division appear from their

titles to have been historical biographies; often Abu

Mikhnaf wo~e:.:;~~. his theme around the circumstances of

the sUbject's death. 37 In this fashion he was able to

account for the najor political events of the Umayyad

periode While it may be true that he held the concept

22

of the unit y and continuity of the Islamic community's

experience,38 he also seemed to view that experience

from the aspect of its greatest trials and conflicts.

Moreover, the period of history he covered was treated

only in episodic fashion in a series of aonographs

(kutub) and the major events of the Umayyad period are

not connectedin any formal manner in a larger work.

The monograph form with its characteristic limitations

of time and place remained one of the chief features of

'Iraq! historiographydown to ~abar!ts time.

Ithas been said that Abu Mikhnaf's political

attitude i8 revealed by the titles of two of his works,

namely "The Death of 'Al!" and "The Death of Ijusayn".

He also dealt'with other major opponents of the

Umayyads such as Mu~' ab and 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr.

These facts would tend to suggest an anti-Umayyad and

pro-'Alid sympathy.39 Tabar! employs him extensively as

a source, although in our translated passage there is

only one khabar on Abu Mikhnaf's authority. This shows

one of the 8.l:'eas of his preoccupation' namely, the

risings of the Khawarij who were also bitter opponents

of the Umayyads. This khabar 'shows the Azariqa

Khawarij taunting al-Muhallab and his followers for

their hast y change of allegiance from one master to

another. It is also interesting that Abü Mikhnaf

employed the isnad (as he did frequently), in this

instance from two named sources.40

23

A KÜfan contemporary of Abü Mikhnaf was 'Awana

b. al-~ak8Jll al-KalbI (d. 147/764-5).41 A blind scholar,

he was especially noted for his knowledge of akhbir.42

Only two works are attributed to him, one entitled

Kitab Ta'rIkh which indicates nothing of its contents,

the other being a biographical history of Mu'awiya and

the Banu Umayya down to 'Abd al-Malik' s reign. The

title ,of this latter work would appear to indicate

something more than a simple monograph but it is

impossible to speculate upon its arrangement. It is

doubtful from what is known of similar works such as

Ibn Is~aq's History of the Caliphs that 'Awana's work

was very large. Like Abü Mikhnaf, 'Awana dealt with

times closeto his own and both were unconcerned,with

the earliest days of Islam under the Prophet or with

the pre-Islamic era. Tribal tradition was important to

'Awana as a source of information of events in Syria

where the Kalb were gene~ally staunch supporters of

the Umayyads. His account of the death of 'Amr b. Sa~Id

in our translation was possibly selected by ~abarI

because of 'Awana's close knowledge of his tribe's

24

tradition. The tribal origin of the accoUnt may be

suggested from the names of several Kalb1tes who par­

took in the events of 'Amr's rebel110n on both sides.

'Awana does"not use the isnad, at least not in our

translated passage, although it does occur in other

akhbar where the 'family isnad' indicates his drawing

upon tribal tradition.43

'Awina is a problem source. His sympathies are

difficult to determine. He is various1y described as

both pro_44 and anti_45 Umayyad. A recent scholar claims

his works show little evidence of pre~udice whether for

the"umayyads, for the Kalb or for Küfa.46 Yaqut calls

him an 'UthmSni. 47 It is worth noting what his being

an 'UthminI might have implied. Lammens has observed

that the community of sentiments between the ~UthmanIs

and the "Umayyads vent only so far as agreement upon

'Uthman's martyrdom and the necessity to expiate his

blood. This did not mean however that the 'Utbmanis

were simply devoted partisans of the Umayyad dynasty.

"Le terme prendra cette extension logique seul1nent .. après le triomphe des Umayyades. Pour le moment, tout

adhérent de Mu'awiya est uthmani, mais le contraire ne

se verifie pas nécessairement.,,48 Pellat qualifies

this view noting that the Umayyad-'Uthmin; alliance did

25

not imply just a recognition of the Umayyads; after

the success of the dynasty it was rather an anti~Alid

movement:

pour ne pas porter'de lleau au moulin umayyade, ils (uthmanis) déplacent légèrement le probl~me, et dans le but de justifier la légitimité de leur caliphe, sentent qulil est nécessaire de remonter jusqu l! Abu Bakr et, de prouver que ses droits au caliphat étaient plus puissants que ceux de Ali; cette théorie entra1ne imm6d1at~­ment le classement de Umar et de Uthman après Abu Bakr, respecte le développement historique et détruit les prétensions exagérées des Alides.49

The important point is that it is very di ffi­

cult to make politico-religious labels stick in this

early period; whereas an "'Uthmin!" would give quali­

fied support to the Umayyads,50 an "'Alidll would not be

exclusively and consistently anti-Umayyad. Professor

Duri observes that the extant fragments of these writers

demonstrate great moderation.

(The) historians did not fall to the level of sheer partisanship and were not representative of one view only. It is possible that the process of selection from these works [especially in ~abar! and BaladhurI] eliminated some extreme traditions. But we may find the explanation in the importance attached to the tradition [riwiya] versus

26

opinion, and to the di.scipline imposed by scholar­ly judgement.5l

A contemporary of both 'Awana and Abu Mikhnaf

was Ibn Is~aq (d. 150/767) whom we noted above as the

author of the major biography of the Prophet. 52 As a

formal historian his career was important in an~ther

respect. His work in Medina wasiatèrrupted forcing him

to leave for 'Iraq and the cou~of Man~ur. There he

wrote his concise fa' rikh al-Khulafa', probably at the

request of the Caliph himself, for the bene fit of bis

son the Prince MahdI. In contrast with bis work on the

Prophet, for which he drew almost entirely upon Medinan

sources, the ~a'rrkh was composed exclusively from

'Iraqi sources.53 The importance of this work is in its

being the first dealing with the political history of

the caliphate written by a historian who had devoted

much attention to the history of prophecy and to

Mu~ammad. Ibn Is~aq's collective works represent the

first unco-ordinated expression of the "universal"

concept of Islamic history.

The extant papyrus fragment of this history

reveals details of Ibn Is~aq's historical method. His

use of the isnad, which had become popular among

traditionalists, was not consistent. He developed the

27

technique of combining severa! reports on various

related topics stopping short of composing a long

continuous narrative. Ibn Is~aq's sources for the reigns

of the various Caliphs were probably provided by the

KÜfans 'Awana and Abu .' :I1ikhnaf. Wh en it suited him, he

used Shi'a sources, a fact which perhaps formed the

basis for the accusation of partisanship. On the other

hand it must be remembered that he wrote under the

patronage of the Abbasid court. In the papyrus frag­

ment which deals with the assassination of 'Umar l

and the appointment of the elective council the author

displays courage by rendering full account of the

respective claims of both 'Ali and 'Uthman. "The

account", concludes Professor Abbott, "so far as it

goes in our :f.ragment, gives no inkling of partiality

for either of these two major candidates and hence

calls into question the accusation that Ibn Is~aq

favoured the Shi'ite religio-political party.,,54

Similar to Ibn Is~aq's career was that of

MUQammad b, 'Umar a1-Waqidi (130-207/747-822)55 who

also began his professional career in the ijîjaz and

1ater settled in 'Iraq. He was an unquestionedautho­

rity~ on the :ijijazi tradition as witness his only

extant work the classic Kitab al-Zllaghazi. For this.:':

reason perhaps, Tabar! relied upon him ~or details o~

the seige of Mecca and the death o~ 'Abd Allah b. az­

Zubayr which occupy the year 73 of the translation.

Al-Waqid!'s other major importance is the care~ul

attention he gives to chronology.Theoccur~ces o~

dates in Tabar! (as ~ar as our passage is concerned)

originate almost exclusively with al-waqid!.56 The

problem of chronology was one which even al-Waqid!

found perplexing. Apart from the work on maghaz!

already mentioned, al-Waqid! favoured the monograph

from of history. The akhbir of al-Waqidi, cited by

Tabar! in our translation were transmitted by al­

Waqid!'s secretary Muoammad b. Sa'd (d. 239/845)

famous himself for his large biographical dictionary

at-Tabagat al-KUbra.

28

Tbe!prolific prOduction o~ monographs continued

throughout the third/ninth century. Hishim b. al-Kalbi

(d. 204/820) le ft many works covering a wide field of

academic interests on genealogy, poetry and khabar. 57

Unlike the foregoing scholars his was not as creative

a spirit. His fame lies chiefly in preserving and

transmitting his father's vast store of knowledge. He

also transmitted akhbir from 'Awana and Abü Mikhnai,

many instances oi which will be found in the translation.

29

The wide range of his interests maltes him the ~~~er

of al-Mada'ini.

Al-Haytham b. ~di (130-209/747-824) also com­

posed a numberof histor1cal-biographical works. 58 Two

of these deserve particular mention. The Kitab Ta'rikh

'ala s-SinIn (The Book of History according to the yeare )

suggests an annaljstic type of work. Although none of

his works is extant, this title indicates a possible

predecessor to the annals ~f ~abari. There is some

uncertainty, however, as to the exact meaning of.

ta'rikh. According to Rosenthal the word

merely indicates that that particular work con­tained chronological data and, although it might be used for an annalistic work, it does not necessarily refer to the use of the annalistic form of historical presentation.59

More important is al-Haytham's Kitab Ta'rIkh

al-Ashraf, which was the immediate model for BaladhurI's

Ansab al-Ashrif. 60 Like the latter, al-Haytham probab-

ly included more than genealogical data, that is,

historical notices (akhbar), for he is one of Baladhur~.' s

most important sources. He has two works on Syria and

two on related aspects of Persian-Islamic history,6l

indicating that the historians' interests were becoming

less parochial.

30

Monographie studies culminated in the prodi­

gious output of 'Al! b. Mu~ammad al-Mada'in! (d. 225/

840).62 The Fihrist lists in all some two hundred and

sixt Y works covering the widest range of social,

literary and political subjects undertaken by any

historian before his time. Among them is an important

work of maghaz! and a major history of the caliphate

from Abü Bakr to al-Mu'tasim. His reputation for

reliability and trustworthiness made him one of the

principal sources for later writers especially

Baladhuri and Tabar!; the latter has used Madi'in!

(as an expert on Ba~ran affairs) for material of the

events surrounding Mu~'ab's death (year 71).

Much of al-Madi'in!'s material was transmitted

by 'Umar b. Shabba (172/788-262/875)63 (as we see from

the above mentioned events of Mu~' ab' s death·,year 71).

who himself wrote a number of monographs on poetry,

genealogy and history. His works are chiefly of a

local nature on KÜfa, Ba~ra and Medina. He also com­

posed a study on the Abbasid Caliph Man~ür.

IV. Abü Ja'far îabari

Mu~ammad b. Jar!r Abü Ja'far ~abar! (d. 310/

923)64 constructed his famous History of the Prophets

31

and Kings upon the foundations latt:b,::;. by the previous

generations of Arab historians. He was naturally

influenced by the historiographical tradition of which

he was a part, but he also left his own particular

. mark upon that tradition.

Two major characteristics of the pre-~abarI

era of historiography were the monographie form and

the khabar element which subsisted in it. The latter

feature, of pre-Islamic origin, remained the essential

element of composition in historical works down to and

including ~abarI. The khabar element however was large­

ly responsible for the lack of development of truly

continuous narrative in historical works. The mono­

graph form reflected both the segmented concept of

history and the provincial outlook of the historians.

History was recorded as a series of s~parate episodes

centred around a battle or a famous personality. Other

monographs dealt with local affairs such as the akhbir

of Küfa or Ba~ra; still others treated certain sects

such as the Khawarij. Genealogical works as well

generally had a very narrow focus. And among historians

of the Medinan 'school' a common subject for a mono­

graph was the maghaz! of the Prophet.

;2

It is true that before ~abar! there appeared

works of a wider scope. Both al-Waqid! and al-Mada'inI

produced major histories of the Caliphs. With Ibn Isoaq

the biography of Muoammad was conceived as a history of

prophecy culminating in the career of the Prophet. Ibn

Sa'd's biographical dictionary also broke new ground

in this branch of historical enterprise. The collec­

tive achievment of the Muslim historians was neverthe­

less immense; ~abari's history was at once an epitome

of that achievment and its embodiment.

~abar! brought a broader concept of history to

his study of the past which naturally required a diffe­

rent form of presentation. He wae influenced by the

Qur'anic outlook and his histo~ commenced with God's

creation of the world. He absorbed the researches of

the Medinan historians into the history of prophecy and

the life of MuOammad. ~abar! was in fact the firet

historian to attempt a kind of synthe sis of all previous

historical endeavour. The form which seemed best suited

for his purpose was the annalistic for which al­

Haytham b. 'Ad! may have been his model. This beset him

with certain difficulties for, with the exception of

a few, earlier historians seem to have been little con­

cerned with compiling extensive chronological data.

~abari's literary activities extended over a

wide range of disciplines from history, jurisprudence,

Qur' anic exegesis to poetry, lexicography' and grammar.

In addition to his history, ~abarI has le ft one of the

most important eommentaries (tafsIr) on the Qur'in. We

have shown above how the methods of the historians and

traditionists influenced each other. In ~abarI, the

traditionist and the historian are the same person.

This dual aspect of ~abarI is well put in the words

of Prof essor Loth who said,

The highest object of scientific stud1 remained for him, of course, the Revelation, wh1ch however, he regarded in a double aspect: as the written Word of God in the Koran, and as the manifesta­tion of the Will of God in H1story. So there came into ex1stence one after the other his Koran Commentary and his Universal History, the latter based l1kew1se upon theological princ1ples.65

As we shall see in the analysis below, this accounts

for ~abari's conscious defense of the traditional

histor1cal methods aga1nst attacks from critics like

the Mu'tazilites and his forceful assertion that the

Prophet and his Companions were the highest fount of

knowledge, a position wh1ch, however, caused certain

problems of method to arise.

Aga1nst th1s background of a historical survey

we can now proceèd to a detailed analysis of the

characteristics of ~abar! and early 'Iraq! historiography.

PART TWO

I. The Elements o~ Historical Writipg

In the first section o~ tbis analysis we shall

de scribe the elements o~~abar!'s composition. In this

respect ~abar! was influenced strongly by the estab­

lished tradition. Throughout the two centuries which

~all within the purview o~ tbis st~, di~~erent tech­

niques of presentation vere employed, as ~or example,

the annalistic, genealogical and monographie ~orms of

~abarI, Balidhuri and A:bii Mikhnaf respectively. Never­

theless the underlying ~eature of all of these ~orms

remained the same inasmuch as they were all works o~

khabar. l

Akhbar were individu al pieces of information

varying in length and source. A one ljJl"e report on the

. duration of the battle between al-1J:ajjij and 'Abd Allah

b. az-Zubayr is transmitted by al-Wiqidi.2 'Awana's

account of the death of 'Amr b. Sa'!d on the other hand

runs to several pages.3 Generally a khabar was a

complete and self-contained unit; in many cases an

35

author might, however, edit an or~ginal report ~rom

his sources and use only a part of i t. 4

36

To relate the events of an episode, the

historian would group together in a logical sequence5

akhbar ~rom a number o~ persons known to possess rele­

vant i~ormation on the subject. For example, al­

Wi'lidi had transmi tted reports on 'Abd Allih b. az­

Zubayr. He derived his i~ormation ~rom several

sources. One isnid reads:. "Mue'ab b.· Thibit~rom

~~i'a a mawli o~ the Banu 'Asad, a man well versed in

the ~itna o~ Ibn az-Zubayrll.6 Others contain the same

intermediate ~ormant o~ al-Wiqidi, namely Is~iq b.

YaQyi, who himsel~ received different reports from

'Uba,yd Allah b. al-Qutayba and Yüsuf b. Mahak (an

eyewitness).?

~abari employed the same method. In certain

instances he had received al-WiqidI's reports direct­

ly from al-~arith b. Mu~ammad who quoted from Ibn

Sa'd's compilation of his master's works.8 In other

instances ~abarI used some written work of al-WiqidI

as the phrase ~ li. ~ Jli , "MuQ.ammad b. 'Umar said, Il

indicates.9 Each khabar assumes an individual character

since each emanates from a different source. Al-Waqidi

(and therefore ~abari) would juxtapose these individual

reports from several sources, and thereb~ the details

of a certain episode, which in effect beeomes an

aggregate of individual perceptions. '

37

The result in practice of the khabar construc­

tion is found in the long account of 'Awana b. al-

ijakam concerning 'Abd ~-Malik and his cousin 'A:mr b.

Sa'Id (year 69). ~abari was working from the monographs

of Hisham b. al-KalbI who had obtained his information

from 'Awina.10 Each isnad as we saw above introduced a

new khabar. 'Awana does not cite hissources in this

particular account11 al though i t can be safely assumed

that the reports of this episode emanated from different

informants.

Sometimes the akhbir are closely related to

one another either in content or in the suggestion of

an indefinite lapse of time.12 Note, for example, the

khabar comprising paragraphs 2, 4, 5, 6 and the one

comprising paragraphs 7, 8, 9. The tirst deals with

the inter-relationship of 'Amr and 'Abd al-Malik from

the time 'Amr abandons the Caliph at Butnan ijabIb,

returns to Damascus and fortifies it, to the time the

Caliph besieges the city and battle commences. The

second khabar is concerned with an unspecified day

( l~~'») during the hostilities and the

• ,. r'

~8

pressures which finally led to a peaceful settlement.

Although broadly related, there 1s an evident shift ~n

locale and a lapse of time between the two. Paragraphs

10 to 2~ form the longest single khabar and also the

,core of the whole episode. Paragraph -'18 is an excep­

tion, since it has been inserted by ~abarI from an

anL,onymous source (" i t is said, ~.) ,) as a variation

of . the las~ part of paragraph l? where 'Abd al-Malik

scarcely conceals his intention to kill 'Amr.l~

Logical sequence was sometimes not strictly

adhered to. The khabar in paragraph 35 1s actually

unrelated to what precedes and succeeds it. This anec­

dote about the cause of enmity between the two cousins

has been inserted here as much from convenience as from

logic. The following khabar, paragraph 36, sUddenly

introduces a new character and the akhbir in paragraphs

38 and ~9 are incidental embellishments.

Despite the progression of events throughout .

the episode there is seldom a smooth transition between

one khabar and the next. This fundamental element of

traditional historio.graphy, i.e. the khabar, resulted

in the disjointed character of the historical narrative.

in ~abarI's work this characteristic ls reinforced by

two other factors a) ~abar!'s concept of the indiv1dual

39

year (annus) as a self-contained unit and b) the lack

of any causal nexus between the major events of a

single year. These factors will be treated presently.

Other elements of tradit10nal narrative are

found in the annals. Poetry l'las an inevi table feature

of the khabar accounts dating from pre-Islamic timesl~ and so i t is not surprising to find Tabar!' S history

spotted with verse.15 Professor Ooermann has pointed

to the emot1ve force of poetry as against prose in the

Jahil! khabar accounts.16 Poetry was more partisan in

expression than prose. Two examples in our translation

illustrate this. As 'Abd al-Malik 1s about to strike

down 'Amrb. Sa'!d, he cries,

"0 'Amr, cease thy slander,.do not vilify, Lest l kill you and the a-ama cry, 'Quench tbis thirst of mine,.17

A partisan verse in favour of 'Abd al-Malik is recited

by Ibn ar.-Riqa' as troops march out to meet MUQ'ab in

battle.18

Correspondence was perhaps a much less common

element in historical composition. While it was more

usual to make reference to correspondence without

quoting the contents,19 Tabar! quotes five letters which

could be classified as official documents since they

40

are either written by or addressed to 'Abd al-Malik

and deal with the struggle against the Khawiri~ in

'Iraq.20 The institution of the diwan (office or regis­

ter) which had been founded·by 'Umar l (ca. 20/640)

primarily for the purpose of financing the army, was

expanded by Mu'awiya l (d. 60/680). He also estab1ished

the office of correspondence (diwan ar-rasa'il) which

dealt with all official communications. He also founded

the office of the seal (diwan al-khat am) in which a

copy of each piece of correspondence was kept.21

It is interesting that in our translated

passage two of 'Abd al-Malik's secretaries are men­

tioned. One was Abü Zu'ayzi'a, the Oaliph's maw1a

(paragraph 24) and the other Qabioa b. Dhu'ayb who was

also "in charge of the seal", i.e. head of the office

of the seal.

It would appear that such correspondence was

used in historical writings quite early since the

letters in our text have been transmitted on Abü

Mikhnaf's authority. His informants cannot be identi­

fied, so any connection between them and the diwin

cannot be ascertained. ~abarr evidently came by them in

the writings of Hisham b. Mu~ammad al-Kalbi. The histo­

rian's use of 'archival' material,however infrequent,

41

demonstrates his considerable efforts to acquire materiall

from as wide a variety of sources as possible.

The last element of composition to be men­

tioned is the intrusion of ~abarI's own hand in his

work. This is most evident where ~abarI refers to him-

self by the phrase . '\ \\~ 22 "Abü Ja' far ~~ OU ,

said." The opening paragraph o! the year 70 is also

~abarI • s own summary of 'Abd al-r'Jalik' s conclusion of

a treaty with the Byzantine emperor. Full details of

this event are found in BaladhurI's Ansâb al-Ashr§t on

the Syrian authority Hishim b. 'Ammar ad-DimashqI.23

~abarI does not use Hisham's authority at all in bis

work although it is evident that he was aware of this

particular tradition. Again, the capture of Baorayn by

Abü Fudayk is related by ~abarI himself; he has summa­

rized various reports which can be traced to several

references in BaladhurI.24 ~abarI's own words aiso fol­

low the phrases "and in this year ••• " ( ... ~\ o~ c! ,) which introduce a new event within the unit of the

year, down to the point where he gives the first isnad.

Moreover the details at the end of each year concerning

the leader of the pilgrimage and the office holders of

the provinces are also provided by ~abarI in his own

words without the citation of authorities. ~abarI also

introduces the major events of a year in a phrase or

two at the beginning of a new unit (annus).

One divisive factor of the narrative, the

khabar, has already been noted. A second is the divi­

sion of the year as a se1f-contained unit. Each year

is introduced by the formula phrase •••• ~\ ~.) ,

"the the year ••• entered" and is generally concludè.d

by a brief notice of the leader of the pilgrimage for

that year, and the names of the current administrators

and jurists. For example, the year 69 closeswith the

notice that 'Abd Allih b. az-Zubayr led the pi1grimage

that year, and fo11owing this there is a brief note on

his administrators in KUfa and Ba~ra. This pattern

which is common with Tabar! reveals his conception of

the basic chrono1ogical unit, the year, as a comp1ète

one. This becomes more evident when we recal1 that

TabarI himse1f introduced and conc1uded each year in

his own words, as though he vere determining the extent

of each unit •.

Within this unit, iDdividual episodes are intro-

duced by means of other formula phrases such as ~.J ,

"and in i t" and ~\ o~ c.j -' , Il and in this year ••• "

Rather than chronological sequence, the events within

a sing1e year are arranged in order of their importance

or significance. In the year 69 two episodes are thus

accounted for. The first is of 'Abd al-Malik and 'Amr, the second of a Kharijite in the mosque at Mina. 25 The

episodes bear no relation to one another, except that

they occur in the same year, and there·is no indica­

tion which is chronologically prior; only the impor­

tance of the first episode gives it priority. Or again,

the report of 'Abd al-Malik's treaty with the Byzantines

rates greater importance than Muo'ab b. az-Zubayr's

visit to Mecca (year 70). Inother places there admit­

tedly exists a logical relationship between two epi­

sodes introduced by these formulae. The account of

'Abd al-Malik's entry into KÜfa, for example, is placed

after the account of the circUmstances of his defeat

of Muo'ab. Despite their logical relation, each epi­

sode is treated as a discrete and individu al event; it

might also be argued that ~abarI considered the cir­

cumstances surrounding the death of Muo'ab of greater

importance than 'Abd al-Malik's activities in Kufa.

The remaining events of this year (71) are respectively

a) the struggle for power in Baora between 'Ubayd Allah

b. abi Bukra and ~umrin b. 'Aban, b) the Oaliph's

installing Khalid b •. 'Abd Allan in charge of Baora,

c) 'Abd al-Malik's return to Syria and d) the speech

of 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr upon hearing of his

brother's death. Each of these events is introduced by

the phrase "and in this year ••• " there being a complete

absence of any other stylistic connect1on between

events.

From the above analysis the powerful influence

of the khabar convention on ~abari's work is evident.

This convention caused the anecdotal character of

Muslim history to subsist regardless of the external

form of the work be it monographie or annalistic.

~abarI did, however, reach beyond the limitations of

time and place implicit in a monograph composition;26

he succeeded in imposing a superficial external conti­

nuit y on his histo~27 and he co-ordinated a variety

of subject matter, both qualities foreign to the mono­

graphie history. These positive advances were the result

of ~abari's particular expository method or principle

of organization in the annalistic form of composition.

It may be said of the historiography of these earlier

generations that .. :;

it meant to r~collect the accounts of the witnesses, marshalling them with the greatest possible com­pletness and with no concern for their contradic­tions. The reader was left to draw his own con­clusions. The historian merely furnished the material. He took great pains to obtain reliable

45

information and strictly accounted, in the style of the traditionists, for his authorities.28

This point can be illustrated perhaps by inference

drawn from BaladhurI' s Ansab al-Asbrif as to. the nature

of the arrangement of the monograph forme Of this work

Prof. Goitein observes that "the chapters of the Ansib

are in great part nothing more than the ~onographs,

the 'books' of Abu Mikhnaf, al~Madi'ini etc. 1129 GOitein,

of course, does not mean that BalidhurI merely repro­

duces these monographs in his own work, but rather that

BaladhurI's division of his work into chapt ers produces

sections which resemble monograph works. For example,

BaladhurI's section on Mue'ab corresponds to Abu

Mikhnaf's work entitled o~\ 4~"'J~--:,\l'(the Book

of Mue'ab and his Governorship of 'Iriq);O and the

section on 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr corresponds to the

~P\ Ù'. b\ ~ ~ -.\:;1 (The Book of the Death of 'Abd

Allah b. az-Zubayr) by the same author.;l

A scrutiny of yet a third section concerning the

death of 'Amr b. Sa'Id;2 (again the subject of a monograpn

by Abu Mikhnaf) reveals aninteresting difference between

the 'monograph' fQrm and ~abarI' s arrangement. The khabar,

the essential element, is common to both. However, in

BaladhurI, we find in this instance, the whole episode

recounted from six different authorities. There 1s,

moreover, considerable repetition of detail. For

example, the encounter between .' Abd al-Malik and

'Amr when the Caliph had set out for 'Iraq against

Mu'i' ab (paragraph 3) is told by both Abu Mikhnaf and

Hishim b. 'Ammir ad-Dimashqi. The seige of Damascus is

mentioned by these same two and 'AQmad b~ IbrahIm ad­

Dawraqi. The peace treaty between the Oaliph and his

cousin is mentioned by Abu Mikhnaf and al-Mada'ini.

The final encounter between the two adversaries is

recounted no less than six times with varying emphaèis

and detail. ~abarI, on the other hand, has used only

'Awana's account and the repetition of detail does

not occur. In -the sections concerning MU'i'ab and 'Abd

Allah b. az-Zubayr similar repetition of detail occurs

(in BaladhurI's work) while this is not so in ~abarI,

as far as our translated passage reveals.

If from this we are justified in drawing the

inference that one of the features of the monograph

form was the repetition of detail then it would be

true to say that the monograph historian collected his

accounts and marshalled them "with the greatest possible

completeness and with no concern for their contradic­

tions." It would therefore be consistent to assume that

'Awana also collected numerous accounts with repetition

of detail and that ~abari has 'edited' his version to

make a more even flowing narrative.

It was these historians of the earlier genera­

tions who prepared the ground for ~abarI. His role in

history was not unlike the efforts of the badIth

collectors Muslim and BukhirI and others whose contri­

bution "consisted not so much of diseovery and first

recording as of elimination and reorgan1zation.n3~

II. ;abari's Principle ofOrganization

Before ~abarI lay a vast corpus of material in

the form of monograph histories, genealogical and bio­

graphical accounts. 34 Histask was to impose upon that

material some principle of organization by which he

would construct his h1sto~y. The nature of his inquiry

which embodied that principle was to select what he

considered to be significant or important episodes and

arrange them in chronological order. This principle

can be deduced from first, the annalistic structure of

the work and second, from the phrase ~abarI often

employs:· at the beginning of a year, such as V .?\}~ ~\ ,;..\~I»\ èJ' ~ ù~ ,35 "Mention of the informa­

tion of significant events which occurred therein."

48

(a) Chronology

~abari was immediately confronted by the prob­

lem of chronology, since he had determined upon the

annalistic form of presentation. The problem was some­

what critical because few historians before ~abari

appear to have been concerned with dates. It was perhaps

the narrow scope of the monograph history centered

around a specifie event or person which explains the

genera:L lack of concern wi th Chronologyo.36 References

in both ~abari and Baladhuri suggest that al-Mada'ini

had paid some attention to this question. It was al­

WaqidI, who above all others, provided chronological

data with any consistency. ~abarI is heavily indebted

to him as the numeroll's references in the translation

confirm. 37 As the author of a large history (the

Ta' rikh al-KabIr which came down to the year 179) and a

biographical work (the Wabaqat which came down to the

year 186y8 al-Waqidi was necessarily concerned with a

long sequence of events and at least the death dates

of important figures.

Accurate chronological reconstruction was not

altogether easy for ~abarI since his sources provided

few guides, and the evidence was at times conflicting.

He placed the revolt of 'Amr b. Sa'id and his death in

49

the year 69. In a note (from al-Waqidi) ~abari observes

that the siage of 'Amr in Damascus occurred in 69 while

he was killed in the year 70 •. ~abari was drawing attention

tion to the fact that the Muslim new year at thistime

fell during. the summer menths which was the usual

season for military campaigns. The Hijra year 69 ended

on June 24, 689 and the year 70 commenced the next

day. Both the siége and 'Amr's death therefore occurred

in the same summer (although in different yearsl) and

~abari has assigned the entire episode to one year.~9

Under the year 71 ~abari has recounted the

attack of Khalid b. 'As!d on behalf o~ 'Abd al-Malik

against Ba~ra. In an aside. ~abari notes that this

occurred "in the previous year, in 70~40 On the other

hand Il i t is also said Il that Khalid' s expedi tion occurred

in 71 while Mu§'ab was killed in 72.41 Al-Mada'inI

supports this latter date explicitly stating that

Mu~'ab was killed on Tuesday l~th of Jumada l (or II?),

72, (Oct.-Nov. 691). However, by assigning these

events to the year 71, ~abari implicitly has rejected

the alternatives.

Tabar! intervenes a winter season between the

death of 'Amr b. Salrd and Khalid's expedition~2 If we

accept the explanation that 'Amr was killed in 70 A.H.

(summer 689), then 'Abdal-Malik's treaty with Byzan­

tium might also have occurred in the summer of that

50

same year. 4~ At least the treaty would logically hav.s: been

coneluded before the final round with Mu~'ab inorder

that the Caliph would not have his northern frontier

threatened while he entered 'Iraq. That would appear

to put Khalid's expedition late in the year 70 A.H •

. (summer 690).44 When the campaign failed 'Abd al-Malik

launched his final attack in the same summer of 690

which was now the HiJra year71. ~abari accepts al­

WaqidI' s dating for 'Abd al-Malik' s entry into Küfa

and has placed the event in the year 71 A.H.45 He

notes on the other hand that al-Mada'inI places the

event in 72 A.H. and Mu~'ab's death in the month of

Jumada l or II (Oct .-Nov., 691 A.D.). 46 In any CaB_e

the discrepancy between the dates of al-WaqidI and 81-

Mada'inI is consistent and ~abarI has simply elected

to follow the former.

In the case of the encounter between the

Azariqa and al-Muhallab ~abarI provides no supporting

evidence for placing thisin_ the year 72 A.H. From the

context one would assume that it occurred shortly after

Mu~'ab's death. The opening paragraph of the khabar

states that the news of Mu~'ab's death reached the

51

Azariqa beforeal-Muhallab; but the news of such an

important event would not have taken long before lt

vas videly known.47 It vas a feature of lthabar histor.r

that in the absence of spec~fic dates (which in aD7

case may not be correct) the time lapse between events

of an episode or between episodes vas extremely vague.

There vas a preference fo~ such phrases as nwhen such

and such oc~urred, ••• then" or natter this ••• n•

The dates for al-ijajjaj's campaign against

Ibn az-Zubayr are explici t. We are told (on al-Waqidi' s

authority again ) that al-ijajjaj set out with his

troops in Jumada (I or II?), 72 A.H. (Oct.-Nov. 691)

and that he arrived in ~a'if in Sha'bin (Jan. 692)~ Then in Dhü' 'l-Qa'da (March 692) he left ~a'if and

besiè.ged ; Ibn az-Zubayr who is killed in Jumada l,

73 A.H. (Sept. 692).49 The length of the siage is

given variously as six months seventeen days and eight

months seventeen days. The discrepancy ia probably

explained by counting either from al-Uajjaj's arrival

in ~a'if whence he conducted several expeditions against

Ibn az-Zubayr's forces50 or from his actual siege of the

city two months later.

Whether or not ~abarI's chronological arrange­

ment is correct is not important here.5l It is more

52

signifieant that from the vast material available to

him, ~abarI attempted to eonstruet a eonsistent and

intelligible chronological structure. Commeneing with

his basic unit of the year (annus) he would select the

aceounts of events for eaeh year, noting where possible

alternative dates. Where preeise dates wsœpossib17

unavailable, the context of a khabar would often 6uggest

its position in a s'equence. In one instanee, as we

shall presently see, ~abarI'felt justified in altering

his text in ordèr to place one khabar in a different

contexte Nevertheless, the evidence points to ~abari's

careful assessment of his material before committing

it to the structure of his annals. On the other hand,

~abarI's efforts at chronological reconstruction were

not pur~ued with strict consisteney. He does not, as

we have seen, arrange events within a year in ehronolo­

gical sequence. In most cases this could perhaps be

accounted for by the insufficient chronological data

provided by his sources. Another reason may have been

his ccncsrn to place the most significant episode of a

year at the beginning of the major unit (annus).

In the previous discussion it was noted that

the impression of a closely knit narrative in ~abari's

work i6 more apparent than real. 52 This was partly

53

attributed to the very nature of the khabar narrative.

The annalistic structure itself contributes to the

lack of easy transition and development in the work.

An episode, for example;, may only last a few weeks at

the end of one year and run over into the next, but

the entire episode is placed in only one year. 53 Or

again,a year may contain one or two 'brief' encounters,

while the remainder of the year is a void.54 There is

consequently no clear distinction between the end of

one year and the commencement of .another; time lapses

are inde fini te and events are de·scribed as discrete

happenings and the narrative as a whole becomes

discontinuous.

Cb) Sisnificant Events

We noted above that it was part of ~abar!'s

task to select significant events for transmission. We

have also demonstrated how it was his custom to relate

the most important episode of a year at the beginning

of a new unit. 55 The events whose chronology has just

been described above are the significant events

(according to ~abari) for the period of this study.

Each bears a close relation to the central 'theme' of

our piece, namely, 'Abd al-Malik's attempts to re-construct

the power of the Umayyadsthroughout the empire.56

Although ~abar! possibly recognized the relational

significance of these events to the most important

political movement of the period, there is no stylistic

connection between them save for their position at the

commencement of each year.

We alluded above to an instance where ~abarI

altered the text of his source in order to place a

khabar in another context. 5? The occasion concerns the

battle between Khalid b. 'As!d and Ibn Ma'mar which is

known as the Day of Jufra ( 'ô;..sl' r ~ ). 58 ~abar!' s

account reveals an interesting aspect of his recons­

truction where he alters both the time and the context

of Khalid's assault upon Ba~ra.

Baladhur! places the account under the heading

nKhabar on the Day of Jufra in Balira in the year 69. 1159

More significantly, Abü Mikhnaf confirms the coincidence

of the battle of Jufra and the rebellion of 'Amr b.

Sa'Id.60 ~abar! has used the account of Jufra on the

authority of al-Mada'inI.6l The same version is found

in Balidhur! withonly slight variation of phrase and

v9cabulary.62 A comparison of the two texts shows that

~abarI has deliberately edited al-Mada'in!'s account to

remove any hint of the coincidence of these wo events.

55

IIWhen 'Abd al.-Malik le ft for Damascus, Mu~' ab had no

aim but (to reach) Ba~ra (where) he hoped to overtake

KhSlid. n This supposedly happened after the battle of

Jufra. KhSlid had failed to capture Ba~ra and so 'Abd

àl~Mal.ik retired to Damaseus ~hile Mu~'ab had hastened

to Ba~ra to take matters in hand. He remained in Ba~ra

awhile and roundly upbraided Ibn Ma'mar for granting

KhSlid safe conduct; he then summoned the leaders of

the community before him and publicly humiliated and

severely punished them.64 Jufra and its aftermath are

thus linked to the narrative of Mu~'ab's downfal.l.

BaladhurI's version how~ver places the ab ove quotation

in a very different context:65 .. ..1/ ';: --: ~,) J) ~\ ~ cj~\.;p t..:"'A'Q .. tJ~ U J

\#ùl\? d)..,~ 6\ ~) ~\ ~\ ~ .J ~ f J~Y\ "And when Mu~' ab had been given homage and 'Abd. al­

Malik had left for Damascus, because of 'Amr al-Ashdag,

~u~ab) had no aim but (to reach) Bavra (where) he

hoped to overtake Khalid." This shows that Jufra and

'Amr's rebellion fell close upon each other, and ~abarI's

omission of the phrase IIbecause of 'Amr al-'Ashdaq"

56

('Amr's agnomen was al-'Ashdaq) cannot be accidental.

~abar!'s juxtaposing Khalid's expedition and Mu~'ab's

downfall would indieate that he perceived an important

link between the two events and that combined they

constituted one of the significant epiaodes within the

wider context of 'Abd al-Malik's activities at this

time.

~abar! was not concerned wi th chronicaling .!U:. . possible events66 of the periode He does mention less

significant opposition movements against the Caliph

such as those led by 'Abd . ·Allih b. Khazim67 and Abü .

Fudayk the Khariaite.68 On the other hand, he only men­

tions in passing Zufar b. al-ijarith69 and even then not

in any recognizable contexte Zufar was the head of the

Qays who had fled to northern Syria after the debacle

of Marj Rahit in 64/684 where he had fought as a . supporter of 'Abd Allah b. az-zubayr.?O 'Abd al-Malik

was finally forced to besie.ge him in his main centre

QarqisIya until Zufar made peace.?l Nor does ~abarI

deal with the important Kharijite leader in the ~ijaz,

Najda b. 'Imir.72 He mentions only that Abü Fudayk, who

had succeeded Najda, slew the former leader of the

Khawarij.73 The tact that both Zufar and Najda are

mentioned only casually by name would suggest that ;

57

fabari deliberately'chose not to elaborate; this would

also reinforce our contention that he was highlighting

those events and personages he considered important. We

cannot, however, account for aome details on the same

basis. What significance, for example, did fabarI see

in the incident of the Khiri~ite at the mosque in Mini'

(paragraph 41) or in.the journey of Mu§'ab to Mecca

(paragraph45). Indeed, what in ~abari's view consti­

tuted a 'significant event'? To this question we shall

return in the final section.

We can now recapi tul~-œs. our argument to this

point. The examination of the elements of ~abarI's

composition showed the very strong traditional influences

of the khabar convention. It was this fundamental

element along with ~abari's conception of his basic

chronological unit, the year (annus), as a self­

contained unit, and the arrangement of events as dis­

crete units within the year which combined to give bis

work a disjointed character as a series of individual

anecodotes strung together. DeBpite this, however,

~abarI was quite consciously trying to impose a rational

principle of organization upon the mass of material he

had to work with. It was this principle, to construct

a chronological sequence of significant events, which

58

he employed to absorb the material of his predeeessors

which was largely in the form of monograph~. In this

respect, 'fabar!' s work marks an advance upon earlier

historians, to whom he was nevertheless deeply indebted.

III. The Nature of the Sources

The nature of 'fabari's inquiry raised a further

problem apart from the arrangement of significant events

in chronological order. This problem was the nature of

his sources; from the manner in which the problem

arises, it is evident that ~abar! wasat once aware of

its existence and unable to pro vide a solution.

The object of history to ~abarI was the human

past both remote and proximate.74 Entitled The History

of Prophets and Kings, his history spanned time from

the Creation ·to his own day. 'fabari was by no means the

first historian to be occupied with ancient story and

legend. '75 He was however, .the first 'Iraq! historian to

absorb the researches and products of the Medinan

scholars along with his 'Iraqi predecessors into a work

of more genuinely nuniversal" vision.

It was not surprising that Muslim scholars

considered ancient legend as the legitimate province of

their enquiries, since the Qur'in itself contained

59

scattered references to Creation, Adam and the ear1y

prophets.?6 God's purpos~ in creating man and in

sending the prophets was sufficient reason to acquire

knowledge of these matters: nI have only created jjnn

and men that the,. may serve Me." (51:56)77 Know1edge of

the past was in a sense neceasary to man's benefit:

There is, in their stories (i.e. of the 'Prophets), instruction for men endowed with understanding. It is not a tale invented, but a confirmation of what vent before it, a detai1ed exposition of al1 th1ngs, and a guide and a mercy to any such as be1ieve." (12:111)

Such know1edge was by implication possible and so the

nature of the sources of this knQw1edge became

important.

Data of pre-Is1amic events could not be obtained

through a re1iab1e ~.hain of transmi tters (isnad). The

sources deemed reliable for know1edge of such events

vere the Prophet and the pious predecessors.78 ~abarI

discusses; for examp1e, the duration of Adam and Eve's

sojourn in Paradise before God sent them to earth.79

Assessing the value of one source, ~abarI notes that

Il (the transmi tter's) words are not far from the truth

in this matter since the information (akhbar) emanates

trom the predecessors (salat) among the scholars. n80

60

Then, citing a report on the same question from Hishim

b. MuQ.ammad al-KalbI, ~abarI says, "these words are

contrary to the reports adduced on the authority of the

Prophet and of the predecessors (salat) of our learned

men. 1t8l

Next is the problem of the locale of Adam and

Eve's descent to earth. The collective authority of the

"scholars of the predecessors (salaf) of the community

of our Prophet" was that they descenç..ed together into

Hind (India).82 A report from Ibn IsQ.aq who quotes

"the people of thE; Torahll as his authority says that

Adam descended into India but that Eve was put down in

Jedda near Mecca.83 ~abarI, however, cautions the

reader against this report, implying preference for

thè~ ~ authori ty of the salaf. He wri tes,

This is an instance where certain knowledge cannot be obtained except by a report (khabar) (of the salaf)84 which is adduced as evidence. No report is known (for certain) of this matter except that Adam (and Eve) descended into India. Therefore this is something which the scholars of Islam [n.b. not the salat] and the people of the Torah and the Gospels cannot refute although evidence has been established through some of their reports.85

61

In another plac.e ~abarI rejects a report from

Ibn Isoaq because the latter does not attribute his

report to anyone.86 The issue concerns the first object . .

which God created; no ~.knowledge could be ascertained

of this matter except by a report (khabar) from God or

His Prophet. The Prophet' s work;. is correct 'owing to hie

veracity and soundness.87

Elsewhere ~abarI employs material from Jewish

and Christian historians88 and Persian chronicles89 but

one would assume that he did so with the reservation

that either the sala! or the Prophet (or the Qur'in

itself) are preferable where such reports are avail­

able. There is the example of the traditions which

discuss the age of the world.90 A report from the

Prophet states that it will last six thousand years.

One who brings this khabar as evidence is on sound

ground. Then there follows divergent traditions from

the communities of the Jews,91 the Greek Christians,92

and the Majüs.93 In each of these latter cases, ~abarI

introduces the tradition with the phrase, "As for that

which the y (i.e. Jews etc.) allege ••• " ( (')). The

preference is clearly with the tradition from the

Prophet who ranks as the best authority.

This emphasis upon the varying soundness of

62

different authorities reflects an interesting dis'tinc­

tion between the pre-Islamic and Qur'inic concepts of

.' i!!!!., "knowledgen , which Professor Izutsu has described

in his book, God and Man in the Koran.95 The basic

"meaning of "knowledge tl is "knowledge by inference",

that is, knowledge derived from some given data, while

the relational meaning varies with the context in which

the '110 rd is employed. Tge difference between the rela­

tional meaning in the Jihill and Qur'inic contexts is

related to the source from which the knowle~ge ls derive~

In pre-Islamic times 'il! could mean knowledge

derived from one's own personal experience. This 'lias

opposed to zenn which 'lias only subjective thought and

therefore ,unreliable. '!lm in the same context could

be derived from a second source, namely tribal tradi­

tion. In this sense, "knowledge tl 'lias preserved mainly

in the form of proverbs (amthil) • Both of these sources

guaranteed a kind of univers al validity for knowledge.

The Qur'ànic u.sage of '!!!. on the other hand,

reveals a very different ground for validity. Knowledge

in this context 'lias derived from God's revelation which

possessed absolute objective validity, owing to the

source of this knowledge being divine Truth (~). By

comparison, the pre-Islamic concept of 'i!! is

63

downgr'aded to mere ;ann. Professor Izutsu illustrates

this difference by the Qur'inic verse in wbich the

unbelievers refuse to accept God and the Hereafter

asserting instead that there 1s only an earthly exis­

tence: "Of that they' (the kifirs, unbelievers) have no

certain knowledge ('~); theyare merely conjecturing

(ta;unnUna) • ,,96

Tabar! distinguishes between the nature of bis

sources in a similar w87. The Prophet and the pious

predecessors are an absolutely reliable source from

which certain knowledge can be derived. ~he Jews,

Christians and the Majüs on the other hand can only

make "claims" to certain things wbich equates their

informationJdLt~conaec~en.97

Tabar! ,had, therefore, implicitly defined a

source, the nature of which could provide certain

knowledge of past events. Thus far he was on firm ground.

The period under review in this study however, cause ..

the problem of the sources to be raised once again. The

Prophet and the pious predecessors could in no way be

regarded as sources (reliable or otherwise) for the

reign of 'Abd al-Malik. Simply, the problem was that

outside the Prophet and the salat there !!! no objec­

tive criterion for determining whether or not a given

64

source was reliable; the line between "certain knowledgefl

and "conjecture" was blurred. Indeed, this was, in the

words of Professor Mahdi, fla major problem which tradi­

tional historiography could not sOlve.,,98 Nevertheless,

~abari must have at least assumed that not !!! know­

ledge of the past need be ~ conjecture. Otherwise

history would become impossible to record. He adopted

a certain definite standpoint, which is set out concise­

ly in his introduction and is, so far as we know, the

earliest evidence of a practicing historian reflecting

upon his discipline:

(a) The knowledge of the events of past nations, and of the information about what is currently taking place, does not reach one who ls not contemporary to, or does not observe, such events except through the reports of historians and the transmission of transmitters. (b) These (historians, transmitters) should not use rational deductions and ment~ elucidations.99

Now if there happens to be in this book a report that l have transmitted from some past authority to which the reader objects or which the hearer detests because he does not see how it could possibly be true or correct, let him know that this report did not originate with me, but came from some of those who transmitted it to me and all l did was to deliver lt as it was delivered to me.100

_. In the first part of this statement (a) ~abarr is

saying that the knowledge of all events, past and

present, (except those events which one is contemporary

to or has himself witnessed) is dependent upon the

akhbir of other.historians and transmitters, who them-. .

selves may rely upon rëports transmitted to them by

reporters who should either have been contemporary to

or have witnessed the events they describe. In other

words, a historian, like ~abarI, could obtain the

highest degree of immediacy to a past event only from

the khabar whose original reporter was, or claimed to

have been, either a contemporary to or a witness of a

given event.

The practice had emerged under the influence of

the science of hadIth of affixing to each report a

chain of authorities leading back to the original

transmitter.1Ql This system, however, could not always

guarantee that ~abarI, for example, could obtain the

highest degree of immediacy to a past event through the

reports of eyewitnesses or contemporaries. This was

owing to th~ fact that the earliest 'IraqI historians

only infrequently employed the device of the lsnad.

A case in point is the lengthy account of

'Awana concerning 'Amr b. Sa'Id and 'Abd al-Malik. 'Awana

gives no indication of his sources here, although in

other cases we know that he transmitted from his

father,102 who may well have been contemporaneous to

the events of our periode Abu Mikhnaf on the other hand

seems to have used the isnad more consistently than

his fellow Kufan, 'Awana, and certainly much of his

material emanated from contemporary sources.103 A

good example of a contemporary report is that of al­

W,aqidi in the episode of MUQ' ab. The isnad of the

khabar reads: "Muo,ammad b. 'Umar mentioned trom 'Abd

Ulih b. Muoammad b. 'Abd Allih b. abi Qarra from

Is~aq b. 'Abd Allan b. abi Farwa from Raja' b. Haywa ••• "

(paragraph 59). Iso,aq was the son of 'Abd Allah b.

abi Farwa who was one of the lesser personages in

the drama of MUQ'ab's downfall.104 The khabar there­

fore must have originated close to the time and the

place of the events in Ba§ra.

There are also several akhbar in our excerpt

which are first hand reports. In the discussion which

centers around the circumstances leading up to the

death of 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubay~ (year 73), there

occurs a report the isnad of which runs: "Al-ij:irith

related to us (saying) MUQ-ammad b. Sa'd related to us

(saying}Mu~ammad b. 'Um~related to us (saying) Iso,aq

6·7

b. Yaoya related to me ',on the authority of Yusuf b.

Mahak who said: 'I sav ••• ·" (paragraph 137). Then the

stor,. of the bombardment by al-ijajjaj during his siège

of Ibn' az-Zubayr is related. The succeeding .~':,khabar

originates with one al-Mundbir b. Jahm al-Asad! who

states tbat he saw Ibn az-Zubayr on the day he vas

killed (paragrapb 138). Other examples could be cited.105

Despite the examples of both contemporary and

eyewitness reports in our sources it would be true to

say that the majority of akhbar for this period could

not be traced to the original transmitters. Tbe

'Ioriginal" sources were therefore essentially anony­

mous and even with eye-witnesses and contemporary

reports, the historian could not apply his technique

of authority-criticism to authors and transmitters

about whom he knew little or nothing at all. ~abarr

might thus depend upon the general reputation for

acceptability as authorities which had grown up around

men like 'Awana and Abu Mikhnaf. It was precisely on

this point that the most pointed criticisms against the

traditional methods were raised by the Mu'tazilites:

They stressed the necessity of rational under­standing and the' exploration of the nature and causes of things, and refused to accept reports

G8

whose only cla1m to truth was the multiple chain of authorit1es pref1xed to them. They asserted that 'the whole (Muslim) community could agree on what 1s false' and that lit 1s possible that an infinitely numerous group of people would lie'. They demanded that conviction be based on rational grounds and not solely on authority. App11ed to histor,y, th1s meant the acceptance of what 1s inherently reasonable and the rejection of what is not.10G

In this light, the tone of the last part of

~abarI's statement (b) is an uncompromising defence

of traditional methods. Nevertheless he allowed him­

self, as we have seen, a certain latitude in the compo­

sition and arrangement of his work which did not precise­

ly fit the prescr1ption of transmitting material exact­

ly as he found it. Indeed, he even admitted employing

rational proofs and mental elucidations although to a

very minimal degree;107 they served him only inciden­

tally and not as fundamental principles.

~abarI eschewed the use of reason in history

but this did not preclude a measure of rational judge­

ment in selecting his material.108 There is some evi­

dence, although by no means conclusive, to suggest

that ~abarI may have omitted akhbir overtly judgemental

of individuals.109 ~abari was undoubtedly aware of

traditions from the Prophet warning against indiscri­

minate reporting and conje~ture. Two of these tradi­

tions which are found in the canonical collections

(and were perhaps current in the early 9th century) are

quoted by as-SakhawI in his work on historiography:

nBeware of conjectures, for conjectures are the

greatest lie,,110 and nA man is enough of a l.iar if he

reports all he hears. nlll To this latter tradition·

as-SakhawI adds, nThe historian should thus protect

himself against the unconscious commission of (base­

less) expansion,.,;, vilifications , vituperations, and

(acts of) hbstility.nl 12 As-SakhawI (d. 902/1497) it

should be noted defendedthe traditional methods of

history.

Nor was ~abarI a simple uncritical compiler of

historical material, which might have more accurately

characterized his predecessors. As far as comparison is

possible within the scope of this study, ~abarI does

not seem to have been interested in transmitting all

manner of akhbar on a particular event regardless of

their contradictions. On the episode of 'Amr b. Sa'Id,

BaladhurI presents akhbar from a number of sources

including Abü Mikhnaf, al-Haytham b. 'AdI, and al­

Mada'inI.ll; He has no account from 'Awina which

~abarI uses in his own work. In one essential detail

the reports are in disagreement, and that concerns the

specifie person who kills 'Amr. The concurrence of

authori ties in BaladhurI have Abü Zu' ayzi' a R:ill' ':.br on

'Abd al-Malik's orders.1l4 ~abari on the other hand,

using 'Awana as his source, has 'Abd al-Malik kill

'Amr with his own hands. This is not merely a question

of suppressing other material for ~abarInotes, "It is

said that when 'Abd al-Malik 1eft to pray, he had

ordered hi~ servant Abü Zu'ayzi'a to kill 'Amr, which

deed he did." (paragraph 24) It is evident from this

that ~abari was aware of the other reports. He may . - .

have judged that in either case 'Abd al-Malik would have

been morally responsible for 'Amr's death. knyhow, by

selecting ooly the one account, ~abari avoided the cum­

bersome duplication of.details which is so apparent a

part of BaladhurI's version. In the final analysis,

~abarIts position on the use of reason appears ambi­

guous to us. While denying the use of reason, ~abarI

nevertheless displays an evident tendency to employ

rational principles of organization and selection. The

first of these principles, of organizing his work by

chronologically significant episodes was discussed in

the previous section. Bere another acute problem has

?!

been raised. We have shown how ~abarI used his criterion

of absolute reliability for reports from the Prophet

and the sala! as against other authorities. In the light

of the Mu'taz1lite criticisms ~abarI's defence of the

traditional methods indicates his awareness of a theore­

tical problem concerniDg his later sources when so few

of these reports emanated from eyewit.ness • The very

fact that he compiled bis history revealed as well

that he regarded it possible to construct a work based

upon other than mere conjecture. Then, in the instance

cited above of the various accounts of 'Amr's death,

~abarI has clearly made a rational choice of his

material, even if he "judged" (i.e. rationally conclu­

ded)that 'Abd al-Malik was in !al case morally respon­

sible for his act, and thereby judg,bi.g:~· each version

equally valide Tbis problem of reason, which we encoun­

ter for the first time in ~abar! (since earlier histo­

tians give no indication of even their awareness that

a problem existed) is not resolved explicitly by him.

It may not be possible (certainly not within

the limits of this study) to arrive at a final state­

ment concerning ~abari's criteria for significant

events or for selection of material. A line of enquiry

will be suggested in the following section of the

72

analysis, which links an understanding of ~abarJ:' suse

of reason with the wider problem of the place of Godin

Islamic history.

I~ The Place of God in History

The purpose of this section is to provide at

least an intelligible explanation for~abarr's ambi­

guous position concerning the use of reason. For example,

if ~abarl demonstrates some rational principle of orga­

nization, what can we say, if anything, of his criterion

of a "significant event". Or again, in the absence of

sound objective criteria for the reliability of

reports, what solution, if any, -did ~abari envisage.

The observations made here should be accepted as tenta­

tive since a much more extensive investigation needs

be made to arrive at a definitive statement.

We shall start with the place of God in history.

The Qur'anic viewpoint of the God -- Man relation is

convenient for this purpose since ~abarJ:'s own concept

of history (commencing with God's creation of the world)

is clearly influenced by the Qur'anic outlook. Next,

history as the record of man's actions in the past will

introduce the man-to-man relationship. To each of

these relationships the question of causation is raised;

?ô

does God cause man's actions, or does man act of his

own accordl It will be seen that wo rational. explana­

tions can be offered in terms of ~abari's text itself,

one determinist (i.e. inevitable), the other note How­

ever, viewed against the background of the total.

Islamic perspective (God - Man) the ambiguity of the

function of reason emerges, since any explanation of

events i5 beyond reason's grasp.

The material transmitted by early Muslim

historians comprises elements of legend ~d."'Jnnh':::as·:~well

as proper historical. narrative. The Muslim historian's

interest in Time from Creation was motivated by the

Qur'inic allusions to creation, the stories of the

prophets aIid ancient peoples. As the Creator of Time

past, Time present and Time future, God assumed the

central point in the Muslim's world view.115 "This,

then, is Allan your Lord, there is no God save Bim, the

Creator of everything. nl16

From a wider perspective the Qur'inic Weltans­

chauung is a "large multi-strata system standing on a

number of basic conceptual oppositions", a world "over

which reigns an intense atmosphere of spiritual strain

and tension".ll? According to Professor Izutsu the most

important and fundamental opposition i8 the relation

between God and Man. 118 While GOd, ontologically, ls

Being over against which nothing in the world can be

opposed, nwhat God is, says and does,. becomes a

problem chiefly, if not exclusively, in connectlon

with the problem of how man reacts to lt. nl19 God

74

and Man became the major poles of this basic concep­

tual opposition. Professor Izutsu sees the God - Man

opposition in the Qur'in as a multiple and reciprocal

relationship. Briefly, these are a) the ontological or

Creator - creature relation; b) the communicative rela­

tion which distinguishes between 1. the verbal aspect

which is God's revelation on the one hand and man's

prayer on the other, and 2. the non-verbal aspect

meaning God's 'signs' which he has sent down on the one

hand and man's cult practices on the other; c) the

Lord-servant relation between an all-powerful, omni-

acient Lord and His humble obedient servant; d} the

ethical relation. Rere God is merciful, beneficent and

forgiving to man when he is thankful (shukr) for these

kindnesses or God is wrathful toman who is ungrate­

ful (kufr).120

In terms of this last, the ethical relation,

~abari describes in his introduction the pervasive

importance of the God - Man relationship in history;

again, the statement is the first, 80 far as we know,

7·5

by a historian describing the place of God in history:

In this book of mine l mention ••• those upon whom God had placed His blessing and favour from the beginning and who in turn were thankful for His favour; such as these weœa prophet who had been sent, or a king made sovereign, or a caliph appointed as successor. And God increased that initial favour in this world and His pref.erred bounty (upon each). And there were those whose favour was witheld by God Who kept it in trust for them. And there were those of them who were ungrateful for His favour and so He stripped His favour from them and hastened His revenge. And there were those among them who were ungrate­ful for His favour, but God allowed them enjoy­ment of that favour He had granted until their death and destruction.12l

God is sovereign over allhuman destiny,

altho~gh the evidence of divine sovereignty actually

observable in history is sometimes obscure. God may

.hold in trust His fav~r of one who has been grateful

for it, or He may allow one who has demonstrated his

ingratitude, to enjoy His favour for the duration of

his lifetime on earth. This, of course, implies Godls

sovereignty beyond history as well, which reflects the

Muslim eschatological belief of man's individual

'apPointed time' ('ajal) beyond which lies the end of

the real world (dunya) at the Hour (as-sa'a) or the

Day of Judgement which itself is the.threshold of

eternal life (al-khulüd) .122 Over ~ this God is

sovereign.

76

The proper province of history however is the

human past, or,. more precisely, the actions performed

by men at determinate times in the past. As ~abar!

himself says, bis history treats of ancient kings,

messengers (of God) and prophets and the O~ aliphs •123

The bulk of the work deals with the time of the Prophet

Mu}J.ammad onward. History therefore has an axis other

than the vertical God - Man relation described already.

The h0.r.izontal axis is history as the record of man's

action and inter-relations. While theology or philoso­

phy are those branches of knowledge particularly

devoted to the relation of God to Man, history is more

properly concerned vith Man. In the Islamic system as

even with modern Christian interpretations of history

the vertical axis can never be lost sight of. The

total gestalt of the Islamic historical perspective

therefore resembles

the triangle in our diagtam,

where both the horizontal and

vertical axis are combined. In the

following discussion ve shall trace

Cèocl.

briefly the nature of the horizontal axis and then

de scribe the place of God in this scheme.

Not unnaturally the period under study here

was dominated by a series of cOnflicts, as 'Abd al­

Malik attempted stage by st~ge to re-impose Umayyad

authority over the provinces. The nature of these

conflicts bear examination for what they reveal of the

man-to-man relation in history.

Th three episodes of our period reveal certain

. remarkable similarities. In each, a situation emerges

as an irreconcilable conflict between the antagonists,

resolved only by the death of one of them. In other

words, given the known, that is the death of one of the

antagonists, the event is described as the consequence

of an irreconcilable conflict. In each episode either

the victor or the defeated views the predicament in the

same way.

For example, when 'Abd al-Malik has brought

'Amr to him, he places a chain upon his neck. 'Amr

pleads for his release and the Caliph replies, "By

GOd, were l sure that you would spare me if you were

to be spared, and the Quraysh were to be peaceful, then

l would set you free. But two men never meet in one city

in a situation such as ours save one of them expeliB

the other". Tao late does 'Amr realize the Caliph' s

intention to kill him. l24

With Mu~'ab b. az-Zubayr, 'Abd al-Malik had

sent his brother Mu~ammad to offer him safe conduct

(,.~) and Mu~' ab replied, "0ne like myself does not­

retreat from. a situation such as this except as

conqueror or conquered."l25 This, despite his realiza­

tion that he had been abandoned almost to a man.

The situation of 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr is

put in the words of his mother who says to him, "If

you were to say, '1 am right and yet when MY companioDS

.become weak, l am become weak', this is not the act of

free men nor of people of religion. How long is your

life on earth (khulud)? Death is better!" 'Abd Allan

agrees with her and says, nThis day shall l be killed. n126

With the odds weighted heavily against them

Mu~'ab and 'Abd Allah b. az.-Zubayr choose to go down

fighting thus forcing a violent resolution to their

conflict with 'Abd al-Malik. In the case of 'Amr b.

Sa'Id the element of choice is perhaps not as evident,

but he does contribute to making his conflict with his

cousin irreconcilable. One factor was his haughty

behaviour towards the Caliph after the peace treaty

between them had been arranged. When 'Abd al-Malik had

?9

re-entered Damascus and ordered 'Amr to supply the

people with provisions, 'Amr replied, "This is no city

for you, so leave itt,,12? Al-Madi'ini transmits an

account in which 'Amr at first is well received by

'Abd al-Malik. Then one day, 'Amr said to him,

"Indeed, l am more worthy of the caliphate than you.

80 if you want, break the peace and pr.epare for war. ,,128

Furthermore 'Amr failed ~o heed his frie~~s~advice

not to answer the Caliph's summons.129 His friend,

'Abd Allah b. Yazid b. Mu'iwiya ventured the analogy

of one of the sons of Ismi'il who locked the gates of

Damascus, then set forth -from the city and was shortly

thereafter killed. But 'Amr insisted and set out to

meet 'Abd al-Malik armed and escorted by a hundred &

-of his mawJ.i.

'Awana includes in his account an anecdote to

show that the enmi ty between 'Abd al-Malik and 'Amr

b. 8a'id was deep rooted.130 It was Umm Marwin's custom

whenev.er the cousins came to visit her to excite

discord between them until "finally a lasting enmity

for each other became rooted in their hearts."

As againstanother level of explanation, which

in itself would have been adequate to explain the down­

fall of each of the Caliph's adversaries, the similarities

of the 'irreconcilable conflict' situation in each

episode appear more striking. 'Amr, for example, was

disgruntled because of Marwan b. al-ijakam's failure

80

(and after him 'Abd al-Malik) to nominate him for the

caliphate which had been promised him at the so-called

cong~ of Jabiya after the battle of Marj Rihiv.131

As long as he was dissatisfied in this respect or

remained without recompense of any kind, he was a poten­

tial threat ~o 'Abd al-Malik. The downfall of Muv'ab

and 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr may be said to have been

brought about by the desertion of their supporters

to 'Abd al-Malik's side. The reasons for desertion in

each case was possibly different. Muv'ab was probably

abandoned owing to his own ruthless treatment of ranking

'IraqIs following' the battle of Jufra.132 This may also

explain why ~abarI deliberately chose to alter the

context and time of the Day ,·:of Jufra and juxtapose it

with the circumstances of MU$'ab's death.133 In the case

of 'Abd Allih, the Meccans were prepared to take advan­

tage of al-ijajjaj's offer of safe conduct ('~)

even including Ibn az-Zubayr's sons.134

Apart form this level of explanation, the

factor of the irreconcilable conflict is consistent to

the three episodes. The cause of downfall in each

instance appears to lie in the nature of the predicament

81

in which the adversaries found themselves. The function

of the irreconcilable conflict then provides the suffi­

cient condition of the downfall of the Caliph's adver­

saries and their deaths were consequently inevitable.

Thetyranny. of sheer deter~nism is avoided by the

element of choice involved in the fate of each anta­

gonist. The inevitable consequence of an irreconcilable

conflict could be taken to ~'mean that either one or

both of the antagonists could not reasonably have been

expected in the circumstances to act in a different

manner. The horizontal axis, or history as the record

of man's acts, can therefore be rationally explained.

However, it is precisely here that man ~

history must be viewed against the full historical

parspective; for, while Han is the focal point of

History, God is The Focal Point. From ~~barI's descrip­

tion quoted above, God's omnipresence both in and

beyond history was deduced. In the Qur'anic world view

God's sovereignty is absolute in the sense of His

governing the whole course of human affairs and as

judge of man's destiny in the Hereafter. l35 GOd, as

Sovereign, therefore, could determine the 'appointed

timë' ('ajal) of each of His creatures. The deaths of

'Amr, Mu~'ab and 'Abd Allah were their 'appointed times'

and were therefore inevitable and determined by God.

An event may then be interpreted as the result of

direct intervention of God; it may B2! be explained by

resort to reason because God's purpose cannot be

rationally grasped.

On the other hand, Man in history appears to

an extent to determine his own fate and / or the fate

of others. Islam, in contrast with the Jahili view

(as we noted in our Introduction, p. 11 ) had introduced

a new significance or dimension to man's actions; they

became relevant not only to the present but also to

the future. History which is the record of man's actions

is directed toward an anticipated ;- end, the Judgement

Hour. An event may then appear to result from the

free act of ma·n himself; but in this case the act

assumes an eschatological significance and the ulti­

mate explanation of it (and the event).is not found !!! history but beyond it, and therefore beyond reason's

province.

'Abd al-Malik had felt no alternative but to

kill 'Amr. When he had executed the deed (and 'Amr) he

acknowledged his awareness that he had committed a sin.·

liA worldly man", he says, "who sought nothing of the

Hereafter (al-'akhira) has killed him. 1I1;6 Far from

85.

being an act of Divine will, 'Abd al-Malik realized

that 'Amr's death for which he must answer would have

its consequences not in this world, but in the next.

It was, ironically, 'Amr himself who had called the

Damascenes' attention to the fact that the Quraysh had

no power to command obedience on the threat of punish­

ment in Hellfire.13? This was a matter for God alone.

The conceptual .structure of the Hereafter comprises

the Garden (al-janna) and Hell Fire (al-jahannam). The

entire structure operates directly upon man's life

through the eternal Reward and Punishment.138 "The

presence of janna and jahannam must make itself felt

in the form of the moral conscience whenever man does

something, whenever man acts in this world. It is the

very source of the moral values.,,139

'Abd al-Malik acknowleged his act but claimed

he had no option except to ~ill his cousin. 'Amr's

wife held the Caliph criminally responsible as she had

wrapped the peace treaty between her husband and the

Caliph in 'Amr's shroud that he might use it in evidence

against the Caliph with God.140 'Amr's son Sa'!d put the

situation in its proper perspective when he said to

'Abd al-Malik, tlyou know best what you have done; 'Amr

is now with God and God is sufficient as a Reckoner.,,14l

st!-

Whether or not 'Abd al-Malik committed his act freely,

and whether or not he is responsible for it is ultimate-

1y irrelevant. All explanations are only probable; the

certain explanation is wi th God.

In contrast to this situation the death of

~'ab is viewed by 'Abd Allah and 'Abd al-Malik as

an act of God. When the news of Mu~'ab's death reached

'Abd Allah, he was moved to say, "Goq does not humble

whosoever possesses the truth even though he be unique;

nor does He exalt anyone whose master is the devil and

bis crew, even though mankind without exception be with

bim. n142 Mu~'ab died alone, not humbled by GOd, but

rather as a martyr. 'Abd al-Malik is reported to have

observed on Mu~'ab's death that "We had striven to spare

bim, but God refused that. n143 Ibn ar-Riqi'a, a parti­

san of the Caliph's had said, "He is not overcome,

whom God helps."l44 And so, even if the event is viewed

as an act of GOd, the purpose of His determining 'Amr's

'appointed time' remains unanswered.

'Abd Allih b. az-Zubayr is qui,te unambiguous

about his decision to fight to the death. He believed

himself fighting in the way· of God. He had rebelled out

of anger that things which God had decreed forbidden

were being tolerated. He claimed he had always sought

God's pleasure and had never committed a purposeful act

of injustice toward anyone.145 'Abd Allah died with

his conscience clear; on principle he could not be

expected to compromise with~, 'Abd al-Malik. It is

interesting that before his death he recited the chap­

ter of the Pen from the Qur'in which illustrates by

example the Truth as against false standards set up by

man. The seventh verse reveals the ambiguity of the

human situation: "Surely thy Lord knows very well those

who have gone astray from His way, and He knows very

well those who are guided." (68:7)146 'Abd Allah

believed he was rightly guided. By choosing to follow

Godls will, he was in a sense determined by that will

to act the way he did, but once a~ain God's u1timate

purpose cannot be deduced.

~abarI therefore saw no.relevance in searching

for the nature and causes of things as the Mu'tazilites

had insisted. There was no 'internal aspect' to histori­

cal eventsby which they could be understood and

explained. Any ultimate explanation lay beyond history.

Explanation furnished by man's reason alone was only

probable.147 Certainty was only with God.

To return now to the two questions posed at the

beginning of this section which themselves had arisen

86

out of our previous d1scussion.First, what constltutes

a 'significant event'. It shotiId be recalled that ~abarI's

total 11terary output was the work of a t~tionist as

weIl as hlstorian. "In this great ta'rikh, 'fabarI

the traditionist is ever at the elbow of 'fabari the

historian, and in his lengthy tafsir, the historien is

equally at the elbow of the traditionist and commenta­

tor.,,148 His history, in fact, whlch seems to date

later than his commentary, maybe eonsidered as a supple­

ment to the tafsir. History therefore, msy be said to

be the divine will teaching by example. "If Tradition,

like the Quran, provlded positive commands and injunc­

tions, history pointed to the consequences of heeding

or ignoring these.,,149 The didactic element, in other

words, which is evident in the earller historlans, ls

used by ~abari as a criterion for the. narration of

certain episodes whlch he eonsidered significant in

this respect. This consideration need not override

another aspect which was, that those episodes which

~abari placed at the beginning of each year were 81so,

in his view, the most significant political events

relevant to the major poli tic al movement of the period,

which was 'Abd al-Malik's efforts to re-impose Umayyad'

authority in the empire. The didactic element supplemented

87

the politiiHll significance of an event. A significant

event tben,"iJ;).: ~abar! 's view, may have been an event of

poli tical"slgnificance whiclt at the same time served a

didactic purpose.

History, therefore, was not only the narration

of the acts of man, but it also revealed the sovereign­

ty of God over everything in and beyond history. Man,

through the study of his cw.n past is reminded by

example of God's sovereignty. Although His purpose ~

history may not be discerned, the hand of his favour

and displeasure could be interpreted and appreciated.

'Abd al-Malik at least was mov~ to sayon one occa­

sion to 'Abd Allan b. Yaz!d al-QasrI who had lost his

family, "That is for the evil your hands wrought before­

time, for God.will not deal wrongfully towàrds his

servants." (paragraph ;6)

Admittedly not all events can be accounted for

in this manner. The reports of the Kharijite at Mini

and of MUIi' ab' s journey to Mecca (paragraphs ~l and %

respectively) have no discernible didactie,. content.

Our explanation of a 'significant avent' may

also provide a partial explanation for ~abarI's selec­

tionof 'Awana's account over others concerning 'Amr b.

Sa'!d's death. The didactic element which is very

88

evident in 'Awana's account is absent from all other

accounts in Baladhuri. The implication of this is that

authoritywas not TabarI's only criterion for selec­

ting this version. Indeed, he eould have as easily

ineluded the reports of Abü Mikhnaf and al-Mada'inI

both of whom were generally regarded as reputable and

reliable. However, the fact that ~abari selected only

, Awana 's account "would tend to support the hypothesis

that the didactic contênt may have been his guide.

On the other h~d if we view the episode in the

light of this last section of the analysis, we could

ask, how does one explain the death of 'Amr; was it

the force of circumstances which presented no alterna­

tive to 'Abd al-Malik but to kill his cousin; had 'Amr

been 'bought off' in some way could it all have been

avoided~ All such questions and answers to them provided

on rational grounds are ultimately irrelevant because

they cannot be answered; at best any explanation is

only probable, not certain.

In the episodes of Mu~'ab and 'Abd Allah b.

az-Zubayr the didactic element may also have been a

factor in ~abari's selection of his khabar. But again

we should consider Tabari's rejection of reason in the

light of our present argument. When there was an absence

89

of eyewitness or contemporary reports (as was so in

the majority of cases) there existed no objective

criterion for a reportls re11ab1l1ty. As a general

principle therefore, explanation provided by these

sources was only probable, not certain. To construct

an episode from akhbar with some rational principle

in mind (eg. an irreconcilable conflict) was ~ !!D!, a vain pursuit .• Since historical explanation was only

probable, history was not about the investigation into

the nature and causes of events. This would apply

equally t6 episodes constructed entirely from eye­

witness accounts, which would yield a reliable account,

but not certain rational explanation.

NOTES

Introduction

1. H.A.R. Gibb, "Ta'rikh", in his Studies on the Civilization of Islam, eds. S. Shaw and W. Polk (London, 1962~, p. 118.

2. Full details of the historical development of these events are found in J. Wellhausen, The Arab Kingdom and its Fall, transe M. Weir (Beirut: Khayats, 1963), chaps. 3 and 4. The crucial events immediately preceding 'Abd al-Malik's caliphate are well treated in Henri Lammens'short study, -ilL 'Avènement des Marwanides et le Califate de Marwan 1er." M.F .• O., XII (1927), 43-142. There are two popular works, in Arabie, on 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan: 'Umar Abu Na~r, 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwin, (Beirut, 1962) and Ri~a' ar-Rayyis, 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan, (Cairo, n.d.).

Part One

1. J. Obermann, "Early Islam", in R.C. Dentan ed., The Idea of History in the Ancient Near East, (Yale University Press, paperback ed., 1967), pp. 241-242.

2. T. Izutsu, The Ethico-Religious Concepts of the Quran, (McGill University Press, 1967), p. 42.

90

91

3. ~., p. 62.

4-. The most comprehensive account of .. this 1iterature is that of W. Caske1 entitled "Ai;Jam al-Arab", Is1amica, III, Pt. 5. (1930), 1-99.

5. The Southern or YemenI Arabs traced their descent to Qao~an, whi1e the Northern Arabs traced theirs to 'AdnSn..

6. Obermann, "Early Islam", p. 253.

7. l zut su , Concepts, p. 4-7.

8. Qur'an, ~5:23.

9. Quoted in Izutsu, Concepts, pp. 4-9-50.

10. ~., pp. 105-106.

11. H.A.R. Gibb, "An Interpretation of Islamic History", in his Studies, p. 8.

12. Even this poetry had fal1en under the influence ~f the new era. Prof. Gibb remarks of the naga'id poetry that "the very fact that major poets should 50 pander to the vu1gar tastes of the urbanized tribesmen,however, shows how far they had departed from the simple, if narrow, loyalties and moralities of the old poetry." Arabie Literature: An Introduc­~, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1963), p. 4-3.

13. As Obermann does, "Ear1y Islam", pp. 271-272.

14. N. Abbott, Studies in Arabie Literary Papyri: l, (Chicago University Press, 1957), p. 7; J. Horowitz, "The Ear1iest Biographers of the Prophet and their Authors", Is1amic Culture, l (1927).p.536 sq.

92

15. A.A. Duri, "AI-Zuhri: A Study on the Beginnings of History Writing in Islam", BSOAS, XIX (1957), pp. 3-4; Horowitz, Islamic Culture, l (1927), p.548.

16. Horowitz, Is1amic Culture, l (1927), pp. 537-542.

17. Ibid., pp, 542-550.

18. ~.t p. 550; cf. Abbott, Studies: l, pp. 15-20.

19. F. Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography, (Leiden, 1952), p. 59.

20. Abbott, Studies: l, p. 7.

21. Rosenthal, Historiography, pp. 59-60.

22. Abbott, Studies: l, p. 9.

23. Duri, BSOAS, XIX (1957), p. 10.

24. aadith here should be understood as khabar.

25. Duri, BSOAS, XIX (1957), p. 12.

26. The Muslim wor1d view as reflected in the Qur'in is more. complex than being mere1y theocentric. We have used the term here to contrast it with the Jahili wor1d view which was essentially anthropocentric.·A detai1ed discussion of these differences is found in T. Izutsu, God and Man in the Koran, (Tokyo, 1964), chap. 3. In Part Two, section IV of this study we sha11 discuss the place of God in Is1amic history.

27. On the deve10pment of Küfa and Balira see the articles in the Encyc10pedia of Islam: E.I. 1 , II, pp. 1107-1108 (KÜfa) and E.I. 2 , l, pp. 1085-1086 (Ba/ira.) •

93

28. It shou1d be reca11ed that the ~u11 name of Medina was Medinat an-Nabi, "The City of the Prophet", a tit1e which was re~lected in the city's being the center for gadIth study and research into the lives of MUQammad and his Companions.

29. On the ~iwi see the work of Régis B1achère, Histoire de la Litterature Arabe, (Paris, 1952), pp. 92-93; see a1so article on "Shi'ir" in E.I. I , IV, p. 295.

30. B1achère, Histoire, p. 98 and fn. 6.

31. Ibn Nadim, Fihrist, p. 98:9. . .

32. ~., p. 103:23 (al-Madi'in!) and p. 99:28 (al-Haytham b. 'Adi).

33. B1achère, Histoire, pp. 99-100.

34. ~., pp. 96-107; see also A.A. Duri, "The Iraqi Schoo1 o~ Historiography to the 9th. Century" in B. Lewis and P.M. Ho1t, eds •. , Historians of the Middle East, (London, 1961), p. 48.

35. Duri, "The Iraqi Schoo1", p. 48.

36. Ibn Nadim, Fihrist, p. 93; Yaq~,Irshid, Vil, pp. 220-222.

37. Such tit1es for examp1e as Kitib Magtal DaQgik b. QayS and Kitib Magta1 ijuj'r b. 'Ad!, Ibn Nadim, Fihrist, p. 93.

38. Duri, "The Iraqi Schoo1", p. 48.

39. We11hausen, Arab Kingdom, p. xi; cf. Abbott, Studies: I, pp. 86-87.

40. Infra, translation, paragraphs 99-101. Abü-Mikhn~'s interest in the Khawarij is indicated by the tit1es of two of his works, name1~Kitib Bi1al al,Khiriji

94

and Kitab Sadith al-'Azariga.

41. Ibn Nadim, Fihrist, p. 91. Yaqut gives his date of death as l58/774~5 the same year in which the Oaliph Man~ur died, Irshad, VI, p. 95.

42. Yaqut, Irshad, VI, p. 94. "And he ('Awana) was one of the learned men of KUfa, especially in akhbar. "( ~~\; .... ~~\ ~~, -Us ~P.1).

43. An isnad in BaladhurI' s Ansab al-AShraf, V,,p.27l: 4, reads "'Abbas b. Hisham related to'me on the authority of his father (Hisham b. Muoammad al­Kalbi) from 'Awana on the authorityof 'Awana's father d' ( J\;; ~\;S ~~ if' ~\ if' f~~~~~.ar). 'Awana' s use of the isnad appears les,s cil'an established practice than it was with Abu Mikhnaf. Yaqut reports that once when 'Awana was, asked the source of some poetry he had recited, he 'replied, "1 abandoned (the collection) of badith because the isnad annoyed me, but now l see that you will not excuse me from it in poetry."Irshid, VI, p. 94:11 ( ..,....:J\ cj .M isp ~'-'\ ~ J .,)\:-~ ,cr-,~ ~...-\ :J.; \I\) •

44. Duri, "The 'Iraqi School", p. 49; Wellhausen, Arab Kingdom, p. xiv.

45. E.L. Petersen, 'Ali and Mu'awiya in Early Arabie Tradition, (Copenhagen, 1964), p. 53, fn. 5.

46. E.I.2 , l, p. 760 (eali~ al-'Ali).

47. Yaqut, Irshad, VI, p. 94:9.

48. H. Lammens, "ttudes sur le Règne du Oalife Omaiyade Mo'âwia 1er• If, M.F.O., II (1907), pp. 11-12.

49. C. Pellat, Le Milieu Basrien et al Formation de Gahiz, (Paris, 1953), pp. 193-194.

95

50. An "înteresting contextua1 definition of an 'Uthman! is found in this sense in Ba1adhurI's Ansab al­AShraf, V, p. 349:16-17 where the poet Abü a1-'Abbas is described as fo11ows, "He would vi1if'y the fami1y of Zubayr, but would praise (only) Mu~'ab among them, and he wou1d (a1so) prai~ the Banu Umayya. He was an 'UthmanI. Il ( "7-V.. • ,.1\ \\ . ...N ••• i>"

.. 1. ,. \.1 ., ~/ " J""''''' \i.~ O~~·~\~~-.J ~\t'~).

51. Duri, "The Iraqi SChoo1", p. 49.

52. Supra, PP.18-19.

53. Abbott, Studies: l, p. 90.

54. ~., p. 97. For the text of the papyrus, p. 82 1ines 8-13 (recto).

55. Ibn NadIm, Fihrist, pp. 98-99; E.I.1 , IV, p. 1104.

56. Infra, p. 48 , on al-WaqidI and chronological data.

57. Ibn NadIm, Fihrist, pp. 95-98; Yaqüt, Irshad, VII, pp. 250-254.

58. Ibn NadIm, Fibrist, pp. 99-100; Yaqüt, Irshad, VII, PP. • 261-266.

59. Rosentha1, Historiography, p. 64.

GO. Prof. Goitein in bis introduction to BaladhurI's Ansab al-Ashraf, V, p. 14.

61. Ibn NadIm, Fihrist, p. 100. One tit1e is Kitab Akhbar al-Fars.

62. ~., pp. 101-104.

63. ~ • ., pp. 112-113.

96

64. Yaqut, Irshad, VI, pp. 423-462; see also E.I. l , IV, pp. 578-579 (R. Paret) and D.S. Margoliouth, Lectures on Arabie Historiens, (Calcutta, 1930), pp. 101-111.

65. Quoted in Gibb, Arabie Literature, p. 80.

'\ .:'~ .' Part Two ---1. On khabar, supra, p.16.

2. Par. l35( ~ab., II, p.844: 7-8). 3. Pars. 1-24.

4. The an~onymous khabar in par. 3 (~ab., II, 784:9-15) is to be found in a ne,arly identical text in Baladhür! 's Ansab al-Asbraf, IVb,.p.l38: 14-19, on the,authority of Abu Mikhnaf. The part used by ~abar! is only a paragraph of Abu Mikhnaf1s complete account.

5. It is necessary to meke the distinction in this context beteeen 'logical sequence' and 'chronologi­cal sequence'. Chronology is understood here in its strict sense of "assigning events to their true dates." (Oxford Universal Dictionary, 3rd. ed. revised, 1955; p. 309) The prob1em of chronology will be treated in the following section of the analysis. It will suffice to note that in the majori­ty of cases, akhbar bore no chronologie al reference i.e. a date of a year, month or day. Bearing in mind the akhbar of one episode emanated from diffe­rent sources, the original compiler WQuld naturally set the separate khabar in some order which would render an intelligible or 'logical' sequence.

97

6. Par. 1;6( ~ab., II, p. 844: 9.).

7. Par. 1;7( ~ab., II, p. 844: 12-1~

8. Pars. 1;5 and 1~7.. For the mean1ngs of the var10us terms of transmission see Ab~ott, Studies: l, pp.1;, 16, 21, 22, 5;. Here the phrase crt t><=' "He re1ated to me ••• " cou1d imp1y that a1-ijarith trans­mitted his material oral1y to ~abarI, quoting from some written workof Ibn Sa'd.

9. Abbott, Studies: l, p. 1;. This usage is simi1ar to ~abari's referriI:Lg to himse1f by the phrase "Abu Ja' far said" ( ~ f?\ J\:; ). For a1-WaqidI see pars. 122 (~ab., II, p. 8;1: 10)~ and 1;6 (~ab., II, p. 844:8). For Tabari see pars. 78 (~ab., II., p. 81;:9), 91 (~ab., II, p. 817:8) and 148.(Tab., II, p. 85;:6).

10. ~abari was using a written monograph of Ibn Hisham~s as the phrase "Hisham said" ( r\.:A cl\,; ) indi-eates, par. ;5. The isnad "Hisham said, on the authority of 'Awana" ( "';iI ~ if e\..::J. ù\:; ), par.;7, using the word lf~ genera11y means some missing 1ink in the ehain (Abbott, Studies: l, p. 16). The missing link in this ease may have been Hisham's father mueh of whose materia1 Hisham was responsi­b1e for transmitting.

11. In one instance he al1udes to an ~nym.ous infor­mant by using the passive voice, "I was told" ( ~ ~ ), par. 25. 'Awana used the isnad deviee only infrequent1y, supra, PP.2;-24.

12. Rosentha1, Historiography, p. 59.

98

13. '-rabarI interr.11PIE the na:c'rati ve by inserting a comment of his own from an unacknowledged source. The comment is introduced by the phrase "And 1t 1s sa1d" ( J.:;..I ), par. 18. '-rabarI then resumes the narrative by 'Awanawith the words "The badIth returns to that of 'Awana" ( ":ùlP~~.,v? C/\, ..::..:.~\ t:r"J) , par. 19 '.(~ab., II, p. 789: 6 and 9).

14.:. Supra,p.12. ;:!""

15. For a discussion of poetry as a vehicle of history see Margo1iouth, Arabie H1storians, chap. 4, pp. 59-8i. It was not uncommon to find monographers 11ke al-Madi'inI or 'Umar b. Shabba who compiled separate works on the poets, Ibn NadIm, F1hr1st, passim.

16. Obermann, "Ear1y Islam", pp. 256-257.

17.

18.

Par. 21( Tab., II, p. 791:5-6} a-Par. 47{ '-rab., II, pp. 79?-7ge~ Other parti~n

verses are found in par. 56 (~ab., II, p. 803) and par. 53 (Tab., II, pp. 800-801).

19. For examp1e, 'Abd a1-Ma1ik's letter to Ibrahim b. a1-'Ashtar, par. 60.

20. Par. 105 (~ab., II, p. 825:2-7), par. 106 (~ab., II, p. 825:7-17), par. 108 ('-rab., II, p. 826:1-6), par. 112 (~ab., II, pp. 827-828), par. 113 (~ab., II, p. 828:3-8) ..

21. E.I2 , II, p. 323 article "Diwan" (A.A. Duri).

22. Par. 78 (Tab., II, p. 813:9), par. 91 (~ab., II, p. 817:8), par. 148 ('-rab., II, p. 852:6).

23. Ba1adhurI, Ansab a1-Ashrat, V, pp. 298-300 .

24. lli2:., V,p.346~:'17-20 from al-Haytham b. 'Adi and IVb, p. 152:14.

25.' Par. 41.

99

26. As fur example, the events of the period under study here were treated in monograph form by Abü Mikhnaf and al-Mada' ini, infra, p.45 •

27. It is impossible in the present state of our knowledge to know how arranged or expansive were the 'large' histories of al-Mada'ini or al-Waqidi.

28. G. Von Grunebaum, Medieval Islam: A study in Oultural Orientation, 2nd ed. (University of Ohicago Press, 1953), p. 281. Von Grunebaum intends by this description the pre-~abari historians as well as ~abari himself. However, as we shall show in the fOllowing two sections of the analysis, ~abari was attempting a more systematic arrange­ment of his material than his predecessors and therefore Prof. Grunebaum's excellent description would be more applicable to the pre-~abari era of historiography.

29. BaladhurI, Absab al-Ashraf, V, intro., p. 16.

30. !lli., V,pp.279 sq. and 331 sq.

31. !lli., V, p. 355 sq.

32. Ibid., IVb, pp. 138-146.

33. Abbott, Studies: II, p. 33; Margo1iouth, Arabie Historians, p. 100.

34. It is not evident from our translated passage that ~abarI used material from genealogies. Passages commencing the year 86 A.H. (~ab~pp.II72 sq.) are

100

c1ear1y drawn from these sources. They deal with the death of the Caliph 'Abd al-Malik which inc1udes information concerning bis nisba and kunya, his wives and chi1dren, fo11owed by verses relevant to his 1ife.

35. Year 72. Sometimes the phrase ~\~~~\ is used instead,~. Year 73.

36. B1achère observes that the absence of dates was a common feature of ear1y prose narratives of the 'ayyam, Histoire, pp. 163-166.

~ 37. Par. 40 (~ab., II, p. 796: 1-5), par. 45 (~ab., II, p.796:17), par. ?9C'fab.,II,P. 813:14-15), par. 95 (~ab.,II,p. 818:16), par. 98 (~ab.,Ir,821:5), pars. 118-119 (~ab., II, p~ 830:4, ~3,17), par. 123 (~ab., II, p. 831:10-12), par. 135 (~ab., II, p.844: 5-8), par, 136 (~ab., 844:8-12), par. 149 ('fab., II, p. 852:8-9), par. 154 (~ab., II, p. 854:1).

1 38. E.I. , IV, p. 1104.

39. Par. 40 (Tab., II, p. 796:1-5). We11hausen, l be1ieve, has comm1tted an error by cautioning against the mistake of thinking the ep1sode fal1s in one summer, Arab Kingdom, p. 189. See also L. Caetani, Chronographia Is1amica, (Paris, 1912), IV, p. 810, no. 9.

40. Par. 48 (Tab., II, p. 798:5). This phrase does not appear in the same text as transmitted by Ba1idhurI, Ansab a1-Ashrif, IVb, p. 159:19-22. It is therefor.e assumed to have been added by TabarI.

41. Par. 78 (Tab., II, p. 813:19-12); cf. Caetani, Chronographia, IV, p. 821, no.3.

101

42. Year 71, opening paragraph, 47.

43. There appears to have been two treaties signed. One was made in 69 A.H. which was to last ten years (Caetani, C~onographia, IV, p. 811, no.ll). In the year 70 A.B. another document was signed which required the Caliph to pay 1000 dinars a week to Byzantium, (Caetani, Ibid, IV, p. 823, no.LO)~ -which stipulation also agrees with the text in ~abar!, year 70 A.H. and with Baladhur!, Ansab al-AshrS:f, V, p. 300:1-6, except that iri the Baladhur! text payment went rather to insurgents in Lebanon (the Jarajima) rather than"to the Byzantine Emperor himself..

" 44. Caètani, Chronograp~a, IV, p. 821 no. 3 has it the year 70.

45. Par. 79 (~ab., II, p. 813:14-15).

46. Par. 79. We11hausen accepts this as we1l, ~ Kingdom,pp. 192-193. Possibly~abarr would accept the "month "i. e. Jumada l or II, but place the event in the previous year, 71 A.H.

47. Par. 100 (~ab., I~.821:12). It therefore might have occurred sometime during 71 A.H. rather than 72 A.H.

48. Pars. 118, 119 (~ab., II, p. 830:4,13).

49. Par. 136 (~ab., II, p. 844:10-11).

50. Par. 118 (~ab., II, p. 830:6-7).

51. For examp1e, if we accept the date of Mu~'ab's death as Oct.-Nov. 690, then there is no explana­tion for the gap of one year between this date and

102

'Abd al-Malik' s despatching al-JJacjcjij to the JJij~----3 which ~abarI accepts as Oct.-Nov. 691. lt would have been expected as Wellhausen points out that the Caliph would send ,his lieutenant immediately after his capture- of Ba~ra and Kata. (Arab Kingdom, p. 198).

52. Supra, pp. 38-39.

53. Year 69 and the episode of 'Amr b. Sa'Id.

54. Year 70.

55. Supra, pp. 42-43.

56. Supra, pp. 5-6.

57. Supra, p. 52.-

58. Par. 51 (~ab., II, p. 799:7). Jufra is the name of the locale of the batt1e.

59. BalidhurI, Ansab a1-Ashrif, IVb, p. 155. The date ~9 cou1d be taken to mean the summer of 69-70 A.H. Another report has it that the Day of Jufra coin­cided with a severe p1ague which struck Ba~ra in the year 69, Ansib, IVb, p. 157;14-22.

60. ~., IVb, p. 156:17-18.

61. This account perhaps traced back to Abü Mikhnaf via Hisham b. Muoammad al-Ka1bI from whom al­Madi'ini received much of his material (BaladhurI, Absab a1-Ashraf, IVb, p. 155:15).

62. Ibid., IVb, pp.162 sq.

63. Par. 54 (~ab., II, p. 801:5-6).

64. Par. 55.

10~

65. Baladhuri, Ansab al-Ashrar, IVb, p. 162:7-8.

66. In his Introduction Tabari observes that to include every possible detail would lengthen his work and shorten his life. (Tab., ~.5).

67. Pars.:.. 124-l~1 (Tab., II, pp. 8~1-8~4).

68. Pars. 116 and 150 (Tab., II, p. 829:5-11 and 852: 10- 85~:11).

69. Par. 2 (Tab., II, p. 784.:2).

70. Wellhausen, Arab Kingdom, p. 154 passim ; Lammens, ilL 'Avènement", pp. 77 sq. and 97 sq.

71. Details are given in Baladhuri, Ansab al-Ashrar, V, pp. 298-~08.

72. Tabari has only a half dozen or so references to him in his entire work; Baladhuri, on the other hand devotes a whole chapter to akhbar on him. (Baladhuri, Anonyme Ohronick, ed. W. Ahlw~dt, pp.125-146) Najda's importance in comparison with Ibn az-Zubayr is assessed by Wellhausen in this way: " ••• in the fitna which is called after him (Ibn az-Zubayr), he himself was quite in the background; the struggle turned round him nominally, but he took no part in it and it was decided without him. Even in Arabia itself he had for years less influence than the Kharijite Najda." Arab Kingdom, p. 200.

7~. Par. 116.

74. tab., l, pp. 5:~- 6:16.

75. Wahb b. Munabbih (d. 110 or 114/728 or 7~2) drew upon Old Testament and Israelite tales and he gave

.1

104

an account of the ~reation of the wor1d in his Kitib at-Tijan. (Abbott, Studies: l,pp. 36, 45.) The works of Ibn Is~aq co11ective1y reveal an interest in the span of history from the wor1d's creation; 'Hisham b. a1-Ka1b! as we11 has a work on Adam and his descendaxts, (Ibn NadIm,Flhr,fStt.' ; pp. 95-96). .

76. Qur'in on creation, 10:4; on the creation of Man, 23:12-14.

77 • ~ab ., I,p.2.

,78. M. Mahdi, Ibn Khaldun's Phi1osophy of History, paperback ed. (University of Chicago Press, 1964), p. 136; ~ab., I,pp.55-56.

79. ~ab., l,pp. 117·~l:9.

80.

81.

82.

83.

~ab. ,

~ab. ,

Tab. ,

Tab. ,

l, pp. 117:8-9.

I fp ).19:5-7.

I,p.119: 12-13.

l, p. 121:1-3.

84. This phrase has been interpo1ated into the text~ of our translation to complete the meaning. We have seen a1ready that ~abarr regards the salat as a sound source of information. The context here speaks of sound know1edge ( ~ F ) and we have assumed that.TabarI intends the salat. This exp1anation is more evident when Tabar! says that the evidence (i.e. of the salat) cannot be refuted by 'the scho1ars of Islam' ( ~)L-J\ .~~.

We take this phrase to exc1uda the salat since in

85.

86.

87.

880

89.

90.

91.

92.

93.

94.

105

other cases ~abar! .. al1udes to them as 'the salaf froin among our scho1ars'. (~ab., I, p. 119: 7-8) •

~ab. , l, p. 121:7-11.

~ab. , l, p:;;:16sq.

~ab. , I,p.;;: 6-7.

~ab. , l,pp. 102:11; 16:2, 10.

~ab. , l, p. 147:;.

Tab. , l , p. 15:11sq.

Tab. , I, p. 16:2-10.

~ab. , I,pJ.6:10 -17:4.

Tab. , I, p. "17:4-20.

The high rank 01' the Prophet as a source is ref1ected alàG in Tabar!'s Tafs!r, I, p. 26.

95. Izutsu, God and Man, pp. 58-62.

96. Jill., p. 61; Qur' an, 45: 2.; •

97. The critica1 standards demonstrated here by no means meant that non-Is1amic sources weee a1ways held in suspicion. Professor Gibb has remarked 01' this prob1em that liAs soon as history passed out­side the Is1amie field the 01d diffieulty 01' dis­tinguishing between legendary, semi-legendary and historica1 e1ements reappeared, and with it.the tendeney to take on trust whatever materials were avai1a'ble. 1I (IITa'rikh", in his Studies,p. 117):

98. Mahdi, Ibn Khaldun, p. 136.

99. The Arabie phrase is: tf"'~\~ J,~Y'.., ù?~ ë~Y\ v.}.)

106

100. Trans1ated by Mahdi and quoted in Ibn Khaldun, p. 136; ~ab., l, 6.

101. Supra, p.17.

102. Supra, p.24 and fn.43 •

103. Supra; p.23.

104. BaladhurI, Ansab a1-Ashrif, V, p. 280:7-17.

105. Par. 66 (Tab.~ II, p. 808:6-7) and par. 122 (Tab., II, p. 831:1-2).

106. Mahdi, Ibn Khaldun, pp. 137-138.

107. Tab., I,p.5.

108. We have not gone into the prob1em of ~abarI's selective princip1,e in this study in order to provide any final statement as to what it was, if indeed this were possible; a possible 1ine of enquiry is suggested in sectionIV be1ow.

109. A comparison of the accounts of BaladhurI and 'labarI concerning .:the episode of 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr is suggestive. In only one i~stance can we see where 'labarI has dropped ; ',part of a khabar of a1-WaqidI which ref1ects badly upon one ' of 'lariq b. 'Amr's men. Oompare ~ab., II, p. 830:1 sq. with BaladhurI, Ans ab , V, p. 359:12-22. ~abarI, however, does not include akhbar which suggest that 'Abd al-Malik abandoned his religion::. in agreeing to allow al-ijajjaj to attack the holy city, ~., V, p. 360:7:9; nor does ~abarI allow passages in which Ibn az.Zubayr is described as a mulQid as in ~., p. 363:19-20. He also does notinclude an account rather prejudicial to al­ijajjaj, ibid., V, pp. 357~17- 358:22.

107

110. Rosenthal, Historiograpby, p. 299.

111. ~., p. 296.

112. ~. pp. 296-297.

113. Baladhuri, Ansab al-Ashrif, IVb, pp. 138-146.

114. Ibid., IVb, p. 139:15-17 for Abu Mikbnaf; p.140:21-22 for Hisham b. 'Ammar; p. 140:16 for eadaqa b. Khalid; p.141:15-16 for al-Mada'ini and p. 145:13-14 for AQmad b. Ibrahim ad-Dawraqi.

115. Izutsu, God and Man, pp. 40-41; 45-52 and chap. 4.

116. Qur'in, 6;102.

117. Izutsu, God and Man, p. 74.

118. ~., pp. 75-77.

119. ~., p. 75.

120. Ibid., pp. 76-77.

121. ~ab., l, p. 5:3-10.

122. l zut su , God and Man, pp. 130-131.

123. ~ab., l, p. 6:2-4.

124. Par. 17 (~ab., II, p. 789:1-4). 'Abd al-Malik aLso remarked to 'Amr's sons, "Your father gave me tb,e choice of either his ki11ing me or my ki11ing him and l e1ected the latter alternative." Par. 37 (~ab., II, p. 795:12-13).

125. Par. 65 (~ab., II, p. 808: 5-6).

126. Par. 138 (~ab., II, p. 846:9-11).

127· Par. 10 (~ab., II, p. 786:8)

128. Ba1adhuri, Ansab a1-Ashraf, IVb, p. 141:11-12.

129. Par. 12 (~ab., II, p. 786:15-19).

130. Par. 35 (Tab., II, p. 793:16-17).

131. We11hausen, Arab Kingdom, p. 173; Lammens, ilL 'Avenement", p. 95.

132. Par. 55 (Tab., II, p. 803:2-5}.

133. Surpra, pp. 54-56.

134. Par. 138 (Tab., II, p. 846:16-17).

135. Izutsu, God and Man, pp. 129-131.

136. Par. 22 (Tab., II, p.791:9).

137. Par. 5 {Tab., II, p. 784:18-20},

108

138.'Amr's son Sa'Id al1udes to this in ,are 37 where he says,. "God brought Islam •• and He promised us Paradise, and warned us of the He11-fire."

139. Izutsu, God and Man, p. 89.

140. par. 33 (Tab., II, p. 793:10-13).

141. Par. 37 (Tab., II, p. 795:9-10); cf. Qur'an 4:7 add 33:39 •

. 142 Par. 96 (Tab., II, p. 819:,1 -2).

143. Ba1adhurI, Ansab al-Ashraf, V, p. 342:8-9.

144. Par. 47 (Tab., II, p. 798:3).

145. .Par. 139 (Tab., II,pp. 846:10-847:1).

146. Par. 144 (Tab., II, p. 850:4).

147. Mahdi, Ibn Khaldun, pp. 141-142.

148. Abbott, Studies:I, p. 9.

149. ~., p. 7.

109

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1·. Works in Arabie

Abü Nalir, 'Umar 'Abd al-Malik b. Marvin, Beirut: 1962.

Baladhur! Kitab Ansab al-Ashrat. Edited by Max Schloessinger (Vol. IVb, 1940) and S.D. Goitein (Vol. V, with Introduction, 1936). Jerusalem: Hebrew University Press.

Anonyme Arabische Chronik Band XI. Edited by W. Ahlwardt. Greifswald, 1883.

Ibn Man;ür Lisan al-'Arab. 15 Vols. Beirut: Dar 9adir, 1376/1957.

Ibn Nadlm Fihrist. Edited by Flügel. Beirut: Khayat's reprint of the 1872 edition, n.d.

Ibn Sa'd At-Tabaqat al-Kubra. 8 Vols. Beirut: Dar Sadir, 1376/1957.

Al-Maydan!, AQm,ad b. Muq.ammad Ma'jma' al-Amthal. 2 Vols. Cairo, n.d.

Ar-Rayyis, RiQ.a J

'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan. Cairo, n.d.

~abarI

Yaqüt

110

Ta'rIkh ar-Rusul wa'l-Mulük. 13 Vols. Edited by De Goeje et al. Leiden: E.J. Brill, Reprint, 1964.

TafsIr at-Tabari: Jim' al-Bayin'an Ta'wIl a1-Qur'in. Edited by MaQ,müd Shakir and AQ,mad Shàkir. Oairo: Dar al-Ma'arif, n.d.

Irshad a1-Arib ila Ma'rifat al-'Adib. 7 Vols. Edited by D.S. Margo1iouth. London: Luzac, 1925-1931.

Mu'jam al-Bu1din. 6 Vols. Edited by F. Wustenfeld. Leipzig, 1866.

II. Works in European Languages.

Abbott, Nabia Studies in Arabie Literary Papyri: l, Historical Texts. Ohicago: University of Ohicago Press, 1957.

Studies in Arabie Literary Papzri: II, Hadith. Ohicago: Ohicago University Press, 1967.

B1achère, Rég;i;s:. Histoire de la Litterature Arabe des Origines à la Fin du XVe • Siècle de J.-O. 3 Parts. Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1952-1966.

Oaetani, Leone Ohronographia Is1amica. 5 Vols. Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1912.

111

Duri, A.A. "The Iraqi Sèhool of Historiography to the Ninth Century", in B. Lewis and P. Hol t eds., Historians of the Middle East. London: Oxford University Press, 1961.

Gibb, H.A.R. Arabic Literature: An Introduction. Second Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.

"An Interpretation of Islamic History", in his Studies on the Civilization of Islam. Edited by S. Shaw and W. Polke Boston: Beacon Press, 1962.

"Ta'rikh", in .his Studies on the Civilization of Islam.

Von Grunebaum, Gustave Medieval Islam: A Study in Cultural Orientation. Second Edition. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1953·

Izutsu, Toshi~o God and Man in the Koran: Semantics of the Koranic Weltanschauung. Tokyo, 1964.

The Concept of Belief in Islamic Theology: A Semantic Analysis of Iman and Islam. Yokohama: Yurindo Publishing Co., 1965.

Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an. Montreal: McGill University Press, 1966.

Le St range , Guy

The Lands of the Eastern Calipahte. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1930.

112

Mahdi, Muhsin Ibn Khaldun's Philosophy of History: A. Study of the Philosophie Foundation of the Science of Culture. Chicago: Phoenix Books, 1964.

Margoliouth, D •. S. Lectures on Arabie Historians. Calcutta, 1930.

Obermann, Julian "Early Islam", in R.G. Den:tan ed. The Idea of History in the Ancient Near East. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1955.

Pellat, C. Le Milieu Basrien et là Formation de Gahiz. Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1953.

Petersen, E.L. Ali and M~'awiya in Early Arabie Tradition. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1964.

Rosenthal, Franz A ~~~ory of Muslim HistoriograPAl. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1952.

Wellhausen, J. The Arab Kingdom and its Fall. Translated by Margaret Weir. Calcutta, 1927.

III. Articles.

Duri, A.A. "Al-Zuhri: A Study on the Beginnings of History Writing in Islam", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XIX (1957), 1-12.

11~

Horowitz, Joseph "The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and their Authors" , Islamic Culture, l (1927), .;5~5-559; 11(1928), 22-50. 164-182, 495-526 •

. Lammens, Henri nEtu~es sur le R~3gne du Calife Omaiyade Mo' aWiya 1er• , Mélanges de la Faculté Orientale, Université Saint - ; .. Joseph, 1 (1906), 1-108; II (1907), 1-172.

"L 'Av~nement des Marwanides et le Califat de Marwan ler.

u, Mélanges, XII (1927), 4~-142.

Lichtenstadter, l1se IIArabic and Islamic Historiograpb.y", Moslem World, XXXV {1945}, 126-1~2.

Richter, G. "Medieval Arabic Historiograpb.y", tslamic Culture, XXXIII (1959), 240-250; XXXIV (1960), 1~9-151.

Somogyi, J. de. "The Development of Arabic Historiograph1''', Journal of Semitic Studies, (1948), ~7~-~87.

IV. Reference Works.

1 E.I. Encyclopedia of Islam, The.4 Valà. and Supplement.

London: Luz~c, 191~-19~8.

E.I. 2 Encyclopedia of Islam, The. New Edition. London: Luzac, 1960 continuing.

Lane, E.W. An Arabic- English Lexicon. 4 Vol.:s., London, 1863-1885.

APPENDIX

Note: The edition used for this translation is the

De Goeje edition, Leiden [Reprint] 1964. The figures

in the body of thetext plaeed within braekets e.g.

(783) refer to the page number of Series II of the

printed edition.

l

(783) The Year 69 of the Hijra1

1. In this year, al-WaqidI asserts, 'Abd al­

Malik set out for 'Ayn Warda2 , leaving 'Amr b. Sa' id b.

al-' IV behind in charge of Damascus. Thereupon 'Amr

fortified himself in the city, and when news o,f his

action reached 'Abd al-Malik he returned to Damascus

and besie.ged 'Amr. (AI-Waqidi) said: But it is also

said that 'Amr had set out wi th 'Abd al-Malik and ~t

Butnan ijabIb3 'Amr had. turned back to Damascus and

fortified nimself therein and 'Abd al-Malik also

returned.

2. However, by the version of 'Awana-b. al­

ijakam, as Hishim b. Muo.ammed quotes it, 'Abd al-Malik

(784) returned from Bu~nBn UabIb and so~~rned awhile in

Damascus. He then set out (on a campaign) against

Zufar b. al-ijiri th al-Kilibi who was encamped in Qar­

qIsIya.4 'Amr accompanied 'Abd al-Malik, but upon

arriving at Bu~nBn ijabIb, 'Amr resolved to return by

coyer of night with ijumayd b. ijurayth b. BaQ.dal al­

Kalbi and Zuhayr b. al-' Abrad al-Kalbi. 'Abd ar-RaomBn

b. Umm al-ijakam ath-ThaqafI, who had been placed in

charge of Damascus by 'Abd al-Malik, heard the news of

'ABr's return and fled t~ cit7.abandoDÎng the gover­

nate. Thereupon 'Amr entered the city and seized

control over it and its treasur1es.

3. Another than al-WiqidI and 'Awana s~that

this story took place in the year 70 A.H.,5 and that

'Abd al-Malik' s march from Damascus to 'Iraq was direc­

ted at M~ab b. az-Zubayr. "You are leaving for 'Iraq",

said 'Amr to 'Abd al-Malik, "and your father had

promised me the ~e (of °tbe Caliphate) after him; on

this account did l strive with him and serve him with

distinction as you w~ll know. So appoint me now the

caliphate after you." But 'Abd al-Malik gave no response

at al1, and so 'Amr departed from him and returned to

Damascus, and 'Abd. al-Malik fol10wed in his tracks

until he too reached the City.

4. To resume the narrative as Hishim tells it /

from 'Awana: After 'Amr had seized Damascus he sougbt

out' Abd ar-RaQ.man b. Umm al-ijakam but did not find him.

'Amr then ordered his house destroyed, which order was

executed.

5. Then the people assembled (at the mosque),

while 'Amr ascended the minbar6 giving praise to God

and extolling Him. "0 people", he cried, "no QurayshI

before me has stood upon this minbar without claiming

3

that that of which he spoke was a matter of Heaven and

Hell, and that those who obeyed him would enter Heaven

and those who disobeyed would enter Hell; but l sSJ to

you that Héaven and Hell are in God's hands, (785) and

l have no control over that. All that you can expect

from me is fair and equal treatment. l, And he descended.

6. 'Abd al-Malik awoke that morning and failing

to find 'Amr enquired after him, and he vas informed of

his news. The caliph then returned to Damascus only to

find that 'Amr'had strewn coarse cloth about the city7

and so fighting ensued at Damascus which continued for

some dSJs. 'Amr would send forth ijumayd b. ijurayth al­

Kalbi at the head of the cavalry and 'Abd al-Malik

would counter by directing Sufyan b.al-'Abrad al-Kalbi

against him. And when 'Amr sent forth Zuhayr b. al­

'Abrad al-KalbI then 'Abd al-Malik directed ijassan b.

Milik b. BaQdal al-Kalbi against him.

7. Hisham continues: 'Awina related to me that

one day the two cavalry confronted each' other. In 'Amr' s

troops there was one Ra~s' b. Sirs;) of the Kalb. "0 'Abd

ar-RaQmSn b. Salim", he sliouted, II show yourself". This

'Abd ar-RaQmin who vas among 'Abd al-Malik's troops

replied, quoting the adage: "He who competes in marks­

manship with a Qiri, treats him justlyU.8 And he came

4

forward to face Ra~i'. They thrust and cut at one

another and in the struggle 'Abd ar-RaQ.man' s camel vas

cut down while Ibn Siri~ escaped •. "By God", swore 'Abd

ar-Ralpnin after him, "Îlad my camel not been felled l

would have scattered the straw in your gutsl" On no

account would 'Amr and 'Abd al-Malik be reconcUed.

8. When the battle became .prolonged, women of

the Kalb and their childr.en came to Sufyan b. al-' Abrad

and Ibn Ba.Q.dal al-Kalbi. "Why do you kill yourselves

for the power of the Quraysh", they wailed. But each

man swore an oath that he would not turn back until the

other did. Agreeing at last to tu~n back, they looked

about and found Sufyin (the) elder ijurayth and they

appealed to him and he too turned back.

9. Then 'Abd al-Malik and 'Amr made peace and

drew up a treaty between them; 'Abd al-Malik granted

'Amr a free pardon. This took place on Thursday evening.

10.:Hishim's narrative continues: 'Awina related

to me that 'Amr b. Sa'id (786) set out in the"midst of

his cava1ry with a black bow"slung over his shoulder.

He came so near to 'Abd al-Malik's tent enclosure that

his horse trod upon the ropes and caused it to collapse.

He then dismounted and sat down. 'Abd al-Malik was

furious. 110 Abü Umayya", he said, lIit seems as if with

5

this bow you are tryi~ to imitate the tribe of Qaysl"

"Bever", he replied angrily, "rather l imitate one who

was better than they: al-'I~ b. Umayyan • He arose still

fuming and dèparted wi th the cavalry and re-entered

Damascus. 'Abd al-Malik entered Damascus on that

Thursday and sent word to 'Amr, "Give the people their

rations", to which '.Amr rejoined, "This is no town :tor

you, so leave it!"

11. On the Monday follotfing 'Abd al-Malik' s

entry- into Damascus he sent word that 'Amr, who was

then with his wife the Kalbite woman, should come to

Mm.· 'Abd al-Malik had meanwhile summoned Kurayb b • . 'Abraha b. as-eabbao. al-ij:imyarI and took counsel with

Mm on the matter of 'Amr b. Sa' Id. K~ayb said to

him, "ij:imyar per1shed because of something like this.

l don't think that you have a right to do that, and l

wash·my hands of the affair. n9

12. When 'Abd al-Malik's messenger came calling

for' Amr he found 'Abd Allah b. YazId b. Mu' awiya with

Mm. 'Abd . Allah was saying to 'Amr, "0 Abü Umayya, b;y

God, ;you are dearer to me than my hearing and my sight.

l am sure that this man has been sent to fetch you to

'Abd al-Malik, but l do not think that you should do i t. "

1fWb.y?If, asked 'Amr, and Kurayb replied, "Because ~ubay'?

6

the son of the wife of Ka'b b. al-'AQbir once said:

tVerily, a mighty one among the mighty sons of Isma'il

shall return and lock the gates of Damascus; then shall

he venture forth from it, and before long he shall be

slain." But said 'Amr, tlByGod, if l were asleep l

would not be afraid that Ibn zuraqa,lO would wake me;

he would not dare try that with me, even though

'Uthman b. 'Affin did appear to me in a dream (787)

last night and dressed me in his shirt."ll

1;. This same 'Abd Allah b. YazId with whom

'Amr had been talking was the husband of 'Amr's daughter

Umm Müsa.

14. 'Amr then turned to the messenger and said,

nConvey my greetings to 'Abd al-Malik and tell him that,

God willing, l shall come to him in the evening." And

so that evening 'Amr donned a strong coat of mail,

wearing it between an outer-garment and an undershirt

made of QühIy material,12 and girt himself with his

sword. His wife, the Kalbite woman, and ijumayd b.

JJurayth b. BaQ.dal al-Kalbi. When 'Amr arose to leave

he stumbled on the carpet and JJumayd said to him, "By

God, if you would only listen to me you would not go

tohim." 'Amr's wife echoed these words, but he paid no

heed to either of them and set out with a hundred of

7

his mawilI.

15. The Banü Marwin responded to 'Abd al_1v1alik' s

summons of them and gathered around him. When he heard

that 'Amr was at the gate, he gave orders to detain

whoever was wi th him and then permi tted 'Amr himself to

enter. 'Amrls companions were ke~t detained at every

door until he had passed into the entrance hall. No

one save his servant was with him. 'Amr cast a glance

in the direction of 'Abd al-Malik and vas surprised to

see the Banu Mar\f8.n gathered around him, among whom

vas ijass8.n b. Më.lik b. BaQ.dal al-Kalb! and QubayVa b.

Dhu'ayb al-Khuza'!. When he saw the group 'Amr

suspected foul play. He turned to his servant and

said, "Mercy on you; hasten to Yao,yi b. Sa'Id and tell

him to come to me." The servant misunderstood what

'Amr had said to him and he replied t "Rere l am at

your service 1 Il ~o which 'Amr said, "Leave me for God' s

burning and fire."

16. 'Abd al-Malik spoke to ijassan and QubayVa,

"If you please", for 'Amr was standing just inside the

chamber and so the two men arose to meet him. "Which of

you two is the taller? ", queried 'Abd al-Malik of

ijassin and QubayVa in a joking manner. This was meant

to calm 'Amr. ijassin replied, "Q\1bayva is higher

(lit. taller) tban l, 0 Commander of Believers, in

authoriv"." QubaJ,a vas in charge of the seal.13

8

17. 'Amr again turned to his servant and said,

"Go to Yal)y8. ·and order him (788) to come to me." The

servant replied, "Here l am at your service", for once

again he had misunderstood his master. "Leave me t" said

, Amr. FJassin and QubaJia then took their leave and 'Abd

al-Malik ordered the doors locked. 'Amr came forward

and 'Abd al-Malik greeted him saying, "Come, 0 Abü

Umayya, may God have mercy upon you." He seated him

beside him on the couch14 and commenced to talk at

length vith him. Then 'Abd al-Malik called to his

servant boy to relieve 'Amr of his sword. "Truly we

are God's, 0 Commander of Believers," said 'Amr. 'Abd

al-Malik replied, "Unless you wish to sit with me

vearing your avord." So the boy took the sword from

him, and the two men fell to talking again awhile.

Thereupon 'Abd al-Malik interaected, "0 Abü Umayyal"

and 'Amr replied, "At your service, 0 Commander of

Believers." Then 'Abd al-Malik said, "Since you for­

sake obedience to me, l swear sOlemnly that l am not

at al1 happy vi th you, and as l am your ruler l am

going to place you in shackles.,,15 The Banü Marwin, who

had remained behind, asked, "You will then release him,

9

o Commander of Be11evers?" "I will", replied 'Abd al­

Malik, "for what might l do with Abü Umayya?" "The Banü

Marwan said to 'Amr, "Fulfil the oath of the Commander

of "Believers". And 'Amr'said, "May God fulfil your

oath, 0 Commander of Believers." 'Abd al-Malik brought

out the shackles from beneath his couch and tossed them

to 'Amr. Then he called ";'0 his servant and told him:

to place them on 'Amr. This was d~ne. "I remin<l: you of

your oath before God, 0 Commander of Be11evers, that

you would send me before the people in these shackles."

"Do you try to deceive me, Abü Umayya, and you about

to die?16 Don't bring God into it in that case. We are

not the ones to send you before the people in shackles;

we shall not even remove them from you except if we

pull them stra1ght over your head." Then 'Abd al-Malik

pulled 'Amr down with sucb "force that his mouth struck

the couch and broke his front tooth. Cried 'Amr, "I

remind you of your oath before GOd, (789) 0 Commander

of Believers, lest something cause you to break a bone

of mine, let alone commit greater violence than thatl"

'Abd al-Malik replied, "By GOd, were l sure that you

would spare me if you were to be spared, and the Quraysh

were to be peaceful, then l would set you free. But two

men ~ever meet in one city in a situation such as ours

save one of them expels, the other." When 'Amr saw his

tooth had been broken and he knewwhat 'Abd al-Malik

intended, he cried, " Treachery, 0 Ibn Zuraqi'l"

10

18. It is said that when 'Abd al-Malik pulled

'Amr down causing his tooth to break, 'Amr was about to

pick it up when 'Abd al-M~ik observed, "1 see your

tooth has fallen but after what happened to it, your

àoul will have no cause to re~oice either." And at his

command, 'Amr's head was struck off.

19. To resume again with 'Awana's narrative:

The mu'adhdhinl ? proclaimed the time of afternoon

prgyer. Before 'Abd al-Malik 1eft to pray with the

people, he ordered 'Abd al-'AzIz b. Marwan to kill 'Amr. When 'Abd al-' Aziz approached him bra.mi;.ishing sword in

hand, 'Amr spoke to hiœ, "1 appeal to you in God's

name and by our kinship lest you were entrusted with

killing me. Only he should undertake this task who is

more distantly related to me than you." At these words

'Abd al-'Aziz threw aside the sword and sat down. 'Abd

al-Malik finished his prgyers promptly, returned and

the doors were shut behind him. Now the people had seen

'.Abd al-Malik come ta prgy but 'Amr had not been wi th

him. They mentioned this fact to Yaoyi b. Sa'id, who

approached the do or of 'Abd al-Malik's (maqsüra)18

and stationed himself there. He brought a crowd of

11

people with bim and one thousand of 'Amr's slaves, for

there were still many of his followers around. The

. crowd began.to shout, "Let us hear your voice, 0 Abü

Umayya 1" (790) Then ij:umayd b. ij:urayth and Zuhayr b. al­

'Abrad drew nigh the magsUradoor and vith Ysoya the

three men broke i t down. Swords were drawn and fighting

ensus'd between the two aides. One of 'Amr' a slaves,

Mivqala by name, struck al-WalId b. 'Abd al-Malik a

blow Qn the head. IbrihIm b. 'ArabI who was the chief

of the Diwin lifted·al-WalId and carried him to the

Bayt al-QaratIs.19

20. Now,. '~when 'Abd al-Malik had finished bis

prayers and returned to his chamber, he found 'Amr

still alive. "What preventsi:~u from killing him?" he

asked 'Abd Sl-'AzIz. "He prevented me, beseeching me

in the name of God and our kinship and l fe~t

compassion towards him." "May God dishonour your mother

who al ways urinated upon her heelsl You are two of a

kind." 'Abd al-Malik's mother was 'l'isha bint Mu'iwiya

b. al-Mughira b. abi al-'lv b. Umayya, while the

mother of 'Abd al-'AzIz was called Layli. Thus in the

verse of Ibn ar-Ruqayyit: 20

That one is 'Abd al-'AzI~, Layli's son, His ~$! become n~~~~ Babylo.n.

12

21. Then 'Abd al-Malik said to his servant,

"Boy, bring me the spe~t" Taking it 'Abd al-Malik

brandished it in 'Amr' s face, (791) and then thrust it

at him, but the spear did not pierce his body. 'Abd al­

Malik thrust again, and again nothing happened. Then he

struck 'Amr' s arm wi th his hand and fel t the armour

beneath his outer garment. "Armour too, 0 Abü Umayya",

laughed 'Abd al-Malik, -"you are indeed well prepared".

Turning to his servant he said, "Boy, bring me the

sabre". When his sword was brought, 'Abd al-Malik

ordered 'Amr cast to the ground and kneeling on his

chest he slew him with the sword while quotin$ the verse:

o 'Amr! cease thy slander, do not vilify, Lest l kill you and the Hama cry, "Qu~nch this thirst of minel,,2l

, 22. 'Abd al-Malik trembled violently. It is

said that a man who kills his relative is affected

this way. 'Abd al-Malik was dragged off 'Amr's body

and placed upon his couch. "1 have never seen the likes

of this,1I he said, lia worldly man who sought nothing of

the hereafter has killed him. Il

23. Then Y~ya b. Sa'id entered the chamber

with his followers attacking the Banü Marwin and their

mawSli who in turn set upon Y~yi and his supporters.

'Abd ar-Rag,min b. Umm al-ijakam ath-ThaqafI arrived and

1.3

pushed the severed head of 'Amr at Ya;ya who took it

and threw it to the crowd of people. 'Abd al-'Aziz b.

Marwan then arose, took money from the treasury purses

and began to cast it to the people. When they caught

sight of the money and saw the head, they seized the

money and then. dispersed.

24. It has been said that when 'Abd al-Malik

departed to his prayers he ordered his servant Abu

az-Zu'ayzi'a to kill 'Amr, which deed he did, and then

threw the head to 'Amr's (?92) companions and the crowd.

25. Hisham says quoting 'Awina: l was told that

'Abd al-Malik ordered the money which had been throw.n

to the crowd collected and all of it returned to the

treasury.

26. On that same day YaQ.ya b.· Sa'id vas struck

on the head by a rock.

27. After the fighting had subsided, 'Abd al­

Malik ordered his couch taken to the mosque, fo1.1owed

there soon after and seated himself upon it. Walid b.

'Abd al-Malik was missing and 'Abd al-Malik said, nWoe

upon you all! Where is Walid? By their father, if they

have killed him, the)" will-certainly have achieved

their blood revenge." Ibrahim b. 'Arabi al-Kinini

came to the caliph and said, "WalId is with me. He has

14

been wounded, but he i8 all right."

28. 'Abd al-Malik had YaOya b. Sa'id brought in

and he ordered him killed, whereupon 'Abd al-' Aziz

stepped forward and said, "May God make me your ransom,

o Commander of Believers, are you going to slay all the

Banu Umayya in one day?1t So the caliph relented'and had

YaOya imprisoned.

29. Next 'Anbasa b. Sa'id was brought in and

'Abd al-Malik also ordered him killed. Again 'Abd al­

'Aziz arose and said, nI would remind you before GOd,

o Commander of "-Believers, of the consequences of

utterly destroying the Banu Umayya." And so he ordered

'Anbasa imprisoned.

30. The next person brought before the caliph

was 'Imir b. al-' Aswad al-KalbI. 'Abd al-Malik struck

him on the head vith a bamboo stick he was holding, an~

said, "Do you fight on 'Amr's side against me?" nYes,

l do", replied 'Amir, "because 'Amr treated me with

honour, but you held me in contempt; 'Amr drew me close

te him, while you held me aloof; he treated me well

whereas you treated me shabbily. For these reasons l

was with him against you." 'Abd al-Malik would have

had him killed, but once again 'Abd al-'Aziz arose and

said, "I would remind you, before GOd, 0 Commander of

15

Believers, of MY uncle, MY mother's brother. n And so

'Abd al-Malik handed 'Imir over to 'Abd al-' Aziz, and

ordered the Banü Sa'ld imprisoned. Ya;ya remained in

prison for a.month or more.

31. Then 'Abd al-Malik ascended the minbar.

(793) He praised God and extolled Him, and then

addressing the crowd, he sought their counsel, "Shall

Yaoya be put to death or not". One of the khatibs

stood up and said, ,,~ Commander of Believers, is a

serpent born anything e1se except a serpent? By GOd,

we be1ieve that you should kill him for truly he is a

hypocrite, an enemy." Then 'Abd Allah b. Mas'ada a1-

Fazarl spoke out, "0 Commander of Believers, YaQya is

the son of your father's brother and his kinsbip to·you

is well known. They have done what they have and you

have dealt with them as you·have, and you do not trust

them. But, l do not think that you sbould kill tbem.

Send tbem instead to your enemy and if tbey are slain

you will have been rid of tbeir affair by a band other

than your own. But if they escape safely and return,

then you can decide bow best to deal with them."

32. 'Abd al-Malik accepted tbis latter view,

and he exi1ed tbe family of Sa'ld to Mu~'ab b. az-Zubayr

in 'Iraq. When they arrived at Mu~'ab's camp, YaQya

came forward and M'\1v'ab greeted him saying, "You

escaped, but your tail was cut off". "Yes by God",

said Yaoya "it was completely eut off."

16

33. 'Abd al-Malik dispatched the following

message to 'Amr's wife the Kalbite woman: "Send to me

the peace agreement which l wrotefor 'Amr." She said

to 'Abd al-Malik's messenger, "Return and inform him

that l wrapped that agreement in 'Amr' s shroud:"., that

he might use it against him with h~s Lord."

34. 'Amr b. Sa'id and 'Abd al-M~ik were botl?,

related to the Umayya. 'Amr' s mother, known as Umm al­

Banin was the daughter of al-ijakam b. abi al-' Ail and

the aunt of 'Abd al-Malik.

35. Hisham says: 'Awana related to us that it

was an old in jury which ensted between 'Abd al-Malik

and 'Amr. (~t came about as follows). The mother of

Sa'Id's two sons was Umm al-Banin. 'Abd al-Malik and

Mu'awiya were sons of Marwan b. al-ijakam. As young men

the y would all frequently go to Umm Marwan b. al-ijaltam

al-KinanIya to converse in her house. A black slave of

'Abd al-Malik's and Mu'awiya's used to go along (794)

with them. Whenever they visited her, she would prepare

food for them and then serve it, placing before each

one a bowl by himself. She always excited discord

17

between 'Abd al-Malik and 'Amr b. Sa'Id. They would

fight and quarrel with ea~h other for a time and then

not speak to one another. Umm Marwin used to observe,

"If no bloodwit, should ever be owed by one of this pair,

then surel~ the other will owe it." Such was Umm

Marwin's custom whenever they visited her, that finally

a lasting enmity for each other became rooted in their

hearts.

?6. ('Awina) mentioned that Abu Khilid 'Abd

Allah b. YazId al-QasrI, vas also with Y~a b. Sa'Id

when he went into the mosque and broke downthe door

of the magsira, and fought the Banu Maritin. When 'Amr

had been killed and his head cast to the crowd, 'Abd

Allah and his brother KhSlid set out upon their mounts

for 'Iraq, where they reaained with Sa'id's sons who

w:ere then wi th Mu~' ab. Gradually there gathered people

who were against 'Abd al-Malik. This same 'Abd Allah

had lost an eye on the day of Marj (Râhi~) while

fighting for Ibn az-Zubayr against the Banu Umayya. He

came upon 'Abd al-Malik after the battle and the former

said to him, "How are you, family of Yazid?" 'Abd

Allah replied, "They are utterly despoiled!" Said 'Abd

al-Malik, IIThat is for the evil your hands had wrought

tiêt'â-re.time." :rOI.' 'ut>d ,will not deal wrongfully towards

His servants. 1I

18

37. Hisham says, on 'Awana's authority: 'Amr's

sons entered 'Abd al-Malik's presence after the fight1ng.

They were four: Umayya, Sa'!d, (795) Isma'il and

Muo.ammad-". When 'Abd al-Malik saw them he said, "You

are People of the House. 22 You have always ascribed

to yourselves a superior1ty over your people wh1ch God

did not give you. The enm1ty which existed between

myself and your f'ather was not a new thing. On the

contrary it was of ancient or1gin, ly1ng in the souls

of your forbearers against ours, in the Jah11tya times.

Umayya b. 'Amr who was the eldest, most noble and able

of them tr1edto 1nterrupt but he was unable to speak.

Then Sa'id b. 'Amr, the m1ddle of them in age, arose

and said, "0 Commander of Believers, you do not blame

us for someth1ng which happened in the Jahiliya. God

brought Islam and destroyed all that. He promised us

Paradise, and warned us of Hell-fire. As for what lay

between you and 'Amr, truly he 1s the son of your

f'ather's brother. You know best what you have done.

'Amr 1s now with GOd, and God is suff1cient as a

Reckoner. By my life, 1f you have seized us on account

of what existed between you and 'Amr, then indeed the

belly of the earth 1s a better place for us than its

surface." At these words, 'Abd al-Maljkfelt deep

compassion for them, and said, "Your f'ather-gave me the

19

ehoiee between his killing me and my killing him, and

l ,took the latter alternative. As for yourselves, how

anxious am'.I for you, how l want to be near 'to you

and to proteet your rights". And so 'Abd al-Malik , &..

treated them generou~ly, establis~d a bond with them,

and brought them into his favour.

38. 'Awana mentioned that Kh81id b. YazId b.

Mu'awiya said one day to 'Abd al-Malik, "1 wonder at

you and 'Amr b. Sa' Id. How did you catch him in an

unguarded moment and so kill him? Il 'Abd al-Malik

answered him with these verses:

At first l drew him near me, To appease his frightened soule Then with firm and measured leap, l cast myself upon him In anger, as protector of my faith, For evil treds not the pathway of the pious.

39. 'Awana says: Once a man encountered Sa'Id

b. '.AIl:Jrrb.Sa'Id in Mecca and said to him, "By the Lord

of the Ka'aba, there was no one among the people like

your father, but he quarrel,ed with them (796) over

their possessions, and he perished:

40. Al-WaqidI used to say: it was only in the

year 69 A.H. that the siege of 'Abd al-Malik against

'Amr oecured. 'Amr fortified himself in Damascus and

20

'Abd al-Malik returned from Butnan ijabIb and besieged

'Amr therein. But it was in the year 70 A.H. that 'Abd

al-Malik killed 'Amr.

41. In this same year a Khariji te muhakkim23.

cried out in the al-Khayfmos~ue in Mina,24 "Judgement

belongs to God alone! Il He was killed near al-Jamra.25

MuQ.amme.d b. 'Umar mentioned that YaJ»ri b. Sa'id b.

Dinar had related to him qûoting the latter's father:

At al-Jamra l saw him draw his aword in the midst of a

crowd of people, but God seized their hands and he

escaped from them. Then he cried out, "Judgement belongs

to God alonel n whereupon the people turned against him

and slew him.

42. 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr led the people in

the pilgrimage that year.

43. His governor that year in the two cities of

KUfa and Bavra was his brother Muv'ab b. az-Zubayr.

ShurayQ. vas in charge of the affaira of jurisprudence

in Kufa and Hisham b. Hubayra in Bavra. 'Abd Allah b.

Khazim was the governor of Khurasan.

21

The Year 70 of the Hijra26 and the Mention of Events therein

44. In this year Byzantium grew aggressive and

mobilized an army against the Muslims in syria.27 Fearing

such an attack, 'Abd al-Malik arranged a peace agree­

ment with the king of Byzantium28 on the condition that

the caliph pay the sum of one thousand dinars week17, ta

the Byzantine sovereign.

45. In the same year, as Mu~ammed b. 'Umar has

mentioned,' MUQ' ab b. az-Zubayr departed for Mecca and

arrived there bearing a considerable fortune. He distri­

buted it among his people and others. MUQ'ab also

arrived with many animals and a pack (camel) laden with

goods. To 'Abd Allih b. eafwin and Jubayr b. (797)

Shayba and 'Abd Allah b. Mut!' he sent many riches and

slaughtered many beasts of sacrifice.

46. 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr performed the

pilgrimage with the people that year. His governors

of the regions were the same as the preceding year.

22

The Year 71 of the Hijra29 and the Record of the Events Therein

47. Among the year's events vas 'Abd al-Malik's

campaign into 'Iraq to war against Muo'ab b. az-Zubayr.

It is said that 'Abd al-Malik pressed on against

Muo'ab until he reached Buvnan ijabib, and Muo'ab mean­

while had set out (fromKÜfa) to Bijumayra.;O However,

when a deep cold set in,.each returned to his camp and

then resumed (the campaign). 'Ail b. Zayd b. 'Ad! b.

ar-Ruqi'a al-'Xmili;l aquoted these verses:

By heaven! to Tigris shores and Muo'ab, our cavalry was desert bound.

If (Mu§'ab) has been censured as the hypocrite of 'Iraq, he should not so be blamed.

Step by step we approached him, neither fearing nor heedful of abseDtones,

(And) brandishing long spears with well wrought blade and tip.

(798) When they arrived, their shouts were as the cry of a sand-grouse of a fertile land.

o A man of handsome countenance advanced us (in

glory); a man of generous disposition and rank. He was aided by us and we triumphed by him; for

one whom God assists is never overcome.

48. 'Umar b. Shabba related to me saying that

'AlI b. Mu~ammad had related to him: 'Abd al-Malik set

out from Syria against Mu§'ab (in 'Iraq). [This event

occured in the year previous to this one, that is, in

70 A.H.].~2 Khalid b. 'Abd Allah b. Khilid b. 'AsId

accompanied 'Abd al-Malik and said to him, "If you

were to send me to Baira with a tew troop of horse to

follow, l could hope to take the city for you." 'Abd

al-Malik despatched him and Khalid arrived at Baira in

disguise among pis mawilI and nobles and then settled

in the dwelling of 'Amr b. , Aoma' al-BahilI.

49. 'Umar said: Abü al-~asan said: Maslama b.

MtiQarib said: 'Amr b. 'Aima' placed Khilid under his

protection. Then 'Amr sent word to 'Abbad b. 81-~uVayn

who was in charge of Ibn Ma'mar' s gaurd,~~ and 'Amr

requested that 'Abbad extend homage to him. [The above

mentioned 'Ubayd Allah b. 'Ubayd Allah b. Ma' mar had

been left in charge of Bavra when Muo~ab set out thence].

(The message said): "I have given my protection to

Khalid and l wished that you be aware of that so you

might support me." His messenger delivered this to

'Abbad as soon as he dismounted from his horse. To the

messenger 'Abbad replied, "Tell 'Amr, 'By God, Ish81l

not remove my steed's saddle cloth until l have brought

the cavalryto yoU.'" Then 'Amr said to Khalid, "I do

not want to deceive you; 'Abbad will be arriving present­

ly. By GOd, l am not able to protect you, but Malik

24

-

b. Mâsma' will be obliged to do so."

50. Abu Zayd said: Abu al-ijasan said: It 1s

said that Khilid stayed with 'Ali b. ' Aima' and when

news of this reached 'Abbid, he sent word to 'Ali that

he was on his vay (799) to him.

51. 'Umar related to me (and said): 'Ali b.

M~ammad related to me quoting Maslama and 'Avina:

Khil1d departe~ from Ibn 'Aoma' at a great gallpp, clad

in a light QiihII shirt, which exposed his thighs while

his feet protruded from the stirrups. He arrived at

Malik b. Misma' and said, "1 am in trouble, so gi ve me

your protection." ~lik replied, "Done~" Then Khilid

left accompanied by"his"son sending a messenger on to

Bakr b. wi' il and al-' Azd. The first banner which

appeared before him was that of the Banu Yasbkur. Then

'Abbid arrived vith the caval~, and they confronted

each other but there was no combat. ~;next dey Nifi'

b. al-ijirith set out for Jufra34 which vas af~erwards attributed to Khilid. There were several men with

Khilid who had come to him from the Banu Tamim. Among

them were ea',a'a b. Mu'iwiya, 'Abd al-'AzIz b. Bishr,

Murra b. MaQkin with anumber of others. The companions

of Khilid were known as the Jufriya as they adopted th1s

name from the place al-Jufra. Ibn Ma'mar's followers

25

were called the ZubayrIya. Others among the former

group were 'Ubayd Allah b. abi Bukra and ijumran and al­

Mughira b. al-Muhallab; among the latter, or ZubayrIya

faction was Qays b. al-Haytham as-SulamI who hired

mercenaries· to fight with him. Someone had demanded

payment from him to which Qays replied, nI will giva it

to you tomorrow. n Ghawafan b. 'Unayf [who was one of the

Banu Ka'b b. 'Amr] said,

o Jalajil~ (This is) the worst judgement you ever made.

Payment is a debt, and battle will soon ensue, You are a night-hawk who would postpone the matter.

52. Qays used to suspend a bell (i.e. jalajil)

from his horse's neck. 'Amr b. Wabara al-QaoIfi was in

charge of the cavalry of (800) Banu ijan~ala; 'Ubayd gave

them only ten. And so it was said to him,

What evil have you decreed Oh Ibn Wabara~ You are given thirty and you pay out ten'dirhams?)

Mu§'ab despatched ZaOr b. Qays al-Ju'ri with a thousand

men as reinforcement for Ibn Ma'mar. And 'Abd al-Malik

reinforced Khalid by sending 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad b.

~abyan to him. Khalid wasloathe to enter Ba~ra and so

he sent off Ma~ar b. at-Taw' am. He retùrned and

informed Khalid of the desertion of the people (in

Baera). Then Khalid rejoined 'Abd al-Malik.

26

53. Abu Zayd said: Abu al-ijasan said: An old

. man of the Banu 'Ar3:n related to me quoting as-Sakan b.

Qatida, who said: The JufrIya and the ZubayrIya fought

each other for twenty-four daJs. Malik (b. Masma') lost

an eye and grew disqu1eted about the battle. Mediators

intervened, among them being Yusuf b. 'Abd Allah b.

'Uthman b. abi al-'I,. He arranged a peace on the condi-

tion that Kh81id should withdraw under the promise of

safe conduct. So Yiisuf had Kh81.id e~ect.ed from Ba,ra.

Khilid, however, was afraid Mu,' ab would not contin

'Ubayd Allan's safe conduct, so he ~oined Malik who had

gone to Tha,~.35Al -Farazdaq36 has said in some verses

mentioning the Tam3:m' s and Kh8.J.id' s ~ oining Milik:

l wondered at (those) tribesmen whose fathers were Tam3:m and who among the Banu Sa'd held an exalted and blessed position.

They vere the mightiest people before their .. ~our.ney, yellow-bearded, to 'Azd and Mralik. (801) What think you of Muv'ab, Ibn al-HawirIy,

when he bared his teeth wi thou t laughing ,. We, we expelled Mralik from his country, and we

gouged out his eye with short spears.

54. Abu Zayd said: Abu al-ijasan said: Maslama.

related to me: When 'Abd al-Malik turned back to

Damascus, Muv'ab had no other object in mind but (to

reach) Ba§ra. He wanted to overtake Khalid there but

27

found tbat be had already left. Ibn Ma'mar assured the

people of their safety and most of them remained, where­

as some, who feared Mue'ab, left (the city). MU'i'ab

became very angry at Ibn Ma'marfor this and swore tbat

he would no longer be an official. He next sentword

to the party of al-Jufriya cursing and upbraiding them.

55. Abü :.: Zayd said: al-Madi' in! and other

Ba'irans allege that MU'i'ab sent word to the Juforiya

who were brought before him. He approached 'Ubayd

Allah b. abi Bukra and said, "0 Ibn MasrUl#, you are a

son of a bitch who has slept with dogs of many hues,

red, black and yellow and who has produced one like

each of them. Your father was merely a slave, who came

to the Messenger of God from the fortress of ~i'if.

Then you (all) rendered witness that Abü Sufyan

committed adultery vith your mother. By God, were l to

remain (in your company?) l would surely be classed

vith your kind." He next summoned :e:umrin and said, "0

son of the Jevs, you are a lout of a Nabatean captured

at 'Ayn at Tamr. Il 37 Then he said to al-:e:akam b. al­

Mundhir b. al-Jariid, "0 son of an infamous dogt Do you

know who you are and who is Jirüd? JarUd was an infi4el

vith Jazira b. Kivin the Persian who travelled to the

sea coast and who traced his lineage to the 'Abd al-Qays.

But by (802) God, l know of no living thing more

28

thoroughly vile than they. Then Jirüd gave his sister

in marri age to al-Muka'bir the Persian who did not even

possess pretentions to dignity greater than his own;

those are her children 0 Ibn Qubadh!" Then 'Abd Allah

b. FaQ.ila azlZaharinI was brought to him and Mu,' ab

said, "Are you not one of the Hajar and therefore one

of the Samihij?;8 Truly by God l can trace your

pedigree!" Next 'AlI b. 'A,ma' was brought and Mu,'ab

spoke to him, "Once a slave of the Banu Tamim and a

lineage of a free woman." Then to 'Abd al-'AzIz b.

Bishr b. ~anni~ he said, "0 Ibn Mashtür! Did your uncle

not steal a goat in 'Umar' s day which he had ordered

killed? By God you were unconcerned thatsomeone would

not marry your sister." [His sister was married to

Muqitil b. Misma'.J Then to Abü ijiQ.ir al-'Asadi he

said, "0 Ibn al-Is~akhriya,;9 what are you and the hobles?

You are merely from the people of Qaiar, a basterd son

of the Banu 'Asad with whom you have neither relation­

ship nor noble lineage." Next Ziyad b. 'Amr was brought

in and Mu,' ab said, "0 Ibn al-Karmani, you are a lout

of the KarminI;40 you went to Persia and became a sea­

man. What concern is war to you;- you are more skilled in

pulling ropes and stayS." And to 'Abd Allah b. 'Uthman

b. abi al-'ls, Mu,'ab said, "You increased (opposition)

to me; you are a gross brute of the HajarI people whom

29

your father joined at Ta'if. They are a people who

gather to their fold whomsoever assembles around them,

priding themselves by this. Bi GOd, l know what your

roots are." Next an old man of the Banu Nu' man was

brought in and MUIi'ab said, 110 vile dog, you are but

an infidel zandawardi;41 your mother ran away (803)

and your father vas slain; then someone of the Banu

Yashkur married your father's sister and she brought

two slaves and so we join you with their pedigree."

55. MUIi'ab then beat them each a hundred

strokes, and- then another hundred. He shaved their

heads and beards, demolished their homes, roasted them

in the heat of the sun for three days, made them -­

divorce their wives, gathered their children together

in one group and marched them through the quart ers of

Bavra and finally made them al1 swear an oath that

they would not marry free women.

56. Muo'ab despatched one Khidash b. Yazid al­

'Asad! in search of those of Khilid's fol1owers who had

fled. Khidash caught up vith Murra b. MaQkan 42 and

seized him. Murra quoted these 1ines:

Banu 'Asad, if you kil1 me, you shal1 have to contend with Tam!m; then endless war shal1 erupt.

( 30

Banu 'Asad, are there (not) among you clement ones, so you could forgive, were the Banu Na'l to have committed the error.

Let not enemies reckon that il l am concealed trom them and (bound to Ma'n?) that my

battle i~ ended. Khidash has walked the ways in safety, while the

spears drank (my blood) and drank again.

Khidish, who was at that time in charge of MUQ'ab's

gaurd, approached and killed Murra. MUQ'ab ordered

Sinan b. Dhuhl one of the Banu 'Amr b. Marthad to des­

troy the home of Malik b. Masma'. MUQ'ab seized all

his possessions including a young slave girl who subse­

quently bore him a son, 'Umar.

57. (He said;) MUQ'ab remained (804) in BaQra

until he was ready to leave tor KÜfa where he stafed

until he set out to fight'Abd al-Malik •. The Oaliph

meanwhile had encamped at Maskin.43 He wrote to the

(party of the) Marwanids in 'Iraq. Each of them replied

stipulating the governorship of IQbahan as condition

(of his support), and 'Abd al-Malik conceded this to

each of them. Among those were ~ajjar b. 'Abjar, al­

Ghadban b. al-Qaba'thara, 'Attab b. Warqi', Qaian b.

'Abd Allah. al-ijarithI, Mu1)ammad b. 'Abd ar-Ralplan b.

Sa'id b. Qays, Zahar b. Qays and Mu1)ammad b. 'Umafr.

Mu1)ammad b. Marwan was at the head of the Oaliph' s

vanguard and on the right flank was 'Abd Allah b.

YazId b. Mu'awiya while on the 1eft flank was Khilid

b. YazId. Muf'ab set out against ('Abd al-Malik) but

the Küfans deserted him.

31

58. 'Una b. al-MughIra b. Shu'ba said: Muv'ab

set out 1eaning on the neck of his beast looking atten­

tively at the people right and left (as though seeking

out a particular person) when his eyes feil upen me.

He said, "Oh 'Una, come here." l did so and he said,

"Tell me about ijusayn b. 'AlI and how he skil1fully

avoided attacking ijukm b. Ziyad despite the latter's

determination to fight." 'Urwareplied,

They who are in ai-~aff of the family of Hishim, shared their property, one with another, and so set the example to the generous, of sharing property.

, " MuV ab said. l knew that he would not quit the field

" of battle until he had been killed.

59. According to what Mu;.ammad b. 'Amr men­

tioned quoting as authority 'Abd Allah b. Muoammad b •

. , Abd Allih b. abi Qurra, who had 'it from Isoaq b. 'Abd

Allah b. abi Farwa who himself had it from Raja'.

ijayawa: (805) After 'Abd al-Malik had killed 'Amr b.

Sa'Id he took the sword and slew those who dissented

32

from him. When he decided upon the campaign against

Mu~'ab, Syria and its inhabitants were devoted to him.

(the Caliph?). 'Abd al-Malik addressed the people (in

the mosque) and ordered them to prepare themselves to

fight Muo'ab. The Syrian chief s, one after the other

came to him without opposition when he sought it, but

they preferred that 'Abd al-Malik remain (behind) and

send the army in advance. If they were victorious, well

and good; if not, he could reinforce them with more

soldiers. This was because they feared for the people,

tha t if the Caliph was struck down in his encounter

with Muo'ab, there would be no authority left behind

him. They said, "Oh Commander of the Believers, if you

were to remain here and send a man of your own house

to lead the soldiers, you could despatch him instead

to Mu~'ab.tt 'Abd al-Malik replied, "This matter can

only be .. entrusted to a QurayshI who has sound judge­

ment. But perhap~ l .should send one who has courage

rather than sound judgement. l know myself to possess

a keen insight into the affairs of war and courage

with the sword when l am forced to adopt such measures.

Muo'ab comes from a brave family; his father was the

most courageous Quraysh~. But although Mu~'ab is brave,

he has no knowledge of war. He likes a life of ease

and there are some in his camp who oppose him while l

have good advisQrs."

60. So 'Abd al-Malik made his way to·. his camp

at Maskin, while Mue'ab proceeded to Bajumayra.· 'Abd

al-Malik wrot~ to his party amongthe 'Iraqis. IbrihIm

b. al-' Ashtar brought one ot the letters from 'Abd

al-Malik, still sealed and unread, and gave it to

Mue'ab. Mue'ab asked, AWhat is in it?" "1 have not

read it tl, replied IbrahIm. Mue'ab read it and found

that it summoned (IbrahIm) to join 'Abd al-Malik (and

offered in return) to make him governor of 'Iraq.

IbrihIm said to MUfi'ab, "By GOd, there was no one more

concerned about this matter than myself, for 'Abd al­

Malik has written to each of your companions in the

same manner as he has done wi th me. Hee.d me and kill

them.(806) Their kinsmen have not counselled us in

good faith. Toss them in irons and send them to 'Abyai

Kisri44 and imprison them there. Entrust them to one

who will kill them if you are defeated; but if you

should win you could release them to their tribes."

MUfi' ab said, "O' Abü Nu'min, l am too occupied (with

other matters) for that. May God have mercy on Abü

BaQr 45 (AOna~ b. Qays) for truly he warned me of the

perfidy of the 'Iraqis, as though he could see things

we could not."

61. 'Umar related to mesaying: we were told

by Mu~ammad b. Sallim who was quoting 'Abd al-Qahir b.

as-Sarri whosaid: The 'Iraqis were intending to

betray Mu§' ab, and Qays b. al-Haytham said,· "\'/oe

betide yout Do not allow the Syrians to enter 'Iraq.

For if once they sample tour fare, your homes will

surely be confiscated from you. For by GOd, l have

sean a sayyid of Syria waiting at the Caliph's door

content to be sent upon some errand~ while l saw our­

selves on a warring expedition in the summer season,

with one of us in charge of one thousand camels. One of

theirnobles though, would go ft'rth on a raid upon

his horse with his provisions laid behind him."

62. When the two armies approached each other

at Dayr al-Jathiliq46 in Maskin, Ibrahim b. al-'Ashtar

advanced and attacked Mu~ammad b. Marwan and forced him

to retire frqm his position. Then 'Abd al-Malik sent

'Abd Allah b. Yazid b. Mu'awiya (to aid Mu~ammad). The

people clashed:. and Muslim b. 'Amr al-BahilI vas killed

as was Y~ya b. MubashShir one of the Bànu Tha'laba b.

Yarbü', and IbrahIm b. al-'Ashtar. 'Attab b. Warqa' who

was in charge of the cavalry fled with Mu;'ab. Mu;'ab

spoke to Qatan b. 'Abd Allih al-Virithi and said,"Abü

'Uthman, send your troops forward." "1 don't (80?)

think l should," replied Qatan. "Why?", asked Muv'ab,

35

and Qaian said, "1 would hate to have Madhhij47 killed

for no purpose." (Mu~'ab) spoke to ijajjar b. 'Ab~ar,

"Abu 'AsId, send forward your banner." He replied,

"('Ilhat), to this dung-heap?" Muo'ab said, "Whatever

you retreat t~ by GOd, would be more foul and base."

(:Finally), Mu~' ab spoke to MuOammad b. 'Abd ar-RalpIlan

b. Sa'id b. Qays in the same fashion, and Muv.ammad

replied, "1 see no one who has acted, so l will do it."

"Oh IbrahIm", said Mu,'ab, "1 have no Ibrahim this

dayl"

63. Abû Zayd related to me that Muoammad b.

Sallim had related to him (saying): Ibn Khazim vas told

of the expedition of Mu,' ab against 'Abd al-Malik. He

asked, "Was 'Amr b. 'Ubayd Allah b. Ma'mar with him?"

He was told that he was not because 'Amr had been

placed in control of .. Fars. (Ibn Khazim) then aSked,

''Vas al-Muhallab b. abi eufra vi th him?" Again the

answer was negative for al-Muhallab was in charge of

MoVul. "Then was 'Abbad b. al-JSUVayn with him?", he

asked. Another negative answer for he had been left

in charge of Ba~ra. "And 1", said Ibn Khazim, "1 was

in Khurasan. Il

Take me, then drag me, (0) she-hyena and strip the flesh of a man whose aide di~ot witness the day (of battle).

64. Mu~'ab addressed his son 'lsi, "My son,

ride with your companions to your uncle in Mecca and

inform him of what the 'Iriqis have done. Leave me,

36

for l am doomed." 'lsi replied, "By God, I shall never

tell the Quraysh about your situation, but if you wish

that, go to Ba~ra, for they are numerous there, or

else join the Commander of the Believers: Mui'ab said,

"By God, the Quraysh shall not relate stories thatI

fled bècause of Rabi'a's desertion and so entered the

sacred area in flight. Rather, I shall fight and if l

am killed, by.heaven,(808) the sword will not be dis­

honoured. Flight is neither my habit nor in my nature.

If you wish to return, do so and fight. 1I This he did'

and he fought until he was slain.

65. 'Ali b. MuQ.ammad said quoting Ya.Q.yi b.

Ismi'Il b. abi al-Muhijir on his father's "'authority:

'Abd al-Malik sent this message to Mu§'ab via his

brother MuQ.ammad b. Marwan: "Your cousin will give you

safe passage". Mu~'ab replied, liA person like myself

does not abandon a situation like this until either he

conquers oil is conquered."

66. Al-Haytham b. 'Ad! said: 'Abd Allan b.

'Ayyash related to us on his father's authority: l

remained beside 'Abd al-Malik while he was fighting

37

Mu§'ab. Ziyad b. 'Amr approached him and said, "0

Commander of the Believers, Isma'il b. ~al~a was an

honest neighbour of mine. Seldom did Mu§'ab intend evil

toward me but Ismi'il would protect me from 1t. l see

you have given him safe conduct despite his trans­

gression." 'Abd al-Malik replied, "He is secure". So

Ziyad, who was a huge fellow, passed on between the

two armies. He crièd out, "Where is Abü al-Bakhtari

Isma'il b. ~al~a?" Abü al-Bakhtar! went towards him,

and Ziyad spoke to him, "1 want to tell yôu something."

Isma'il came closer until their animals stood neck to

neck (each person being assisted by an entourage of

servants), and Ziyad seized hold of Ismi'il's belt and

dragged him from the saddle for he was of very slight

build. Ismi'il cried, "1 implore you by God, 0 Abü

Mughira, this is not loyalty to MU'i'ab." And Ziyad

replied, "I would like nothing better than to see you

dead tomorrow. Il

67. When MUQ'ab refused to accept the warrant

of security MuQ.ammad b. Marwan câlled out to MUi'ab's

son 'isa saying, "0 nephew, do not commit (809) sui­

side; you have been given safe conduct." MU'i'ab said to

'!sa, "Your uncle has given you sate conduct, so go to

him." '!si replied, "The Qurayshi women will not gossip

that l abandoned you to die." Muv'ab said, "If you go

before me, l shall count on Godls reward for your

;8

death in the world to come." '!sa fought in front. of

him until he was slain. Mu,' ab was weakened by many

blows. Za'ida b. Qudima saw him, leaped upon him and

pierced him (with his weapon) crying, "0 slayers of 81-

Mukhtarl" And he felled him.

68. 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad b. ~abyan dismounted

near Muv'ab and cut his head (without severing it from

his shoulders). "He killed my brother, an-Nabi' b.

Ziyad," said 'Ubayd A~~ih. He brought the head to 'Abd

al-Malik who rewarded him with 1000 dinars. Howeve~,

'Ubayd Allah refused to accept it. He said, "I did not

kill him out of obedience to you, but rather for a

wrong he had done me. So l will accept nothing for

merely bringing'h1s head to you." And he left the head

with 'Abd al-Malik. The injustice to which 'Ubayd AllSh

referred for which he killed Muo'ab, was that the latter

had placed his gaurd Mu~arrif b. S!dan al-BahilI (then

one of the Banu Jia'wa) in control of a portion of his

governorship.

69. 'Umar b. Shabba related to me saying that

Abu al-ij:asan al-Mada' inI and Makhlad b. YaQ.ya b. ijaQ.ir

had related to him that this Mu~arrif encountered

an-Nibi' b. Ziyad and one of the Banu Numayr both of

whom blocked the road. Mu~arrif killed an-Nabi' and

beat the Num~I with his whip and left him.

39

70. 'Ubayd Allah gathered about him a group

(of men) after Muv'ab had dismissed him from Bavra and

had made him wili of al-Ahwaz.4S 'ubayd Allah set out

towards Muv'ab and the two encountered each other

across a stretch of river which.separated them. Mu~arrif

crossed over the river against Mu~'ab and Ibn Zubyin

rushed at him, pierced him (with his weapon) and killed

him. Mu~'ab then sent Muiarrifts son Mukram, to seek

out Ibn ZUbyin. He reached 'Askar Mukram which he was

named after (810) but failed to find Ibn ZUbyan.

'Ubayd Allah had actually joined 'Abd al-Malik when

his brother had been killed. Al-Ba'Ith al-Yasbkuri said

after Mue'abts death mentioning this,

When we saw the men (of battle) turnabout, and horsets neck almost become hind quarters.

We awaited Godls will patiently, until he put things right again; with only an Umayyad as ruler were we content.

We, yes we killed Mu~'ab and his son, a brother of 'Asad and an-Nakha'I the YemenI.

But the eagle of death passed a Muslim among us, extended his beak (lit. woth) and killed him.

We gave Ibn Sidin a full cup to drink which sufficed us; the best is that which suffice.s.

40

71. Abu Zayd related to me saying that 'AlI b.

Mu~ammad had related to him: In BaQra Ibn ~ubyan passed

bl" Mutarrif's daughter and she vas tOld, IIThis is the

man who killed l"our father. 1I She said, IIMy father is on

God's path." To whichlbn ~ubl"an said,

Your father did not meet death in the service of God,

But rather in the service of. the dirham.

72. (811) When MUQ'ab was killed 'Abd al-Malik

called upon the 'Iraqis to pay homage to him and they

did. MUQ'ab was slain by the river which is known as

the ad-Dujal"l at Dayr al-JithalIq. After Muo'ab's death

'Abd al-Malik ordered that he and his son 'Isi be bur:ied.

73. AI-WaqidI mentioned quoting 'Uthman b.

MUQ,ammad from Abu Bakr b. 'Umar from 'Ur.a: When MUQ' ab

was killed and buried 'Abd al-Malik observed, IIRespect

between us has been age-old, but his rule in 'Iraq was

quite ineffectual. 1I

74. Abu Zayd said: Abu NU'aym related to me

(sal"ing) that 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr, Abu abi AQmad,

related to him quoting 'Abd Allah b. Sharik al-'Imiri:

l was standing by Mu~'ab's side; l took out a letter

for him from my tunic and said to him, IIThis is a

letter of 'Abd al-Malik. Il "What do you want? Il asked.

MUfi'ab.

?5. Then a Syrian arrived, entered (Mue'ab's)

army and removed a young slave girl who cried out,

"How great is my humi1iation1" Mue'ab glanced at her

and then turned his back upon her.

41

?6. MUfi'ab's head was brought to 'Abd al-Malik.

He looked at and said, "When will the Quraysh produce

(another) 1ike youl"

?? Two (men) were talking with ~ubba in

MedIna. She was to1d, "Mu,,'ab has been ki11ed". To

which she rep1ied, "May his murderer perish1" When she

was to1d that 'Abd al-Malik had ki11ed him, she said,

"Both theslayer and the slain are dear to me." (Some­

time) after that 'Abd al-Malik performed the pilgri-·

mage, and one day ~ubba visited him enquiring, "Did

you ki11 your brothe·r (812) Mu~' ab?' He said,

Whoever tastes war finds its flàvour sour And it 1eaves (the bitterness) in Ja'ja,.49

_50 Ibn Qays ar-Ruqayyat said:

A dead man in Dayr al-JathilIq bequeathed two cities shame and .disgrace.

Bakr b. Wa'il were insincere towards God; nor did Tamim endure when they encountered (strife).

Had Mue'ab been a Bakr!, the troops whose defence against enemies boi1s cease~ess1y would have rallied round him.

(8l?) But the bonds of covenants were neglected and there vas no noble Mu~ar there that day.

May Gad give (just) reward ta Küfans there, a censure; and ta the BaQrans as welle

One who blames, blames rightly. The sons of one father by many women betrayed us,

although among them we were of pure race and lineage.

If we p.erish, these (same) sons will not remain:. and after us there will be no partner for any Muslim husband.

78. Abu Ja'far (at-~abari) said: It has (also)

been said that what l have mentioned about MUQ'ab's

death and the fighting vhich took place between him and

'Abd al-Malik occurred in the year 72. The matter of

Khilid b. 'Abd Allih b. Khilid b. ' Asid and his expedi­

tion to Ba§ra (on behalf of) 'Abd al-Malik took place

in the year 71. ·Mu§'ab was killed in Jumaaa II.

79. In this same year (that is, 71) 'Abd al­

Malik entered Kufa and distributed the districts of

'Iraq and .the cities of Küfa and Ba§ra among his own

governors. This is according to al-Waqidi. Abu al-ijasan

(al-Mada'ini) however observed that all this occurred

in the year 72.

80. 'Umar related to me (saying) that 'Ali b.

Muoammad had related to him: Mu~'ab was killed on

le

Tuesday, the l3th day of the month of Jumada l or

Jumada II in the year 72.

43

81. When 'Abd al-Malik arrived (814) in KÜfa -

as 'Ali b. MUQammad has mentioned - he settled in an­

Nukhayla.5l Next he summoned the peôple to pay homage

to him. The QuQ.i' a came and 'Abd al-Malik perceived

the y were few in number, and asked, "0 men of QuQ.a'a,

how have you managed to escape from MuQ.ar in such saall

number?" 'Abd Allah b. Ya'la an-:Nahad~ replied, "We

are mightler and more stubborn than they.'~ The Caliph

aSked, "(On whose side) are you?':'. 'Abd Allah replied,

"With those of our people who are with you, 0 Commander

of the Believers". Then Madhhij and Hamdin arrived, and

'Abd al-Malik noted "I don't think that any of them

has any $ffair' in KÜfa. Il Wh en 'Abd al-Malik saw that

the Ju'fi had arrived, he aSked, "0 men of Ju'ri,

did you enshroud the son of your sister and bury him?"

He was referring to YaQya b. Sa'id b. al-'A~. They

replied in the affirmative. Saidthe Caliph, "Give me

him." "Will he be sate?" they asked. 'Abd al-Malik

replied, "Do you also impose conditions?" One of them

said, "By GOd, we do not stipulate conditions out of

ignorance ofyour right. Rather, we feel close to you,

as a child would feel towards his parent." The Caliph

44

replied, "By God your lite is one of comf'ort. You have

been cavaliers in the Jahil! era and in Islam. He will

be safe. And so they brought the one whose agnomen

(kunya) was Abu Ay-yUb. When 'Abd al-Malik saw him he

said, "0 vile fellow! With which face do you look at

your Master (Lord), since you have already forsaken

me." c.

"The face with whih "

He created me", replied Abu

Ayy\ib. He subiaitted his obedience (to the Caliph) and

as he was before him, 'Abd al-Malik looked at his

bowed head and said, "What an excellent fellow!1I That

is, Ibn Zawmala, meaning son of a foreign woman.

82. 'AlI b. Muoammad said: al-Qasim b. Ma'an

and others related to me that Ma'bad b. Kh8lid al­

Judal! said: We, a group of the 'Adwan, went to 'Abd

al-Malik. We placed in the front of our group a comely

handsome man, while l remained just behind him (for

Ma'bad was very ugly). 'Abd al-Malik asked, IIWho is

this?1I "'Adwan", replied the secretary. Then 'Abd al­

Malik quoted these lines:

(815) A supporter of 'Adwan is the serpent of the earth;

They quarrel amongst themselves and care not for each other,

But there are also some who are leaders, and those Who faithfully return payment of a loan.

45

8:;. Then 'Abd al-Malik approached the handsome

fellow and said, "What ia it?" "I don't know", he

replied, and l spoke out from behind him:

Among them is a judge who judges and does not renege,

And one who extends permission for the pilgrimage according to the sunna and religious duties,

Bince they were born and grew up they possessed .. the secret of!a pure and genuine line of descent

84. Ma'bad continued, saying: 'Abd al-Malik

ignored me, and approaching the handsome fellow he

asked, "Who was that?" "1 don't know", he answered, and

l said from behind him, "Dhü al-'Ii ba'". 'Abd al-Malik

turned again to the handsome fellow and aSked, "Why

was he called that'l" "1 don' t knOW"., he replied, and

from behind him, l said, "Because a serpent bit his

finger and severed it." 'Abd al-Malik said to the hand­

some fellow, "What was his (real) name?" "1 don't know",

he answered. "Ijurthan b. al-ijarith", l said from

behind him.'Abd al~Malik asked the handsome fellow,

"Which branch (of your tribe~ was he from?" The hand­

some fellow again repeated, "I don't know". And from

'behind him l said, "From the Banu Naj." To which 'Abd

al-Malik said,

Would (you continue) alter Banu Naj to excite your evil among them; don't be persuaded by what penshes;

46

If l say someth1ng good to mend the matter among you, Wuhayb would say: 1 l cannot agree with this'.

(816) And thus he became 11ke a camells back whose hump 1s severèd, who, hump backed and weak, the ch11dren march around.

85. Then 'Abd al-Mal1k turned to the handsome

fellow and aSked, "How much is your pay?" "Seven

hundred", he rep11ed. Then to me he asked, "And how

much 1s yourS?11 "Three hundred", l said. 'Abd al-Malik

turned to two secretar1es and said, "Take four hundred

from the wage of th1s one and add it to that of this

fellow." And so l came out wi th seven hundred and he,

the handsome one, with,only three hundred.

86. Kinda arrived next. The Caliph looked at

'Abd Allih b. Isoaq b. al-'Ash'ath and then entrusted

him to his brother Bishr's keeping, saying,l1!" am

placing him in your company. ft Da' ud b. Qaodham arri ved

in charge of two hundred of the Bakr b. Wa'il, the

al-'AqbIya ad-Da'udIya as the y were known. Da'ud seated

himself beside 'Abd al-Malik on his couch, and the

Caliph turned his attention to him. Then Da'ud arose

and everyone 'else did the same. 'Abd al-Malik followed

them with his eyes and commented, I1They are aIl

fussag;52 By GOd, had it not been that their chief

came to me himself, not one of them would have given

me his obedience."

47

87. First 'Abd al-Malik appointed - as i8

said - Qavan b. 'Abd All8h al-ijaritbi over KUfa for

fort y days and "Ghen removed him, replacing him by his

own brother Bishr b. Marwin.

88. Then 'Abd al-Malik ascended the minbar of

KUfa and addressed the people, "If 'Abd Allah b. az­

Zubayr were Qaliph as he claims, he would leave his

refuge and make good his claim rather than hiding his

tail in the holy area (Ka'ba). l have placed Bishr b.

Marwan in command over you and l have ordered him to

treat the obedient well but to be severe with the

dissident. "Listen to him". And they obeyed.

89. (817) Muoammad b. 'Umayr was placed over

Hamadhan and Yazid b. Ru'aymover Rayy-. The Oaliph

dispersed his governors, but he did not fulfill to

anyone the promise that he should he given I~bahan. The

Caliph said, "Against me are those fussig who have

sti~red up resentment against Syria and who have under­

mined 'Iraq." It is said that the chiefs of their

tribes gave them (the fussag) protection. Said 'Abd

al-Malik, "Would anyone giveto someone else proteë­

tian from me?"

48

90. 'Abd Allah b. YazId b. 'Asad took refuge

with 'Al! b. 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas; Yawa b. Ma'yiif al­

Hamdam: also sought refuge with him. Al-Hudhayl b.

Zufar b. al-ij:arith and 'Amr b. Zayd al-ij:akamI took

refuge with Khalid b. YazId b. Mu'awiya. 'Abd al-

Malik gave them all safe eonduct, and they emerged

from their refuge.

91. Abü Ja' far said: In this same year 'Ubayd

. Allah b. abi Bukra and ij:umran b. ' Aban struggled for

the leadership in Ba;ra. 'Umar b. Shabba related to me

that 'AlI b. Mu~ammad had related to him saying: When

Mu;' ab had been slain both :ijumran b. ' Aban and 'Ubayd

Allah b. abi Bukra arose and contended with one

another over the district of Ba;ra.lbn abi Bukra said,

"1 am wealthier than you and l provided support for the

companions of Khalid on the day of al-Jufra." Someone

said to ij:umran, "You have no influence over Ibn abi

Bukra, so seek the help.' of 'Abd AllSh b. al-' Ahtam.

If he assists you then Ibn abi Bukra will have no

power over you." He did this and was able to seize

Baera while Ibn al-'Ahtam took charge of its local

militia (shurta). ijumran had a certain standing with

the Banu Umayya.

92. Abü Zayd related to me saying that Abü ~i~

49

an-NabIl related to him: A certain man informed me

that an Arab sheikh arrived who saw ijumran and asked,

"Who is thl:s'l" They said, !rijumran" •. He said, nI had

(once) seen this fellow's cloak slip from his shoulder

and Marwan and Sa'Id b. al-'I~ hastened to him to

straighten tt out. Abu Zayd said: Abu 'Afiim said: l

told a certain man about that who was a son of 'Abd

Allah b. 'Imir. (818) He said, "My father related to

me that ijumran stretehed out his foot and Mu'awiya

and 'Abd Allih b. 'Xmir hastened to touch i.t."

93. In the same year 'Abd al-Malik sent Khalid

b. 'Abd Allah as governor of Bafira. 'Umar (b. Shabba)

·related to me (saying ) that 'AlI b. Mu~ammad related

to me that: ijumran remained in Ba~ra only a short

time while Ibn abi Bukra set out and reaehed 'Abd al­

Malik at Kufa after Mu~'ab's death. Then 'Abd al-Malik

placed Khalid b. 'Abd Allah b. Khalid b. 'AsId over

Ba~ra and its districts. Khalid sent 'Ubayd Allah b.

abi Bukra as his successor to Ba~ra and when he reached

ijumran he was asked, "Have you come (for sure) or not'l"

Ibn abi Bukra was still in charge of Bafira until

Khalid arrived there.

94. Al-WaqidI asserts that in this '.same year

(i.e. 71 A.H.) 'Abd al-Malik returned to Syria. He

50

(also) said that in this year Ibn az-Zubayr drove Jabir

b. al-'Aswad b. 'Awf out of Medina and replaced him by

~al~a b. 'Abd Allah b'. 'Awf. He was the last of-Ibn az­

ZUbayr's governors of Medina until ~iriq b. 'Amr, one

of 'Uthmin's mawli arrived. ~alQ,a fled and ~iriq

remained in Medina until 'Abd al-Malik wrote him.

95. According to al-WaqidI,'Abd Allah b. az­

Zubayr led the pilgrimase', that year.

96. Abu Zayd mentioned quoting AbI Ghassan

MUQ,ammad b. YaQ.yi who said: MUfi' ab b. Uthman related

to me (saying): When the news of MUfi' ab 1 $, death' ,

reached 'Abd AllBh b. az-Zubayr, he addressed the

people thus: 5;

Praise be to God, to Whom is the Creation and the Judgement; Who grants sovereignty to whomHe wiSh~s; Who exalts whom He wishes and humbles (819) whom He wishes. Verily, God does not humble wbo-soever possesses the truth, even though he be unique; nor does He exalt anyone whose master is the devil and his crew, even though mankind without exception might be with him. Verily, news bas come to us from 'Iraq whicb has saddened yet cheered us. MUfi'ab bas been killed (May God's mercy rest upon bim). What has cheered us is our knowledge that bis death is martyrdom for him. What has saddened us however, is that the loss of a dear friend is an anguish which his own close friend feels in time of calamity. The wise one

51

abstains in such distress and become~ patient and composed. If I;have been arflicted with Muv'ab's death, l had been arflicted with az-Zubayr's death before him. Like 'Uthman l am not free of mis­fortune. Muv'ab 1s not but a servant of God.and an·. '. assistant of mine. The 'Iraqis are indeed perfidious and treacherous people. ~hey received him and sold him for the lowest priee. If he has been slain, then by God we shall not die in our beds as did the Banu Abi al-'I§. By God, not a man of theirs was killed in battle during either the Jahili (days) or Islam. We shall not die except by the lance swiftly, a death beneath the shadow of swords. Truly the world only deprived of the greatest, king whose power (authority) continues and whose reign is not destroyed. And if this world were to present a favourable aspect, l would not accept it as a proud and insolent man; even if it turns away l shall not shed tears for it as a perplexed and mean person. These words of mine l speak, and may God forgive you and me. 1I

97. He (Mu~'ab b. 'Uthman) further mentioned

that when 'Abd al-Malik killed Mue'ab and entered

Kufa, he ordered (820) vast quantities of food prepared

and sent to al-Khawarnaq.54 He extended general permis­

sion for the people to enter and take their places.

'Amr b. ijurayth al-MakhzÜJnI :. ~,came in and the Caliph

said, "Come here and sit on my couch." The Caliph sat

him down beside him and asked, "What food do you like

the best and desire the most'?" 'Amr replied, "Red goat's

meat which has been well cured and prepared. 'Abd al­

Malik asked, "You have not arranged something?tI:

Then the tables were set and they ate. 'Abd

al-Malik said, . "How pleasant our life would be if

only things would lastl But as a (poet) has put it:

o 'Umayma everything will once decay, And every man, one day, shall fade away.

52

When he had finished his meal 'Abd al-Malik 1

walked around the palace talking to :ijurayth. "Whose

verse is this? Who composed it?", he asked, and :ijurayth

told him. 'Abd al-Malik repeated the verse, andwhen he

entered his assembly, he reclined and said;

Work leisurely, you people, as though you were dead; Labour for yourselves. For it is as though what was, had not been, And what, is, was.

98. And according to al-Waqid!, in this same

year, 'Abd al-Malik conquered Qaysar!ya.55

The Year 7256 of the Hijra and a Narrative of the Significant Events therein.

53

99. Abu Ja'far said: Among those events was the

affair of the Khawarij and that of al-Muhallab b. abi

~ufra and 'Abd al-'AzIz b. 'Abd Allan b. Khilid b.

'AsId.

100. Hisham b. Mu~ammad mentioned on Abu

Mikhnaf's authority that Va~Ira b. 'Abd Allah and Abu

Zuhayr al-'Abasi had both related to him that: The

Azariqa57 and al-Muhallab had been fighting a bitter

struggle for the prece.ding eig.ht months when news

reached them of Mu§'ab's death. The Khawarij received v,

the news before al-Muhallab and his company heard it.

The Khawarij ealled out to them, "0 tell us what you

said about Mu~'ab". al-Muhallab replied, "He is the

imam who guides rightly." The Azariqa asked, "Is he

your walI in this world and the next?" "Yes", they

replied. The Azariqa asked, "And you are his followers

in life and death?" "We are", said al-Muhallab. IIWhat

do you say of 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan?" queried the

Azariqa. Al-Muhallab replied, "He is the son of the .

Devil and we are quit of him before God. In our view

he is more fit to die than you." They asked, "Are you

54

quit of him in this world and the next?" "Yes, just

as 'Ile are quit of you", .:replied al-Muhallab. "And you

are his enemies in life and death?" asked the Azariqa.

They replied, "Yes, just as we are your enem1es, we are

his." Then the Azariqa .\said, "Your imam 58 Mu~'ab has

just been killed by 'Abd al-Malik and we believe that

tomorrow you will make him your imam, although now you

renounce (822)him and curse his father!" "You lie 0

enemies of Godl" cried al-Muhallab.

101. On the following day Mu~'ab's death was

confirmed and al-Muhallab and the people acknowledged

'Abd al-Malik. Theywere then confronted by the

Khawarij who asked them, "What do you say now about

Mu~'ab?" "0 enemi~s of God", they said, "'Ile will not

tell you what 'Ile say about him." They were loathe to

make liars of themselves before the Azariqa. "You told

us only yesterday that Mu~'ab 'lias your w81159 in this

world and the next, and that you were his followers

in life and death. Tell us 'Ilhat you say of 'Abd al­

Malik." Al-Muhallab replied, "He is our imam and

khal!fa." Since they had acknowledged 'Abd al-Malik it

'lias inevitable that they would say this. The Azariqa

said to them, "0 enemies of God! Yesterday you said

that you were quit of him in this world and the next

and you professed yourself his enemy in life and death;

but today he is your ~ and kh81!fa. He slew your

imam whom you served. Which of your statements is

55

true; which is rightly guided and which is erroneous."

Al-Muhallab replied, "0 enemies of God, we were content

when Mu~'ab was master of our affairs. We are content

with 'Abd al-Malik as we vere vith him." The Azariqa

said, "By God, you are but brethren of devils and

followers of tyrants and slaves of this world."

102. 'Abd al-Malik despatched his brother Bishr'

as governor of Küfa and Kh81id b. 'Abd Allah b. Kh81id

b. 'As!d over Ba~ra. Wh en KhBlid arrived he confirmed

81-Muhallab in charge of the kharaj60 of 81-' Ahwaz and

its dependencies. He also sent 'Imir b. Misma' to

Sabür6l and Muqatil b. 1,::Misma' to Ardash!r Khurra62

and Misma' b. Malik b. Misma' to Fasa and Darabjird63

and al-MughIra b. al-Muhallab to I~takhr.

103. The Caliph 81so sent word to Muqatil

placing him in charge of an army adjoining the district

of 'Abd 81-' Az!z. He then set out in search of the

Azariqa whose forces had been diminished in the Kirman

area and so they travelled to Darabjird. Muqatil

advanced in their direction. Qatar! despatched (823)

with 9ali~ b. Mikhraq seven huDdred cav81ry and he

advanced with his men until he met up with 'Abd 81-'Aziz

who was marehing with the people by night to avoid

exhaustion. eiliO routed the people, and Muqatil b.

Misma' deseended from his beast and fought until he

was killed. 'Abd al-'AzIz b. 'Abd Allah fled. His

56

wife, the daughter of 81-Mundhir b. 81-Jirüd, was seized

and sold to the highest bidder. As she was very beauti­

ful she fetehed 100,000 (dirhams?). One of her own

people who was a ehief of the Khawirij, a man ealled

Abü al-ijadId ash~Shanni grew jealous and said, "Take her

away! l have never seen this unbeliever but she had

sedueed you. fI And he killed her. Then some said that

Abü al-ijadId had gone to Ba,ra. The family of 81-

Mundhir saw him and said, "By God we do not knaw

whether to praise or eurse YOUe fl To whieh Abü al-

ijadid said, "I did it only out of jealousy and passion."

104. 'Abd al-'Az!z journeyed forth and arrived

at Ramhurmuz. 64 Al-Muhallab arrived and was informed of

this. And so he sent to 'Abd al-'AzIz one of his

sheikhs who was one of his finest horsemen. Al-Muhallab'

said, "Go to him and if he has been defeated, respeet

him and tell him that he has done nothing that the

people before him had not done. Inform him that

soldiers hast en to him. God will strenghten and aid

him. The sheikh arrived and found 'Abd al-'AzIz sad

57

and dejected encamped with about thirty men. The 'Azdi

greeted him and told him that he was al-Muhallab's

messenger. He related to 'Abd al-'Aziz the news which

al-Muhallab had entrusted him with. 'Abd al-'AzIz

submitted that the sheikh mention his needs to al­

Muhallab. The messenger then returned to al-Muhallab

and informed him of what had transpired. Al-Muhallab

said to him, "Now join Khilid in Ba~ra (824) and tell

him the news." The sheikh exclâimed, "Am l to go and

tell him that his brother has been defeated; by God l

will not do itl" Al-Muhallab replied, "By God, no one

but you can go. You are the one who helped him and

saw him while"you were my messenger to him." The sheikh

replied, "0 mUhallab, it is therefore your guidance

that goes to him this year." He then departed and al­

Muhallab said, "By God, you are a trustworthy person to

me; but by God if you were with someone else, then he

would send you out upon your feet, t"'hat you might

suffer." The sheikh said, approaching him, nIt is as

though you are boasting to us of your civilized atti­

tude. We will reward you, By GOd, nay, rather we shall

augment it. Do you not know that we give ourselves up

to death for you, and we shall protect you from your

enemies. But,by God, were we with one who was unjust

58

to us, who would send us out on our feet on some matter

of his, then he would need our fighting and assistance.

We would put him between us and our enemies and we

would protect ourselves by him." Al-Muhallab said to

him, "Yes indeed, you speak the trutht" And so he

summoned a young lad who was with him from theAzd

tribe, and directed to Khalid to inform him of his

brother's news. The AzdI lad ar~ived at Khalid, who was

standing amidst a group of people clo~ed in a green

robe and hood. Khalid greeted the boy, approached him

and asked, "What 40 you want?" "May God compensate you,"

replied the lad, lIal-Muhallab has sent me to bring

you news of what l have seen." "And what is that?"

asked Khalid. The boy replied, "I saw 'Abd al-'AzIz in

Ramhnrmuz defeated." lIyou liet", said Khalid. "By God,

l do not", the boy said, III have told you naught but

the truth. If l have lied, then behead me. But should

l be telling the truth, then give me (may God compen­

sate you!) your cloa,sk and hood." "Woe on you", said

Khalid, IIhow little you ask for! l should have been

content with a great danger had you been lying, and a

(825) small one had you been truthful." He imprisoned

the boy and ordered him treated well until the rout of

the people had been confirmed.

.. ;

105. Khalid addressed a letter to 'Abd al­

Malik as follows:

59

l hereby inform the Commander of the Believers

(may God honour himt) that l despatched 'Abd al-'AzIz

b. 'Abd Allah in search of the Khawarij. Theyencountered

him in Fars and heavy fighting ensued. 'Abd al-'AzIz

was routed when the people abandoned him. Muqatil b.

Misma' was slain, and the remnants of the army pro­

ceeded to al-'Ahwaz. l wanted to make the Commander of

the Believers cognizant of these things so that his

decision and command should reach me. God willing, l

shall take up quart ers with him. Peace and the Compas-

.. s'ion of God be·~. upon you.

106. 'Abd al-Malik's reply ran as follows:

Yo~ messenger has just arrived with your letter

in which you inform me of sending your brother to fight

the Khawarij, and the rout and death which occurred. l

enquired from your messenger of the (present) where­

abouts of al-Muhallab. He tells me that he is your

governor in al-'Ahwaz. God disgraced your judgement

when you sent your brother, a beduin from Mecca, to

fight. (Now) summon al-Muhallab to your side to collect

the kharaj. He is blessed, intelligent, skilled in

politics and war and is stern. He is the son of war and

60

son of its sons. l note that you champion the people so

that you are receiving them in both al-'Ahwaz and

beyond. l have sent for Bishr (b. Marwan) to reinforce

you with an army of Kufans. If you shoUld encounter

your enemy do not execute any plan against them until

you have submitted it to al-Muhallab and consulted with

him on it. Peace and Compassion of God be upon you.

107. Khalid was grieved that he erred in his

judgement of sending his brotherand neglecting al­

Muhallab and that 'Abd al-Malik was not frankly con­

tent with his judgement. This caused him to say,

"Present (826) it to al-Muhallab and seek his advice."

108. 'Abd al-Malik wrote to Bishr b. Marwan as

follows: l have written to Khalid b. 'Abd AllSh ordering

him to attack the Khawarij. Despatch to him five

thousand men and put one of your men of whom you

approve in command of them. When they conclude their

expedition, direct them to Rayy,65 to fight their

enemies gatherea in their military camps. Collect their

taxes (fay·)66 until the end of their days. Then you

can succeed them and send others in their place.

109. And so Bishr took five thousand KÜfans,

placed 'Abd ~RaQmin b. MuQ.amJnad b. al-Ash' ath in

61

command and said, "When you have concluded this exped1-

tion go to Rayy." He then drew up an agreement to this

effect (for 'Abd ar-RaQman). Khalid then set out with

some Ba~rans and arrived at al-'Ahwaz. 'Abd ar-RaQmin

b. Mu'Q.ammad brought his troops of KÜfans and finally

delivered them to al-'Ahwaz.The Azariqa approached the

city of al-'Ahwaz and the military encampment of the

tribesmen. Al-Muhallab said to Khalid b. 'Abd Allan,

"I see here many vessels. Annex them to you, for by God

l can only imagine that the tribesmen would destroy

them." Scarcely an hour later, one of the cavalry

group was released for the purpose and they burned them.

Khalid b. 'Abd Allah sent al-Muhallab on his right

flank and Da' ud b. Qaodham of the Banu Qays b. Tha' laba

on his left flank. Al-Muhallab marched past 'Abd ar­

RaQmsn b. Mu'Q.ammad who had not prepared a trench. Al­

Muhallab said, "0 cousin, what has preven,ted you from

preparing a trench?" 'Abd ar-RaQmin replied, "By God,

(the Khawarij) are more worthless in my opinion than a

camel fart." Al-Muhallab answered, "Not so, they are

not 50 unimportant to you, my cousin; they are the lions

of the Arabs. l shall not depart (827) until you have

constructed yourself a trench." And he did so.

110. 'Abd ar-RaQmin's expresssion 'more wortblam

than a camel fart' reached the Khawarij, and their

poet said:

62

o truth seeker, do not be deluded by hope, because between you and what you desire is a span of lite.

Perform for your Lord, and ask of Him recompense; Know well that your being pious toward Him is the

best act. Fight the impotent, in armour and in distinguisbed

way, in order that you show (them) how a camel fart is a real attack.

111. The Khawarij remained some twenty days.

Then Kh81id led the tribesmen towards them. The Khawa­

rij saw their number and their preparedness and began

to withdraw. The tribesmen made bold and the cavalry

bore down upon them. KhaIid marched towards them and

the Kba~arij retreated as though they believed they did

not possess the power to fight the tribesmen. Kh81id

b. 'Abd Allah sent Da' ud b. Q~dham after them wi th

Baliran troops:, while he himself returned to Bafira.

'Abd ar-RaQ.man b. MuQ.ammad turned off toward Rayy and

al-Muhallab remained in al-'Ahwaz.

112. Khilid b. 'Abd Allah wrote to 'Abd al-Malik

as follows:

l hereby inform the Commander of the Believers

(may God make him prosper~) that l ventured forth to

the Azariqa, those who have renounced their faith, and

they have left the region of the Muslims. We met at

al-'Ahwazand we rose and fought the fiereest battle.

God sent down His aid to the believers and the Muslims,

and He struck the faces of His enemies. The Muslims

pursued them and massacred them, giving no quarter.

And God delivered (828) their army to the Muslims. l

-sent Da'ud b. Qa~dham after them. And God willed their

destruction and annihilation. Peace be upcn you.

113. When this letter reached 'Abd al-Malik,

he wrote to Bishr b. Marwan:

Send one from among you who is brave and intelli­

gent in war with foun thousand horsemen, and let them

joucney to Fars in search of renegades. Khalid has

written informing me that he sent Da'ud b. Qa~dham in

search of them. Order the commander which you send not

to quarrel with Da'ud b. Qa~dham when the y meet, for

any disagreement among the tribesmen is a help for their

enemies against them. Peace be upon you.

114. Bishr b. Marwan sent 'Attab b. Warqa' with

four thousand horsemen from KUfa. They travelled until

Da'ud b. Qa~dham met them in Fars. The tribesmen

followed searching for them until most of their horses

were exhausted, and the strain (Of travel) and hunger had

64

overcome them. Most of the two armies returned on foot

to al-'Ahwaz.

115. Ibn Qays _ 'ar-Ruqayyat, of the Banu MakhzUm

recited concerning the rout of 'A-bd al-'Azlz and his

flight from his wife:

'Abd al-'Azlz, you abandoned your entire army and left them strewn about all over.

Some thirsty and dying, others dead with glaring wounds •.

Why did you not endure the struggle with the martyr when one aftermoon y6u became weakened.

(829) You left your army leaderless; bear the shame (of it) forever.

You forgot your bride, when she was led :7away into slavery, her cries and wails causing eyes to wee~

116. In this same year Abü Fudayk al-Khiriji,

one of the Banu Qays b. Tha'laba set out and conquered

Ba9rayn. He killed Najda b. '!mir. The camps of Qatari

of al-'Ahwaz and Abü Fudayk joined forces against

Khalid b. 'Abd Allah. Khalid sent his brother Umayya

in charge of a well equipp.:ld army against Abü Fudayk who

routed it. Abü Fudayk se~ed one of Umayya's slave girls

and kept her for himself. Umayya returned by horse to

Ba~ra which he reached after three days. Khalid then

wrote to 'Abd al-Malik about his situation and that of

the Azariqa.

65

117. Also in this year 'Abd al-Malik sent al­

ijajjaj b. Yusuf to Mecca to fight 'Abd Allan b. az­

Zubayr. According to what is mentioned (in the sources)

the reason for the Caliph's sending him and no one

else is that when 'Abd al-Malik wanted to return to

Syria al-ijajjij came to him and said, "0 Commander of

the Believérs, l saw in a dream l had that l seized

'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr and l skinned him (alive). So

send me and entrust me with killing him. 1t The Caliph

therefore sent him with a well equi~ army of Syrians.

Al-ijajjij set out until he finally reached Mecca. 'Abd

al-Malik had written to the Meccans offering them safe

warrant if they submitted to him.

118. Al-ijarith related to me (saying) Muoammad

b. Sa'd related to me that Muoammad b. 'Umar informed

us (saying) (830) that Mu~'ab b. Thibit related to us on

the authority of Abu al-'Aswad who had it from 'Abbad

b. 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr: After Mu~'ab's death, 'Abd

al-Malik sent al-ijajjaj against Ibn az-Zubayr in Mecca.

Al-ijajjij set out with two thousand Syrian soldiers in

the month of Jumada of the year 72 A.H. He did not

appear at Medina (directly) but continued on the 'Iraq

road and settled at ~a'if.67 He would sand out datach­

ments of soldiers to 'Arafa68 in the ragion outside the

66

sacred territory, whi1e Ibn az-Zubayr did the same and

batt1e was engaged at 'Arafa. A1-ijajjaj's cavalry

returned victorious having routed the troops of Ibn

az-Zubayr.

119. Then al-ijajjaj wrote to 'Abd al-Malik

requesting permission to besiège Ibn az-Zubayr and to

enter the ho1y area • He informed the Caliph that his

own forces were exhausted and that the common run of

his fo11owers had ::deserted him,69 so he requested

reinforcements. Then a letter (in reply) arrived from

'Abd al-Malik. He had written to ~ariq b. 'Amr ordering

him to take what soldiers he had and join al-ijajjaj.

80 ~ariq set out wi th fi ve thousand of his followers ..

and joined up with a1-ijajjaj. Al-ijajjaj's entry into

~a'if occurred in the month of 8ha'ban of the year

72 A.H. (Dec. 691-Jan. 692). In Dhu 'l-Qa'da (March­

April, 692) he left ~a'if,encamped at BIr Maymijn70

and bes· •. ged Ibn az-Zubayr.

120. Al-ijajjaj led the pe9Ple in the pilgrimage

that year while Ibn az-Zubayr was besieged. ~iriq

entered Mecca in Dhu 'l-ijajja at the time of the new

moon although he did not circumambulate the Ka'ba; nor

did he reach it in a state of ritual conse~ration

(mugrim) because he was armed. But he touched neither

67

women nor perfume until Ibn az-Zubayr had .been killed.

121. Ibn az-Zubayr killed a sacrificial animal

on the day of sacrifice. He did not perform the pil~i­

mage that year, nor did his companions for they had

been unsuccessful at 'Arafa. (8~1)

122. MUQammad b. 'Umar said that Sa'Id b.

Muslim b. Babik related to him on his father's autho­

rit y: l performed thepilgrimage in the year 72 A.H.

and we arrived at Mecca and entered it from the heights

of the city. We found the followers of al-ijajjaj and

~ariq between al_ijajün7l and BIr Maymün. We performed

the circum~bulation of the Ka'ba and aS-9afa' and '. . .

al-Marwa.'· Then al-ijajjaj led the people in the pilgr1-

mage l saw him at the heights of 'Arafa seated upon a

horse. He wore armour and a helmet. He set forth and l

saw him turn towards BIr Maymün. He did not walk around

the Ka'ba and his companions were armed. l noticed that

they had a large quantity of food and l saw the caravan

from Syria bearing food such as ka'k, sawIg.72 l saw

his companions were well provisioned so from some of

them we bought ka'k for a dirham. This was sufficient

for us until we reached al-JuQfa for we were only

three persons.

12~. MUQammad b. 'Umar said: Mu§'ab b. Thabit

related to me on the authority of Nati' a mawla of the

Banu 'Asad, who was knowledgable about the fitna of

Ibn az-Zubayr: Ibn az-Zubayr was besie.ged on the night

of the ne.w Moon of Dhu 'l!.Qa'da in the year 72 A.H.

124. In this year 'Abd al-Malik wrote to 'Abd

Allah b. Khazim as-SulamI calling on him to render

him homage, (in return for which) he would give him

the revenue of Khurasan for seven years.

125. 'AlI b. Muoammad mentioned that al-Mufa~~al

b. Muoammad and Yaoya b. ~ufayl and Zuhayr b. :ijumayd

had related to him (some of them elaborating upon the

report of others) saying: MUQ'ab b. az-Zubayr was

killed in the year 72 A.H •. and 'Abd Allah b. Khazim

was fighting against BaoIr b. Warqa' as-~uraymI (euraym

b. al-ijarith) in 'Abrashahr.

126. 'Abd al-Malik wrote (8~2) to Ibn Khazim

(sending the letter) with Sawra b. Ashyam an-NumayrI,

"Khurasan is yours for seven years on the condition

that you 'acknowledge me." Ibn Khazim said to Sawra,

"Had l not sown dissension between Banu Sulaym and the

Banu 'Imir, l would surely have killed you. So eat this

letter." And Sawra did so.

127. Abu Bakr b. Muoammad b. Wasi' said: It was

rather Suwada b. 'Ubayd Allah an-Numayri who brought the

69

knowledge of 'Abd Allah b. Khazim.

128. Some said: 'Abd al-Malik sent Sinan b.

Mukammal al-GhanawI to Ibn Khizim and he wrote him

(saying), "Khurasan is revenue (lit. food) for you."

Ibn Khizim said to the messenger, "Abü adh-Dhibban

(i.e. 'Abd al-Malik) only sen~ you because you are from

the GhanI; he knew that l would not kill a Qays!. So

eat his letter."

129. 'Abd al-Malik wrote to Bukayr b. Wish~

one of the Banu 'Auf b. Sa'd, and Ibn Khazim's succes­

sor in Marve, about his pledge concerning Khurasan,

making him a promise and arousing his des ire for it.

Bukayr b. Wisha~ denounced 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr

and proclaimed 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan. The people of

Marve responded to him. (This news) reached Ibn

Khazim and he feared that Bukayr would arrive with the

Man!a; the p"eople of Marv, and ' Abrashahr gathered

against Ibn Kha~im and so he left Ba~Ir (b. Warqi')

and arri ved at Marv'" intending totake his son to

Tirmidh.7; Bao!r followed him and caught up with him

in a village called in Persian ShimIghad which was

eight parsangs distance from Marv.

1;0. Ibn:Khazim fought Ba1}.Ir and a mawla of

the Banu Layth said, "1 was in camp near the battle

70

field of the people. When the sun arose, the two

armies clashed against each other and l could hear the

ring of swords. When day was fully come (833) the sounds

died away and l said (to myself) 'This is because of

the day'. When I~b.ad performed the midday prayer or

somewhat before then, l departed and one of the.men

of the Banu TamIm encountered me and l said, 'What is

the news?' and he replied, '~killed the enemy of God,

Ibn Khazim; that is he over there.' He was borne upon

a mule. They had tied him by his genitals with a rope

and a .. stone and had balanced him thus upon the mule.

131. The one who killed him was Waki' b.

'Umayra al-Quray' i known as Ibn ad-Dawraq!. B~ir b.

Warqa', 'Ammar b. 'Abd al-'AzIz al-Jushami and Waki'

blocked Ibn Khazim's way. They pierced him (with

their weapons) and brought him down. Waki' sat upon

his chest and slew him. Some said to Waki', IIHow did

you kill Ibn Khazim?" and he said, "1 got him with a

lance point. And when he had fallen l sat on his

chest. He tried to rise but was unable. l said, '0

revenge for Dawila!' "Dawila was the brother of Waki'

by the same mother. He was killed before that in days

other than these. Waki' said, IIHe spat in my face and

said, 'God curse you! You slay the chief of Mu~ar

71

because of your brother, alout who was not equal to a

handful of date pits.' l never saw anyone die with more

spittle than he."

Ibn Hubayra mentioned this tale one d8.1'. "By

God, this is courage " said he.

132. Immediately upon the death of Ibn Khazim,

Baolr ;.despatched a man of the Banu Ghudama to 'Abd

al-Malik informing him of the event. But he did not

send his head. Bukayr b. Wishaoarrived among the

people of Marv and provided for them when Ibn Khazim

had been killed. He intended to take the head of Ibn

Khazim but B~Ir prevented him. Bukayr struck him with

a club, took the'head, (834) shackled BaQir and impri­

soned him. Bukayr sent the head to 'Abd al-Malik and

wrote him informing him that he was the one who had

killed Ibn Khazim. When the head was brought to 'Abd

al-Malik he summoned al-GhudimI, a messenger or BaQIr

and said,"What is this?" "1 do not know", replied the

messenger, "1 did not leave the tribe until he had

been killed." One of the Banu Sulaym recited:

o Night of ours in Nlsabur1'O you (Night), return to me the morning, or else give light (yourself).

Its stars are wearied and fatigued, as though the he avens were in some controller's hands.

, Umm·' Zayd blames events, but have you any blame in events.

72

They ignored my prestige and shunned me for a short fate on earth.

If the horsemen of (Banu) Sulaym had witnessed that day the wounded lion taunted,

A generous people would have fought around him, and this particular revenge would be sweet .'

Barking dogs would remain, but after you there would be no roaring lion on earth.

133. Al-ijajjaj was entrusted with the pilgri-

mage in this year.

134. The governor of Medina, on behalf of 'Abd

al-Malik was Tariq, the mawli of 'Uthman. Bishr b.

Marwan was in charge of Kufa while 'Ubayd Allah b.

'Utba b. Mas'ud was in charge of the affairs of juris­

prudence. KhSlid b. 'Abd Allah b. Khalid b. 'AsId was

in charge of Ba~ra and Hisham b. Hubayra was in charge

of the affairs of jurisprud.S:lll.ce. 'Abd . Allah b. Khazim

as-Sulami was over KhurasSn .according to some; but

according to others it was Bukayr b. Wishao. It was

claimed that 'Abd Allah b. Khazim was in Khurasan in

the year 72 A.H. and that he was killed only after Ibn

az-Zubayr's death. (835) 'Abd al-Malik wrote to 'Abd

Allah b. Khazim summoning him to recognize him in

exchange for Khurasan for ten years, after the death

of 'Abd Allâh Ibn az-Zubayr. 'Abd al-Malik sent him

Ibn az-Zubayr's head and Ibn Khazim swore that he

would never render obedience to 'Abd al-Malik. He

called for a basin and washed Ibn az-Zubayr's head

and then he embalmed and wrapped i t up, prayed over

73

it and sent it to Ibn az-Zubayr's family in Medina. He

made the messenger eat the letter and said, "If you

were not just a messenger, l would kill you." Some

said that he cut· off the messenger's hands and feet

and killed him.

74

(844) The Year 73 of the Bijra74 and the Mention of the Momentous Events which occurred therein, of which One was the Death of 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr. The Information is Mentioned after the Following Fashion:

135. Al-Hari th related to me (saying), Mu~ammad • b. Sa'd related to us (saying), M~~ad b. 'Umar

-~

informed us (saying), IsO~q b. Yaoya related to me on

the' authority of 'Ubayd Allah b. al-QubtIya who said: , .

War between Ibn az-Zubayr and al-Vajjaj in the valley

of Mecca lasted for six months and seventeen days.

(lit. nights).

136. M~ammad b. 'Umar said: Mu~'a_ b. Thabit

related to me on the authority of ~afi' a mawla of the

B~u 'Asad whowas well informed of the revolt of Ibn

az-Zubayr: Ibn az-Zubayr was besièged on the night of

the new moon of Dhü 'l-Qa'da in the year 72 A.H., and

he was killed on the 17th. of Jumada I, 73 (Oct. 4,

692). The siége of al-~ajjaj against Ibn az-Zubayr

lasted eight months and 17 days (lit. nights).

137. Al-ijarith related to us (saying) Mu~ammad

b. Sa'd related to us (saying) Mu~ammad b. 'Umar

informed us (saying) Is~aq b. Yaoya related to me on

the authority of Yüsuf b. Mrahik: l saw the mangonel

75

fire and then the he avens rumb1ed and flashed wi th

lightning; thunder and lightning erashed upon the roeks

(845) and enveloped them. The Syrians took this for an

ill omen and elasped their hands together. Al-ijajjaj,

however, raised the edge of his outer garment and

shoved it into his belt ',_ .• ;}':::. Then he picked up a stone

for the mangonel and plaeed it in the machine, and

eried, "Fire 1" and they fired in unisQu:è.. When they

had done this a bolt of lightning struek and th en

another, and twelve of the companions of al-ijajjaj

were killed. The Syrians vere in confusion (or: broken

in spirit) and al-ijajjaj spoke to them saying: "Oh

people of Syria, you do not know what this is; but l

am a son of (the) Tihama,75 and this is Tihama lightn­

ing. The eonquest has been achieved so rejoiee. W,bat

has befalleIi you will also befall them." Lightning

struek again in the morning and a number of Ibn az­

ZUbayr's companions were struck. Al-ijajjaj said: "Dô

you not see how the y are struck down, while you are at

the side of obedience and they oppose it. 11 The war

eontinued between Ibn az-Zubayr and al-ijajjaj until a

short time before the former's death. His eompanions

had deserted him and the common people of Mecca had

gone out to al-ijajjaj with safe eonduct.

76

138. Al-ijarith related to me (saying), Ibn

Sa'd related to us (saying), Mu~ammad b. 'Umar informed

us (saying), Is~aq b. 'Abd Allah related to me on the

authorityof al-Mundhir b. Jahm al-'AsadI: l saw Ibn

az-Zubayr on the day he was killed and his companions

had abandoned him and deserted him in great numbers.

They set out for al-ijajjaj until nearly ten thousand

persons had gone to him. (al-Mundhir) mentioned that

among those who had left az-Zubayr for al-ijajjaj were

his own two sons, Hamza and Khubayb who secured safety

for themselves from al-ijajjaj.

Ibn az-Zubayr entered his mother.' s house -­

according to what Mu~ammad b. 'Umar mentioned on the

authority Abü az-Zinad who took it from Makhrama b.

(846) Sulayman al-WSlabI: Ibn az-Zubayr entered his

mother's presence when he saw the people deserting him.

He said, "Oh mothert the people have forsaken me, even

my own sons and family. None has remained with me

except a handful who have only enough resistance to

endure a little longer. The people will give me what

l want of this life. What do you think?" She said, IIBy

God my son, l know you. If you know that you follow the

truth, and you are summoned to it, then pursue it. Your

companions have been slain for the truth, and the

Umayyad slaves will be unable to play with your own

neck. If you sought only this world, you would be a

wretched slave, and you would have destroyed yourself

and those who were killed with you. But if you were

77

to say, II follow the truth, but when my companions

languish, then l too am weak l, this is not the deed of

free men or of people of religion. How long is your

existence in this world? Death is preferable!"

139. Ibn az-Zubayr approached her and kissed

her ·.forehead. He said, "By GOd, this is (exactly) my

own opinion. That for which l have constantly urged to

this very day, l have not depended upon this world and

l have had no love for its life. Nothing forced me to

rebel except anger in the way of God because things

were tolerated which He forbade. But l wanted to know

your opinion and you have confirmed my own insight.

Consider, my mother, l shall die this day, but let not

your sadness be great and accept the judgement of God.

Your son has never committed intentionally a deceitful

act nor a foui deed. He has neither forsaken the judge­

ment of God nor betrayed the faith. He has never

intentionally committed injustice to a Muslim or a

covenanter. No word reached me of oppression of my

governors that l approved of, nay rather, (847) l

censured such acts. There is nothing more pleasing to

78

me than to seek the pleasure of my Lord. 0 GOd, l do

not say this to make myself appear an honourable person -

o You.- are more knowing - but l say i t to console ury

mother that she will be at ease about me."

His mother said, "What l trulT.· hope of God

is that my consolation concerning you is good, if you

should precede me (in death). And if l should precede

you, then l wish to go out and see how your atfair is

resolved." 'Abd Allah said, "May God reward you well,

my mother. Do not cease to pray for me before and atter

( l die) ." "1 shall nevet' stop .:," she said, nfor

whoever has been slain in vain, you have been killed

in the truth. 0 GOd, be merciful throughout the prayer

vigil of.the long night and throughout the lamenting and

the thirst of themidday heat of Medina and Mecca, and

his devotion to his father and myself. 0 God, l give

him up to yourjudgement and l would be content with

your decree. In 'Abd AllSh (my son) reward me the

reward of the stout-h~ed and the thankful.

140. Mu~'ab b. Thabit said: There remained ooly

ten days after that, although some say rive days.

141. Mu~ammad b. 'Umar said: Müsa b. Ya'qüb b.

'Abd Allah said on his uncle's authority: Ibn az-Zubayr

came to his mother wearing his armour and helmet. He

79

stood and greeted her; then he approached her, reached

for her hand and kisseci it. She said, "This is farewel.l.

Do not be distant. 1f Ibn az-Zubayr replied, "I did come

to bid you farewell for trult.y,. l believe this is my

l.ast day on earth. Know, 0 mother, that if l am killed,

l am only flesh and nothtng arranged for me can harm

me." She said, "You are sincere my son, persevere in

your vision. Come to me that l may bid you farewell."

He came (848) and kissed and embraced her. She said as

she fel.t the armour, "This is not the deed of one who

desires what you do." He replied, "1 donned this armour

only to give you strengtb." "It does not," said the ol.d

woman. And so, 'Abd Allah removed the armour and rolled

up his sleeves, tightening the hem of his shirt. and

the sil.ken cloak under it and tucked it all under his

belt, whil.e his mothEr spoke, IIRoll your clothes up."

Then Ibn az-Zubayr departed saying; "l, when

l know my day (has come), l am patient; others who know

their day has come, refuse to acknowledge it."

The old woman heard his words and said, "God

willing, you will surely persevere. By God, your father

was Abü Bakr b. az-Zubayr and your mother eafiya bint

'Abd al-Mutallib."

80

142. A.l-:ijarith related to me (saying), Ibn Sa'd

related to me (saying), that Mu~ammad b. 'Umar had

informedhim that Thawr b. YazId ~',reported to us on

the authority of a sheikh from ~om~?6 who had witnessed

the battle of Ibn az-Zubayr and the Syriàns: l saw Ibn

az-Zubayr on Tuesday, and we of ijom~ about a thousand

strong suddenly, came:upon him by our gate; we alone

entered it and he came out immediately to us a1one.

We fled from him and l will not forget his words as he

recited:

II, when l know my day (has come) l am patient; only a free man knows his two days; others who know theirs do not acknowledge it. 1

l said (to myself), "By God, you are the noble free

man." l saw him ~standing in al-Abt~?? no one approached

him until we thought that he would not be killedo

14,. Al-ijarith related to me (saying), (849)

Ibn Sa'd related to us (saying) that Mu~ammad b. 'Umar

informed us (saying) Mu~'abb. Thabit related to us on

the authority of ~afi' a mawla of the Banu 'Asad: ,On

Tuesday l saw that the gates had been blocked with

Syrians. The companions of Ibn az-Zubayr deserted their

posts. They were outnumbered by the tribesmen who

placed men at each gate with a chief and people of a

certain city. The ~om~is were at the gate opposite that

1

81

of the Ka'ba; the Damascenes were at the ',gata of the

Banu Shayba; the Jordanians were at as-eafa, and the

Palestinians at the gate of the Banu Juma9 and the

people of Qinnisr!n were at the gate of the Banu Sabm.

Both al-ijajjaj and ~ariq were in the area of ~,~A~1~t!

at al-Marwa.

At one time Ibn az-Zubayr would (attack) in

one direction and in another direction at another

time as though he were a lion in a forest. The men did

not venture to attack him and they dashed past the

people at the gate until Ibn az-Zubayr had driven them

out, all the while reciting the same verse as before.

Then he would cry out, "0 Abü eafwan, woe upon his

mother in victory. Had he only had men. He recited the

verse, 'If only my opponent in battle were one, l would

suffice him.' Ibn eafwin said, ''res, by GOd, and a

thousand!"

144. Al-ijarith' related to me (saying) Ibn Sa'd

related to us (saying) MUQammad b. 'Umar informed us

(saying) Ibn abi az-Zinad and Abu Bakr b. 'Abd Allah

b. Mu~'ab related to me on the authority of Abü

Mundhir (Hisham b. MUQ,ammad al-Kalb!). And Nifi' a

mawla of the Banu 'Asad related to us: On Tuesday

morning, the seventeenth of Jumada l of the year 73 A.H.

82

al-ijajjaj had eut off Ibn az-Zubayr from the gates.

Ibn az-Zubayr had spent the entire night in prayer.

Then he seated himself cross-legged with his sword(850)

beside him and fell asleep. He awoke at dawn and said,

"0 Sa'd, make the call to prayer." Sa'd invoned the

prayer call while Ibn az-Zubayr performed the ritual

ablutions. He made two rak'as of the dawn prayer, then

stood at the head (o.! the group). The mu~adhdhin

remained and 'Abd Allah prayed with his companions,

reading (the Qur'inic) verse w~ich begins nün wa-l

galam78 word by word, then he was made free from harm.

Then he arose and praising God and extolling Him he

said, "Uncover your heads", for they were wearing hel­

mets and turbans. They did so and he said, "0 family of

Zubayrl If you have been sincere to me from your hearts

we were the People of the House among the Arabs who

have suffered in ( the way of ) God (yet) no total

disaster has afflicted us. (He continued) 0 Family of

ZUbayr, let not the clash of swords frighten you. l

have never been in any situation but that l have

been dragged half-dead from battle. l have never

encountered a healing wound which was not more grievous

than the pain of sword blows. Protect your swords as

you do your faces. l know of no man who has lost his

sword and managed to survive, since once a man loses

his weapon, he is like a defenceless 'woman. Shut your

eyes to the (glistening swords and let each man occupy

h1mself with his opponent. Let no question about me

divert you. Do not ask, 'Where is 'Abd Allah b. az­

Zubayr?' Let him who should ask know now that l will

be in the front rank.

The cause of Ibn SalJiïa's refusal (to submit) was that he was mortal, facing death wherever' he turned.

l shall not buy life withdamei nor run away to escape, for fear of death.7~

Attack with God's blessings!"

He attacked them until he reached al-ijajiÎn. A (851)

rock struck him in the face and made him shudder. His

face became bloody and when he felt the warm blood

dripping down his face and beard he said,

We are not (like) those whose wounds drip blood upon their heels; rather we are (like) those who cause blood to drip before us.80

And (the soldiers) attacked him (en masse).

145. A crazy slave woman of ours cried out, "0

my Commander of the BelielTers!1I She had seen (Ibn az-

Zubayr )where he had fallen and she pointed him out

to them. He was deRd, still wearing his silken robe. The

84

news reached al-ijajjaj and he made a prostration in

prayer. Then he went and stood by (Ibn az-Zubayr) with

~ariq b. 'Amr. ~ariq spoke, "Woman shall never bear a

more manly person than he." Al-ijajjaj replied, "You

praise him who has rejected obedience to the Oommander

of Believers?" "Yes", said ~iriq, nit is more forgiving

of us (that we should). If it were not 50, we should

have no excuse, for we besieged him, while he had

neither trench, nor fortress nor equipment for defence ~

by which he could avenge us for seven months. Rather

he was superior to us in every encounter." When this

conversation reached the hearing of 'Abd al-Malik he

agreed with ~ariq.

146. 'Umar related to us (saying) Abü al-ijasan

related to us on the authority of one of his men: It

was as though l saw Zubayr who had killed a black slave

he had struck an~, hamstrung and who continued to attack

saying, 'Pat·tence, 0 Ibn ijam.!, in situations such as

this noblemen are patient.'

147. Al-ijarith related to me (saying ) Ibn Sa'd

related to us (saying) Muoammad b. 'Umar informed us

(saying) 'Abd al-Jabbar b. 'Umara related to me on the

authority of 'Abd Allah b. abi Bakr b. Muoammad b. ~r(8S2)

b. ijazm:Al-ijajjaj sent the heads of Ibn az-Zubayr and ~bd

Allah b. ~afwan and 'Umara b. 'Amr b. ijazm to Medina and they

e

85

were displayed in it. Then the heads were brought to

'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan. Al-ijajjaj entered Mecca, and

the Quraysh in the city payed homase to 'Abd al-Malik.

148. Abu Ja' far said: In this year 'Abd al-Màlik

placed ~ariq, 'Uthman's mawla as governor of Medina and

he remained there five months.

149. And in this year; as well, according to

al-Waqid!, Bishr b. Marwan died. According to other

sources al-Waqid! said that Bishr died in the year 74 A.H.

150. In this year also, accordins' to what is

mentioned (in some sources), 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan

despat'ched 'Umar b. 'Ubayd Allah b. Ma' mar to kill

Abu Fudayk.8l 'Abd al-Malik ordered him to commission

anyone he wished from among the Ba~rans. 'Umar arrived

at Kura and commissioned people there. Ten thousand

people were detailed to him. Then he went to Ba~ra

and another ten thousand were detailed there. 'Umar

sent to them their previsions andpay, and they received

them. 'Umar b. Ubayd Allah led them and placed the

KUfans on his right flank with Mu~ammad b. Musa b.

~al~a in charge; the Ba~rans were on his left flank

with his nephew 'Umar b. Musa b. 'Ubayd Allah in charge.

The cavalry was in the middle. Finally the army reached

Bao.rayn, and 'Umar b. 'Ubayd Allah arranged it by files.

Foot soldiers preceded with lances in the1r hands

which they fixed into the ground, and concealed with

pack saddles.

86

Abu Fudayk and his followers attacked as one (853)

man, and crushed 'Umar' s left flank until all but al­

MughIra b. al-Muhallab, Ma'an b. al-MughIra and Mujja'a

b. 'Abd ar-RaQ.mSn and the cavalry were destroyed. (The

enemy) .then turned toward the KUfan flank which was

holding on. 'Amr b. MUsa b. 'Abd Allah was practically

dead (lying) among the slain; he had been severely

weakened by his wounds. When the Ba~rans saw that ·the

KUfans had not been routed, they rebuked themselves

and returned to fight without a leader. They came upon

'Amr b. Musa b. 'Abd Allah wounded and they carried him

right into the Khawajir army. The (Ba§rans) burned a

qantity of straw (which they had found in the camp)

and the wind carried (the smoke) against the Khawarij.

KUfans and. Ba~rans carried on until they had séj;zed the

Khawarij troops and killed Abu Fudayk. They encircled

the army in al-Mushaqqar82 which yielded to their

authority. 'Amr b. 'Ubayd Allah killed, according to

what is mentioned, around six thousand of them and took

eight hundred prisoner. They acquired a pregnant slave

girl from Abu Fudayk for Umayya b. 'Abd Allah and then

returned to Ba~ra.

87

151. In this year 'Abd al-Malik removed KhaJ.id

b. 'Abd Allah from Ba§ra and placed his brother Bishr

b. Marwan as governor over it together with the gover­

norship of Kiifa. When the two governars.·. had been made

one Bishr set out for Baera and le ft 'Umar b. ijtirayth

behind in charge of Küfa.

152. In this same year as well Muoamaad b.

Marwan perfar.~ed a summer expedition against (the

Byzantines) and routed them.

153. It is said that in this year 'Uthman b.

al~WalId fought the Byzantines in the region of Armenia.

He had four and the Byzantines six thousand troops.

'Uthman routed them and most of the dead occurred on

the Byzantine side.

154. Al-ijajjaj b. Yusuf remained to perform the(854)

pilgrimage with the people in this year. He was in charge

of Mecea, the Yemen, and Yamama. Küfa and Ba~ra were,

according to al-WaqidI, in the hands of Bishr b. Marwan,

although others say that Bish~ was in charge of KUfa

while Khalid b. 'Abd Allah b. Khalid b. 'AsId was in

charge of Ba~ra. Shuray~ b. al-ij:arith was in charge of

juridical affairs in Kiifa and Hisham b. Hubayra in

Balira and Bukayr b. Wishal'J. in Khurasan.

NOTES

1. Ju1y 6th., 688 A.D. ta June 24th., 689 A.D.

2. 'Ayn Warda is identical with Ra's al-'Ayn which is 1acated on the Khabur River in al-Jazira, northern Syria. Yaqut, Mu~jam, ed. Wustenfe1d, III, p. 764; E.I.1 , III, pp. 119-1121, article "Ra's a1-'Aynll (E. Honigmann).

3. A district aboutthirty ki10meters fram A1eppo, named after a certain ijabIb b. Mas1ama who had captured the fortress there. Yaqut., Mu' jam, l, pp. 664-665; E.I2 , l, p. 1348, article "Butnanll

(F. Hours).

4. A town in al-JazIra on the left bank of the Euphrates near the confluence o~ the KhabUr.· Yaqut, Mu'jam, IV, pp. 65-66; E.I. l , pp. 765-766, article "JS:ar~isIyaJl (M. Streck).

5. A para11e1 text of this paragraph is to be found in Baladhuri, Ansab a1-Ashraf, IVb, p. 138:15-19, on the authority of Abu Mikhnaf.

6. The minbar, usua11y, a1though not always accurate-1y, rendered in English as "pulpit". It was a raised platform upon which a s".?eaker would stand ta. address his company. In this context, it seems reasonable to «ssume that 'Amr was addressing the people in the mosque at Damascus. E.I.1 , III, pp. 339-341, article "Masdjid" (Johs. Pedersen) and E.I.1 , III, pp. 499-500, article, "Minbar" (E. Diez).

88

7.

89

The context here obscures the meaning of the Arabie phrase &-'-' ~> J-. ~. The picture is c1earer in Baladhuri where the text of another ve.rsion reads: ~\..1 y.-L\ ~.).,I.,-' J& (~/) ~\ ~ ô~'J:-.)~ ~!,6\~ Ansab, IVb, p, 139:1-2. 'Amr was evident1y trying tofortify the city by whatever means, by heaping wood, heavy coarse c10th and matreeses upon the wall of the city.

8.· A tribe known as Qira was noted for its superb marksmen. One day, 1t is said, a Qiri met a man of the 'Asadtribe. The Qiri said to his opponent, "If you wish, l will wrest1e with you, or e1se challenge you to a race, or even- .. compete wi th you in mm:ks­manship." The 'Asad! rep1ied, "1 choose marksmanship." To which.the Qiri said, nyou have been just with me." Lisan a1-' Arab, V, p. 123 under ".",\; •

9. A1-Maydw, Majma' al-Amthil, II, p. 153.

10. Literal1y "son of a b1ue-eyed woman" which was a common epithet of 'Abd al-Malik.

11. The allusion here is to the murder of the Caliph 'Uthman (d. 35/656). Such was the intense feeling against him that he was not accorded the usual burial rites and his unwashed body was buried in a Jewish graveyard. In his dream, 'Amr may have seen 'Uthman appear in his bloodstained shirt, which he p1aced upon 'Amr. This was sure1y an i11 omen, which 'Amr neverthe1ess, chose to ignore. 'We11hausen, Arab Kingdom, p. 50.

12. A kind of white c1oth, named after the region of Quhistin. Lisin al-'Arab, XIII, p. 532.

90

13. E.I. l , II, pp. 921-924, article IIKhatam" (J. Allan) and E.I. 2, II, article "Diwân" (A.A. Duri).

14'. SarIr in Arabie, anything upon which one si ts or li~s. Lane notes that the word was possibly derived fr,om .' 'sarUr because it generally belonged to persons of ease and luxury, or pers ons in authority such as a king or Oaliph. Lexicon, p. 1339 a,b. In E.I. l , III, p. 339, suggested synonyms of sarIr are minbar, takht and kursi. Sar!r has been rendered as 'couch' here to denote something upon which one recJ.1.nes or sits. Although the sar!r spoken of here belonged to 'Abd al-Malik, we do not want to suggest that it refers to his 'throne' which might be misleading.

15. Jama'a pl. jawimi'. A shackle consisting of two rings, one for the neck, the other for the hands, which arejoined by a bar of iron. Lane, Lexicon, p. 2278.

16. AI-Maydëni, Majma' al-Amthil, II, p. 236. The expression in ~abarI is ' V:;"'S, a short form of the full expression ~.,s\ c.l c.::.J\.J \.~'\ •

17. E.I.li III, pp. ~33-335, article "Masdjid".

18. In Arabie magsüra, the part of the mosque which is the station of the Oaliph, so~called becaœe i t is partitioned off from the rest of the mosque by a railing or screening. Lane, Lexicon, p. 2536 a.

19. Qirtis pre QaratIs, syn. with Persian kaghad ( ~ \{) "paper" or "papyrus". Also means "scro11","writing"

1 or "bookll• Lane, Lexicon, pp. 2517 c-2518 a; E.I. ,

II, p. 1036, article "Kirtis" (01. Huart).

91

20. 'Ubayd Allah b. Qays '.:ar-Ruqqayat, b. ca. 625, a poet who openly embraced the Zubayrid cause and attached himself to Mus'ab b. az-Zubayr to whom he addreàsed several verses. Blachère, Histè1re~,;., pp. 606-609.

21. Hama is a birdof Arab legend which sits upon the tomb of a dead man whose spirit is unavenged. The bird cr:\.eS out "Give me drinkfl until the spirit is avenged and then it flies away. Lisan al-'Arab, XII, p. 624.

22. Ahl al-Bayt, "People of the House" or "Family". This meaning is extended in several~,::: .. ,:··.; .,~ ,'J.<,:"":.,,,' '.-:

ways, to branches of the Banu Hashim. E.I.1 , l, p. l8~, articl~ "Ahl al-Bait" ·(I. GOldziher).

23. The early dissenters of the Kharijites took the name al-MUbakkim~ which meant one who repeated tbe phrase flJudgement belongs to God alone ll (La bukma i1.la li-llihi). E.I.1 , II,p. 905 article "Kharidjites fl

(LeVi Della Vida).

24. A place in the hills to the east of Mecca on the road from it to 'Arafa. Yaqut, Mu'jam, IV, pp. 642-643; E.I. l , III, p. 498, article "Minafl (Fr. BUhl).

25. Al-Jamra:." Literally "Pebble fl which refers to piles of stones in the valley of Mina formed by the stones cast by pilgrims returning from 'Arafa. There are three such stone piles, one being near the al-Khayf mosque called al-J~at al-'Üla 'the first Jamrs', and is probsbly the one meant here. Yaqut, Mu'jam, II, p. 117; E.I. l , p. 1012,artiele IIA1-Dj'amrafl (Fr. Buhl).

26. June 25th., 689 A.D. to June l4th., 690 A.D.

27. More complete details of these evants are found in BaladhurI' s Ansab al-Ashr8.f, V, pp. 299-300.

28. This was the Emperor Justinian II Rhinotmetus (685-695).

29. June l5t~ 690 A.D. to June 3rd., ~9l A.D.

30. A place of uncertain locale, possibly south of Ti~krIt near the confluence of the Tigris and Tharthar Rivers. Yaqüt, Mu'jam, I,"pp. 454-455.

92

31. The poet w~s born ca. 45/665. B1ach~re, Histoire, pp. 475-476.

32. This phrase has been inserted by ~abar!. A par~-1e1 passage is found in Ba1adhur!, Ansab al-Asbraf, IVb, p. 155:15-18 on Abu Mikhnaf's authority. Ba1adhurI a1so has the account of a1-Mada'inI where the phrase dces n"ot appear. Ansab, IVb, p. 159:19 sq.

33. On shurta "armed attendants U, "police", "militia"

see Lane, Lexicon, p. 1533 c and E.I.;L, IV,article "ShurVa" (Zetterstéen).

34. A place near Ba§ra noted for this particular batt1e between the Ca1iph's forces and those of Mus'ab. Yaqüt, Mu'jam, II, p. 93.

35". A village in BaQ-rayn. Yaqüt, Mu' jam, l, p. 913.

36. rThe poet be10nged to the clan of Darim of the TamIm tribe. His dates are b. ca. 20/640, d. 120/738. Blachàre, Histoire, pp. 495-505.

37. 'Ayn at-Tamr, "The Spring of the Date Palm" due south of BIt a village in 'Iraq lying on the west side of the Euphrates near Anbar. Le St range , Eastern Caliphate, p. 65; Yaqut, Mu'jam, III, p. 759.

38. SamabIj, the name of an island in the &ri;ar\,&JcLf between 'Uman and Bao.rayn. Yaqut, Mu'jam, III, pp. 131-132.

39. Ietakhria, a man from a woman of Ie'tiakhr, a dis­trict of Persia with an ancient city.by the same name known. to the Greeks as Persepo1is. Le Strange, Eastern Caliphate, p. 275; ·yaqut, Mu' jam, l, pp. 299-300.

40. Name of a province in Persia. Yaqut, Mu'jam, IV, pp. 263-267; E.I.1 , II, pp. 1028-1033 (J.H. Kramers).

41. Zandaward is a town between Wasi-v and Baera. raqut, Mu'jam, II, pp. 951-952.

42. Blachêre, Histoire, p. 482.

43. Located on the DuëJay1 River "The Little Tigris", north of Baghdad. It is said that MUij'ab was buried. here. Yaqüt, Mu'jam, IV, pp. 529-531; Le Strange, Eastern Calipahte, p. 51.

44. This apparently refers to a palace in the city Mada'in which lay twenty miles south of Baghdad. Yaqüt, Mu'jam, l, p. 109. Le St range mentions a White Palace ( w..Y\ ~\) which may be the same place, Eastern Caliphate, p. 34.

45. Abü BaQ.r was the kunya of al-AQ,naf b. Qays an intimate of Mu~'ab b. az-Zubayr. Baladhuri, Ansab al-Ashraf, V, p. 337,·22.

46. An ancient monast~ in Maskin. Yaqüt, Mu'jam, II, pp. 650-651.

47. An Arab tribe of YemenI origin predominant in KÜfa. E.I. l , III, p. 82.

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48. Al-Ahwaz, originally known by the name of Hurmuz­Shahr in Persian, was the capital of a province of the same name, known also as Khu~istan. Le Strange, Eastern Caliphate, pp. 2~2-2~~; Yaqut, Mu'jam, I, pp. 410-414.

49. A verse by Abü Qays al- Aslat, the name of ~ayfI b. 'Imir who was a leader of the Aw~ tribe in Medina. Blach~re, Histoire, p. ~12.

50. Supra, ,fn.20.

51. A place nearKüfa on the road to Syria. Yaqüt, Mu'jam, IV, pp. 771~-772.

52. Fussag, pl. of..flaS:Lg , a" grave sinner". A person who, in Islamic belief, was mid-way between a believer (muslim) and an unbeliever (katir). A detailed description of this concept is found in T. Izutsu, The Concept of Belief in Islamic Theolof!jY, (Tokyo, 1965), chap. ~.

5~. A parallelversion is found in BaladhurI, Ansab al-Ashrat, V,pp. ~47:10 -~48:10 on the authority of 'Awana b. al-ijakam.

54. At. ijira, the famous Sassanian city which lay in ruins just south of Kufa were two palaces of as­Sadlr and al-Khawaranq. The latter was sometimes used as a hunting lodge by the Caliphs. Le Strange, Eastern Caliphate, pp. 75-76; Yaqut, Mu'jam, II, pp. 490-494.

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55. A town in western Asia Minor. Le Strange, Eastern Caliphate, pp. 145-146; Yaqut, Mu'jam, IV, p. 214.

56. June 4th., 691.A.D •. to May 22nd., 692 A.D.

57. One of the main branches of the Kharijites, Its name being derived from its leader, Nifi' b. al­Azraq who was killed in battle in the al-Ahwaz region in 65/685 against the Zubayrid general Muslim b.'Ubayr. E.I~, l, pp. 810-811~(R. RUbinacci).

58. "Leader". M. Huart observes that "the conduct of public worship became thus one of the chief attri­butes of the ruler and the transference of power to the gogernors of the provinces was seen·in a form visible to all when the Caliph's deputy placed himself at the head of the community assembled for prayer." E.I. l , II, p. 473 article "Imam". This description would well.suit Mu~'ab as the Imam or leader of the 'Iraq!s acting on behalf of, or deputy for his brother the (anti-)Caliph 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr.

59. "Protector" or "guardian". Not to be confused with the strictly religious meaning of "saint".·

60. This is a tex payed upon landed property as opposed to other kinds of taxes on persons, such as the 'poll tas' jizya.

61. One of the five districts into which Fars is divi­ded. It is also called Shapur Khurra and Shapur is the chief town. Le Strange,Eaatern Caliphate, p. 148.

62. Another district of Faœwith Shiraz as its capit~. Le Strange, Eastern Caliphate, p. 148.

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63. F.asa is si tuated about 55 kilomete~s from Darabjird which itself was the capital of the easternmost of the five districts of Fars. Le.Strange, Eastern Caliphate, pp. 148, 288.

64. A City east of al-Ahwaz which received its name from King Hurmuz. Le Strange, Eastern Caliphate, p. 243.

65.' One of the chief towns of Jibal province, located in the north east corner. ·',.I['»i tten in Arabie wi th the definite article, ar-Rayy, it 1s the name representing the Greek':.: Rhages. Le st range , Eastern Caliphate, pp. 215-217.

66. Fay' lands, according to theory, arose from the unconditional surrender of territories taken,dur1ng the Muslim conquests, as against terri tories which were 'part of a negotiated peace settlement. In this particular context the term is not clear however, E.I. 2 , II, pp. 869-870,article on "Fay'" (F ~egaard) •

67. A town in Arabia about 75 miles south east of Mecca in the sarat mountains. It was the home of al­

Uajjaj b. Yusuf whose tribe, the Thaqaf were native to the city. E.I. l , IV, pp. 621-622 (H. Lammens).

68. A plain situated about 20 kilbmeters east of Mecca on the road to ~a'if, the site of the main ceremonies during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. E.I. 2, I, p.604.

69. It iS".unclear from the ~rabic, to whom the pronoun , him' refers. It could be ei ther al-ijaj j aj 'or Ibn az-Zubayr.

70. An ancient well of uncertain location in the environs of Mecca. E.I.2 , II, pp. 1232-1233. (G. Rentz).

•

71. A mountain overlook1ng Mecca. Yaqüt, Mu' jam, II, p. 215.

72. Ka'k i8 a dry biscuit or cake. 8a .. 19 is meal of parched barley.

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73. An important town in the Oxus region (Saghaniyan district), north west of Balkh near the junction of the Oxus and Zimil Rivers. Le Strange, Eastern Caliphate, p. 440.

74. May 23rd., 692 A.D. to May l2th., 693 A.D.

75. Tihama is the name given to the region of low lying land along the coast running from the Sinai penin­sula along the west and south side of Arabia. Mecca is generallyincluded in this region.E.I. l , IV, pp. 763-765 (A. Grohmann).

76. ij:om~ or JJim~ was the Emese. of the Greeks, situated near the Orontes River in the Orontes Plain of central 8yria. E.I.2 , III, pp. 397-402 article "JJim~1t (N. Elisséeff); Yaqüt, Mu'jam, II, pp.334-338

77. Al-Abtaq or al-Batqa' is the bottom of the valley in which Mecca stood and where the water of the Zamzam well accumulated near the Ka'ba. E.I. l , III, p. 438, article "Mecca" (H. Lammens); Yaqut, Mu'jam, l, p. 92.

78. Qur'in, Sura 68.

79. Verse by al-JJu~ayn b. al-ijamam al-MurrI.

80. Verse by al-MurrI. 81. On Abu Fudayk see above in the translation, par. 116.

82. Name of a fortress in BaQ.x'ayn. Yaqut, Mu' jam, IV,p. 541 •