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Year 701 (DCCI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 701st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 701st year of the 1st millennium, the 1st year of the 8th century, and the 2nd year of the 700s decade. The denomination 701 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member of the clan. The family established dynastic, hereditary rule with Mu'awiya I, the long-time governor of Greater Syria, who became caliph after the end of the First Fitna in 661. After Mu'awiya's death in 680, conflicts over the succession resulted in the Second Fitna, and power eventually fell to Marwan I, from another branch of the clan. Syria remained the Umayyads' main power base thereafter, with Damascus as their capital.
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam was the fifth Umayyad caliph, ruling from April 685 until his death in October 705. A member of the first generation of born Muslims, his early life in Medina was occupied with pious pursuits. He held administrative and military posts under Caliph Mu'awiya I, founder of the Umayyad Caliphate, and his own father, Caliph Marwan I. By the time of Abd al-Malik's accession, Umayyad authority had collapsed across the Caliphate as a result of the Second Fitna and had been reconstituted in Syria and Egypt during his father's reign.
Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi, known simply as al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, was the most notable governor who served the Umayyad Caliphate. He began his service under Caliph Abd al-Malik, who successively promoted him as the head of the Caliph's shurta, the governor of the Hejaz in 692–694, and the practical viceroy of a unified Iraqi province and the eastern parts of the Caliphate in 694. Al-Hajjaj retained the last post under Abd al-Malik's son and successor al-Walid I, whose decision-making was heavily influenced by al-Hajjaj, until his death in 714.
Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, commonly known as al-Walid I, was the sixth Umayyad caliph, ruling from October 705 until his death in 715. He was the eldest son of his predecessor, Caliph Abd al-Malik. As a prince, he led annual raids against the Byzantines from 695 to 698 and built or restored fortifications along the Syrian Desert route to Mecca. He became heir apparent in c. 705, after the death of the designated successor, Abd al-Malik's brother Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan.
Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan was the seventh Umayyad caliph, ruling from 715 until his death. He was the son of Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (r. 685–705) and Wallada bint al-Abbas. He began his career as governor of Palestine, while his father Abd al-Malik and brother al-Walid I reigned as caliphs. There, the theologian Raja ibn Haywa al-Kindi mentored him, and he forged close ties with Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, a major opponent of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, al-Walid's powerful viceroy of Iraq and the eastern Caliphate. Sulayman resented al-Hajjaj's influence over his brother. As governor, Sulayman founded the city of Ramla and built the White Mosque in it. The new city superseded Lydda as the district capital of Palestine. Lydda was at least partly destroyed and its inhabitants may have been forcibly relocated to Ramla, which developed into an economic hub, became home to many Muslim scholars, and remained the commercial and administrative center of Palestine until the 11th century.
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan was the eighth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 717 until his death in 720. He is credited to have instituted significant reforms to the Umayyad central government, by making it much more efficient and egalitarian. His rulership is marked by the first official collection of hadiths and the mandated universal education to the populace.
Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, commonly known as Yazid II, was the ninth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 720 until his death in 724. Although he lacked administrative or military experience, he derived prestige from his lineage, being a descendant of both ruling branches of the Umayyad dynasty, the Sufyanids who founded the Umayyad Caliphate in 661 and the Marwanids who succeeded them in 684. He was designated by his half-brother, Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, as second-in-line to the succession after their cousin Umar, as a compromise with the sons of Abd al-Malik.
Abu Uqba al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah al-Hakami was an Arab nobleman and general of the Hakami tribe. During the course of the early 8th century, he was at various times governor of Basra, Sistan and Khurasan, Armenia and Adharbayjan. A legendary warrior already during his lifetime, he is best known for his campaigns against the Khazars on the Caucasus front, culminating in his death in the Battle of Marj Ardabil in 730.
Yazid ibn al-Muhallab al-Azdi was a commander and statesman for the Umayyad Caliphate in Iraq and Khurasan in the early 8th century. In 720, he led the last of a series of wide scale Iraqi rebellions against the Umayyads.
Abū Saʿīd al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufra al-Azdī was an Arab general from the Azd tribe who fought in the service of the Rashidun, Umayyad and Zubayrid caliphs between the mid-640s and his death. He served successive terms as the governor of Fars (685–686), Mosul, Arminiya and Adharbayjan (687–688) and Khurasan (698–702). Al-Muhallab's descendants, known as the Muhallabids, became a highly influential family, many of whose members held high office under various Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, or became well-known scholars.
The Second Fitna was a period of general political and military disorder and civil war in the Islamic community during the early Umayyad Caliphate. It followed the death of the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I in 680, and lasted for about twelve years. The war involved the suppression of two challenges to the Umayyad dynasty, the first by Husayn ibn Ali, as well as his supporters including Sulayman ibn Surad and Mukhtar al-Thaqafi who rallied for his revenge in Iraq, and the second by Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.
Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Muḥammad ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam was an Umayyad prince and one of the most important generals of the Umayyad Caliphate in the period 690–710, and the one who completed the Arab conquest of Armenia. He defeated the Byzantines and conquered their Armenian territories, crushed an Armenian rebellion in 704–705 and made the country into an Umayyad province. His son Marwan II was the last Umayyad caliph.
The Battle of Maskin, also known as the Battle of Dayr al-Jathaliq from a nearby Nestorian monastery, was a decisive battle of the Second Fitna (680s-690s). It was fought in mid-October 691 near present-day Baghdad on the western bank of the river Tigris, between the army of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and the forces of Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr, governor of Iraq for his brother, the Mecca-based rival caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.
Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath, commonly known as Ibn al-Ash'ath after his grandfather, was a prominent Arab nobleman and military commander during the Umayyad Caliphate, most notable for leading a failed rebellion against the Umayyad viceroy of the east, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, in 700–703.
The siege of Mecca occurred at the end of the Second Fitna in 692 when the forces of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan besieged and defeated his rival, the caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in his center of power, the Islamic holy city of Mecca.
Sufyan ibn al-Abrad al-Kalbi al-Asamm was a general of the Umayyad Caliphate who served under caliphs Mu'awiya II, Marwan I and Abd al-Malik. He backed the latter against his own tribesmen during a coup attempt in 689. He was a key figure in securing the Umayyad hold over Iraq during the governorship of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, helping the latter defeat the Kharijites in 696–697 and the rebellion of Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath in 700–701.
Sa'id ibn Qays al-Hamdani was a governor and commander during the reigns of caliphs Uthman and Ali and a tribal chief of the South Arabian Hamdan and Himyarite tribesmen of Kufa during this period and under the first Umayyad caliphs.
Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas was a military person, particularly known for his role in the rebellion of Ibn al-Ash'ath in Iraq against the Umayyads.
Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Harith, commonly known as A'sha Hamdan or al-A'sha, was a late 7th-century Kufan poet.
References
- ↑ Hawting, Gerald R. (2000). The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate AD 661–750 (Second ed.). London and New York: Routledge. pp. 68–69. ISBN 0-415-24072-7.
