ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād was the Umayyad governor of Basra, Kufa and Khurasan during the reigns of caliphs Mu'awiya I and Yazid I, and the leading general of the Umayyad army under caliphs Marwan I and Abd al-Malik. Ubayd Allah is primarily remembered for his role in the killings of members of Ali ibn Abi Talib's family and he has become infamous in Shi'a Muslim tradition.
The Battle of Marj Ardabil or the Battle of Ardabil was a battle fought on the plains surrounding the city of Ardabil in northwestern Iran in 730. A Khazar army led by Barjik, the son of the Khazar khagan, invaded the Umayyad provinces of Jibal and Adharybaydjian in retaliation for Caliphate attacks on Khazaria during the course of the decades-long Khazar-Arab War of the early 8th century.
The Banu Kalb or Kalb ibn Wabara was an Arab tribe. Prior to the Muslim conquest of Syria in the 630s, the Kalb's territory spanned much of northwestern Arabia, the Palmyrene steppe, the Samawah, the Hawran plain and the Golan Heights. One of their main centers was the desert town of Dumat al-Jandal. The Kalb became involved in the tribal affairs in the eastern frontiers of the Byzantine Empire since the 4th century and were likely the tribe of Mavia, the Bedouin queen of southern Syria. By the 6th century, the Kalb had largely become Monophysite Christians and came under the military authority of the Ghassanids, Arab vassals of the Byzantines.
The Banu Sulaym were an Arab tribe that dominated part of the Hejaz in the pre-Islamic era. They maintained close ties with the Quraysh of Mecca and the inhabitants of Medina, and fought in a number of battles against the Islamic prophet Muhammad before ultimately converting to Islam before his demise in 632. They took part in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, and established themselves in Upper Mesopotamia, whilst part of the tribe remained in the Hejaz. During the early Muslim era, the tribe produced noted generals such as Safwan ibn Mu'attal, Abu'l-A'war and Umayr ibn al-Hubab. Those who remained in Arabia were largely absorbed by the Banu Harb of Yemen beginning in the 9th century, while those in Syria, Mesopotamia were expelled to Upper Egypt by the Fatimid Caliphs in the late 10th century for assisting the Qarmatians. In the mid-11th century, a prolonged famine in Egypt prompted the tribe to migrate westward with the Banu Hilal into Libya. The Sulaym and its sub-tribes established themselves mainly in Cyrenaica,Libya, where until the present day, many of the Arab tribes of that region trace their descent to the Sulaym.
Qays ʿAylān, often referred to simply as Qays were an Arab tribal confederation that branched from the Mudhar section of the Adnanites. The tribe does not appear to have functioned as a unit in the pre-Islamic era. However, by the early Umayyad, its constituent tribes consolidated into one of the main tribo-political factions of the caliphate.
Battle of Marj al-Saffar may refer to:
Marj al-Saffar or Marj al-Suffar is a large plain to the south of Damascus. Marj al-Saffar is bounded to the north by the right bank of the al-A'waj river, which flows from Mount Hermon to the Sabkhat al-Hijana. In the south the plain is bounded by the lava field of the Lajat. In the south-east, it is disputed whether the volcanic area of the al-Safa or the village of Jubb al-Safa that marks the boundary of the plain. Marj al-Saffar is bounded to the west by the village of Kanakir and in the north-west by the lava flow of Zakiyah. The railway line from Damascus to Daraa bound Marj al-Saffar in the east.
The Qays–Yaman rivalry refers to the historical rivalry and blood feud between the factions of the Qays and Yaman in the Arab world. The conflict first emerged among the Arab tribes that constituted the Umayyad army and administration in the 7th and 8th centuries. Membership in either faction was rooted in the genealogical origins, real or perceived, of the Arab tribes, which divided them into south Arabian descendants of Qahtan (Yaman) or north Arabian descendants of Adnan (Qays). Yamani tribes, including the Kalb, Ghassan, Tanukh, Judham and Lakhm, were well-established in central and southern Syria in pre-Islamic times, while Qaysi tribes, such as the Sulaym, Kilab and Uqayl, largely migrated to northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia with the Muslim armies in the mid-7th century.
The Battle of 'Ayn al-Warda was fought in early January 685 between the Umayyad army and the Penitents (Tawwabun), a group of pro-Alid Kufans led by Sulayman ibn Surad al-Khuza'i, a companion of Muhammad, who wished to atone for their failure to assist Imam Husayn ibn Ali in his uprising against the Umayyads, in which he was killed at the Battle of Karbala in 680. With the outbreak of the Second Muslim Civil War and the collapse of Umayyad authority across Iraq in 683/684, Sulayman ibn Surad began in November 684 to call upon his fellow Kufans to avenge their failure. Although some 16,000 pledged to support him, only some 4,000 showed up at Nukhayla, a suburb of Kufa, their mustering place. Undeterred, they moved up the Euphrates towards the Jazira.
'Adra is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located northeast of Damascus. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 20,559 in the 2004 census. The Hujr ibn Adi Mosque is located in the town.
Zufar ibn al-Ḥārith al-Kilābī was a Muslim general, chieftain of the Arab tribe of Banu 'Amir, and the preeminent leader of the Qays faction in the 7th century. He commanded his tribesmen in Aisha's army during the First Muslim Civil War, and later served as the Umayyad governor of Jund Qinnasrin. In 684, during the Second Fitna, he supported Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr's bid to wrest the caliphate from the Umayyads. Afterward, he based himself in al-Qarqisiyah (Circesium) and led the Qays tribes against the Yaman, launching several raids against the latter in the Syrian Desert. By 688–689, he also became entangled in a conflict with the Banu Taghlib. Zufar made peace with the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik in 691 by abandoning Ibn al-Zubayr's cause in return for stately and military privileges. During the reigns of Abd al-Malik's successors, Zufar and his family maintained their high-ranking positions in the Umayyad government.
Bāhila was an Arab tribe based in Najd. Part of the tribe was settled and part of it was semi-nomadic. The Bahila was first mentioned during the early years of Islam, in the mid-7th century. During that time, many Bahila tribesmen migrated to Syria and Basra. Many of those who went to Syria later moved to Khurasan as part of the Umayyad garrison there. As a sub-tribe of Qays, they fought alongside the Qaysi coalition against the Yamani tribes during the Umayyad era. The scholar al-Asma'i and the general Qutayba ibn Muslim both belonged to the tribe. The Bahila were last mentioned in the 10th century.
Ḥassān ibn Mālik ibn Baḥdal al-Kalbī, commonly known as Ibn Baḥdal, was the Umayyad governor of Palestine and Jordan during the reigns of Mu'awiya I and Yazid I (680–683), a senior figure in the caliph's court, and a chieftain of the Banu Kalb tribe. He owed his position both to his leadership of the powerful Kalb, a major source of troops, and his kinship with the Umayyads through his aunt Maysun bint Bahdal, the wife of Mu'awiya and mother of Yazid. Following Yazid's death, Ibn Bahdal served as the guardian of his son and successor, Mu'awiya II, until the latter's premature death in 684. Amid the political instability and rebellions that ensued in the caliphate, Ibn Bahdal threw his support behind Marwan I, who hailed from a different branch of the Umayyads. Ibn Bahdal and his tribal allies defeated Marwan's opponents at the Battle of Marj Rahit and secured for themselves the most prominent roles in the Umayyad administration and military.
Abū Marwān Bishr ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam was an Umayyad prince and governor of Iraq during the reign of his brother, Caliph Abd al-Malik. Bishr fought at Marj Rahit with his father, Caliph Marwan I. The latter later posted Bishr to Egypt to keep his brother Abd al-Aziz company. In 690/91, Bishr was made governor of Kufa and about one year later, Basra was added to his governorship, giving him full control of Iraq.
Abū Unays al-Ḍaḥḥak ibn Qays al-Fihrī was an Umayyad general, head of security forces and governor of Damascus during the reigns of caliphs Mu'awiya I, Yazid I and Mu'awiya II. Though long an Umayyad loyalist, after the latter's death, al-Dahhak defected to the anti-Umayyad claimant to the caliphate, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.
The Banu Ghani was an Arab tribe that inhabited the area between Bisha and Diriyah in pre-Islamic Arabia and parts of which migrated to Syria during the Muslim conquest of that region.
ʿAbbād ibn Ziyād ibn Abīhi was a general and statesman of the Umayyad Caliphate. A son of the governor of Iraq, Ziyad ibn Abih, Abbad served as a governor of Sijilstan between 673 and 681 under caliphs Mu'awiya I and Yazid I. He led a contingent in the army of Caliph Marwan I at the Battle of Marj Rahit and afterward fought against loyalists of al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi during the reign of Caliph Abd al-Malik. He later served at the court of the latter's son and successor, Caliph al-Walid I, and played a role in the succession intrigues between al-Walid's son Abd al-Aziz and the caliph's brother, Sulayman.
