Siege of Wasit | |||||||
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Part of Abbasid Revolution | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Abbasid Caliphate | Remnants of the Umayyads | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
al-Mansur Al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba | Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra |
The siege of Wasit involved the army of the Abbasid Revolution under al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba and the future Caliph al-Mansur, and the Umayyad garrison of Wasit under the last Umayyad governor of Iraq, Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra. Yazid had been forced to abandon Kufa due to a rebellion by Abbasid sympathizers, and fled to Wasit, where he was besieged for 11 months, from August/September 749 to his surrender in June/July 750. The siege was marked by constant sallies and attacks, but as it progressed, the Umayyad garrison's morale collapsed and the internal divisions among the Qays and Yaman tribes began to manifest themselves. After news of the defeat of the Umayyad Caliph Marwan II at the Battle of the Zab and the Abbasid conquest of Syria arrived at Wasit, defections began. Yazid nevertheless held out for a few more months, until he received a pardon for himself and his followers from the Abbasid Caliph al-Saffah. Nevertheless, Yazid and his senior officers were executed soon after on al-Saffah's orders.
Abu al-ʿAbbās Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿal-ʿAbbās, known by his laqab al-Saffah, was the first caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, one of the longest and most important caliphates in Islamic history.
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 The new city superseded Lydda as the district capital of Palestine.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.
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.
Ibrahim ibn al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik was an Umayyad caliph, and a son of Caliph al-Walid I. He ruled from 4 October 744 to 4 December 744. He was the penultimate Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate.
Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan, commonly known as Marwan II, was the fourteenth and last caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 744 until his death. His reign was dominated by a civil war, and he was the last Umayyad ruler to rule the united Caliphate before the Abbasid Revolution toppled the Umayyad dynasty.
Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik was an Umayyad prince and one of the most prominent Arab generals of the early decades of the 8th century, leading several campaigns against the Byzantine Empire and the Khazar Khaganate. He achieved great fame especially for leading the second and last Arab siege of the Byzantine capital Constantinople.
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.
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Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra al-Fazari was the last Umayyad governor of Iraq. A son of former governor Umar ibn Hubayra, he became one of the most important partisans of Caliph Marwan II in the Third Fitna, but failed to stem the onslaught of the Abbasid Revolution. Defeated, he was captured and executed by the Abbasids after the Siege of Wasit.
Abu'l-Walid Ma'n ibn Za'ida al-Shaybani was an 8th-century Arab general of the Shayban tribe, who served both the Umayyads and the Abbasids.
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī was a member of the Abbasid dynasty, and played a leading role in its rise to power during the Abbasid Revolution. As governor of Syria, he consolidated Abbasid control over the province, eliminating the remnants of the Umayyad dynasty and suppressing pro-Umayyad uprisings. After the death of his nephew and first Abbasid caliph, al-Saffah, in 754, he launched a bid for the caliphal title against al-Saffah's brother, al-Mansur, but was defeated and imprisoned. He was killed in 764.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was an Umayyad prince, the son of caliph Umar II, and briefly governor of Iraq under Yazid III in 744–745. In this capacity he quelled the pro-Alid rebellion of Abd Allah ibn Mu'awiya at Kufa, although Ibn Mu'awiya managed to flee to Istakhr in Persia.
The Hashemite–Umayyad rivalry was a feud between the clans of Banu Hashim and Banu Umayya, both belonging to the Meccan Arab tribe of Quraysh, in the 7th and 8th centuries. The rivalry is important as it influenced key events in the course of early Islamic history.
Ḥawthara ibn Suhayl al-Bāhilī was a Bedouin Arab administrator and military leader in the final years of the Umayyad Caliphate. The philosopher al-Kindī describes him as famous for his eloquence.
Abu Abd Allah Salm ibn Qutayba ibn Muslim al-Bahili was an 8th-century Arab who served as governor and military commander for both the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates.
Abu Salama Hafs ibn Sulayman al-Khallal was an anti-Umayyad missionary and one of the principal leaders of the Hashimiyya movement, that launched the Abbasid Revolution. During September–November 749 he was the de facto ruler of Kufa and of the movement, and tried to install an Alid as caliph at the head of the Revolution. His efforts failed, and the Khurasani army instead recognized the Abbasid al-Saffah as caliph. He remained in office, but was assassinated by the Abbasids shortly after due to his pro-Alid leanings.
Al-Asbagh ibn Dhu'ala al-Kalbi was an Umayyad commander and a warlord of the Banu Kalb tribe in Palmyra who played a prominent role in the Third Muslim Civil War (744–750) and afterward was a leader of the revolt of the Umayyad prince Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani against the Abbasids in 750–751.