ʿUthman ibn Muḥammad ibn AbīSufyān (Arabic :عثمانبنمحمدبنأبيسفيان) (fl. 682 –c. 683) was a member of the Umayyad ruling family who served as the governor of Medina under the Umayyad caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683) in 682 until being expelled by its townspeople in 683 during the Second Fitna.
Uthman belonged to the Banu Umayya clan and was a grandson of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb,making him a paternal cousin of Caliph Yazid I. [2] The latter appointed Uthman governor of Medina in 682,replacing their other cousin,al-Walid ibn Utba ibn Abi Sufyan. According to an account recorded in the history of the 9th-century historian al-Tabari,Uthman's appointment came about as a result of a ploy by the Mecca-based,anti-Umayyad claimant to the caliphate,Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. The latter had sent a letter disparaging al-Walid ibn Utba as unfit and suggesting he be replaced by a governor more inclined to cooperation. Yazid responded by installing Uthman. [3] According to the historian Julius Wellhausen,Uthman was "a young man,inexperienced and conceited". [4]
In an effort to conciliate the growing opposition to Yazid in Medina,Uthman sent an embassy of city notables to Yazid's court in Damascus in hopes that the caliph would secure their support with financial incentives;though Yazid gave them numerous gifts,they returned to Medina with reports of the caliph's misdeeds and lack of religion. [4] Afterward,the townspeople of Medina,led by a member of the embassy,Abd Allah ibn Hanzala,revolted against Yazid and assaulted Uthman. The Banu Umayya and their mawali (non-Arab clients) and supporters among the Quraysh,numbering some 1,000 people,were likewise attacked and found refuge with the senior Umayyad of the region,Marwan ibn al-Hakam. [5] Uthman,being "only a young lad without any judgement",according to al-Tabari,was sidelined by Marwan who managed the Hejazi Umayyads during this crisis. [6] The Umayyads ultimately relocated to Syria,the political center of the Umayyad Caliphate. There is scant information available about Uthman beyond his short term in Medina. [2] One of his daughters,Atika,was later wed to the Umayyad caliph al-Walid II (r. 743–744). [7] [8]
Mu'awiya I was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate,ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashidun ('rightly-guided') caliphs. Unlike his predecessors,who had been close,early companions of Muhammad,Mu'awiya was a relatively late follower of Muhammad.
Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan,commonly known as Yazid I,was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. He ruled from April 680 until his death in November 683. His appointment by his father Mu'awiya I was the first hereditary succession to the caliphate in Islamic history. His caliphate was marked by the death of Muhammad's grandson Husayn ibn Ali and the start of the crisis known as the Second Fitna.
Banu Abd Shams refers to a clan within the Meccan tribe of Quraysh.
Marwan ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As ibn Umayya,commonly known as Marwan I,was the fourth Umayyad caliph,ruling for less than a year in 684–685. He founded the Marwanid ruling house of the Umayyad dynasty,which replaced the Sufyanid house after its collapse in the Second Fitna and remained in power until 750.
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.
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the Umayyads from 683 until his death.
Al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As ibn Umayya,was the father of the founder of the Marwanid line of the Umayyad dynasty,Marwan I,and a paternal uncle of Caliph Uthman. He was known as a staunch opponent of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was consequently exiled when the latter captured their hometown of Mecca in 630. He was later pardoned by Uthman.
The Battle of al-Harra was fought between the Umayyad army of the caliph Yazid I led by Muslim ibn Uqba and the defenders of Medina from the Ansar and Muhajirun factions,who had rebelled against the caliph. The battle took place at the lava field of Harrat Waqim in the northeastern outskirts of Medina on 26 August 683 and lasted less than a day.
The Umayyad dynasty or Umayyads was an Arab clan within the Quraysh tribe who were the ruling family of the Caliphate between 661 and 750 and later of al-Andalus between 756 and 1031. In the pre-Islamic period,they were a prominent clan of the Meccan tribe of Quraysh,descended from Umayya ibn Abd Shams. Despite staunch opposition to the Islamic prophet Muhammad,the Umayyads embraced Islam before the latter's death in 632. Uthman,an early companion of Muhammad from the Umayyad clan,was the third Rashidun caliph,ruling in 644–656,while other members held various governorships. One of these governors,Mu'awiya I of Syria,opposed Caliph Ali in the First Muslim Civil War (656–661) and afterward founded the Umayyad Caliphate with its capital in Damascus. This marked the beginning of the Umayyad dynasty,the first hereditary dynasty in the history of Islam,and the only one to rule over the entire Islamic world of its time.
Sa'id ibn al-As ibn Abi Uhayha was the Muslim governor of Kufa under Caliph Uthman and governor of Medina under Caliph Mu'awiya I. Like the aforementioned caliphs,Sa'id belonged to the Umayyad clan of the Quraysh.
Hisham ibn Isma'il al-Makhzumi was an 8th-century official of the Umayyad Caliphate,and the maternal grandfather of Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. He served as the governor of Medina from 701 to 706.
Uthman ibn Hayyan al-Murri was an 8th-century provincial governor and military commander for the Umayyad Caliphate. He served as the governor of Medina from 712 or 713 to 715.
Abd al-Wahid ibn Abdallah,known as al-Nasri or al-Nadri,was an eighth-century governor of Medina,Mecca and al-Ta'if from 723 to 724.
Ibrahim ibn Hisham ibn Isma'il al-Makhzumi was an eighth century official for the Umayyad Caliphate,serving as the governor of Medina,Mecca and al-Ta'if during the caliphate of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. He and his brother Muhammad were later tortured to death in 743 in the period leading up to the Third Islamic Civil War.
Khalid ibn Abdallah ibn Khalid ibn Asid was an Umayyad prince and statesman who served as governor of Basra in 692–693 during the reign of Caliph Abd al-Malik.
Al-Walīd ibn ʿUtba ibn AbīSufyān was an Umayyad ruling family member and statesman during the reigns of the Umayyad caliphs Mu'awiya I and Yazid I. He served two stints as the governor of Medina in 677/78–680 and 681–682. He was dismissed during his first term for failing to secure oaths of allegiance from Husayn ibn Ali and other senior Muslim figures who opposed Yazid's accession. After his relocation to Damascus during the Second Fitna,he was imprisoned in 684 for proclaiming his support for continued Umayyad rule and condemning the anti-Umayyad caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. He was freed shortly after by his kinsman Khalid ibn Yazid and the pro-Umayyad Banu Kalb tribe.
Nu'man ibn Bashir ibn Sa'd al-Ansari was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was also a commander and statesman of the Umayyad Caliphate. A supporter of Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan during the First Muslim Civil War,he was appointed by him governor of Kufa in 678–680. Afterward,he was made governor of Homs by Caliph Yazid I. After the latter's death,he gave allegiance to the Mecca-based,Caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. When pro-Umayyad forces routed Ibn al-Zubayr's supporters in Syria,he fled Homs but was slain during his escape.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya ibn AbīSufyān,commonly known as al-Uswār,was an Umayyad prince from the Sufyanid line of the dynasty. He was the son of Caliph Yazid I. After the death of his brother,Caliph Mu'awiya II,in 684,he and his brother,Khalid ibn Yazid,were deemed too young to succeed by the pro-Umayyad tribes of Syria and Umayyad rule was vested in the line of a distant kinsman,Marwan I. Abd Allah was a famed archer and horseman and commanded part of the army which took over Iraq from anti-Umayyad forces during the Second Fitna in 691.
Abd al-Aziz ibn Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was the son of Umayyad caliph Umar II and governor of Medina from 744 to 747.