Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad (Template:Langx) was the Umayyad governor of Basra, Kufa and Khurasan during the reigns of caliphs Mu'awiya I (Template:Reign) and Yazid I (Template:Reign), and the leading general of the Umayyad army under caliphs Marwan I (Template:Reign) and Abd al-Malik (Template:Reign).

He virtually inherited the governorships from his father Ziyad ibn Abihi after the latter's death in 673. During Ubayd Allah's governorship, he suppressed Kharijite and Alid revolts. In the ensuing Battle of Karbala in 680, Husayn ibn Ali and his small retinue were slain by Ubayd Allah's troops, shocking many in the Muslim community. 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 Muslim tradition. Ubayd Allah was ultimately evicted from Iraq by the Arab tribal nobility amid the revolt of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.

He made it to Syria where he persuaded Marwan I to seek the caliphate and helped galvanize support for the flailing Umayyads. Afterward, he fought at the Battle of Marj Rahit in 684 against pro-Zubayrid tribes and helped reconstitute the Umayyad army. With this army he struggled against rebel Qaysi tribes in the Jazira before advancing against the Alids and Zubayrids of Iraq. However, he was slain and his forces routed at the Battle of Khazir by Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar, the commander of the pro-Alid al-Mukhtar of Kufa.

Origins

Ubayd Allah was the son of Ziyad ibn Abihi whose tribal origins were obscure; while his mother was a Persian concubine named Murjanah.Template:Sfn Ziyad served as the Umayyad governor of Iraq and the lands east of that province, collectively known as Khurasan, during the reign of Caliph Mu'awiya I (Template:Reign).Template:Sfn

Governor of Iraq and Khurasan

File:Umayyad Caliphate. temp. Mu'awiya I ibn Abi Sufyan. AH 41-60 AD 661-680.jpg

Umayyad Caliphate coin imitating Sasanid Empire ruler Khosrau II. Coin of the time of Mu'awiya I ibn Abi Sufyan. BCRA (Basra) mint; "Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, governor". Dated AH 56 = 675/6 CE. Sasanian style bust imitating Khosrau II right; bismillah and three pellets in margin; c/m: winged creature right / Fire altar with ribbons and attendants; star and crescent flanking flames; date to left, mint name to right.

Ubayd Allah's father prepared him to succeed him as governor, and indeed, after Ziyad's death in 672/673, Ubayd Allah became governor of Khurasan.Template:Sfn A year or two later, he was also appointed to the governorship of Basra.Template:Sfn According to historian Hugh N. Kennedy, Ubayd Allah was "more hasty and given to the use of force than his father, but a man whose devotion to the Umayyad cause could not have been doubted".Template:Sfn

In 674 he crossed the Amu Darya and defeated the forces of the ruler of Bukhara in the first known invasion of the city by Muslim Arabs.Template:Sfn From at least 674 and 675, Ubayd Allah had coins struck in his name in Khurasan and Basra, respectively.Template:Sfn They were based on Sasanian coinage and written in Pahlavi script.Template:Sfn The mints were located in Basra, Darabjird, Maysan, Narmashir, Jayy and, to a lesser extent, Kufa.Template:Sfn The latter was attached to Ubayd Allah's governorship in 679/680, giving him full control of Iraq.Template:Sfn

Suppression of the pro-Alid groups

Mu'awiya died in 680 and was succeeded by his son Yazid I. Mu'awiya's designation of his son was an unprecedented act and shocked many in the Muslim community, particularly the Arab nobility of Kufa.Template:Sfn They long sympathized with Caliph Ali, Mu'awiya's former rival, and Ali's family.Template:Sfn One of Ali's sons, Husayn dispatched his cousin Muslim ibn Aqil to Kufa to set the stage for Husayn's accession to the caliphate.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Ibn Aqil garnered significant support and was hosted by a prominent pro-Alid nobleman.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Ubayd Allah became aware of Ibn Aqil's activities, prompting the latter to launch a premature assault against the governor.Template:Sfn Ubayd Allah was holed up in his palace, but thirty men from his shurta (security forces) fended off Ibn Aqil's partisans,Template:Sfn while he persuaded many Kufan noblemen to back him against Ibn Aqil, who was abandoned by his supporters and slain on 10 September 680.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Husayn had already been en route to Kufa from Medina when he received news of Ibn Aqil's execution.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Ubayd Allah was prepared for Husayn's arrival and sent troops to intercept him.Template:Sfn They prevented Husayn and his small retinue from reaching the watered areas of the province.Template:Sfn The two sides negotiated for weeks, but Ubayd Allah refused Husayn entry into Kufa or return to Arabia while Husayn refused to recognize Yazid's caliphate.Template:Sfn In the end, a short battle was fought at Karbala on 10 October 680, in which Husayn and nearly all of his partisans were slain.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Husayn had never received the expected backing of his Kufan sympathizers, but the latter's resentment festered as a result of his death.Template:Sfn The slaying of Husayn, a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, perturbed many Muslims.Template:Sfn

Role in Umayyad succession of 684

Template:See The death of Yazid in 683 led to a major leadership crisis in the caliphate, and "the power of his house seemed to collapse everywhere", in the words of Orientalist Julius Wellhausen.Template:Sfn Ubayd Allah initially neglected to support Yazid's son and designated successor, Mu'awiya II and secured oaths of allegiance to himself from the Basran Arab nobility.Template:Sfn In a speech addressed to them, he emphasized his connection to Basra and promised to maintain the wealth of the city's inhabitants.Template:Sfn Nonetheless, the Basrans turned against him, forcing him to abandon his palace.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He was replaced by Abd Allah ibn al-Harith, a member of the Banu Hashim.Template:Sfn Ubayd Allah took refuge with the Azdi chieftain Mas'ud ibn Amr in late 683 or early 684.Template:Sfn He plotted to restore his governorship by encouraging Mas'ud to form an alliance of the Yamani and Rabi'a tribes against his opponents from the Banu Tamim and Ibn al-Harith.Template:Sfn Mas'ud took to the pulpit of Basra's mosque to stir up the revolt, but Tamimi tribesmen under Ibn al-Harith and their asawira allies under Mah-Afridhun, stormed the building and killed Mas'ud.Template:Sfn After Mas'ud's death, Ubayd Allah fled the city practically alone in March 684, taking the Syrian desert route to Hawran or Palmyra.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In his rush to escape, he left his wife and family behind.Template:Sfn

When Ubayd Allah arrived in Syria, he found it in political disarray; Caliph Mu'awiya II had died weeks into his rule and a power vacuum ensued with many Syrian noblemen, particularly from the Qaysi tribes, switching allegiance to the rival, Mecca-based caliphate of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.Template:Sfn The latter had expelled the Umayyads from the Hejaz and among the exiles to Syria was Marwan ibn al-Hakam, an Umayyad elder.Template:Sfn Ubayd Allah persuaded Marwan, who was preparing to recognize Ibn al-Zubayr's sovereignty, to enter his candidacy as Mu'awiya II's successor.Template:Sfn The Umayyads' principal Syrian allies, the Banu Kalb, had sought to maintain Umayyad rule and nominated Mu'awiya II's half-brother Khalid as caliph.Template:Sfn However, the other pro-Umayyad Syrian tribes viewed Khalid as too young and inexperienced, and rallied around Marwan, who was ultimately chosen as caliph.Template:Sfn

Military campaigns in Syria and Jazira

Ubayd Allah fought for Marwan and his tribal allies against the Qaysi tribes led by al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri, the governor of Damascus, at the Battle of Marj Rahit in August 684.Template:Sfn The Qays were routed and al-Dahhak killed. Ubayd Allah was put in command of Marwan's army which, during Marj Rahit, consisted 6,000 men from a handful of loyalist tribes.Template:Sfn According to Kennedy, Ubayd Allah "clearly intended to rebuild the Syrian army which had served Mu'awiya and Yazid I so well".Template:Sfn In the aftermath of Marj Rahit, Ubayd Allah oversaw campaigns against rebel Qaysi tribes for Marwan and his son and successor Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) in the Jazira.Template:Sfn However, Marwan's forces were too little to assert Umayyad rule throughout the caliphate.Template:Sfn Thus, Ubayd Allah expanded recruitment to include various Qaysi tribes.Template:Sfn He placed Husayn ibn Numayr al-Sakuni of Kindah as his second-in-command, and Shurahbil ibn Dhi'l Kala' of Himyar, Adham ibn Muhriz of Bahila, Rabi'a ibn al-Mukhariq of Banu Ghani and Jabala ibn Abd Allah of Khath'am as deputy commanders.Template:Sfn Other than Husayn ibn Numayr, all of the commanders were either Qaysi or had earlier supported al-Dahhak against Marwan.Template:Sfn

In January 685, as Ubayd Allah was in Manbij preparing for the Umayyad reconquest of Iraq, Husayn ibn Numayr defeated the pro-Alid Penitents at the Battle of Ayn al-Warda.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Ubayd Allah had been promised by Marwan the governorship over all of the lands he could conquer from the Alids and Ibn al-Zubayr, and he may have been sanctioned to plunder Kufa.Template:Sfn For the following year, Ubayd Allah was bogged down in battles with the Qaysi tribes of Jazira led by Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi.Template:Sfn By 686, Ubayd Allah's army numbered some 60,000 troops.Template:Sfn

By the time Ubayd Allah's army approached Mosul toward Iraq, the Zubayrids under Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr had established themselves in Basra while al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd took control of Kufa in the name of the Alid Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya.Template:Sfn Al-Mukhtar dispatched Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar and an army composed largely of non-Arab freedmen to confront Ubayd Allah.Template:Sfn The latter fended off the first wave of al-Mukhtar's troops, and proceeded to face off Ibn al-Ashtar at the Khazir River.Template:Sfn In the ensuing Battle of Khazir, the Umayyad army was routed and Ubayd Allah was slain by Ibn al-Ashtar.Template:Sfn His lieutenants Husayn, Shurahbil and al-Rabi'a were also killed.Template:Sfn With Ubayd Allah's death, Caliph Abd al-Malik halted further advances against Iraq until 691.Template:Sfn

Bibliography

• Template:Slaves on Horses
• reprinted from the 1923 edition, published by the Royal Asiatic Society Template:OCLC.
• Template:Kennedy-The Armies of the Caliphs
• Template:The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates
• Template:EI2
• Template:The Arab Kingdom and its Fall

External links

• Umayyad Governors of al-Basra and al-Kufa
• Muhammad and Islamic Conquest

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