Al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani
Encyclopedia
Al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani was the leader of a widespread but unsuccessful Kharijite rebellion in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 against the Umayyad
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...

 Caliph Marwan II
Marwan II
Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan or Marwan II was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 744 until 750 when he was killed. He was the last Umayyad ruler to rule from Damascus.In A.H. 114 Caliph Hisham appointed Marwan governor of Armenia and Azerbaijan. In A.H...

 from 745 until his death in battle in 746.

The deposition of Al-Walid II
Al-Walid II
Walid ibn Yazid or Walid II was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 743 until 744. He succeeded his uncle, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik....

 in spring 744 began a turbulent period in the Umayyad Caliphate; his successor Yazid III
Yazid III
Yazid ibn al-Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik or Yazid III was an Umayyad caliph. He reigned for six months, from April 15 to October 3 or 4, 744; and died in that office....

 died within a few months, and the ambitious governor of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

 and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

 Marwan ibn Muhammad
Marwan II
Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan or Marwan II was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 744 until 750 when he was killed. He was the last Umayyad ruler to rule from Damascus.In A.H. 114 Caliph Hisham appointed Marwan governor of Armenia and Azerbaijan. In A.H...

, rebelled against Yazid's designated successor, Ibrahim ibn al-Walid
Ibrahim ibn al-Walid
Ibrahim ibn Al-Walid was an Umayyad caliph. He only ruled for a short time in 744 before he abdicated, and went into hiding out of fear of his political opponents. The shortness of this time and his incomplete acceptance led Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari to state that he did not succeed in...

. Marwan succeeded in gaining control of Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

 and Syria
Greater Syria
Greater Syria , also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant....

, but elsewhere his authority ranged from theoretical to non-existent.

In Iraq, this turmoil spilled over in the form of a struggle between Yazid III's governor Abdallah ibn Umar and Marwan's appointee, al-Nadr ibn Sa'id al-Harashi. This conflict allowed the Kharijites
Kharijites
Kharijites is a general term embracing various Muslims who, while initially supporting the authority of the final Rashidun Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, then later rejected his leadership...

, a Muslim sect which had originated in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

, to rise up. This revolt was initially led by Sa'id ibn Bahdal, but he died soon of the plague, and was succeeded by Dahhak. Dahhak quickly assembled a sizeable army, and managed to defeat the two rival governors, who had joined forces, in April/May 745. In the aftermath of their defeat, al-Harashi returned to Marwan and Abdallah ibn Umar retreated to the fortress of Wasit, where he was soon besieged. In August however Ibn Umar gave himself up, and, in an unprecedented act for a member of the Umayyad dynasty and of the Prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

's own Quraysh tribe, did homage to Dahhak, who was neither and who had by now been declared caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word   which means "successor" or "representative"...

 by his followers. Kufa
Kufa
Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....

 was now occupied by Dahhak's forces and became his seat, while Ibn Umar was named governor of Wasit, eastern Iraq and western Persia. Dahhak's generosity in rewarding his followers, as well as the attractiveness of Kharijite doctrine quickly swelled his rank further, until his army is said to have reached 120,000 men. Among others, the famed general Sulayman
Sulayman ibn Hisham
Sulayman ibn Hisham was an Arab general, the son of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik . He is known for his participation in the expeditions against the Byzantine Empire as well as his prominent role in the civil wars that occurred during the last years of the Umayyad Caliphate. Defeated...

, a son of Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik 10th Umayyad caliph who ruled from 723 until his death in 743. When he was born in 691 his mother named him after her father....

 and opponent of Marwan, sought refuge with him.

While Marwan was preoccupied with besieging Sulayman's brother Sa'id and his supporters in Homs
Homs
Homs , previously known as Emesa , is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is above sea level and is located north of Damascus...

, Dahhak marched into northern Mesopotamia
Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq and northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey which is known by the traditional Arabic name of Al-Jazira , variously transliterated into Roman script as Djazirah, Djezirah and Jazirah...

. After he took Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...

, Marwan ordered his own son Abdallah, who resided at Harran
Harran
Harran was a major ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia whose site is near the modern village of Altınbaşak, Turkey, 24 miles southeast of Şanlıurfa...

, to confront the Kharijites' advance. Abdallah however was defeated and retreated to Nisibis
Nisibis
Nusaybin Nisêbîn) is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey, populated mainly by Kurds. Earlier Arameans, Arabs, and Armenians lived in the city. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009.-Ancient Period:...

, where he was besieged. After Homs fell however, Marwan with his army moved swiftly east. The two armies met at al-Ghazz in Kafartuta in August/September 746, and Dahhak's forces were decisively defeated, with Dahhak himself falling early in the battle. His successor, al-Khaybari, tried to renew the attack but was also killed. The Kharijite rebellion persisted, under Abu Dulaf, for another year, but by the end of 747, Mesopotamia, Iraq and Persia had been secured by Marwan.

Sources

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