Muhammad al-Tabari: People of Basra after the Death of Yazid

According to ʿUmar b. Shabbah—Mūsā b. Ismāʿīl—Ḥammād b. Salamah—ʿAlī b. Zayd—al-Ḥasan: Al-Ḍaḥḥāk b. Qays wrote to Qays b. al-Haytham after the death of Yazīd b. Muʿāwiyah: “Greeetings! Yazīd b. Muʿāwiyah is dead. You are our brethren, so do not anticipate anything we might do before we have made a choice for ourselves.”

According to ʿUmar—Zuhayr b. Ḥarb—Wahb b. Ḥammād—Muḥammad b. Abī ʿUyaynah—Shahrak: Following the death of Yazīd b. Muʿāwiyah I saw ʿUbaydallāh b. Ziyād stand to deliver an official address. He praised God and extolled Him and then said:

Men of al-Baṣrah! Examine my origins and, by God, you will surely find that my father was an Emigrant and that my birthplace and above are among you. When I became governor over you, the register of your fighting men was reckoned at only 70,000, but today it is counted at 80,000; and the register of your dependents was only reckoned at 90,000, but today it is counted at 140,000. I have not left alone any suspicious person whom I reared on your behalf but he is in this prison of yours. The Commander of the Faithful, Yazīd b. Muʿāwiyah, has died and the Syrians have fallen into dispute among themselves. Today you are the biggest group of the people in numbers, the most spacious of them as to your courts, the least needful of them for others, and the most extensive of them as to territory. Choose for yourselves a man whom you find pleasing for your religion and your community and I shall be the first to accept and follow him with whom you are pleased. The, if the Syrians agree on a man whom you find acceptable, you will enter into that which the Muslims have entered. But, if you dislike that, you will act independently until you are given what you require. You need nothing from any of the men of the provinces, but the people cannot do without you.

The orators of the Baṣrans then arose and said, “We have given ear to what you have said, Oh amīr, and we do not know of anyone with more aptitude for it than you. Come, therefore, and let us give you the oath of allegiance.” ʿUbaydallāh replied, “I have no need for that. Choose somebody for yourselves.” They insisted and he insisted until, when they had repeated it to him thrice and insisted again, he held out his hand and they gave him the oath of allegiance. After the oath of allegiance, however, they went away saying, “Surely the son of Marjānah does not imagine that we will be led by him in both unity and dissension! He is wrong, by God!” Then they arose against him.

According to ʿUmar—Zuhayr—Wahb—al-Aswad b. Shaybān—Khālid b. Sumayr: Shaqīq b. Thawr, Mālik b. Mismaʿ, and Ḥuḍayn b. al-Mundhir came to ʿUbaydallāh by night while he was in the government house, and a man of the quarter of the Banū Sadūs heard about that. This man said: I came and stuck close to the government house and they remained with him until the night had passed. Then they left with a mule heavily laden with treasures. I went up to Ḥuḍayn and said, “Tell them to give me something from these treasures,” but he said, “Go and ask your cousin.” So then I went up to Shaqīq and said, “Tell them to give me something from these treasures.” In charge of the treasures was a mawlā of Shaqīq called Ayyūb. Shaqīq said to him, “Ayyūb, give him a hundred dirhams!” but I said, “A hundred dirhams! By God, I will not accept that.” He did not speak to me for a time but continued on his way for a while. Then I went up to him again and said, “Tell him to give me something from these treasures.” Shaqīq said, “Ayyūb, give him two hundred dirhams,” but I said, “By God, I will not accept two hundred.” Then he told him to give me three hundred, and then four hundred. When he reached al-Ṭufāwah, I said, “Tell him to give me something,” but he said, “If I do not, what do you think you will do?” I answered, “By God, I will go into the midst of the houses of our quarter, stick my fingers into my ears and then I will shout out at the top of my voice, ‘Oh group of Bakr b. Wā’il, here are Shaqīq b. Thawr, Ḥuḍayn b. al-Mundhir and Mālik b. al-Mismaʿ, who have gone to Ibn Ziyād and made a pact about your blood.’” Shaqīq said, “What is wrong with this man? May God do with him what He will! Woe to you! Give him five hundred dirhams.” So I took it and went quickly on to Mālik. (Wahb said that he could not remember what Mālik ordered for the man.) Then I saw Ḥuḍayn and went in to him. He asked me what my cousin had done, and I told him and said, “Give me something from these treasures.” But he said, “It was we who took this wealth and carried it to safety. We will have nothing to fear from the people.” And he gave me nothing.

Abū Jaʿfar (al-Ṭabarī) said: According to Abū ʿUbaydah Maʿmar b. al-Muthannā—Yūnus b. Ḥabīb al-Jarmī. When ʿUbaydallāh b. Ziyād killed al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī (peace be upon him!) and his kin, he sent their heads to Yazīd b. Muʿāwiyah. At first, Yazīd was pleased about their killing and ʿUbaydallāh’s standing with him improved as a result of it. It was not long, however, before Yazīd began to repent of the killing of al-Ḥusayn, saying, “What would it have been to me if I had borne the injury and lodged him with me, allowing him to decide about what he wanted, even if it had been for me a loss and weakening of my authority, out of respect for the memory of the Prophet and regard for al-Ḥusayn’s rights and kinship with him? God’s curse on the son of Marjānah! It was he who drove him out and oppressed him. Al-Ḥusayn asked him to allow him to go back, but he would not, or to put his hand in mine, or to go to one of the frontiers of the Muslims where God might take him unto Himself, but he would not. He refused it, flung it back at him and killed him. He has made me hateful to the Muslims by killing him, and he has cultivated enmity for me in their hearts. Both the pious and the profligate hate me because of the gravity with which the people view my killing of al-Ḥusayn. What have I to do with the son of Marjānah, God’s curse and hatred be upon him?”

Then ʿUbaydallāh sent a mawlā of his called Ayyūb b. Ḥumrān to Syria to bring him news of Yazīd. One day, ʿUbaydallāh was out riding and when we was in the Square of the Butchers he came unexpectedly on Ayyūb by Ḥumrān, who had arrived back. Ayyūb came over to him and confided to him the news about the death of Yazīd b. Muʿāwiyah. Abaydallāh, therefore, abandoned that trip of his and went to his abode where he gave orders to ʿAbdallāh b. Ḥiṣn, one of the Banū Thaʿlabah b. Yarbūʿ, who gave the call for an assembly for prayer.

According to Abū ʿUbaydah—ʿUmayr b. Maʿn al-Kātib: The man ʿUbaydallāh sent to Yazīd was his mawlā Ḥumrān. ʿUbaydallāh paid a visit to ʿAbdallāh, son of Nāfiʿ the uterine brother of Ziyād, and he left on foot by an opening which led form the house of Nāfiʿ to the mosque. When he was in the courtyard of the mosque, suddenly there was Ḥumrān, his mawlā, as dusk was falling at evening. Ḥumrān had been the messenger of ʿUbaydallāh b. Ziyād to Muʿāwiyah during his lifetime and to Yazīd. When ʿUbaydallāh saw him, and he had only just arrived, he said, “How goes it?” and he replied, “Good.” ʿUbaydallāh asked, “How are things where you have come from?” and Ḥumrān replied, “May I draw near you?” ʿUbaydallāh gave him permission and he confided to him about the death of Yazīd and the disputes concerning the affairs of the people of Syria. Yazīd had died on a Thursday in the middle of the month of Rabīʿ I of the year 64 (November 683). ʿUbaydallāh immediately hastened to give the order for someone to call an assembly for prayer.

When the people had gathered, ʿUbaydallāh mounted the minbar and announced the death of Yazīd. He set about criticizing him on account of what Yazīd. He set about criticizing him on account of what Yazīd had intended for him before he died, as a result of which ʿUbaydallāh had come to fear him. Al-Aḥnaf then said to ʿUbaydallāh, “There was an oath of allegiance to Yazīd on our necks, and it used to be said, ‘Avoid (speaking evil of) the dead,’ so avoid it.” Then ʿUbaydallāh arose, telling them of the divisions among the Syrians. He said, “When I became governor over you . . . ,” and Abū ʿUbaydah reported it as did ʿUmar b. Shabbah from Zuhayr b. Ḥarb as far as: “And they gave him the oath of allegiance of their good pleasure and as a result of consultation.” Then Abū ʿUbaydah continued (ʿUmayr’s account?): But when they left him, they began to wipe their hands on the door and walls of the house, saying, “The son of Marjānah imagines we have given him authority over our affairs in this discord!” He continued: ʿUbaydallāh did not remain as governor long before his authority began to weaken. He gave us orders which were not carried out, he expressed opinions which were rejected, and he ordered the wrongdoer to be imprisoned, but the governor’s assistants were prevented from reaching him.

According to Abū ʿUbaydah—Gaylān b. Muḥammad—ʿUthmān al-Battī: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Jawshan said: I was walking in a funeral procession and when it reached the Camel Market suddenly there appeared a man on a grey mare, covered with weapons and with a banner in his hand. He was saying, “People, gather around me, for I am calling you to support that which nobody else does. I am summoning you to support ‘He who takes refuge in the sanctuary area’ (Meaning ʿAbdallāh b. al-Zubayr).”

A few men rallied to him and began clasping his hand. We went on our way until we had performed the prayers over the bier, and when we came back we found that he had been joined by more than those we had seen previously. Then he made his way between the dwelling place of Qays b. al-Haytham b. Asmā’ b. al-Ṣalt al-Sulamī and that of the Ḥārithiyyūn toward the Banū Tamīm on the road which leads to them, and he said, “If anyone wants me, I am Salamah b. Dhu’ayb.” (He was Salamah b. Dhu’ayb b. ʿAbdallāh b. Muḥakkim b. Zayd b. Riyāḥ b. Yarbū b. Ḥanẓalah.)

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakrah met me at the Square and I told him the news about Salamah after I had got back. He went to ʿUbaydallāh and told him what he had heard from me. ʿUbaydallāh sent for me, and when I went to him he said, “What is this which Abū al-Ḥurr has reported to me from you?” So I told him the story to its end and then he gave the order and an assembly for prayer was proclaimed on the spot.

The men gathered and ʿUbaydallāh began recounting the start of their joint concern—how he had appealed to them to choose whoever was pleasing to them and how he would give him the oath of allegiance together with them. “You refused to choose anybody but me, but now I have heard that you wiped your hands on the walls and door of the house and said what you said. I give orders which are not executed, my opinions are rejected, and the tribes obstruct my assistants from seizing those I seek. Now this Salamah b. Dhu’ayb is calling down discord upon you, desiring to split your community and that you will use the sword to smite each other’s forehead.”

Responding, al-Aḥnaf Ṣakhr b. Qays b. Muʿāwiyah b. Ḥusayn b. Ubādah b. al-Nazzāl by. Murrah b. ʿAbīd b. al-Ḥārith b. ʿAmr b. Kaʿb b. Saʿd b. Zayd Manāt b. Tamīm said while the men were gathered together, “We will bring you Salamah.” They went off to get Salamah, but were surprised to find that his party had swollen and the division had widened beyond repair, and he refused to go with them. When they saw that, they held aloof from ʿUbaydallāh b. Ziyād and did not go back to him.

According to Abū ʿUbaydah—several transmitters—Sabrah b. al-Jārūd al-Hudhali—his father, al- Jārūd: In his address ʿUbaydallāh said, “Baṣrans! By God, we have been wearing clothes of silk, (fine) Yemeni material and smooth stuff so much that we have come to loathe it and our skins have become disgusted with it. Now we have to follow it with iron. Men of al-Baṣrah! By God, even if you united against the tail of a wild ass to break it, you could not do it.” Al- Jārūd continued: By God, not even a practice arrow was fired before ʿUbaydallāh fled and took refuge with Masʿūd. When Masʿūd was killed, he betook himself to Syria.

(According to Abū ʿUbaydah)—Yūnus (b. Ḥabīb al-Jarmī) said: In ʿUbaydallāh’s treasury on the day he addressed the people before the revolt of Salamah there were eight million dirhams or just under (ʿAlī b. Muḥammad [al-Madā’inī] said nineteen million), and he said to the people, “There are your spoils, so take your wages and the sustenance for your dependents out of them.” He ordered the secretaries to count the men and set forth the names and he made them be quick about it, even appointing somebody to keep them there at night in the revenue office, and they lit the candles. When they had finished their task and withdrawn, and then there happened Salamah’s opposition to him, he refrained from dividing the money and took it with him when he fled. To this day it is still circulating in the family of Ziyād. If there is a marriage or funeral among them, the like of them is never seen among Quraysh, and among Quraysh there is no one more affluent or better dressed than they.

ʿUbaydallāh summoned the heads of the government detachment of the Bukhariyyah and desired them to fight for him, but they refused; he summoned the Bukhāriyyah themselves and desired of them similarly but they said, “If our commanders tell us to, we will fight for you.” And the brothers of ʿUbaydallāh said to him, “By God, there is no caliph for whom you can fight, to whom you can go back if you are defeated, and who can send you help if you ask him for it. You know that war is a matter of fortune, and we do not know but that perhaps fortune will be against you. We have amassed wealth among these people (of al-Baṣrah), and if they are victorious they will destroy both of us and it, and no remnant will be left for you.” His brother ʿAbdallāh, a full brother by his father and his mother Marjānah, said to him, “By God, if you fight this people I will lean on the tip of the sword until it comes out of my back.”

When ʿUbaydallāh heard that, he sent to al-Ḥārith b. Qays b. Ṣubhān b. ʿAwn b. ʿIlāj b. Māzin b. Aswad b. Jahḍam b. Jadhīmah b. Mālik b. Fahm, saying “Oh Ḥār, my father advised me that, if I ever had need of flight one day, I should choose you, and my soul rejects any other.” Al-Ḥārith replied, “They have deserved well of you for the help which they gave your father as you know, and they deserved well of him, but they found neither with him nor with you any recompense. If you choose to flee to us there will be no place of refuge for you, but I do not know how I should get you to a safe place if I took you out by day. I am afraid that I would not reach my tribe with you before we would both be killed. However, I will stay with you until, when the darkness of night brings obscurity and the footfall (of the traveler) is quieted, you will ride on my mount behind me so as not to be recognized. Then I will take you to my maternal relatives of the Banū Nājiyah.” ʿUbaydallāh answered, “All right, whatever you think.”

 

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Source: Reprinted by permission from The History of al-Tabari Vol. 20: The Collapse of Sufyanid Authority and the Coming of the Marwanids: The Caliphates of Mu'awiyah II and Marwan I and the Beginning of the Caliphate of 'Abd al-Malik A.D. 683-685/A.H. 64-66 translated by G. R. Hawting, the State University of New York Press (c) 1989, State University of New York. All rights reserved.