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(Created page with "'''Yazid b. Muʿawiya''' was the second Umayyad caliph (r. 60-4/680-3). He was named as his successor by his father, Muʿawiya. His mother was Maysun, a sister of the...") |
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'''Yazid b. Muʿawiya''' was the second [[Umayyad]] caliph (r. 60-4/680-3). He was named as his successor by his father, [[ Muʿawiya]]. His mother was Maysun, a sister of the Kalbi leader Ibn Bahdal. The Banu Kalb were strong in the southern regions of Syria, and Muʿawiya appointed Yazid as his successor in preference to an older half-brother, ʿAbd Allah, born of a Qurashi mother. Yazid’s kunya, Abu Khalid, refers to one of his own younger sons, Khalid b. Yazid. During his father’s caliphate, Yazid commanded expeditions (sawaʾif see Saʾifa . 1.) against the Byzantines and participated in an attack upon Constantinople (in 49/669 or 50/670) that is mentioned in both Muslim and non-Muslim sources. He had apparently nominated his eldest son Muʿawiya as his successor, but the latter received only limited acceptance as caliph and died within months. | '''Yazid b. Muʿawiya''' was the second [[Umayyad]] caliph (r. 60-4/680-3). He was named as his successor by his father, [[Muʻawiya|Muʿawiya]]. His mother was Maysun, a sister of the Kalbi leader Ibn Bahdal. The Banu Kalb were strong in the southern regions of Syria, and Muʿawiya appointed Yazid as his successor in preference to an older half-brother, ʿAbd Allah, born of a Qurashi mother. Yazid’s kunya, Abu Khalid, refers to one of his own younger sons, Khalid b. Yazid. During his father’s caliphate, Yazid commanded expeditions (sawaʾif see Saʾifa . 1.) against the Byzantines and participated in an attack upon Constantinople (in 49/669 or 50/670) that is mentioned in both Muslim and non-Muslim sources. He had apparently nominated his eldest son Muʿawiya as his successor, but the latter received only limited acceptance as caliph and died within months. | ||
Yazid's nomination to caliphate by his father, Mu’awiya, was opposed by many Muslims. In particular, [[Husayn ibn Ali]] and ʿAbd Allah b. al-Zubayr refused to recognized his caliphate. In 61/680, Yazid's army, led by [[‘Omar ibn Sa’d]], mascaraed Husayn and his followers at the Battle of [[Karbala]]. Meanwhile, al-Zubayr launched an insurgency in the Hejaz. In 63/682, Yazid’s army could capture Medina which led to the massacre of thousands of Prophet’s companions. In 64/683, his army besieged Mecca in an attempt to suppress al-Zubayr’s followers. The siege ended with the death of Yazid in November 683 and the empire fell to civil war. | Yazid's nomination to caliphate by his father, Mu’awiya, was opposed by many Muslims. In particular, [[Husayn ibn Ali]] and ʿAbd Allah b. al-Zubayr refused to recognized his caliphate. In 61/680, Yazid's army, led by [[Omar Ibn Sa’d|‘Omar ibn Sa’d]], mascaraed Husayn and his followers at the Battle of [[Karbala]]. Meanwhile, al-Zubayr launched an insurgency in the Hejaz. In 63/682, Yazid’s army could capture Medina which led to the massacre of thousands of Prophet’s companions. In 64/683, his army besieged Mecca in an attempt to suppress al-Zubayr’s followers. The siege ended with the death of Yazid in November 683 and the empire fell to civil war. | ||
==Struggle for Caliphate== | ==Struggle for Caliphate== | ||
Yazid’s caliphate marked the beginning of the crisis, commonly referred to as fitna, during which the Umayyads came close to losing the caliphate. Eventually they re-established their hold on the institution but in the person of [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marwan-I-ibn-al-Hakam Marwan I b. al-Hakam] and his descendants rather than a representative of the Sufyanid branch of the family, to which Yazid belonged. Following his father’s death in Radjab 60/April 680, Yazid was faced with the continuing refusal of [[Husayn b. ʿAli]] and [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/abd-allah-b-al-zubayr-SIM_0069 ʿAbd Allah b. al-Zubayr], both then in Medina, to give him allegiance. Most of the reports about his caliphate concern his attempts to overcome their opposition and that of others. | Yazid’s caliphate marked the beginning of the crisis, commonly referred to as fitna, during which the Umayyads came close to losing the caliphate. Eventually they re-established their hold on the institution but in the person of [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marwan-I-ibn-al-Hakam Marwan I b. al-Hakam] and his descendants rather than a representative of the Sufyanid branch of the family, to which Yazid belonged. Following his father’s death in Radjab 60/April 680, Yazid was faced with the continuing refusal of [[Husayn b. ʿAli]] and [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/abd-allah-b-al-zubayr-SIM_0069 ʿAbd Allah b. al-Zubayr], both then in Medina, to give him allegiance. Most of the reports about his caliphate concern his attempts to overcome their opposition and that of others. | ||
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As the caliph under whom the Prophet’s grandson al-Husayn was killed, the two holy cities of Arabia attacked, and the Kaʿba set on fire, and as the one who benefited from an appointment presented in Muslim tradition as a crucial stage in the corruption of the caliphate into a kingship, it is not surprising that the tradition generally is hostile to Yazid. There are frequent mentions of his penchant for drinking, singing girls, sexual licentiousness, hunting, playing with his tame monkey, and other such things which show him as a frivolous libertine. | As the caliph under whom the Prophet’s grandson al-Husayn was killed, the two holy cities of Arabia attacked, and the Kaʿba set on fire, and as the one who benefited from an appointment presented in Muslim tradition as a crucial stage in the corruption of the caliphate into a kingship, it is not surprising that the tradition generally is hostile to Yazid. There are frequent mentions of his penchant for drinking, singing girls, sexual licentiousness, hunting, playing with his tame monkey, and other such things which show him as a frivolous libertine. | ||
==Bibliography== | ==Bibliography== | ||
* Ṭabarī, index (ii, 216-429 for his caliphate, Eng. tr. I.K.A. Howard, The History of al-Ṭabarī, xix, The caliphate of ϒazīd b. Muʿawiyah, Albany 1990) | |||
*Ṭabarī, index (ii, 216-429 for his caliphate, Eng. tr. I.K.A. Howard, The History of al-Ṭabarī, xix, The caliphate of ϒazīd b. Muʿawiyah, Albany 1990) | |||
Balād̲h̲urī, Ansāb al-as̲h̲rāf ivb, 1-74 | Balād̲h̲urī, Ansāb al-as̲h̲rāf ivb, 1-74 | ||
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D̲h̲ahabī, Taʾrīk̲h̲ al-Islām, ed. Tadmurī, Beirut 1990, s.a. 60-3 (the notice on Yazīd in the necrology of the 7th ṭabaḳa, 269-75, has a useful bibl. provided by the editor). | D̲h̲ahabī, Taʾrīk̲h̲ al-Islām, ed. Tadmurī, Beirut 1990, s.a. 60-3 (the notice on Yazīd in the necrology of the 7th ṭabaḳa, 269-75, has a useful bibl. provided by the editor). | ||
* Studies. J. Wellhausen, Das arabische Reich und sein Sturz, Berlin 1902, 88-105, Eng. tr. The Arab kingdom and its fall, Calcutta 1927, 140-69 | *Studies. J. Wellhausen, Das arabische Reich und sein Sturz, Berlin 1902, 88-105, Eng. tr. The Arab kingdom and its fall, Calcutta 1927, 140-69 | ||
H. Lammens, Études sur le règne du calife omaiyade Moʿâwia I , Paris 1908, index (extracted from MFOB, i-iii) | H. Lammens, Études sur le règne du calife omaiyade Moʿâwia I , Paris 1908, index (extracted from MFOB, i-iii) | ||