The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 24

The Empire in Transition: The Caliphates of Sulaymān, ʿUmar and Yazīd A.D. 715-724/A.H. 97-105

Translated by David Stephan Powers

Subjects: Islam
Series: SUNY series in Near Eastern Studies
Paperback : 9780791400739, 236 pages, July 1989
Hardcover : 9780791400722, 236 pages, July 1989

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Table of contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Translator's Foreword

The Caliphate of Sulayman b. 'Abd al-Malik

The Events of the Year 96 (cont'd) (714/715)

The Slaying of Qutaybah b. Muslim

The Events of the Year 97 (715/716)

The Appointment of Yazid b. al-Muhallab as Governor of Khurasan

The Events of the Year 98 (716/717)

Maslamah b. 'Abd al-Malik Besieges Constantinople

[The Conquest of Jurjan and Tabaristan]

The Events of the Year 99 (717/718)

[The Death of Sulayman b. 'Abd al-Malik]

Aspects of His Character

The Caliphate of 'Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz

The Events of the Year 99 (cont'd) (717/718)

The Reason Why Sulayman 'Appointed 'Umar as Caliph

The Events of the Year 100 (718/719)

The Revolt of the Kharijites

The Capture of Yazid b/ al-Muhallab

The Dismissal of al-Jarrah b. 'Abdallah

'Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz Appoints 'Abd al-Rahman b.Nu'aym and 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Abdallah al-Qushayri over Khurasan

The Beginning of the Da'wah

The Events of the Year 101 (719/720)

The Escape of Yazid b. al-Muhallab

[The Death of 'Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz]

Aspects of His Character

A Supplement to the Biography of 'Umar b. 'Abdal-'Aziz That Is Not Part of Abu Ja'far's [al-Tabari's] Book, to the Beginning of the Caliphate of Yazid b. 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan

The Caliphate of Yazid b. 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan

The Events of the Year 101 (cont'd) (719/720)

The Slaying of Shawdhab the Kharijite

Yazid b. al-Muhallab Renounces His Allegiance to Yazid b. 'Abd al-Malik

The Events of the Year 102 (720/721)

The Slaying of Yazid b. al-Muhallab

Maslamah Appoints Sa'id Khudhaynah as Governor of Khurasan

Sa'id's Dismissal of Shu'bah and the Battle at the Fortress of a.-Bahili

Sa'id Khudhaynah's Military Expedition against the Soghdians

The Dismissal of Maslamah from Iraq and Khurasan

The Slaying of Yazid b. Abi Muslim

The Events of the Year 103 (721/ 722)

The Dismissal of Sa'id Khudhaynah as Governor of Khurasan

'Umar b. Hubayrah's Appointment of Sa'id al-Harashi as Governor of Khurasan

The Sogdians Leave Their Country for Farghanah

The Events of the Year 104 (722/723)

The Battle between al-Harashi and the Soghdian Army

Yazid b. 'Abd al-Malik's Dismissal of 'Abdal-Rahman b. al-Dahhak from Medina

'Umar b. Hubayrah's Dismissal of Sa'id b. 'Amral-Harashi as Governor of Khurasan

The Appointment of Muslim b. Sa'id as Governor of Khurasan

The Events of the Year 105 (723/724)

Muslim b. Sa'id's Expedition against the Turks

The Death of Yazid b. 'Abd al-Malik

Aspects of His Character

Bibliography of Cited Works

Index

Description

In this volume, which covers the caliphates of Sulaymān, ʿUmar II, and Yazīd II, al-Ṭabarī provides vivid and detailed accounts of the events spanning the period from 97-105/715-724. We listen to the stirring speeches of Qutaybah ibn Muslim, in which he urges his followers to renounce their allegiance to Sulaymān; are present at the disastrous third and final attempt to take Constantinople; watch from behind the scenes as Rajaʾ ibn Ḥaywah skillfully engineers the accession of 'Umar II; and follow the remarkable career of Yazīd b. al-Muhallab, first as governor and conqueror, then as prisoner, and finally as rebel.

Throughout this volume we observe the struggle of the Umayyad regime to maintain control over a rapidly expanding but increasingly dissatisfied subject population. Governors are appointed and dismissed with dizzying rapidity, administrative boundaries are drawn and redrawn, Arab tribesmen express dissatisfaction with the diminishing rewards of military conquest, non-Arab converts chafe at the differential treatment they receive, and religious opponents revolt in the name of "the Book and the Sunnah." Important in their own right, the events of this period provide an essential key to a proper understanding of the 'Abbasid revolution that lay just over the horizon.

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