The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 23

The Zenith of the Marwānid House: The Last Years of ʿAbd al-Malik and The Caliphate of al-Walīd A.D. 700-715/A.H. 81-96

Translated by Martin Hinds

Subjects: Islam
Series: SUNY series in Near Eastern Studies
Paperback : 9780887067228, 270 pages, August 1990
Hardcover : 9780887067211, 270 pages, August 1990

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Table of contents

Preface

Translator's Foreword

Map: Khurasan and Transoxania in the Early Eighth Century

The Last Years of `Abd al-Malik

The Events of the Year 81 (cont'd) (700/702)

What Led `Abd al-Rahman b. Muhammad b. al-Ash`ath to Do What He Did. . .

The Events of the Year 82 (701/702)

[Operations at al-Basrah and al-Kufah]

The Reason for Ibn al-Ash`ath's Progress to Dayr al-Jamajim and [the Battle] between Him and al-Hajjaj

[The Death of al-Mughirah b. al-Muhallab]

The Reason for al-Muhallab's Departure from Kish

The Cause and Place of the Death [of al-Muhallab]

The Events of the Year 83 (702/703)

The Cause of [Ibn al-Ash`ath's] Defeat

The Cause of the Battle [of Maskin], with a Description of It

[The Breakup of Ibn al-Ash`ath's Defeated Army]

[A Second Account of the Battle of Maskin]

[The Reason Why al-Hajjaj Built Wasit]

The Events of the Year 84 (703/704)

The Reason Why [Yazid b. al-Muhallab] Conquered [the Fortress of Nizak]

The Events of the Year 85 (704/705)

What [Ibn al-Ash`ath] Died of and How It Came About

The Reason Why al-Hajjaj Dismissed [Yazid b. al-Muhallab] from Khurasan and Appointed al-Mufaddal

[Al-Mufaddal's Conquest of Badghis]

[Musa b. `Abdallah's] Going to al-Tirmidh [and His Activities] until He Was Killed There

[`Abd al-Malik's Desire to Remove His Brother from the Succession]

The Events of the Year 86 (705)

[The Death of `Abd al-Malik]

Report on His Age When He Died

His Descent and His Teknonym (Kunyah )

His Children and Wives

The Caliphate of al-Walid b. `Abd al-Malik

The Events of the Year 86 (cont'd) (705)

What Happened to Qutaybah in Khurasan in This Year

The Events of the Year 87 (705/706)

[The Appointment of `Umar b. `Abd al-`Aziz as Governor of Medina]

[Qutaybah's Peace Agreement with the People of Badghis]

Report of [Qutaybah's] Campaign [against Paykand]

The Events of the Year 88 (706/707)

[Reconstruction of the Mosque of Medina]

[Qutaybah's] Campaign [against Tumushkath and Ramithanah]

The Events of the Year 89 (707/708)

The Events of the Year 90 (708/709)

[Qutaybah's Conquest of Bukhara]

[Renewed Peace between Qutaybah and the Soghdians]

[Nizak's] Perfidy and Why He Was Vanquished

[Qutaybah's Retribution against the People of al-Talaqan]

The Reason for [the Muhallabids'] Escape from al-Hajjaj's Prison and Their Going to Sulayman

The Events of the Year 91 (709/710)

[Qutaybah's Capture and Killing of Nizak]

[Qutaybah's Campaign in Transoxania]

[Khalid al-Qasri's Strict Governorship of Mecca]

[Al-Walid's Visit to Medina]

The Events of the Year 92 (710/711)

The Events of the Year 93 (711/712)

[The Killing of the King of Kham Jird and Renewed Peace with Khwarazm]

[Qutaybah's Conquest of Samarqand]

[Musa b. Nusayr's Dismissal of Tariq b. Ziyad]

Why al-Walid Dismissed [`Umar b. `Abd al-`Aziz]

The Events of the Year 94 (712/713)

Qutaybah's Campaign [in al-Shash and Farghanah]

[`Uthman b. Hayyan al-Murri's] Governorship

The Report of [Sa`id b. Jubayr's] Death

The Events of the Year 95 (713/714)

The Report of [Qutaybah's] Campaign [in al-Shash]

The Events of the Year 96 (714/715)

[The Death of al-Walid b. `Abd al-Malik]

Report of Some of What He Did

[Al-Walid's Desire to Remove Sulayman from the Succession]

[Qutaybah in Kashghar and China]

Bibliography of Cited Works

Index

Description

This volume covers the years 700-715 A.D., a period that witnessed the last five years of the caliphate of the Umayyad 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān and the whole of the caliphate of his son al-Walīd. In retrospect, this period can be seen to have marked the apogee of Marwānid Umayyad power. It began with the dangerous revolt of the Iraqi tribal leader Ibn al-Ash'ath, which seriously imperilled Marwānid control of Iraq and was countered with considerable difficulty; but this proved to be the last of the obstacles faced by 'Abd al-Malik in the wake of the Second Civil War of 685-693. Thereafter he was able to preside over a strong and dynamic Arab kingdom, with al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf as his powerful governor of Iraq and the East.

When 'Abd al-Malik died in 705, the caliphate passed to his son al-Walīd, during whose decade of office al-Ḥajjāj remained at his post and further Arab expansion took place in Central Asia, in Sind, and in the Iberian Peninsula. To many of their contemporaries, the Arabs of that time must have looked like potential world conquerors.

The volume ends shortly after the deaths of al-Ḥajjāj and al-Walīd and just two years before the dispatch in 717 of the ill-fated Arab expedition to Constantinople.