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Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan

Al-Tabari records Marwan ibn Muhammad's caliphate, his defeat at the Zab in 132 AH and his subsequent killing.

Reign · Umayyad Caliphate · no. 13 in the chain · 744–750 CE

Ruled the caliphate

Events of the reign

Abu Muslim Enters Marw and His Partisans Fall upon Mudar

In 130 Abu Muslim entered the wall of Marw and took up residence in the governor's house on Thursday, 9 Jumada I. The cause was that Sulayman ibn Kathir objected to Ali ibn al-Kirmani's reconciliation with Nasr ibn Sayyar: 'Are you not ashamed to make peace with Nasr, when he killed your men and your companions only yesterday?' Ali ibn al-Kirmani was seized by anger, reversed his position, and the truce among the Arabs broke. Nasr ibn Sayyar sent to Abu Muslim asking him to join Mudar, and Rabi'a and Qahtan sent the same request. Abu Muslim ordered that envoys of both sides come before him to choose between them, and told the Shi'a to choose Rabi'a and Qahtan, since authority lay with Mudar, who were Marwan's agents and the killers of Yahya ibn Zayd. When his letter was read to the seventy assembled, Mazid ibn Shaqiq al-Sulami stood and said: 'Mudar are the killers of the Family of the Prophet and helpers of the Umayyads and partisans of Marwan al-Ja'di; our blood is on their necks and our wealth in their hands, and Nasr ibn Sayyar, Marwan's governor in Khurasan, has the khutba given for him from his pulpit and calls him amir al-mu'minin; we are innocent of that before God.' The seventy agreed with him; he rose, and humiliation and dejection came upon Mudar, while Ali ibn al-Kirmani and his companions returned glad and victorious. Abu Muslim had stayed at Alin for twenty-nine days, then moved on to al-Makhwan, stayed three months at Khunda, and then entered the wall of Marw.
Battle of Guadalete (745)

Draft card for the Battle of Guadalete in 745, a clash of the Andalusi fitna in the late Umayyad age; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Jurjān (748)

Draft card for Battle of Jurjān (748); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
al-Dahhak ibn Qays Takes Kufa and Agrees a Division with Ibn Umar

In 127, when Marwan ibn Muhammad had secured Syria and appointed Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra as governor of Iraq, bringing with him the armies of al-Jazira, Abdallah ibn Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, governor of Kufa, made terms with al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani, leader of the Kharijites, on the basis that al-Dahhak would hold what he had seized of Kufa and its countryside, while Ibn Umar would keep what he held of Wasit, Maysan, Tustar, the districts of al-Jiddah, al-Ahwaz and Fars. Al-Dahhak surged forward and drove Marwan out to Kafr Tutha in the Jazira, having taken Mosul in Dhu al-Qa'da. He appointed Mulhan al-Shaybani over Kufa, and Mulhan was killed by al-Nadr ibn Sa'id, agent of Ibn Hubayra. Al-Dahhak then appointed al-Muthanna ibn Imran al-A'idhi, who met Ibn Hubayra at Ghazza, and they fought fiercely for several days. Al-Muthanna, Uzayr and Amr, leaders of al-Dahhak's companions, were killed and the Kharijites were routed, and Mansur ibn Jumhur drew near. Mansur gathered the people of Kufa, Yemeni and Mudari, who had held back from al-Dahhak, and marched with them until they camped at al-Rawha. Ibn Hubayra came with his troops and fought them for days, then defeated them and killed al-Bardun ibn Marzuq al-Shaybani, and Mansur fled. Ibn Hubayra then came and camped in Kufa and expelled the Kharijites from it.
The Fall of Qaliqala, 133, and its Rebuilding

In al-Baladhuri from Muhammad ibn Bishr and Ibn Warz al-Qaliyan from the shaykhs of Qaliqala: the city had remained defiant with its folk since its conquest until the tyrant came out in year 133, besieged Malatya's people, razed its wall and evacuated its Muslims to the Jazira, then camped at Marj al-Hasa and sent Kusan the Armenian, who camped on Qaliqala and besieged it — its people then few and its governor Abu Karima — whereupon two Armenian brothers of the city undermined an earthwork in its wall, went out to Kusan and let him into the city; he took it, killed, captured, demolished, drove the spoil to the tyrant and divided the captives among his men; al-Waqidi says: in year 139 al-Mansur ransomed those of Qaliqala's captives still alive, rebuilt and resettled the city, returned the ransomed to it and levied for it a garrison of Jazirans and others; and the Roman tyrant had come out against Qaliqala in al-Mu'tasim's caliphate and battered its wall near collapse, whereupon al-Mu'tasim spent five hundred thousand dirhams on it until it was fortified.
The Fall and Demolition of Malatya, 133

In al-Baladhuri from al-Waqidi: in year 133 Constantine the tyrant advanced deliberately on Malatya — Kamkh then being Muslim-held under a Sulami — and Kamkh's people sent the appeal to Malatya's, who rode out with two hundred horse and were beaten by the Roman cavalry; the Roman camped on Malatya and besieged those inside — the Jazira then in turmoil, its governor Musa ibn Ka'b at Harran, the messenger they sent him unable to relieve them — and when Constantine heard of it he told them: 'people of Malatya, I came only knowing your state and your sultan's distraction from you — come down on aman, evacuate the city for me to demolish, and I depart from you'; they refused, so he set mangonels on it, and when affliction ground them down and the siege hardened they asked him for sureties, which he gave; they prepared to march, loaded what they could, threw much of the weight into wells and caches, and went out — the Romans formed two files from the city gate to the end of their line with drawn swords held tip to tip like a bridge's arch, then escorted them to safety, whence they dispersed through the Jazira; the Romans demolished Malatya leaving but a tower they had partly wrecked, and demolished the fortress of Qaludhiya.
Friday Battle (748)

Draft card for Friday Battle (748); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Ibadi Revolt of 747

Draft card for the Ibadi Revolt of 747–748 CE under Talib al-Haqq and Abu Hamza against the Umayyads; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
The killing of al-Walid ibn Yazid

Yazid ibn al-Walid 'al-Naqis' rose for the caliphate, killed his cousin al-Walid ibn Yazid and took power, then mounted the pulpit: 'I did not rise in arrogance or pride or greed for the world or desire for kingship, but in anger for God and His religion, calling to His Book and His Prophet's sunna, when the landmarks of guidance were effaced, the light of the godfearing extinguished, and the tyrant who profanes sanctity appeared'.
Marwan ibn Muhammad Exhumes and Crucifies Yazid al-Naqis

Marwan ibn Muhammad's first act once power was secured in mid-Safar 127 was to order al-Naqis's exhumation: he had him taken from his grave and crucified for having killed al-Walid ibn Yazid.
The Rising of Musafir al-Qassab in Armenia

In al-Baladhuri: Thabit ibn Nu'aym al-Judhami rose against Marwan ibn Muhammad, and Musafir al-Qassab — one whom al-Dahhak al-Khariji had empowered at al-Bab — came agreeing with his view; al-Dahhak gave him Armenia and Adharbayjan, and he came to Ardabil in disguise, whence a body of Sharat (Kharijites) went out with him — among them Bajirwan — finding at... like-minded men who joined them, then Wartan whose folk accompanied them in numbers sharing their view, crossing to al-Baylaqan where a great crowd of like view attached itself, till they camped at Yunan; Marwan ibn Muhammad gave Armenia to Ishaq ibn Muslim, who fought Musafir ceaselessly, Musafir holding the fortress of al-Kilab in Sisajan; then when the blessed Dawla came and Abu Ja'far al-Mansur governed Jazira and Armenia under al-Saffah, he sent against Musafir and his fellows a commander of Khurasan's people who fought them till he overcame them and killed Musafir — the people of al-Baylaqan had fortified themselves in Qal'at al-Kilab under their chief Wadad ibn Asfar al-Baylaqani, and were brought down under aman.
The revolt of 'Abd Allah ibn Mu'awiya ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Ja'far in Kufa

In 127 'Abd Allah ibn Mu'awiya ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Ja'far ibn Abi Talib called people to himself in Kufa and fought its governor there, 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz. He had come to Kufa as a visitor seeking his stipend, with no intention of rising, and married the daughter of Hatim ibn al-Sharqi. When factional partisanship broke out, the people of Kufa told him to call for himself, since the Banu Hashim had a better right to the affair than the Banu Marwan. The cause was that Ibn 'Umar gave great gifts to Mudar and Rabi'a but did not give Ja'far ibn Nafi' and 'Uthman ibn al-Khayyar of the Yemenis the like. They grew angry, he had them pushed out, and they went out shouting 'O Rabi'a!', and Rabi'a rose to them. When the partisans saw Ibn 'Umar's weakness, they pressed upon him and called for Ibn Mu'awiya, and they rose up amid the rabble until they reached the mosque and gathered there. The people gave their allegiance to 'Abd Allah ibn Mu'awiya, and they drove him out of the house of al-Walid ibn Sa'id until they brought him into the palace. He remained in Kufa for several days while people gave him their allegiance; pledges came to him from al-Mada'in and Qumm al-Nil. He went out to al-Mada'in, where they gave him their allegiance, and then he prevailed over Hulwan, the mountains, al-Mahin, Hamadhan, Qumis, Isfahan and Rayy.
Siege of Wasit

Draft card for the Siege of Wasit in 749–750, the last stand of Yazid ibn Umar al-Fadli before the Abbasids; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

The museum record for this caliph