The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 18

Between Civil Wars: The Caliphate of Muʿāwiyah A.D. 661-680/A.H. 40-60

Translated by Michael G. Morony

Subjects: Islam
Series: SUNY series in Near Eastern Studies
Paperback : 9780887063145, 276 pages, August 1987
Hardcover : 9780873959339, 276 pages, November 1986

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Table of contents

Translator's Foreword

Between Civil Wars: The Caliphate of, Mu`awiyah

The Events of the Year 40 (660/661)

The Rendering of Allegiance to al-Hasan b. Ali

The Events of the Year 41 (665/662)

Al-Hasan's surrender of al-Kufah to Mucawiyah

The departure of al-Hasan and al-Husayn for al-Madinah

The Kharijites at Shahrazur

Mucawiyah's order to kill the sons of Ziyad

Whyc Abdallah b.c Amir was put in charge of al-Basrah and some events during his Activity there

The Events of the Year 42 (662/663)

What happened to the Kharijites

The Events of the Year 43 (663/664)

The killing of al-Mustawrid b.c Ullifah

The Events of the Year 44 (664/665)

The Events of the Year 45 (665/666)

Ziyad's governorship over al-Basrah

The Events of the Year 46 (666/667)

The death ofc Abd al-Rahman b. Khalid b. al-Walid

The Events of the Year 47 (667/668)

The Events of the Year 48 (668/669)

The Events of the Year 49 (669/670)

The Events of the Year 50 (670/671)

Al-Faradzaq's flight from Ziyad

Al-Hakam b.c Amr raids al-Ashall

The Events of the Year 51 (671/672)

Hujr b.c Adi's execution

Those whom Ziyad sent to Mucawiyah

Hujr's companions who were killed

Hujr's companions who were saved

The Events of the Year 52 (672)

The Events of the Year 53 (672/673)

How Ziyad b. Sumayyah perished

How al-Rabic b. Ziyad al-Harithi died

The Events of the Year 54 (673/674)

Why Mucawiyah dismissed Sacid and appointed Mawan as governor over al-Madinah

Howc Ubaydallah b. Ziyad became governor over Khurasan

The Events of the Year 55 (/674/675)

Why Mucawiyah dismissedc Abdallah b.c Amr b. Ghaylan and appointedc Ubaydallah over al-Basrah

The Events of the Year 56 (675/676)

Why Mucawiyah made his Son, Yazid, heir apparent

The Events of the Year 57 (676/677)

The Events of the Year 58 (677/678)

Whyc Ubaydallah b. Ziyad killed the Kharijites

The Events of the Year 59 (678/679)

Why Mucawiyah appointedc Abd al-Rahman b. Ziyad as governor of Khurasan

How Mucawiyah dismissed and re-appointedc Ubaydallah as governor of al-Basrah

Why Yasid b. Mufarrigh ridiculed the sons of Ziyad

The Events of the Year 60 (679/680)

The length of Mucawiyah's reign

Mucawiyah's last illness

Who led the prayer over Mucawiyah when he died

Mucawiyah's lineage and his Agnomen

Mucawiyah's wives and children

Some of Mucawiyah's Affairs and Conduct

Bibliography

Index

Description

This volume presents for the first time in English Ṭabarī's complete account of the twenty-year long reign of the fifth caliph, Muʿāwiyah (661-680). The importance of this account lies partly in Ṭabarī's quotation of major portions of the work of earlier authors, such as Abu Mikhnaf and other eighth-century compilers. It is also significant because Ṭabarī's selection of themes has had a decisive influence on modern interpretations of this period, particularly on the identification of what the important issues were in the works of Henri Lammens and Julius Wellhausen. Here one can read the exciting account of the Khāriji revolt of Mustawrid ibn Ullifah, the impressive but controversial record of the governorship of Ziyād ibn Abīhi, the entertaining escapades of the poet Farazdaq in his youth, and the tragic story of Ḥujr ibn 'Adī. Ṭabarī''s presentation of different points of view about these and other events makes his account an indispensable source for early Islamic history.