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Rh desert and were now beginning to sap their vitality.

Disturbances in the provinces, dissatisfaction among the South Arabians, who formed the bulk of the Arab popula- tion of Syria and who had steadfastly supported the Umay- yad dynasty, and family feuds led 10 the murder of al-Walid II, the death of his cousin Yazid III and the abdication of Yazid's brother Ibrahim — all within the year 744. A distant cousin, Marwan II, was installed as caliph, but anarchy was on the march throughout the whole domain. An Umayyad claimant arose in Syria, a Kharijite one rebelled in Iraq and leaders in Khurasan refused to acknow- ledge the caliph's authority. Marwan moved his seat of government to Harran, where he could rely upon North Arabian support and deal more effectively with his two worst enemies — the Alids and the Abbasids.

To the Shiites the Umayyads were but ungodly usurpers who had perpetrated an unforgivable, unforgettable wrong against Ali and his descendants. As the focus of popular sympathy, their camp gradually became the rallying point of the dissatisfied, politically, socially and economically. The Iraqis nurtured a grudge against the Syrians for depriving them of the seat of the caliphate. Sunnite pietists joined the band of critics who charged the house of Umayyah with worldliness, secularism and indifference to koranic law. The Abbasids likewise took advantage of the general chaotic condition to press their own claim to the throne, based on the nearness of their kinship to Muhammad as compared with the Umayyads'.

Another factor that entered into the situation was the discontent felt by non-Arabian Moslems in general and Persian Moslems in particular because of the treatment accorded them by Arabian Moslems. Far from being granted the equality promised by Islam, these neophytes were actually reduced to inferior status, and sometimes were not even granted exemption from the capitation tax. The resentment reached its height in Persia, whose more ancient Rh