Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/346



early death was a misfortune to the Umeiyad rule. He was succeeded by his son Muʿāwiya II., a weak and sickly youth, who survived but three months. He had the support of all the Syrians except those of Ḳeis, whose objection to him was that his mother and grandmother were of Kelb. His maternal granduncle, Ibn Bahdal, was ruler de facto, and the brother of the latter was governor of Ḳinnasrīn, a province settled by Ḳeis. Ḳeis was, therefore, jealous of the large share of Kelb in the government. Anticipating his decease, Muʿāwiya told the people from the pulpit that, like Abu Bekr, he would have appointed a successor, but there was none he saw of ʿOmar's stamp; that like ʿOmar he would have nominated electors, but neither so did he see any men fit for such a task; and accordingly that he left them to choose a successor for themselves. The short and feeble reign served but to relax the sinews of the Empire.

On his death, the Umeiyad counsels were divided, and various aspirants to the throne appeared. Ibn az-Zubeir, now the acknowledged Caliph at Mecca and Medina, succeeded during the next few months in being recognised ruler also over Egypt and the greater part of Syria. He was proclaimed in Al-Baṣra by a Temīmite, and ʿObeidallah, who relied on the Azd and Bekr, was forced to flee. Al-Kūfa also went over to Ibn az-Zubeir. Persia was in the hands of the Khawārij. Syria, and only part even of that, remained under the government of Damascus.

Had Ibn az-Zubeir left his sanctuary for Syria, there is 317