Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/348

683–92] Ḳeis and northern tribes were equally prejudiced against it, and joined Aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk on the side of Ibn az-Zubeir. Several months passed thus; at last, towards the close of the year, Merwān attacked his enemy at Merj Rāhiṭ, and after some weeks of fighting, completely discomfited him, Aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk being left dead upon the field. Thereupon all Syria returned to its allegiance. Egypt also was regained; and an army under Muṣʿab, brother of Ibn az-Zubeir, seeking to recover Syria, was put to flight. Merwān owed his success to two persons, ʿObeidallah the son of Ziyād, who persuaded him to contest the Caliphate when he and all the Umeiyads believed their case was hopeless, and Ibn Bahdal, who held sway over the Yemeni tribes. On his side fought besides Kelb and Ghassān, Sakūn, Sahsak, Tanūbh, Ṭaiʾ, and Ḳain. Aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk was supported by Suleim, ʿĀmir (Hawazin), and Dhubyān—all Ḳeis. The battle gave rise to a blood-feud between the Yemeni and Ḳeisi tribes, traces of which exist down to the present day.

Allegiance had been sworn to Merwān on 3 xi. 64 (June 22, 684 ) at Al-Jābiya, and after the battle the oath was renewed at Damascus, two months later; but in the midst of his success, he came to an ignoble and untimely end. Fearing the stability of his throne, he set aside the recognised arrangement by which Khālid, brother of the late Caliph, should succeed, in favour of his own son ʿAbd al-Melik, whom he proclaimed heir-apparent. Then either with the view of reconciling Khālid's mother, that is, the widow of Yezīd, or of weakening her son's claim, he took her himself to wife. Further, he made light of her son, and treated him with indignity. The proud Bedawi dame was offended and took a signal revenge. As the Caliph slept by her side, she smothered him with a pillow, so that he was found dead in his bed. Born at the beginning of the Muslim era, and now over threescore years of age, he had gained an unenviable notoriety as an unscrupulous agent of the faction of ʿOthmān, though his demerits have no doubt been magnified by the opposite party. His reign lasted barely a year. He was succeeded by his son ʿAbd al-Melik, whose authority was at once recognised throughout Syria and Egypt.

It may be useful for a moment to notice events transpiring in the East which illustrate the intense jealousy