Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/409

 378 sword. Fighting went on more or less throughout the reign in these outlying provinces, but with no very marked results.

Maslama not sending on the surplus revenues of his province to Damascus, the government was given to ʿOmar ibn Hubeira, an ambitious scion of the Fezāra tribe, in reward for his military service. He had distinguished himself in the campaign against the Khawārij, and more recently on the northern border of Mesopotamia. He was a Ḳeisite of the Ḳeisites, and the Azd and Yemen suffered accordingly, especially in Khorāsān. The legacy bequeathed by Al-Ḥajjāj began to bear interest. Yezīd II. followed in the footsteps of Suleimān, and outside of Syria the government represented only a party—that of Ḳeis. The policy of extirpating the family of Al-Muhallab, a new departure in Islām, meant war upon the Yemen. In Asia Minor, the Muslim possessions were quiet. But towards the North-east several heavy, and not always fortunate, operations were carried on against the Khazar, Kipchak, and other hordes inhabiting the mountain region between the Black and Caspian seas. The first army sent thither suffered a bad defeat, losing their camp, and being driven out of the country. A second force under Al-Jarrāḥ retrieved the disaster, and occupied Balanjar and other important cities; but incautiously pressing their advance too far, were overtaken by winter, and were surrounded and cut off by Turkoman hordes. The Caliph promised fresh support, but dying shortly after, left the task to his Successor.

In Africa things went from bad to worse. The Caliph appointed one who had been a favourite secretary of