Yazid I

Yazid I
Caliphs of the Umayyad Caliphate
Reign	680 – 683
Full name	Yazīd ibn Mu‘awiya ibn Abī Sufyān
Born	23 July 647 (11 Shawwal 26 AH)
Died	14 November 683 (15 Rabi ul-Awwal 64 AH)
Predecessor	Mu'awiya I
Successor	Mu'awiya II
Dynasty	Umayyad
Father	Mu'awiya I
Mother	Maysun bint Bajdal al-Kulaibi al-Nasrania (The Nazarene)

'Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiya ibn Abī Sufyān, Arabic: يزيد بن معاوية بن أبي سفيان‎ (23 July 647 – 14 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the third Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate (and the first one through inheritance). Yazid was the Caliph as appointed by his father Muawiyah I and ruled for three years from 680 CE until his death in 683 CE.

Oath of Allegiance of Yazid

Upon succession, Yazid asked Governors of all provinces to take an oath of allegiance to him. The necessary oath was secured from all parts of the country. Husayn ibn Ali (grandson of Muhammad) and Abdullah ibn Zubayr refused to declare allegiance. Yazid sent Marwan, a soldier in his army, to assist in this task. An early historical account of the issue of obtaining bai'ah (pledge of allegiance) by Yazid I was chronicled by 9th Century CE historian Al-Tabari who recorded that Yazid's only concern, when he assumed power, was to receive the oath of allegiance from the individuals who had refused to agree with Muawiyah's demand for this oath of allegiance for his son Yazid. Muawiyah had summoned the people (i.e., the Islamic shura or council) to give an oath of allegiance to him that Yazid would be his heir. Yazid's concern was to bring their attitude (of this refusal) to an end. Yazid's paternal first cousin Waleed bin Utbah bin Abu Sufyan was the Governor of Madinah, where Husayn bin Ali and the Hashimite family resided as did Abdullah ibn Zubayr. Yazid had sent his fellow Umayyad kinsman, Marwan bin al-Hakam (who served as a vizier to Muawiyah and now to Yazid), to Waleed bin Utbah bin Abu Sufyan with the following message written in a parchment:

Seize Husayn, Abdallah b. Umar, and Abdallah b. al Zubayr to give the oath of allegiance. Act so fiercely that they have no chance to do anything before giving the oath of allegiance. Peace be with you.

When summoned by the Governor of Madinah, Waleed bin Utbah, Husayn bin Ali answered the summons. However, Abdullah ibn Zubayr did not. When Husayn bin Ali met Waleed and Marwan (who was present) in a semi-private meeting at night, he was informed of the late Caliph Muawiyah's passing and Yazid's accession to the Caliphate. When asked for his pledge of allegiance to Yazid, Husayn responded that giving his allegiance in private would be insufficient, such a thing should be given in public. Waleed agreed to this, but Marwan interrupted demanding that Waleed imprison Husayn and not let him leave until he gives the pledge of allegiance to Yazid. At this interruption, Marwan was soundly upbraided by Husayn who then exited unharmed. Husayn bin Ali had his own retainer of armed supporters waiting nearby just in case a forcible attempt was made to apprehend him. Immediately following Husayn's exit, Marwan emphatically admonished his kinsman Waleed, the governor of Madinah, who in turn rebutted Marwan, justifying his refusal to harm Husayn bin Ali by stating that he could not do any harm to the grandson of the Prophet of Islam (Muhammad). As for Abdullah ibn Zubayr, he had left Medina at night heading for Mecca. In the morning Waleed sent men after him, a party of eighty horsemen under the command of a retainer of the Banu Umayyah. They pursued Ibn al-Zubayr but did not catch up with him, so they returned. As for Husayn ibn Ali, Tabari records that he too left for Mecca shortly after, having not given an oath of allegiance to Yazid.

Husayn ibn Ali and Ibn az-Zubair

Main article: Battle of Karbala

Main article: Ibn al-Zubair's revolt

Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, along with many other prominent Muslims, not only disapproved of Yazid's nomination for caliph but declared it against the spirit of Islam. While the nomination issue was deliberated upon in Medina, Abdullah ibn Zubair went with Husayn to Mecca because some prominent Muslims thought that Mecca would be the best base for launching a campaign to build up public opinion against Yazid's nomination. However, before any significant work could be done in this regard, Muawiyah died and Yazid took over the reins of government.^{[citation needed]}

Kufa, a garrison town in what is now Iraq, had been Caliph Alī's capital and many of his supporters lived there. Husayn ibn Ali received letters from Kufa expressing its offer of support if he claimed the caliphate. As he prepared for the journey to Kufa, Abdullah ibn Umar and Abdullah ibn Abbas argued against his plan and, if he was determined to proceed to Kufa, asked him to leave women and children in Mecca, but Husayn ignored their suggestions. On the way to Kufa, Husayn received the report of Muslim ibn Aqeel's death at the hands of Yazid's men and that the Kufans had changed their loyalties to Yazid, pledging support to him against Husayn and his followers.^{[citation needed]}

Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad, governor of Basrah, executed one of Husayn's messengers and warned the citizens to avoid the insurgency. He sent a message to Husayn, at instruction of Yazid, stating "You can neither go to Kufa nor return to Mecca, but you can go anywhere else you want." Despite this warning, Husayn continued towards Kufa and during the trip, he and many members of his family were killed or captured at the Battle of Karbala.^{[citation needed]}

Many Sahaba, the most prominent being Abdullah ibn Zubayr, refused to give their oath of allegiance to Yazid as they saw it as usurpation of power and not the proper way of choosing a Caliph by the Shura.^{[citation needed]}

Abdullah launched an insurgency in the Hejaz and the Tihamah. Yazid sent armies against him in 683. After the Battle of al-Harrah, Medina was recaptured and Mecca was besieged. During the siege, the Ka‘bah was damaged. The siege ended when Yazid died suddenly in 683 CE.^{[citation needed]}

Setbacks

During the caliphate of Yazid, Muslims suffered several military setbacks. In 682 AD Yazid restored Uqba ibn Nafi as the governor of North Africa and Uqba won battles against the Berbers and Byzantines. Uqba then marched westward towards Tangier and then marched eastwards the Atlas Mountains. With cavalry numbering about 300, he proceeded towards Biskra where he was ambushed by a Berber force . Uqba and all his men died fighting and the Berbers launched a counter-attack and drove Muslims from North Africa. This was a major setback for the Muslims as lost supremacy at sea and had to abandon the islands of Rhodes and Crete.

Death

Yazid was killed by his own horse after it lost control, his remains were never confirmed to have been found. Yazid died at the age of 38 after ruling for three years and was succeeded by his son Muawiyah II. Yazid was buried in Damascus. Although it is thought that his grave no longer exists, few believe that it is located in a small street near Umayyad Mosque without any mark or distinction, as is customary in Islamic tradition.

Historical evaluation

Some scholars regard Yazid as a just, noble, religious and administratively efficient ruler and that his nomination by his father Muawiya as Caliph was proper.

He participated in various wars against the Byzantines in the time of his father. He was a brave man fond of hunting.^{[citation needed]}

Nonetheless, most Islamic scholars during the Abbasid Caliphate regarded Caliph Yazid I as a tyrant who was directly responsible for three major historical atrocities in standard Islamic history: The Karbala massacre of the Hashimite caravan of Husayn ibn Ali, the pillage and plunder of the city of Madinah (by Yazid's general Ibn Uqbah al-Murri) in which over 10,000 Muslim citizens were slaughtered and Muslim women were indiscriminately raped, and the siege of Mecca in which Yazid's commander Ibn Numayr ordered his troops to catapult fireballs to the shrine of the Kaaba.

The above Abbasid scholarly consensus was summed up with the following evaluation of Caliph Yazid I:

He was strong, brave, deliberative, full of resolve, acumen, and eloquence. He composed good poetry. He was also a stern, harsh, and coarse Nasibi. He drank and was a reprobate. He inaugurated his Dawla with the killing of the martyr al-Husayn and closed it with the catastrophe of al-Harrah. Hence the people despised him, he was not blessed in his life, and many took up arms against him after al-Husayn such as the people of Madînah - they rose for the sake of Allâh -

Yazid and Mohammed's prophecy

In the chapter, Qital e Rome of Sahih Muslim, Muhammad said that the first army who will attack Constantinople will enter in Paradise. The saying was known to Muslim. Under the rule of his father Amir Muawiya. Army was made ready to attack Constantinople under the command of Amir Yazid bin Muawiya. A numbers of companions presented their services for the army. Abu Ayub Ansari at his old age also participated despite his illness and age factor. He among many other notables such as Abdullah bin Omer, Hussain bin Numayr fought under the command of Amir Yazid.^{[citation needed]}

Other Islamic scholars point out that in the original literary source of Prophet Muhammad's tradition which was from Sahih Bukhari (Sahih Muslim author Muslim bin Al-Hajjaj's teacher), Muhammad made two consecutive statements:

"The army from my people who will first perform jihad through water has made Paradise obligatory for itself."

Alluding to the above sahih hadith, the very first jihad ("endeavour") of a Muslim army via the sea was in 647 CE, in an amphibious landing of additional troops in sea vessels that assisted the main ground army in the second Muslim military invasion of Tripoli, Libya. This conquest of Tripoli and the subsequent expansion into Libya was personally organized and led by Abdullah bin Saad bin Abi Sarh, launched from the coastal city of Barca, Cyrenaica; notable sahabah Abdullah ibn Zubayr and Uqbah bin Nafi participated in this military campaign. In quick succession, Abdullah ibn Zubayr then went on to defeat Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Exarch Gregory the Patrician in the Battle of Sufetula to capture the city of Sbeitla, Tunisia. Chronologically, the very first Muslim navy was the Egyptian Muslim naval fleet, founded in Egypt by Abdullah bin Saad bin Abi Sarh in 645 CE; in December 644 CE, Abdullah bin Saad bin Abi Sarh had been appointed Governor of Egypt by his foster-brother, the new caliph Uthman bin al-Affan al-Umawwi. The second Muslim naval fleet was the Syrian Muslim naval fleet, founded in 647 CE by Syria's governor Muawiyah bin Abu Sufyan (later Caliph Muawiyah I), whose first launch resulted in the capture of Cyprus in 649 CE; although, Muawiyah did not personally lead this naval campaign.

and the following:

"The first army amongst my followers who will invade Caesar's City will be forgiven their sins."

Technically, the location of the subject of this sahih hadith of Prophet Muhammad is the city of Homs (Emesa), Syria. Before its capture in Muharram 15 AH (March 636 CE) by the Muslim forces sent by Caliph Umar bin al-Khattab, Homs (Emesa), Syria was the headquarters of Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Heraclius (i.e. Caesar or Qaisar). The Muslim army that captured in quick succession the Eastern Roman Empire’s cities (Tiberias, Baalbek, and Homs), was led by Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah al-Thaqafi (father of the Karbala & Madinah avenger Mukhtar al-Thaqafi); some notable sahabah who participated in these military campaigns were Miqdad bin al-Aswad al-Kindi, Bilal bin Rabah, and most prominently, Khalid bin al-Waleed. Consequently, the first army to invade “Caesar’s City” was led by Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah al-Thaqafi; if "Caesar's City" meant a city named after a Caesar, then Constantinople or Qustuntunia (named after its founder, Roman Emperor Constantine the Great) still would not qualify, as the very first city (not town or village) which was invaded by a Muslim army that was named after a Roman emperor was Tiberias (in honour of Tiberius Caesar). Tiberias surrendered to Abu Ubaydah's army in Zulhijjah 13 AH (January 635 CE).

Furthermore, Abbasid historiographers of standard Islamic history unanimously recorded the following summary of the military campaigns on "Caesar's City" in Christian Byzantium during Muawiyah I's Caliphate (chronological order):

• 42 AH - Led by Abdullah bin Abi Artaat

• 43 AH - Led by Busr bin Abi Artaat

• 44 AH - Led by Abdul Rahman bin Khalid bin al-Waleed

• 46 AH - Led by Malik bin Abdul Rahman and Abdul Rahman bin Khalid bin al-Waleed

• 47 AH - Led by Malik bin Hubaira and Abdul Rahman bin Qaiymi

• 49 AH - Led by Sufyan bin Awf; noted for at least three (3) significant battles commanded by Malik bin Hubaira, Fazala bin Ubair, and Yazid bin Shajara Ar-Rahawi

• 50 AH - Led by Yazid bin Muawiyah (Caliph Yazid I)

According to 12th Century biographer & historian Ibn Al-Athir, in year 49 AH, Caliph Muawiyah I sent a huge army towards Eastern Rome (Byzantium). He made Sufyan bin Awf it’s leader and he ordered his son Yazid to go with them, however Yazid feigned illness and declined to go. When the (Umayyad) warriors were struck with harsh conditions (hunger and diseases), Yazid mockingly recited this poetry:

At Farqudwana immense wrath covered them, whether they had fever or whatever I don’t care because I am sitting on a high carpet and Umm ul Kulthum [one of Yazid's wives] is between my armpits.

When Caliph Muawiyah I heard these phrases, he made Yazid take an oath and join Sufyan bin Awf in Byzantium so that he could also be struck by these same difficulties his soldiers had faced. Yazid had no options and had to go, and so Caliph Muawiyah I sent another army under Yazid’s command in 50 AH..

See also

• Battle of Karbala
• Umayyads

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Yazid I Banu Umayya
Regnal titles
Preceded by Muawiyah I	Umayyad Caliph 680 – 683	Succeeded by Muawiyah II