Banū Hāshim (Arabic tribe)

The concentrations of rebels nearest Medina are located in two areas: Abraq, seventy-two miles northeast of Medina, and Dhu Qissa, twenty-four miles east of Medina.

These concentrations consist of the tribes of Banu Ghatafan, the Hawazin, and the Tayy.

Abu Bakr sends envoys to all the enemy tribes, calling upon them to remain loyal to Islam and continue to pay their Zakat.

A week or two after the departure of the Islamic army under Usama, the rebel tribes had surrounded Medina, knowing that there are few fighting forces in city.

Meanwhile, Tulayha, a self-proclaimed prophet, reinforces the rebels at Dhu Qissa.

In the third week of July 632, the apostate army moves from Dhu Qissa to Dhu Hussa, from where they prepare to launch an attack on Medina.

Abu Bakr receives intelligence of this move of rebels, and immediately prepares for the defense of Medina.

As the main army is out of Medina under Usama, Abu Bakr scrapes together a fighting force mainly from the clan of Mohammad, the Banu Hashim.

The army has stalwarts like Ali ibn Abi Talib, Talha ibn Ubaidullah and Zubair ibn al-Awam, who will later (in the 640s) conquer Egypt.

Each of them is appointed as commander of one-third of the newly organized force.

Before the apostates can do anything, Abu Bakr launches his army against their outposts and drives them back to Dhu Hussa.

The following day, Abu Bakr marches from Medina with the main army and moves towards Dhu Hussa.

As the riding camels are all gone with Usama's army, he can only muster inferior pack camels, and the army mounts these camels.

These, being untrained for battle, bolt when Hibal, the apostate commander at Zhu Hussa, makes a surprise attack from the hills on the Muslims; and the Muslims retreat to Medina.

The apostates recapture the outposts that they had lost a few days earlier.

At Medina Abu Bakr reorganizes the army for the battle and attacks the apostates during the night, taking them by surprise.

The apostates retreat from Dhu Hussa to Dhu Qissa.

In the morning, Abu Bakr leads his forces to Dhu Qissa and defeats the rebel tribes, capturing Dhu Qissa on August 1, 632.

The defeated apostate tribes retreat to Abraq, where more clansmen of the Ghatfan, the Hawazin, and the Tayy are gathered.

Abu Bakr leaves a residual force of soldiers under the command of An-Numan ibn Muqarrin at Dhu Qissa and returns with his main army to Medina.

Usama had meanwhile marched to Mu'tah and attacked the Christian Arabs of the tribes of Banu Kalb and Ghassanids in a small battle.

He returns to Medina on August 4, bringing with him a large number of captives and a considerable amount of wealth, part of which comprises the spoils of war and part taxation of the re-conquered tribes.

The Islamic army had remained out of Medina for forty days.

Abu Bakr orders Usama to rest his men in Medina and re-equip them to fight against the rebels.

Meanwhile in the second week of August 632, Abu Bakr with his army moves to Zhu Qissa.

Taking the remaining forces from Numan ibn Muqarrin under his command, he moves to Abraq, where the retreated rebels have gathered, and defeats them.

The remaining rebels retreat to Buzakha, where Tulayha has moved with his army from Samira.

Tulayha, a tribal chief of Bani Asad at Buzakha in north central Arabia is another self-proclaimed prophet: he leads the rebellion against Medina aided by the allied tribes of Banu Ghatfan, the Hawazin, and the Tayy.

On receiving intelligence of the Muslims preparations, Tulayha prepares also for a battle, and is further reinforced by the contingents of the allied tribes.

Abu Bakr, before launching Khalid against Tulayha, seeks ways and means of reducing the latter's strength, so that the battle can be fought with the maximum prospects of victory.

Nothing can be done about the tribes of Bani Assad and Banu Ghatafan, which stand solidly behind Tulayha, but the Tayy are not so staunch in their support of Tulayha, and their chief, Adi ibn Hatim, is a devout Muslim.

Adi is appointed by Abu Bakr to negotiate with the tribal elders to withdraw their contingent from Tulayha's army.

The negotiations are a success, and Adi brings with him five hundred horsemen of his tribe to reinforce Khalid's army.

Khalid next marches against another apostate tribe, Jadila.

Here again Adi ibn Hatim offers his services to persuade the tribe to submit without bloodshed.

Bani Jadila submits, and their thousand warriors join Khalid's army.

Khalid, now much stronger than when he had left Zhu Qissa, marches for Buzakha.

Here, in mid-September 632 CE, he defeats Tulayha in the Battle of Buzakha.

The remaining army of Tulayha retreats to Ghamra, 20 miles from Buzakha, and are defeated in the Battle of Ghamra in the third week of September 632 CE.

Several tribes submits to the Caliph after Khalid's decisive victories.

Moving south from Buzakha, Khalid reaches Naqra in October 632 CE, with an army now six thousand strong, and defeats the rebel tribe of Banu Saleem in the Battle of Naqra.

632 In third week of October 632 CE, Khalid defeats a tribal mistress, Salma, in the battle of Zafar.

Afterwards, …

Abu Bakr moves in the fourth week of August 632 to Zhu Qissa with all available fighting forces.

Here he plans the strategy of the Campaign of the Apostasy to deal with the various enemies who occupy the entire land of Arabia except for the small area in the possession of the Muslims.

The battles which he had fought recently against the apostate concentrations at Zhu Qissa and Abraq had been in the nature of immediate preventive action to protect Medina and discourage further offensives by the enemy.

These actions have enabled Abu Bakr to secure a base from which he can fight the major campaign that lies ahead, thus gaining time for the preparation and launching of his main forces.

Abu Bakr has to fight not one but several enemies: Tulayha at Buzakha, Malik bin Nuwaira at Butah, Musaylima at Yamamah.

He has to deal with widespread apostasy on the eastern and southern coasts of Arabia: in Bahrain, in Oman, in Mahra, in Hadhramaut and in Yemen.

There is apostasy in the region south and east of Mecca and by the Khuza’ah in northern Arabia.

Abu Bakr forms the army into several corps.

The strongest corps, the main striking arm of the Muslims, is that of Khalid ibn Walid, used to fight the most powerful of the rebel forces.

Other corps are given areas of secondary importance in which to subdue the less dangerous apostate tribes.

The first corps to go into action is that of Khalid.

The timing of the dispatch of other corps hinges on the operations of Khalid, who is tasked with fighting the strongest enemy forces one after the other.

As soon as the organization of the corps is complete, Khalid marches off, to be followed a little later by Ikrimah and 'Amr ibn al-'As.

The other corps are held back by the caliph to be dispatched weeks and even months later.

Before the various corps leave Zhu Qissa, however, envoys will be sent by Abu Bakr to all apostate tribes in a final attempt to induce them to submit.

Apart from their specific objectives, the corps commanders are given the following instructions: Seek the tribes that are your objectives Call the Azaan.

If the tribe answers with the Azaan, do not attack.

After the Azaan, ask the tribe to confirm its submission, including the payment of zakat.

If confirmed, do not attack.

Those who submit will not be attacked.

Those who do not answer with the Azaan, or after the Azaan do not confirm full submission, will be dealt with by the sword.

All apostates who have killed Muslims will be killed.

With these instructions, Abu Bakr launches the forces of Islam against the apostates.

His plan is first to clear the area of west central Arabia (the area nearest to Medina), then tackle Malik bin Nuwaira, and finally concentrate against the most dangerous and powerful enemy: the self-proclaimed prophet Musaylima, who is mainly supported by the powerful tribe of Banu Hanifa, in the fertile region of Yamamah.

Khalid moves to Najd against the rebel tribe of Banu Tamim and their Sheikh Malik ibn Nuwayrah.

At Najd, getting the news of Khalid's decisive victories against apostates in Buzakha, many clans of Banu Tamim hasten to visit Khalid, but the Banu Yarbu', a branch of Bani Tamim, under their chief, Malik ibn Nuwayrah, hangs back.

Malik is a chief of some distinction: a warrior, noted for his generosity, and a famous poet.

At the time of Muhammad, he had been appointed as a tax collector for the tribe of Banu Tamim.

As soon as Malik heard of the death of Muhammad, he gave back all the tax to his tribespeople, saying, "Now you are the owner of your wealth."

His riders are stopped by Khalid's army at the town of Buttah.

Khalid asks them about the signing of pact with Sajjah; they said it was just because they wanted revenge against their terrible enemies.

When Khalid reaches Najd he finds no opposing army.

He sends his cavalry to nearby villages and orders them to call the Azaan (call for prayers) to each party they meet.

Zirrar bin Azwar, a squadron leader, arrests the family of Malik, claiming they had not answered the call to prayer.

Malik avoids direct contact with Khalid's army and orders his followers to scatter, and he and his family apparently move away across the desert.

He refuses to give zakat, hence differentiating between prayer and zakat.

Nevertheless, Malik is accused of rebellion against the state of Medina.

He is also to be charged for his entering in an anti-Caliphate alliance with Sajjah, a self-proclaimed prophetess.

Malik is arrested along with his clansmen, and is asked by Khalid about his crimes.

Malik's response is "your master said this your master said that" referring to Abu Bakr.

Khalid declares Malik a rebel apostate and orders his execution.

Khalid bin Walid kills Malik ibn Nuwayra.

In Medina, ‘Umar told Khâlid: “You enemy of Allâh!

You killed a Muslim man and then rape his wife.

By Allâh, I will stone you".

Khalid had taken Malik’s wife, Layla bint al-Minhal.

Shias claim that Islamically, Khalid would have had to wait for her to complete the waiting period iddah (three menstrual cycles) before Khalid would have been able to marry her.

Sunnis believe that since Malik and his tribe were judged apostates, they were taken captives and Idda rules do not apply to apostates.

Shias also claim that Abu Qatada Ansari was so shocked at Malik's murder by Khalid that he immediately returned to Medina, and told Abu Bakr that he would not serve under a commander who had killed a Muslim.

The death of Malik and Khalid's taking of his wife Layla creates a controversy.

Some officers of his army—including a prominent companion of Muhammad, Abu Qatadah—believe that Khalid killed Malik to take his wife.

After the pressure exerted by Umar—Khalid's cousin and one of Caliph Abu Bakr's main advisors—Abu Bakr calls Khalid back to Medina to explain himself.

Sufi mysticism begins around 700.

Such eminent Sufis as Ali Hujwiri claim that the tradition first began with Ali ibn Abi Talib; furthermore Junayd of Baghdad regarded Ali as the Sheikh of the principals and practices of Sufism.

Practitioners of Sufism hold that in its early stages of development Sufism effectively referred to nothing more than the internalization of Islam.

The origin and development of Sufism, according to one perspective, proceeded directly from the Qur'an, constantly recited, meditated, and experienced.

Others have held that Sufism is the strict emulation of the way of Muhammad, through which the heart's connection to the Divine is strengthened.

More prosaically, the Muslim conquests have brought large numbers of Christian monks and hermits, especially in Syria and Egypt, under the rule of Muslims.

They will retain a vigorous spiritual life for centuries after the conquests, and many of the especially pious Muslims who found Sufism are influenced by their techniques and methods.

According to late Medieval mystic Jami, Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, also known as Abu Hashim, one of the Salaf and a Narrator of hadith, was the first person to be called a "Sufi."

His father was Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, a son of Ali.

Abu Hashim had a brother called Hasan.

After his father's death in 700 CE, many Shiites look to Abu Hashim as the heir of his grandfather Ali.

These Shia are the Hashimiyya sub-sect of the Kaysanites Shia.

After his own death, the early Abbasids will claim that Abu Hashim had designated Muhammad, father to the later first two Abbasid caliphs As-Saffah and Al-Mansur, as his heir and head of the clan of the Banu Hashim.

The Hashimiyah movement, also called Rawandiyah, had appeared in the Iraqi city of Kufah in the early 700s among the Shi'ites, who believe that succession to 'Ali's position of imam, or leader, of the Muslim community had devolved on Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyah (d. c. 700), one of his sons, and Abu Hashim, a grandson.

The Hashimiyah thus do not recognize, for religious reasons, the legitimacy of Umayyad rule, and when Abu Hashim died in 716, without heirs, a majority of the sect had acknowledged Muhammad ibn 'Ali (died between 731 and 743) of the 'Abbasid family as imam.

Among Sunnites, imam is synonymous with caliph (khalifah), designating the successor of Muhammad, who assumes his administrative and political, but not religious, functions.

In Shi'ite Islam, 'Ali and the successive imams, who are believed by Shi'ism to be the sole possessors of secret insights into the Qur'an given them by Muhammad, have become figures of absolute spiritual authority and fundamental importance.

The 'Abbasid name is derived from that of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, al-'Abbas (died c. 653), of the Hashimite clan of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca.

Members of his family work from about 718 to gain control of the empire.

As-Saffah is the head of one branch of the Banu Hāshim from Arabia, a subclan of the famous Quraysh tribe who trace their lineage to Hāshim, a great-grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad via 'Abbās, an uncle of the Prophet, hence the title "Abbasid" for his descendants' caliphate.

This indirect link to the Prophet's larger clan forms sufficient basis for As-Saffah's claim to the title caliph.

However, the tradition that 'Abbās himself never converted to Islam or only halfheartedly weakens that legitimacy in some eyes.

As narrated in many hadith, many believed that in the end times a great leader or mahdi would appear from the family of the Prophet Muhammad, to which Ali belonged, who would deliver Islam from corrupt leadership.

The halfhearted policies of the later Umayyads to tolerate non-Arab Muslims and Shi'as have failed to quell unrest among these minorities.

During the reign of late Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, this unrest has led to revolt in Kufa, now a prominent Muslim city in southern Iraq.

Shi'ites had revolted in 736 and hold the city until 740, led by Zayd ibn Ali, a grandson of the famous martyr Husayn and another member of the Banu Hashim.

Zayd's rebellion fails, and is put down by Umayyad armies in 740.

The revolt in Kufa indicates both the strength of the Umayyads and the growing unrest in the Muslim world.

The death of the Umayyad Caliph Hishām in 743 provokes a rebellion in the east after he is succeeded by Al-Walid II, the son of Yazid II.

Al-Walid is reported to have been more interested in earthly pleasures than in religion, a reputation that may be confirmed by the decoration of the so-called "desert palaces" (including Qusayr Amra and Khirbat al-Mafjar, aka Hisham's Palace) that have been attributed to him.

Walid, jealous of Sulayman's popularity, had had him flogged and imprisoned, an act which has aroused considerable opposition and cost Walid much of the initial good will that he had enjoyed at his accession.

He had quickly attracted the enmity of many, both by executing a number of those who had opposed his accession, and by persecuting the Qadariyya, a theological movement in early Islam which holds that man was endowed by God with free will.

Qadariyya resists the Umayyad Caliphs' claims to be ordained rulers of all Muslims by God himself.

Yazid has spoken out against the "immorality" of his cousin, Caliph al-Walid, which includes discrimination on behalf of the Banu Qays Arabs against Yemenis and non-Arab Muslims.

Yazid receives further support from the Qadariya and Murji'iya (believers in human free will).

Yazid slips into Damascus and deposes Walid in a coup in spring 744, following this up with a disbursement of funds from the treasury.

His army tracks down and kills al-Walid II.

The Arabs of the region around Homs, still loyal to Walid, rise up and march on Damascus with the intention of installing as caliph a descendant of the Sufyanid branch of the Umayyad clan, Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani, but Sulayman is released from prison and defeats them.

Yazid III has received a certain reputation for piety, and may have been sympathetic to the Qadariyya.

After a mere six months into his reign, he falls ill of a brain tumor and dies on October 3 or 4, 744.

Yazid had named his brother Ibrahim as his successor.

The powerful and ambitious governor of northern Mesopotamia (Jazira), Marwan ibn Muhammad, the grandson of Marwan I, had decided to oppose Yazid III, and even though he had later given allegiance to Yazid, on the early death of that caliph, Marwan had continued his own ambitions.

Ibrahim only rules for a short time in 744 before he abdicates, and goes into hiding out of fear of his political opponents.

Initially, Marwan does not claim the caliphate for himself, but proclaims his intention to restore the throne to the two imprisoned sons of Walid II.

Marwan's advance is met south of Baalbek by Sulayman with the Dhakwāniyya, his personal army, 5,000 or more strong, maintained from his own funds and estates but recruited mostly from the mawālī (non-Arab Muslims).

In the ensuing battle, Marwan is victorious.

Sulayman retreats to Damascus, where he orders the execution of Walid II's sons, and then flees, together with Ibrahim, to Palmyra.

Marwan, supported mostly by the Qasi of the Jazira and northern Syria, leads an army from the northern frontier and enters Damascus in December 744, where he is proclaimed caliph.

Soon, Ibrahim and Sulayman come before Marwan and surrender themselves.

Ibrahim, having requested and been granted Marwan's assurance of personal safety, travels with Marwan to former Caliph Hisham's residence at Rusafah in Syria.

Marwan immediately moves the capital north to …

…Harran, in present-day Turkey.