The reason for this was as follows: When Ḥusayn b. Numayr came from the Ḥijāz, ʿUbaydullāh b. Ziyād from Basra, and the Umayyads from Medina to Damascus, after the death of Yazīd’s son Muʿāwiya, the people of Damascus gathered around Marwān b. al-Ḥakam. Yazīd’s son Muʿāwiya had decided to pledge allegiance (bayʿa) to ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr in Damascus. The people of Damascus had pledged allegiance to Ḍaḥḥāk b. Qays so that he might reconcile them, organize their affairs, and ensure that people would unite around a single imam. Ḍaḥḥāk also wished to pledge allegiance to ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr. In Ḥimṣ, Nuʿmān b. Bashīr; in Kinnasrīn, Zufar b. ʿAbdullāh al-Kilābī; and in Palestine, Nāʾil b. Qays had pledged allegiance to ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr. Nāʾil b. Qays had expelled Rawḥ b. Zinbāʾ al-Judhāmī from Palestine. ʿUbaydullāh b. Ziyād and Ḥusayn b. Numayr went to Marwān b. al-Ḥakam, persistently telling him that it would be an excellent deed if he assumed the caliphate, and eventually dissuaded him from the idea of pledging allegiance to ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr. They warned him against allowing the authority and sovereignty of ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr to enter Damascus, saying to him: “You are the elder and leader of Quraysh. You are more worthy of this task.” As a result, he abandoned the idea of pledging allegiance to ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr. Ibn Ziyād feared that someone other than the Umayyads would assume the caliphate. At that time, all of them, along with their tribes—the Umayyads and the people of Yemen—gathered around Marwān. Marwān, agreeing to their wishes, said: “The opportunity has not yet slipped away.”
Ḥasan b. Mālik b. Bahdal al-Kalbī wrote a letter to Ḍaḥḥāk b. Qays, trying to dissuade him from the idea of pledging allegiance to Ibn al-Zubayr. He reminded him of the favors and generosity the Umayyads had bestowed upon him, as well as their virtues and honor. Ḥasan b. Mālik took the oath of allegiance from the people of Jordan on behalf of the Umayyads. He was taking the oath on behalf of his nephew Khālid b. Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya. He wrote a letter to Ḍaḥḥāk about this, asking him to read it to the people of Damascus from the pulpit on Friday. He sent the letter to Ḍaḥḥāk with a man named Nāghida b. Kurayb al-Ṭabʿī from the Banū Kalb tribe. He told his messenger Nāghida: “If he does not read the letter to the people himself, then you read it.” He handed the letter to Nāghida, who set out and went to Ḍaḥḥāk, telling him to read the letter to the people. When Ḍaḥḥāk refused, Nāghida himself stood up and read the letter to the people. A group of the notables supported his view, while others denied it.
As a result, great discord broke out among the people. Khālid b. Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya, a young man, ascended the pulpit and stood on the second step, calming the people. Ḍaḥḥāk then descended and led the Friday prayer for the people. When he ordered those who supported Nāghida to be imprisoned, some tribes revolted and rescued the imprisoned men. The people of Damascus were uncertain and hesitant about whether to prefer Ibn al-Zubayr or the Umayyads. Because people gathered for this purpose and waited at Bāb al-Jīrūn after the Friday prayer, that day became known as the Day of Jīrūn.
According to al-Madāʾinī, the people asked al-Walīd b. ʿUtba b. Abī Sufyān to assume the caliphate, but he refused and died in those days. Then Ḍaḥḥāk b. Qays ascended the pulpit of the great mosque, delivered a sermon to the people, and during his sermon spoke against Yazīd, the son of Muʿāwiya. A young man from the Banū Kalb tribe stood up and struck him with a stick. The congregation was sitting there with their swords girded. They rose and attacked each other, and a fierce battle broke out inside the mosque. Qays and his supporters wanted to take the oath of allegiance in the name of Ibn al-Zubayr and supported Ḍaḥḥāk b. Qays. The Banū Kalb tribe sided with the Umayyads, propagandizing for Khālid b. Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya to be given allegiance, and showed extreme partisanship for Yazīd and his family. Ḍaḥḥāk b.
Qays entered the government palace, locked the door, and then went out. He sent word to the Umayyads, inviting them to a meeting. Among those who came to Ḍaḥḥāk were Marwān b. al-Ḥakam, ʿAmr b. Saʿīd b. al-ʿĀṣ, and Yazīd’s sons Khālid and ʿAbdullāh. Ḍaḥḥāk apologized to them for what had happened. They agreed to go together to Ḥasan b. Mālik al-Kalbī and to appoint one of the Umayyads as emir. They set out together to go to Ḥasan b. Mālik. On the way, when they reached Jābiya, Maʿān b. Sawr b. Aḥnas arrived with his tribe, the Qays. Maʿān said to Ḍaḥḥāk: “You invited us to pledge allegiance to ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr. We responded to your call. Now you are going to this Bedouin to ensure that your nephew Khālid b. Yazīd b.
Muʿāwiya is appointed to the caliphate.”
Ḍaḥḥāk asked him: “So what do you think should be done?” Maʿān b. Sawr replied:
“In my opinion, what should be done is this: Let us reveal the thoughts we have kept hidden. Let us invite people to obey ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr. Let us fight those who do not respond to this call.”
Upon this, Ḍaḥḥāk returned to Damascus with his companions. His soldiers and the Qays and their men remained with him, and he settled in Damascus. He sent word to the army commanders, took the oath of allegiance to Ibn al-Zubayr, and informed Ibn al-Zubayr of this by letter. Ibn al-Zubayr informed the people of Mecca of the situation, explained what had happened, and thanked Ḍaḥḥāk for his services. He notified him by letter that he had appointed him governor of Damascus. According to a weak narration, Ḍaḥḥāk took the oath of allegiance for the caliphate for himself. Allah knows best the truth of the matter.
According to al-Madāʾinī, Ḍaḥḥāk initially invited the people to pledge allegiance to Ibn al-Zubayr, but when ʿUbaydullāh b. Ziyād told him it would be better to take the oath for himself, he was deceived by Ibn Ziyād’s trickery and his own pride, and took the oath for himself. Ibn Ziyād did this to disrupt his order and divert his aim. Ḍaḥḥāk invited people for three days to pledge allegiance to himself. The people protested, saying: “Previously, you invited us to pledge allegiance to another man, and we did so. Then, without any reason or excuse, you deposed him from the caliphate and now want us to pledge allegiance to yourself. What is this?” He then said again that allegiance should be given to Ibn al-Zubayr and abandoned the call to pledge allegiance to himself. Thus, his standing among the people diminished, which was exactly what Ibn Ziyād wanted.
After meeting with Marwān and persuading him to take the oath of allegiance in his own name, ʿUbaydullāh b. Ziyād went to Ḍaḥḥāk b. Qays and met with him. Then he asked Ḍaḥḥāk to set a trap for Marwān and went to stay with him in Damascus. Every day he met with him and advised Ḍaḥḥāk to leave Damascus for the desert and summon his armies there, saying that he would be safer that way. Ḍaḥḥāk went to Marj Rāhiṭ and camped there with his soldiers. At that time, the Umayyads and their followers gathered in Jordan, and the Banū Kalb, the tribe of Ḥasan b. Mālik, joined them. When Marwān b. al-Ḥakam saw that the allegiance to Ibn al-Zubayr had become firm and his authority established, he decided to go to him to pledge allegiance and seek amnesty for the Umayyads. When he set out and reached the region of Azruʿāt, he met Ibn Ziyād, who was coming from Iraq, and was dissuaded from this idea. He told him that his opinion was not a good one. ʿAmr b. Saʿīd b. al-ʿĀṣ, Ḥusayn b. Numayr, Ibn Ziyād, the Yemenis, and many people from among the populace gathered around Marwān and said: “You are the elder of Quraysh. Khālid b. Yazīd is a child. As for ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr, he is an old man. Iron is only struck with iron. Do not set this child against him; face him yourself. We pledge allegiance to you, extend your hand.”
Marwān extended his hand. In Jābiya, on Wednesday, the third day of Dhū al-Qaʿda in the sixty-fourth year of the Hijra, they pledged allegiance to him. When the situation stabilized, he set out with his companions toward Ḍaḥḥāk b. Qays. The two met at Marj Rāhiṭ. Marwān b. al-Ḥakam defeated him, killing him and many of the Qays who were with him. The details of this will be explained at the beginning of the events of the sixty-fifth year of the Hijra.
According to al-Wāqidī and others, the Battle of Marj Rāhiṭ took place in Muḥarram of the sixty-fifth year of the Hijra. According to the narrations of Muḥammad b. Saʿd, al-Wāqidī, and others, this battle took place at the end of that year. According to Layth b. Saʿd, al-Wāqidī, al-Madāʾinī, Abū Sulaymān b. Yazīd, Abū ʿUbayda, and others, the Battle of Marj Rāhiṭ took place in the middle of Dhū al-Ḥijja of the sixty-fourth year of the Hijra. Allah, exalted and free from all deficiencies, knows best the truth.