Out of the three contenders for the Caliphate, the child Muawiyyah II died in February and Ubaidullah ibn Ziyad had already been driven out of his base in Basra. With Muawiyyah II ended the rule of Abu Sufyans descendants.
For the moment; this left the field open for Abdullah ibn Zubayr, whose support was increasing all the time. But he steadfastly refused to leave Makkah and march on Damascus, the real centre of power, in order to seize the opportunity created by the turmoil. In the meantime, the Umayyads gathered in Damascus and chose the oldest member of their clan, Marwan ibn- Hakam, as Caliph in the month of June.
The seventy year- old Marwan [RA] had served Uthman [RA] as his secretary. The empire was plunged into civil war yet again between two rival contenders for the Caliphate of the Islamic world, but this time it had an added dimension. In pre-Islamic times, there had existed a keen and constant .antagonism, leading to hatred, between the Himyarites and the Modharites. However, this was subdued by the Islamic teaching and religious brotherhood. But this conflict broke out again when Yazid was accused by Qais of favouring the tribe of Kalb.
The supporters of the two rival claimants to the Caliphate were divided on tribat lines; the Kalb took Marwans side, while the Qais in Syria declared their allegiance to Abdulla has the legitimate Caliph.
A battle took place in Marj Rahat, a plain in a few miles to the north east of Damascus, in which the supporters of Abdullah . were defeated, and Marwan was acknowledged as Caliph by the whole of Syria. He soon established his authority over Egypt, but Abdullah held to his real power base, which was in Arabia and Iraq. Thus the empire was once again split between two rivals from opposing camps of Makkah; Abdullah belonging to the tribe of Hashim and Marwan to the Umayya.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited