The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

3o6 YEZID [chap, xlvii.
A.H. 60-61.
Dying
caution to
Yezid.
Three men
to beware of.
The nomination of Yezid as successor was sure to meet
with opposition when he was gone. From his deathbed,
therefore, lie sent a message to Yezid, wlio was absent at
liis hunting-place, warning him of the rocks that lay ahead.
There were three, he said, of whom he must beware—the
two 'Abdallahs, sons of 'Omar and Az-Zubeir, and Al-IJosein
son of 'All. The first, a pious devotee, would easily be put
aside. " As for Al- Hosein," he continued, " the restless men
Hosein and
'Abdallah
ibn Zubeir
escape to
Mecca.
Ibn Zubeir
dissembles.
Citizens of
Kufa invite
Hosein
thither.
of Al-Trak will give him no peace till he attempt the Empire
;
when thou hast gotten the victory, deal gently with him,
for truly the blood of the Prophet runneth in his veins. It
is 'Abdallah son of Az-Zubeir that I fear the most for thee.
Fierce as the lion, crafty as the fox, destroy him root and
branch."
The first care of Yezld on assuming the Caliphate— the
date was i vii. 60 A.H., April 7, 680 A.D.—was to require those
who had before refused to swear allegiance at Medina, now
to take the oath, the order being written on a leaf no larger
than a mouse's ear. Two of these, the sons of 'Omar and
Al-'Abbas,^ complied with the command. But the sons of
Az-Zubeir and Al-Hosein, both feigning time for consideration,
escaped to Mecca.
Since its capture by Mohammad, no enemy had dared
to go up against the Holy City ; and
there, inviolate as
the doves that fluttered around the Temple, conspirators
abusing the asylum were wont to plot against the Empire.
As Mu'awiya had foreseen, 'xA.bdallah, the ambitious son of
Az-Zubeir, aimed at the Caliphate ; but so long as Al-Hosein
survived he dissembled, professing to bow to the superior
claims of the Prophet's grandson.
At Al-Kufa, the house of 'All was still after a fashion
popular. Al-Hasan, it is true, found little support during
his short-lived Caliphate there ; but the fond and fickle
populace now turned eagerly to Al-Hosein his brother.
Promises of support poured in upon him, if he would but
appear at Al-Kufa and there claim regal rights. His friends
at Mecca besought that he would not trust to the slippery
missives of that factious city. But the son of Az-Zubeir, to
be rid of his rival, fostered the design ;
and Al-Hosein,
^ 'Abbas, uncle of the Piophet, and progenitor of the 'Abbasid
dynasty.