The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

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3i8 MERWAN ELECTED CALII'Il [chap, xr.ix.
A.H. 64-73. little doubt but that he would have succeeded, and the
Mer\vln~ Caliphate might then have been established in his family,
elected Even at Damascus, there was a numerous party in his
'^'^^'
favour, and most of the strongholds in Syria and Mesopotamia
sided with him. Ibn Bahdal alone and the Syrian
army, now returning from Arabia, were staunch to the
Umeiyad interest, and they were reinforced by Umeiyads
driven out of Medina. Ad-Dahhak, governor of Damascus,
temporised. The young Caliph had left no child, but there
was a brother, a younger son of Yezld, named Khalid. The
family favoured him
;
but the chief men of the Court
felt that a stronger hand was needed, and they put forward
Merwan. An Umeiyad, he came from another branch, but
had rendered devoted service to 'Othman and to the dynasty
Opposed by at large.^ After much dissension, he was saluted Caliph, on
„„?*.." ^"^^ condition that Khalid should succeed on reaching man's
party.
estate. Ad-Dahhak now showed his colours in the interest
. of Ibn az-Zubeir, and retired with his adherents to Merj
Rahit, a meadow in the vicinity. Merwan, with a following of
the Kelb of the Jordan province and the Ghassan, pitched at
Al-Jabiya. A strong antagonism was growing up between
the two Bedawi branches of the Arabs, the Yemeni or
"southern," against the Beni Bekr and the "northern." The
former, especially the Beni Kelb, from which the Caliphs had
taken wives, were devoted to the Umeiyad house ;
the Beni
'
The subjoined tree will show the relationship of the Umeiyad
family :
Umeiya.
Abu'l 'As.
Al-Hakam.
Harb.
'1
Abu Sufyan.
4. Merwan I. i. Mu'awiva I.
Mohammad. 5. 'Ahd AL-Melik. Abd al-'Aziz. 2. YezId I.
14. Merwan II. 8. 'Omar II.
3. Mu'awiva 11. Khalid.
6. AlAVelid I. 7. Suleiman. 9. YezId II. 10. Hisham.
12. VezId III. 13. Ibrahim.
AlAVelId II.