Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

the love of the people and their veneration, it was not possible for anyone else
besides the Alawids to claim Khilāfah for themselves. Hence when Ibn Kathīr
alluded to Ibn al-Zubayr’s annihilation of the remains of the army of Yazīd ibn
Muʿāwiyah, which had resulted in him earning acclaim in Ḥijāz and gaining the
support of the people, he still commented by saying:
ومع هذا كله ليس هو معظما عند الناس مثل الحسين،‏ بل الناس إنما ميلهم إلى الحسين لنه السيد الكبير،‏
وابن بنت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم.‏ فليس على وجه الرض يومئذ أحد يساميه ول يساويه.‏
Despite all of this, he was not as respected amongst the people as Ḥusayn
was. People’s inclination was still toward Ḥusayn because he was the great
leader and the grandson of Rasūl Allah H. Hence there was no one
upon the earth who could compete with him or match him. 1
He also says:
ل يمكنه أن يتحرك بشيء مما في نفسه أي من طلب الخالفة مع وجود الحسين
It would not be possible for him to campaign for himself in the presence
of Ḥusayn I. 2
This caution of the Umayyad rulers was exploited by their governors to get rid
of their rivals who also worked for the Umayyads, doing so by creating suspicion
regarding their loyalty and allegiance. For example Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar, 3 the governor
of Iraq, wrote the following to Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik:
1 Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 8/151.
2 Ibid. 8/151.
3 Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥakam al-Thaqafī. The governor of Iraq and Khorasan. He
was the cousin of Ḥajjāj. He had governed Yemen for Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik and thereafter Iraq
after Khālid al-Qasrī. He was generous, awe inspiring, adept at administration and was a little harsh.
He was tested in the era of Yazīd al-Nāqiṣ due to which he fled and hid away for a while. He was later
discovered and was imprisoned in Damascus. Eventually he was killed at the hands of Yazīd ibn Khālid
al-Qasrī in 127 A.H. See: al-Maʿārif of Ibn Qutaybah p. 398; Wafayāt al-Aʿyān 7/101; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ
5/442; al-Wāfī bi al-Wafayāt 29/117.
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