The Second Fitna was the second civil war to erupt within the Islamic community after the Prophet Muhammad's death, fought over who had the right to lead as caliph. It was one of the most significant events in early Islamic history, decisively splitting the Islamic community into two. What was this split, and how did it occur?
Fitna
A civil war within the Islamic community.
Caliph
A leader of the Islamic community.
Caliphate
The political state of Islam led by a caliph.
Fig. 1 - The Battle of Karbala in 680 C.E by Hossein Qollar-Aqasi.
Start Date and End Date of the Second Fitna
Historians are divided on how to date the Second Fitna:
| Interpretations |
| Start date | 680This is the year when Caliph Muawiya died and his son Yazid took over. Husayn - grandson of the Prophet Muhammad - was also killed at the Battle of Karbala in the same year. | 683This is when the crisis of succession within the Umayyad dynasty began with the death of Caliph Yazid. |
| End date | 685The victor of the fitna Abd al-Malik became caliph in 685. | 692This is when Caliph Abd al-Malik defeated rival al-Zubayr, ending the conflict over leadership. |
Historian Fred Donner dates the end of the civil war with Caliph Abd al-Malik's victory over al-Zubayr in 692:
After twelve years of strife, the Second Civil War was finally over, and Umayyad rule had been restored.1
Causes of the Second Fitna
There were three main causes of the Second Fitna, which we will explore in this section.
Unresolved issues from the First Fitna (656-661 C.E.)
The First Fitna broke out as there was no clear leader to take over the caliphate after the assassination of Caliph Uthman.
Some, the forerunners of the Shias, believed that leadership should remain within the Prophet's family. They were particularly angry about the potential for the Quraysh Umayyads to become caliphs because this family had originally fought against Muhammad and only converted when Muhammad took their hometown of Mecca.
Others, the forerunners of the Sunnis, thought that any faithful Muslim should be able to be elected caliph.
At the end of the First Fitna, Caliph Ali (the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law) was assassinated. Leadership would have passed straight to Ali's son, Hasan. However, Muawiya, who was governor of Syria, negotiated with Hasan that he would abdicate to allow Muawiya to become caliph in exchange for a large payment. Thus, leadership was removed from the descendants of Muhammad. Some Muslims were content to see this transfer of leadership, but others thought that leadership was forcibly removed from the rightful heir.
When Caliph Muawiya died, these tensions erupted once more. The contest about whether leadership should pass through the Umayyad family, or whether it should revert to Caliph Ali's descendants to keep leadership within the Prophet's family, was reborn.
Caliph Muawiya's succession policy to elect his son, Yazid, as his successor
This was an unprecedented move within the Islamic caliphate - previously, caliphs had always been chosen for either their closeness to the Prophet or because of their political and military merit.
This was perceived by a significant number of Muslims as a corruption of the community of faith into a self-serving monarchy that was more interested in political power than religious concerns.
Social and economic tensions within the Empire
One of the biggest issues the empire faced was the division between Arabs and non-Arabs. This created social issues when the Arab aristocracy treated non-Arabs badly. Grievances against Arabs grew into a full-scale political movement in the region of Kufa when a man called Mukhtar argued that the empire needed a Mahdi to solve this problem. Many non-Arabs backed Mukhtar's rebellion because they were so upset with the prevailing social system.
Mahdi
A saviour of the end times.
Period of the Second Fitna
This civil war was messy and complex, with lots of different claimants and factions with different goals. To simplify matters, this section starts with an overview of the main figures, before looking at a timeline of the period.
Fig. 2 - Map showing the different areas controlled by different factions in the civil war.
Key Figures
Below are the key figures of the Second Fitna.
| Figure | Explanation |
| Caliph YazidMuawiya's son and successor | The Second Fitna began during Yazid's reign. His army killed the first major challenger to the throne, Husayn ibn Ali, at the Battle of Karbala in 680. |
| Husayn ibn Ali Son of Caliph Ali (656-661) and grandson of Prophet Muhammad | Husayn launched a revolt against Yazid in 680, supported by Muslims in Kufa who opposed the Umayyads. The rebellion was short-lived, and he was killed the same year. |
| Ibn al-ZubayrGrandson of the first caliph, Abu Bakr | al-Zubayr refused to acknowledge Yazid as caliph and raised support in Mecca and Medina. Yazid died before the two met on the battlefield, greatly strengthening al-Zubayr's position to the point that he declared himself caliph and ruled most of the Muslim lands. Ibn al-Zubayr also successfully defeated the Mukhtar revolt. However, he was defeated in 692 by Syrian forces under the leadership of Abd al-Malik defeated at Mecca. |
| Mukhtar al-Thaqafi A strong believer that leadership should pass down Ali's line, and wanted revenge for Husayn's execution | He generated a populist movement in the Kufa region, calling for a just rule. He asserted that Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya was the lawful claimant to the throne because of his Alid ancestry and because he was the Mahdi who would defeat evil and launch a just rule on Earth. He was defeated by ibn al-Zubayr in 687. |
| Caliph Muawiya IIYazid's son | He died only a few months after his father in 683/4, leaving no surviving children to take his place. This plunged the Umayyads into a crisis of succession, which was only resolved when Marwan decided to run for caliph. |
| Caliph MarwanCousin of Caliph Uthman | He was initially in favour of ibn al-Zubayr becoming caliph, but was persuaded to bid for the leadership himself by the Kalb tribe, who wanted an Umayyad leader. He was only caliph for a year before dying and being succeeded by his son, Abd al-Malik. However, in running for leadership, he reinstated the Umayyad dynasty as a contender for the caliphate. |
| Caliph Abd al-MalikSon of Marwan | He had to put down several small rebellions, including one launched by his cousin Amr, before he could turn his attention to his main rival: ibn al-Zubayr. He laid siege to Mecca, where al-Zubayr was based, eventually killing him in 692. With this, Abd al-Malik emerged as the victor of the Second Fitna, and the Umayyad dynasty was restored in Marwan's line. |
Fig. 3 - Umayyad Family tree.
Second Fitna Timeline
Below shows a timeline of the events of the Second Fitna.
| Year | Event |
| 680/April | Caliph Muawiya died, controversially appointing his son Yazid as heir. |
| 680/April-October | Husayn ibn Ali, the son of Caliph Ali, launched a revolt against Caliph Yazid. This was the start of the civil war. |
| 680/October | Battle of Karbala, where Husayn was killed by Yazid's forces. Many were appalled at the spilling of the blood of the Prophet's family, and it turned more people against Yazid. Shi'ite leader Mukhtar fled to Mecca. |
| 680-683 | Ibn al-Zubayr emerged as a contender for the caliphate. The Hijaz region became loyal to him rather than to Yazid. |
| 683/August | Battle of the Harra. Caliph Yazid's forces defeated pro-Zubayr forces in Medina. |
| 683/September | Caliph Yazid marched on Mecca to defeat ibn al-Zubayr. They laid siege to the city. |
| 683/November | Caliph Yazid died. The siege ended since it no longer had a leader. |
| 683/November-December | Ibn al-Zubayr declared himself caliph. Most of the Hijaz sided with him, but most Syrians sided with Yazid's son, Muawiya II, who also declared himself caliph. |
| 684 | Ibn al-Zubayr brought Egypt and Syria under his domain. |
| 684 | Caliph Muawiya II died, leaving no heir. He was the last of the Sufyanid Umayyads, and this plunged the Umayyad dynasty into a crisis of succession. The Kalb tribe persuaded the Umayyad Marwan to claim leadership, even though Marwan himself was initially willing to recognise ibn al-Zubayr as Caliph. |
| 684/May | Mukhtar returned to Kufa and began building a populist movement, calling for Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya to be Caliph. He argued that al-Hanafiyya was the Mahdi. |
| 684/August | Caliph Marwan defeated Dahhak (ibn al-Zubayr's governor of Damascus), thereby restoring Umayyad power over Syria. This led to the Kalb-Qays split since the Kalbs were pro-Umayyad and the Qays backed Dahhak and al-Zubayr. |
| 685/Spring | Caliph Marwan seized Egypt from al-Zubayr's governor. |
| 685/Summer | Caliph Marwan died, handing power to his son Abd al-Malik. |
| 685/Summer | Caliph Abd al-Malik immediately faced opposition. He put down an uprising led by a tribe that supported ibn al-Zubayr and negotiated a costly treaty with the Byzantine Empire. |
| 686/July | Pro-Umayyad Arab nobles in Kufa launched an attack against Mukhtar. The rebellion failed, and nearly 10,000 Kufan nobles fled to ibn al-Zubayr. |
| 686/August | Mukhtar won an important battle against Caliph Abd al-Malik, gaining control of northern Iraq as well as his hold on Kufa. |
| 687/April | Ibn al-Zubayr marched on Kufa to defeat Mukhtar along with the Arab nobles. He killed Mukhtar after a siege of the city. |
| 687/June | Four different leaders headed pilgrimages to Mecca, representing al-Zubayr, Abd al-Malik, Najda (the Kharijite leader), and al-Hanafiyya. |
| 689/Spring | Caliph Abd al-Malik finally had no more threats to his power in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Therefore, he marched on Iraq to dislodge ibn al-Zubayr, but in his absence, his cousin Amr seized Damascus and advanced his own claim to the Umayyad dynasty. Caliph Abd al-Malik canceled his campaign and returned to Damascus to defeat Amr. |
| 691/Summer | Caliph Abd al-Malik quelled opposition to the Umayyads among the Qaysi tribe. |
| 691/Autumn | Caliph Abd al-Malik defeated ibn al-Zubayr's forces in Iraq. He entered Kufa and was recognised there as the caliph. |
| 692/March | Caliph Abd al-Malik sent forces to Mecca. The siege of Mecca began. It lasted for six months, during which time most of ibn al-Zubayr's forces deserted because of the hopelessness of the situation. |
| 692/September | Ibn al-Zubayr was decisively defeated and killed in a battle outside the city. Abd al-Malik was recognised as caliph in all the Islamic lands. Umayyad rule was restored to the Caliphate. The Second Fitna was over. |
Winner of the Second Fitna: Caliph Abd al-Malik
Abd al-Malik was the most pious caliph that the Umayyad dynasty had yet seen. He spent time in Medina in his youth, and therefore his religious lifestyle caused many who had previously been critical of the Umayyads to respect and acknowledge him as their leader. Among Abd al-Malik's greatest achievements was the creation of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
The city of Medina was an important religious site where many Muslim scholars were located. This is because it had been Muhammad's base from 622 C.E. to his death. Abd al-Malik spent a lot of time when he was younger learning from the Muslim scholars in Medina.
One of the most influential things Abd al-Malik did as caliph was to centralise the Umayyad administration to be done in Arabic rather than the local languages of the different lands of the Caliphate. This enabled Arab Muslims to gain more power. In the long run, this only meant that the issues of non-Arab Muslims grew, which was to become a significant threat to Umayyad rule in later years.
The other significant change of Abd al-Malik's rule was that he created a new Muslim currency. This was part of a wave of Islamisation under his rule.
Second Fitna: Meaning and Significance
There were three significant outcomes of the Second Fitna.
Restoration of Umayyad rule
At the end of the civil war, the Umayyads were triumphant. They would continue to rule until 750 C.E. when the Abbasid dynasty took over.
Arabisation of the Caliphate
Abd al-Malik's victory meant that Arab Muslims were even more privileged than before the civil war compared to non-Arab Muslims. In particular, the fact that administration had changed from a variety of local languages to the sole use of Arabic concentrated power further in the hands of the Arab Muslims.
The Sunni-Shia divide in Islam
The question of who should lead the Islamic community erupted into two fiercely opposing sects during the Second Fitna.
Pro-Alids (who became Shias during the civil war) supported the idea that only those who were related to the Prophet should become leaders.
The rest of the community (who became Sunnis during the civil war) believed in a more democratic form of government, in which leaders should be elected from the entire community of believers.
Although these tensions had been present during the First Fitna, it was during the Second Fitna that the factions divided into separate religious and cultural entities rather than simply being rival political groups.
Fig. 4 - Battle of Karbala by Persian Painter Abbas Al-Musavi.
The defining moment of this conflict occurred at the Battle of Karbala when Yazid forces killed the Prophet's grandson Husayn. Many Muslims, even those who were pro-Umayyad, were traumatised by the fact that the Islamic government had killed a member of the Prophet's family.
What made Husayn's death so different from the assassinations of Uthman and Ali was that those murders had been carried out by small insurrectionist forces against the Islamic government's leaders. Husayn's death represented the Islamic government itself spilling the blood of the Prophet.
This shifted the Pro-Alid faction from being a purely political group focused on the question of leadership into a unique religious community with its own rituals and collective memory - Shia Islam. For example, Shia Muslims commemorate Husayn and the Battle of Karbala every year in a ritual known as the Day of Ashura. Professor of Islamic Studies Heinz Halm argues:
There was no religious aspect to Shi'ism prior to 680. The death of the third imam and his followers marked the 'big bang' that created the rapidly expanding cosmos of Shi'ism and brought it into motion. 2
The significance of Husayn's murder continues in Shia Islam to this day. When Saddam Hussein launched an invasion of Sunni Iran in 1980, he presented the war as the:
continuation of the Battle of Karbala [...] a holy crusade against various sources of corruption and impiety.3
In some ways, one could argue that in the long-term, the Second Fitna did not end with Abd al-Malik's victory over al-Zubayr, but continues to the present day.
Second Fitna - Key takeaways
- The Second Fitna was a period of intense civil war between rival claimants for the leadership of the Islamic community.
- The start date of the Second Fitna can either be seen as 680 when Muawiya died or 683 when his son Yazid died.
- The end date of the Second Fitna can either be seen as 685, when Abd al-Malik became Caliph, or 692 when he defeated rival al-Zubayr in battle, and the siege of Mecca came to an end.
- Abd al-Malik emerged as the victor of the Second Fitna, restoring Umayyad rule to the caliphate.
- The most significant effect of the Second Fitna was the Sunni-Shia divide in Islam. Shia Muslims believed that the rightful heir, the Prophet's grandson Husayn, had been brutally murdered, and they became a distinctive religious community within Islam. To this day, Shia Muslims commemorate Husayn's death at the Battle of Karbala on the Day of Ashura each year.
References
- Fred Donner, Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam (2012).
- Heinz Halm, Shi'a Isla: From Religion to Revolution (1997).
- Fatemah Shams, 'Ideology of Warfare and the Islamic Republic's Poetry of War' in the International Journal of Persian Literature (2016).
- Fig. 3. - Abbreviated Umayyad Family Tree (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abbreviated_Umayyad_Family_Tree.png) by Al Ameer Son (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Al_Ameer_son) is licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
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