The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate ad 661-750

The Second Civil War
We have seen that the Sufyanid caliphs formed strong ties with the
Quda‘a. When Umayyad authority tottered after the death of Yazid,
Qays came out in support of Ibn al-Zubayr while Quda‘a eventually
decided to give their support to Marwan. The two confederations
met in battle at Marj Rahit near Damascus in the summer of 684, and
it was the victory of Quda‘a and its allies at this battle which ensured
the continuation of Umayyad rule, at least in southern and central
Syria. The remaining years of the civil war, though, were marked by
a long and complicated period of tribal feuding in the Syrian desert
and in Mesopotamia, a bitter legacy of the battle of Marj Rahit. It
was in the course of these feuds that the distinction between
‘northerners’ and ‘southerners’ became more clearly established.
Quda‘a, who had been regarded previously as descendants of
Isma‘il, that is ‘northerners’, now came to regard themselves as
‘southerners’ like their allies and in contradistinction to the
‘northern’ Qays. This provided the nomenclature for the
factionalism in Syria for the remainder of the Umayyad period: on
the one side Kalb, the dominant tribe of the ‘southern’ Quda‘a; on
the other Qays, the leaders of the ‘northerners’.
11
In Basra, the factions appear under different names. There the
original settlers consisted mainly of two tribal groups both classed
as ‘northerners’: Mudar, under the leadership of the tribe of Tamim,
and Rabi‘a. Shortly before the second civil war a third group, the
‘southern’ Azd from Oman, migrated into Basra in large numbers,
and an alliance was made between them and Rabi‘a against the
Mudar. After the death of Yazid, the Umayyad governor of Iraq,
‘Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad, tried to get himself recognised in Basra as
amir
 by the Arabs there until affairs regarding the caliphate were
cleared up. The Mudar, led by Tamim, refused to accept him and a
feud then developed between the Mudar on one side and Azd and
Rabi‘a on the other. Eventually this feud was temporarily settled and
Basra came under Zubayrid control. But the parties had been formed
for future conflict, and what is particularly important is that it was
from Basra that Khurasan was garrisoned and so the divisions of
Basra were carried over to this key province of the north-east
frontier. In the east, therefore, the factions generally go under the
names of Mudar, the ‘northerners’, including Tamim and Qays, and
Yemen, the ‘southerners’, dominated by Azd but including also the
formally ‘northern’ Rabi‘a tribes.
12
The underlying factors leading to the polarisation of the
tribesmen in this way have already been discussed. In both Syria and

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The Second Civil War 
55
Basra we can point to two things in particular which probably had a
crucial influence. First, in the period before the second civil war, the
existing tribal balance or situation had been upset in both places by
recent immigration. In northern Syria and Mesopotamia there had
been recent migrations of Qays, while in Basra the recent arrival of
Azd gave Rabi‘a the opportunity to attack the domination of Tamim.
Secondly, in both places the political situation became entangled
with the tribal one. In Syria the Sufyanid links with Quda‘a may
have provoked Qaysi support for Ibn al-Zubayr, while in Basra
‘Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad’s attempt to get Azd to support his bid to be
recognised as 
amir
 in the face of Tamim’s hostility seems to have
triggered off the fighting. The dangers resulting from the
government’s reliance on or support for one faction at the expense
of another are self-evident.
In looking at the second civil war generally, and seeking to assess
its significance and consequences, therefore, it seems that the
conflict between the Umayyads and Ibn al-Zubayr, although it
supplies the thread which provides the distinctive colour of this
fitna,
 is not its most important element. Ibn al-Zubayr left behind no