Editing Marwan I (section)

==Leader of the Umayyads in Medina==

After Mu'awiya died in 680, Husayn ibn Ali, [[Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr]] and [[Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab|Abd Allah ibn Umar]], all sons of prominent Qurayshite companions of Muhammad with their own claims to the caliphate,{{sfn|Howard|1990|p=2, note 11}} continued to refuse allegiance to Mu'awiya's chosen successor Yazid.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|pp=142, 144–145}} Marwan, the leader of the Umayyad clan in the Hejaz,{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=90}} advised al-Walid ibn Utba, then governor of Medina, to coerce Husayn and Ibn al-Zubayr, both of whom he considered especially dangerous to Umayyad rule, to accept the caliph's sovereignty.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|pp=145–146}} Husayn answered al-Walid's summons, but withheld his recognition of Yazid, offering instead to make the pledge in public.{{sfn|Howard|1990|pp=4–5}} Al-Walid accepted, prompting Marwan, who attended the meeting, to castigate the governor and demand Husayn's detention until he proffered the [[bay'ah|oath of allegiance]] to Yazid or his execution should he refuse.{{sfn|Howard|1990|p=5}} Husayn then cursed Marwan and left the meeting,{{sfn|Howard|1990|p=5}} eventually making his way toward Kufa to lead a rebellion against the Umayyads.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=146}} He was slain by Yazid's forces at the [[Battle of Karbala]] in October 680.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=147}}

Meanwhile, Ibn al-Zubayr avoided al-Walid's summons and escaped to Mecca, where he rallied opposition to Yazid from his headquarters in the [[Ka'aba]], Islam's holiest sanctuary where violence was traditionally banned.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|pp=147–148}} In the Islamic traditional anecdotes relating Yazid's response, Marwan warns Ibn al-Zubayr not to submit to the caliph;{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=148}} Wellhausen considers these variable traditions to be unreliable.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=147}} In 683, the people of Medina rebelled against the caliph and assaulted the local Umayyads and their supporters, prompting them to take refuge in Marwan's houses in the city's suburbs where they were besieged.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=154}}{{sfn|Vaglieri|1971|p=226}} In response to Marwan's plea for assistance,{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=154}} Yazid dispatched an expeditionary force of Syrian tribesmen led by [[Muslim ibn Uqba]] to assert Umayyad authority over the region.{{sfn|Bosworth|1991|p=622}} The Umayyads of Medina were afterward expelled and many, including Marwan and the Abu al-As family, joined Ibn Uqba's expedition.{{sfn|Bosworth|1991|p=622}} In the ensuing [[Battle of al-Harra]] in August 683, Marwan led his horsemen through Medina and launched a rear assault against the Medinese defenders fighting Ibn Uqba in the city's eastern outskirts.{{sfn|Vaglieri|1971|p=227}} Despite its victory over the Medinese, Yazid's army retreated to Syria in the wake of the caliph's death in November.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=90}} On the Syrians' departure, Ibn al-Zubayr declared himself caliph and soon gained recognition in most of the Caliphate's provinces, including Egypt, Iraq and [[South Arabia|Yemen]].{{sfn|Gibb|1960|p=55}} Marwan and the Umayyads of the Hejaz were expelled for a second time by Ibn al-Zubayr's partisans and their properties were confiscated.{{sfn|Bosworth|1991|p=622}}