Early life and career Family. Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr was born in Medina in the Hejaz (western Arabia) in May 624. He was the eldest son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, a ṣaḥābī (companion) of Muhammad and a leading Muslim figure. He belonged to the Banu Asad clan of the Quraysh, the dominant tribe of Mecca, a trade center in the Hejaz and location of the Ka'aba, the holiest …

The Second Fitna was a period of general political and military disorder and civil war in the Islamic community during the early Umayyad Caliphate. It followed the death of the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I in 680 and lasted for about twelve years. The war involved the suppression of two challenges to the Umayyad dynasty, the first by Husayn ibn Ali, as well as his supporters …

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās (Arabic: عَبْد ٱللَّٰه ٱبْن عَبَّاس; c. 619 – 687 CE), also known as Ibn ʿAbbās, was one of the cousins of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.He is considered to be the greatest mufassir of the Qur'an.. He was the son of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, an uncle of Muhammad, and a nephew of Maymunah bint al-Harith, who later became Muhammad's wife.

Biography. Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya (Muhammad al-Akbar) was born in Medina about AD 633 (though also said to be during Umar's era), the third of Ali's sons. He was called Ibn al-Hanafiyya after his mother, Khawla bint Ja'far; she was known as Hanafiyya, "the Hanafi woman", after her tribe Banu Hanifa.After the death of Muhammad, the people of Yamama were …

Ancestry. Al-Hajjaj was born in ca. 661 in the city of Ta'if in the Hejaz. He belonged to the clan of Abu Aqil, called after al-Hajjaj's paternal great-grandfather. The clan was part of the Banu Awf branch of the Banu Thaqif tribe. Members of the Thaqif attained high military and administrative ranks in the nascent Caliphate and played important command and economic roles during and …

Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik (Arabic: سليمان بن عبد الملك, romanized: Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, c. 675 – 24 September 717) was the seventh Umayyad caliph, ruling from 24 February 715 until his death.He began his career as governor of Palestine, while his father Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) and brother al-Walid I (r. 705–715) reigned as caliphs.

Mu'awiya I (Arabic: معاوية بن أبي سفيان, romanized: Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; c. 597, 603 or 605 –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death.He became caliph less than thirty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashidun ('rightly-guided') caliphs.

ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr (d. 713). He wrote letters replying to inquiries of the Umayyad caliphs, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and al-Walid I, involving questions about certain events that happened in the time of the Prophet. Since Abd al-Malik did not appreciate the maghāzī literature, these letters were not written in story form.

Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām (Arabic: زبير بن العوام;‎ 594–656) was an Arab Muslim commander in the service of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the caliphs Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) and Umar (r. 634–644) who played a leading role in the Ridda Wars against rebel tribes in Arabia in 632–633 and later participated in early Muslim conquests of Sasanian Iraq in 633–634, Byzantine ...

Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayya ibn Abd Shams (Arabic: صخر بن حرب بن أمية بن عبد شمس, romanized: Ṣakhr ibn Ḥarb ibn Umayya ibn ʿAbd Shams; c. 565—653), better known by his kunya Abu Sufyan (Arabic: أبو سفيان, romanized: Abū Sufyān), was a prominent opponent turned companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.He was the father of Mu'awiya I and thus the forefather ...