Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Marwan II
445
just then pressed by the Zealots in Mesopotamia. Before leaving Merv, Nasr addressed a last pathetic appeal to Marwan for help.
He pointed out that the fire of insurrection was yet in embryo and could still be stamped out, and wound up with the despairing cry which has become historical, ”Oh that I knew whether the sons of Ommeyya be awake or sunk in sleep! If they are sleeping in such times as these, say to them: ’Arise, the hour is come!1” In response to this urgent appeal, Marwan directed the viceroy of Iraq to despatch reinforcements for the assistance of Nasr; but before they could arrive on the scene of action, Ferghana and Khurasan had fallen entirely into the hands of Abu Muslim, and his resources had increased proportionately.
Nothing shows the power of this remarkable man so well as his choice of men; the generals whom he employed were some of the ablest of the time. Kahtaba bin Shabib, an Arab of Hijaz, settled in Pars, pursued Nasr to Sarrakhs, and inflicted on him a defeat which completely demoralized the Syrian forces. Nasr, then in his eightyfifth year, fell back on Jurjan, where he suffered another defeat; he then fled towards Pars, but died on the way.3 Whilst these events were occurring in the east, Marwan was endeavouring to find out the man in whose name the standard of rebellion had been raised. With the help of spies he discovered that Ibrahim was the originator of this rising. He was put into prison and brought to Harran. The arrest of Ibrahim had no effect on the advancement of the army of Abu Muslim.
After defeating Nasr, Kahataba, one of Abu Muslim’s generals, advanced rapidly westwards. He and his son Hasan defeated and drove the governor of Iraq and captured Kufa. Marwan became furious at the news of this discomfiture. He at once killed Ibrahim who before his death had nominated his brother Abul Abbas Abdullah as his successor, Abdul Abbas taking a vow of revenge, fled to Kufa after the death of his brother and remained concealed there until the city was captured Kahataba. In the mosque of Kufa, Abu Muslim and the leading men assembled to elect the Khalifah and Abul Abbas who assumed the title, as-Saffah, was proclaimed Khalifah. Henceforth he was the Imam as well as the Khalifah of the Muslims. Thus rose the Abbasids to power and the Umayyads began to decline. Meanwhile stirring events were happening in Upper
Muhammad Arshad, Islamic History, P. 160.

446 Political and Cultural History of Islam

Mesopotamia. Kahataba had sent an able general, Abu Aun, against the troops of Abdullah, Marwan’s son. Both the parties met at Shahrazor, east of the little Zab. Abu Aun defeated him with great slaughter and occupied the region east of Mosul. Defeat of Marwan
Marwan, since his campaign against Khawarij, had remained inactive at Harran. Now he was firmly determined to take the field in person. Crossing the Tigris he advanced upon the greater Zab with an army of 1,20,000 to meet his enemy and a grim battle was fought there in which Marwan was completely defeated. The battle of Zab which sealed the fate of the Umayyad Khilafat took place in the year

132 A.H./750 A.D. After the discomfiture Marwan fled to Hims and thence to Damascus but finding Damascus not safe for his stay, he ran to Palestine and while he was going to Egypt, he was caught on the way and killed in a church in upper Egypt in 750 A.D.

On 25th January, 750 A.D., the decisive battle of the World was fought on the river Zab, eighty miles south of Mosul. It resulted in the orientalization of Islam. The loyalty of the Umayyads army had already been undermined by propaganda. Many units refused to fight and Marwan was completely defeated. The Umayyad Empire had been a Mediterranean power. Damascus had been for a thousand years part of the Graeco-Roman world, as had Palestine, Egypt, North Africa and Spain. Persia, the Punjab, Sind and Turkistan had been colonies of this Mediterranean empire. But the Abbasids had achieved power principally with the support of Persians. They made their capital at Kufa in Iraq, which for more than a thousand years had been part of Persia.4 With the death of Marwan fell the house of Umayyad. At the order of Saffah, the first Khalifah of the Abbasids, inhuman cruelty was perpetrated on the members of the fallen house. Marwan as a Ruler
As a Caliph also, Marwan proved his worth, his ability, and his brave character. The death of Yazid in in Sept. 714 A.D., opened the door to a war for the throne among the Umayyad princes. Yazid’s brother, Ibrahim, was proclaimed the Caliph. But Marwan, the powerful governor refused to recognize him and marched on Damascus with the outward object of placing a son of Walid II on the throne. Ibrahim fled from the capital, while the sons of Walid II were put to death. The people.of Damascus welcomed Marwan. He
4 John Bagot Glubb, History of the Arab Peoples, P.93.