Zobair, determined to
get rid at all costs of so dangerous an enemy, named his brother Mus'ab
governor of Basra and ordered him to march against Kufa. Basra was at
that time full of fugitives from Kufa, Arabian chiefs who resented the
arrogance of Mokhtar's adherents, and desired eagerly to regain their
former position in Kufa. The troops of Basra had been, since the death
of Yazid, at war with the Kharijites, who had supported Ibn Zobair
during the siege of Mecca, but had deserted him later. Their caliph,
Nafi' b. Azraq, after whom they were called also Azraqites, threatened
even the city itself, when Mohallab b. Abi Sofra, a very able general,
compelled them to retire. Mohallab then marched with Mus'ab against
Kufa. Mokhtar fell, and with him the ephemeral dominion of the Persian
Shi'ites. This had been their first attempt to dispute the authority of
their Arabian conquerors, but it was not to be the last. Ibrahim b.
Ashtar, Mokhtar's governor of Mesopotamia, submitted and acknowledged
the Caliphate of Ibn Zobair.

5. Reign of Abdalmalik.--Merwan died on the 27th of Ramadan 65 (7th May
685); according to tradition, he was suffocated by his wife, because he
had insulted her son Khalid and herself. The accession of Abdalmalik was
attended with no difficulty, but the first years of his reign were
occupied by troubles in northern Syria, where, instigated by the Greeks,
the Mardaites of the Amanus, called Jarajima by the Arabs, penetrated
into the Lebanon. He was obliged to conclude an unfavourable treaty
first with them, later with the emperor of Constantinople. Moreover, in
the year 68 (A.D. 687-688) Syria was afflicted by a serious famine. Ibn
Zobair, however, was occupied at Mecca with the rebuilding of the Ka'ba,
and Mus'ab was harassed not only by the Kharijites, but also by a noble
freebooter, Obaidallah b. Horr, who had created for himself a
principality in the vicinity of Madain (Ctesiphon).

The period of the pilgrimage caused a momentary truce to all these
struggles, and in Dhu 'l-hijja, A.H. 68 (January 688), was seen the
curious spectacle of four different standards planted near Mecca,
belonging respectively to four chiefs, each of whom was a pretender to
the empire; the standard of Abdallah b. Zobair, caliph of Mecca; that of
the caliph of Damascus, Abdalmalik; that of Ali's son Mahommed b.
al-Hanafiya, Mahdi of the Shi'ites; and that of the Kharijites, who were
at that time under the command of Najda b. 'A