TheBattle of Maskin (Arabic:معركة مسكن), also known as theBattle of Dayr al-Jathaliq (Arabic:معركة دير الجثاليق) from a nearbyNestorian monastery, was a decisive battle of theSecond Fitna (680s-690s). It was fought in mid-October 691 near present-dayBaghdad on the western bank of the riverTigris, between the army of theUmayyad caliphAbd al-Malik ibn Marwan and the forces ofMus'ab ibn al-Zubayr, governor ofIraq for his brother, theMecca-based rival caliphAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.

Battle of Maskin
Part of theSecond Fitna
Date Mid–October 691 Location Dayr al-Jathaliq in Maskin district, 50–55 kilometers (31–34 mi) north of present-dayBaghdad 33°49′24″N44°14′24″E / 33.82333°N 44.24000°E /33.82333; 44.24000 Result Umayyad victory
Belligerents
Umayyad Caliphate	Zubayrid Caliphate
Commanders and leaders
Abd al-Malik Muhammad ibn Marwan Khalid ibn Yazid Abd Allah ibn Yazid	Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr † Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar † Muslim ibn Amr al-Bahili † Attab ibn Warqa (defected)
class=notpageimage| Location within modern Iraq

When the battle started, most of Mus'ab's troops refused to fight, having secretly switched allegiance to Abd al-Malik, and Mus'ab's main commander,Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar, was killed in action. Mus'ab was slain soon afterward, resulting in the Umayyads' victory and recapture of Iraq, which opened the way for the Umayyad reconquest of theHejaz (western Arabia) in late 692.

The battle took place near Dayr al-Jathaliq (Monastery ofCatholicos), aNestorian monastery located in the vicinity of Maskin.^[1] The latter was situated west of theTigris River on the western bank of the formerDujayl Canal, about 50–55 kilometers (31–34 mi) north ofBaghdad and 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) south of the village ofSumayka.^[1] The site of ancient Maskin is today known as Khara'ib Maskin (Ruins of Maskin).^[1] Dayr al-Jathaliq is likely the site of Tell al-Dayr, a mound located 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) southeast of Sumayka.^[1]

In 683 theUmayyad caliphYazid I died and was succeeded by his teenage sonMu'awiya II, who died weeks after his accession.^[2] With no suitable successors among the descendants of Yazid, Umayyad authority collapsed across theCaliphate amid the leadership vacuum in the Umayyad capitalDamascus.^[2] In the Islamic holy cities ofMecca andMedina, neither Yazid nor his son had been recognized as legitimate caliphs and after Yazid's death,Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, based in Mecca, was recognized instead.^[3] Ibn al-Zubayr’s sovereignty soon extended to most of the Caliphate's provinces and he appointed his brotherMus'ab as governor of Iraq.^[2]

Meanwhile, theArab tribes of central and southernSyria, which remained loyal to the Umayyads, in cooperation with the ousted Umayyad governor of Iraq,Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, choseMarwan I as caliph.^[2] The latter came from a different branch of the Umayyad clan that had been expelled from Medina. Afterward, the reinvigorated Umayyads defeated the pro-ZubayridQaysi tribes at theBattle of Marj Rahit near Damascus in 684 and took over Egypt by March 685. Marwan died that year and was succeeded by his sonAbd al-Malik, who turned his attention toward Iraq.^[4] An Umayyad army led by Ibn Ziyad was dispatched to the province, but was soundly defeated at theBattle of Khazir in August 686 by the forces of a third rival claimant to the caliphate, the pro-Alid nobleman ofKufa,Mukhtar al-Thaqafi.^[4] The Umayyad defeat delayed Abd al-Malik's plans to conquer Iraq and he shifted focus to consolidating control of Syria and theJazira and winning over the Arab tribal nobility in Iraq.^[5]

Mukhtar was defeated and killed by Mus'ab in 687 after the tribal nobility of Kufa defected to the Zubayrids inBasra.^[6] Mukhtar's elimination left the Zubayrids and the Umayyads as the two principal contenders for the caliphate.^[7] Mus'ab appointed one of his leading commanders,Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra, governor ofMosul, theJazira,Armenia andAdharbayjan.^[8][9] As governor over the region wedged between Zubayrid Iraq and Umayyad Syria, Muhallab was responsible for protecting Iraq from an Umayyad invasion.^[8][10] He also attempted to rid his province of Mukhtar's surviving loyalists, known as theKhashabiyya, who remained in control ofNisibis.^[8]

In 689, Abd al-Malik marched toward Iraq and by the summer he encamped atButnan Habib,^[11] a boundary station inJund Qinnasrin (northern Syria),^[12] about 30 kilometers (19 mi) east ofAleppo.^[13] Mus'ab prepared for his attempted invasion by mobilizing his troops at Bajumayra,^[11] a way station nearTikrit.^[12] Both places were on the main road connecting Syria and Iraq but were considerably distant from each other.^[14]

During the standoff, Abd al-Malik reached out to his tribal sympathizers in Basra and promised them financial rewards if they took up his cause against the Zubayrids.^[15] He received favorable responses by a number of the tribal nobles, including the head of theBanu Bakr section of theRabi'a faction,Malik ibn Misma, opening the way for Abd al-Malik to dispatch his kinsmanKhalid ibn Abdallah ibn Khalid ibn Asid to enter Basra.^[15] In another version of this episode, it was Khalid who originally proposed that Abd al-Malik send him on the mission to Basra.^[15] In any case, Khalid ultimately found support from the Bakr under Ibn Misma and theAzd underZiyad ibn Amr al-Ataki, among others.^[15] They faced off with the pro-Zubayrid forces led byUmar ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Ma'mar at a place called al-Jufra in the vicinity of Basra, hence the collective name "al-Jufriyya" by which Khalid's supporters became known.^[16]

The clashes lasted between twenty-four and forty days, during which Mus'ab, still encamped at Bajumayra, dispatched 1,000 cavalrymen underZahr ibn Qays al-Ju'fi to reinforce his supporters.^[16] Abd al-Malik also sent reinforcements led byUbayd Allah ibn Ziyad ibn Zabyan, a Kufan noble seeking revenge against Mus'ab for the killing of his brother during the suppression of Mukhtar's revolt.^[16] They did not arrive quick enough and the pro-Zubayrids gained the battlefield advantage, which led to negotiations for a ceasefire.^[16] Khalid was ultimately allowed to leave for Damascus, while Ibn Misma, wounded, fled south into theYamama (central Arabia).^[16] At some point during the fighting in al-Jufra, Abd al-Malik had withdrawn from Butnan Habib to counter an attempted coup in Damascus by his kinsmanal-Ashdaq.^[16] Mus'ab, upon his return to Basra, severely suppressed the Jufriyya and alienated many Basran nobles in the process.^[6]

In the summer of 690, Abd al-Malik and Mus'ab once again encamped at Butnan Habib and Bajumayra, respectively.^[17] Mus'ab held his position until the winter when both he and Abd al-Malik withdrew to their headquarters in Basra and Damascus.^[11] Abd al-Malik was advised by his Syrian generals to desist from further attempts against what they deemed the unwieldy province of Iraq.^[11] The caliph did not heed this counsel and proceeded again toward Iraq in 691.^[18]

During much of the summer, Abd al-Malik besieged and attacked the pro-Zubayrid Qaysi leaderZufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi, who was holed up in theEuphrates River fortress ofQarqisiya (Circesium), which was strategically located at the crossroads of Syria and Iraq.^[19][18][20] Unable to dislodge him, Abd al-Malik entered negotiations with Zufar and his son Hudhayl and offered them generous financial and political concessions.^[20] They ultimately reconciled with the Umayyads and Hudhayl and the Qays joined the ranks of their army, though Zufar, out of deference to his previous oath of allegiance to Ibn al-Zubayr, refused to personally participate in the anti-Zubayrid campaign.^[21] Afterward, Abd al-Malik marched on Nisibis and gained the surrender of the 2,000-strong Khashabiyya, who joined the Umayyad army after the caliph's amnesty.^[18][22]

In September or October 691, Abd al-Malik, at the head of his Syrian army, set up camp at Maskin.^[18][23] Command of the army was held by members of his family; his brotherMuhammad led the vanguard, while Yazid I's sonsKhalid andAbd Allah respectively commanded the left and right wings.^[5] Mus'ab encamped at Bajumayra.^[18][23] He had dug and fortified a deep trench (khandaq) near Maskin to defend his position from the Umayyad army. In a testament to its durability, it was still in existence as late as the mid-9th century when it was called "Khirbat (Ruins) of Mus'ab" after the Zubayrid governor.^[24] At the time of the battle, Mus'ab's most skilled Basran forces were bogged down with Muhallab, who had been reassigned in 689 to the campaign against theKharijites threatening Basra.^[25] As a result, most of Mus'ab's Basran troops did not accompany him, while among those who did were many from the Rabi'a faction who were resentful of his suppression of their kinsmen in the year prior.^[25] The bulk of Mus'ab's troops in Bajumayra consisted of the Arab tribesmen of Kufa, many of whom bore grudges against Mus'ab for his executions of Mukhtar's Kufan partisans in 687.^[26]

While encamped at Maskin, Abd al-Malik took advantage of the internal divisions within Mus'ab's army by reaching out to the tribal leaders in Mus'ab's camp.^[27] In his correspondences, he offered many of the tribal leaders control of theIsfahan district ofJibal province or other rewards in return for their defection.^[26] One of Mus'ab's loyal commanders,Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar, informed Mus'ab of a letter he had received from Abd al-Malik which he had not opened.^[26] Ibn al-Ashtar warned Mus'ab that all of the other commanders had likely received such letters and were concealing the information from him.^[28] He advised Mus'ab to execute those commanders, but Mus'ab refused and kept them in their posts.^[26] Mus'ab feared that executing the commanders would turn their tribesmen against him.^[29] Ibn al-Ashtar counter-proposed that Mus'ab detain and hold the treasonous leaders hostage, releasing them on the condition of victory or executing them if defeated.^[29] However, Mus'ab believed this to be too complicated and not a priority amid the pending battle.^[29]

The armies of Abd al-Malik and Mus'ab met at Dayr al-Jathaliq in the middle of October.^[6][30] Ibn al-Ashtar and his men charged against Muhammad's vanguard, forcing them to withdraw.^[30] Abd al-Malik then ordered Abdallah and his right wing to enter the battlefield, where together with Muhammad's troops they closed in on Mus'ab's men.^[30] Ibn al-Ashtar was slain, as was the commander of Mus'ab's right wing, Muslim ibn Amr al-Bahili.^[30] The latter had succumbed to his wounds, but before dying he managed to obtain from Abd al-Malik a guarantee of safety for his sonQutayba ibn Muslim, who went on to become an important Umayyad general in the early 8th century.^[30] Ibn al-Ashtar's death at the beginning of the confrontation sealed Mus'ab's fate.^[31] The head of Mus'ab's cavalry,Attab ibn Warqa, who had secretly defected to Abd al-Malik, subsequently deserted the battle with his horsemen.^[30][31] The rest of Musab's commanders refused orders to engage.^[31]

Wellhausen wrote that Mus'ab "was left almost alone on the field of battle, which strange situation itself makes the battle famous".^[31] Before Ibn al-Ashtar's charge, Abd al-Malik attempted to negotiate with Mus'ab, but the latter refused and "decided to die like a brave man", according to the historianHenri Lammens.^[6] After Mus'ab's other commanders refused to fight, Abd al-Malik offered to spare Mus'ab's life and grant him the governorship of Iraq or any other province of his choice, but again he refused.^[6] Instead, he counseled his adolescent son Isa and his men to seek safety in Mecca, but Isa entered the field instead and was killed.^[31]

Mus'ab then made a charge, but was wounded by an arrow and dislodged from his horse.^[6][31] He was slain by a certainZa'ida ibn Qudama, a soldier from theBanu Thaqif who declared Mus'ab's death to be vengeance for his fellow tribesman Mukhtar.^[31] Afterward, Ibn Zabyan decapitated Mus'ab's body.^[6][31] Abd al-Malik mourned Mus'ab and "ordered his poets to commemorate his heroic end", according to Lammens.^[6]

After the battle, Abd al-Malik entered Kufa and received the allegiance of its tribal nobility.^[31] He assigned governors for Iraq and its dependencies.^[31] He then headed south for Nukhayla, a suburb of Kufa, from which he dispatchedal-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf with 2,000 Syrian troops to subdue Ibn al-Zubayr in the Hejaz.^[32] With the loss of Iraq, Ibn al-Zubayr had become isolated in his Mecca stronghold. After a series of skirmishes near the city, al-Hajjajbesieged Mecca, capturing it and killing Ibn al-Zubayr in September or October 692.^[33] Ibn al-Zubayr's elimination marked the end of theSecond Fitna (second Muslim civil war).^[34]

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