Preface
Abbreviations
Translator's Foreword
Tables
Table I. Genealogy of the Later Umayyads
Table II. Genealogy of the Prophet's Family (The Shi`ah and the `Abbasids)
Maps
Map I. Khurasan
Map II. Transoxiana
Map III. Syria in the Umayyad Period
Map IV. Al-Kufah and Its Environs
The Caliphate of Hisham
The Events of the Year 121 (738/739)
The Reason for [Zayd b. `Ali's] Death, an Account of His Circumstances, and the Cause of His Rebellion
The Raids of Nasr b. Sayyar
The Events of the Year 122 (739/740)
The Killing of Zayd b. `Ali
The Events of the Year 123 (740/741)
The [Treaty with the Soghdians] and the Reason for It
The Reason for Yusuf's Request and the Outcome of It
An Account of [the Denunciation of Nasr] and of the Part Played in It by Hisham and Yusuf b. `Umar
The Events of the Year 124 (741/742)
The Reason Why Bukayr b. Mahan Bought Abu Muslim
The Events of the Year 125 (742/743)
The Malady That Caused Hisham's Death
Some Biographical Details about Hisham
The Caliphate of al-Walid b. Yazid b. `Abd al-Malik b. Marwan
The Events of the Year 125 (cont'd) (742/743)
Some of the Reasons Why al-Walid Acceded to the Caliphate
What Transpired between Yusuf and Nasr in the Matter [of Tribute]
The Killing of Yahya b. Zayd b. `Ali
The Events of the Year 126 (743/744)
The Reason for Yazid's Killing of al-Walid and the Manner of His Killing
Part of the Account of al-Walid's Causing Disaffection among the Sons of His Two Uncles, Hisham and al-Walid
The Killing of Khalid al-Qasri and the Reason for It
The Caliphate of Yazid b. al-Walid
The Events of the Year 126 (cont'd) (743/744)
The Discords That Occurred
The Uprising in Hims
The Rebellion of the People of Palestine and Jordan and the Treatment They Received from Yazid b. al-Walid
The Dismissal of Yusuf b. `Umar and the Appointment of Mansur b. Jumhur (as Governor of Iraq)
The Text of Marwan's Letter to al-Ghamr
The Dismissal of Mansur b. Jumhur from the Post of Governor of Iraq
The Discord between Nasr and al-Kirmani and What Had Caused It
The Reason for Granting Safe-Conduct to al-Harith b. Surayj
The Account of [Marwan's Rebellion] and of the Reason That Prompted Marwan to Oppose (Yazid) and Then to Give Allegiance to Yazid
The Caliphate of Abu Ishaq Ibrahim b. al-Walid and the Rise of Marwan II
The Events of the Year 126 (cont'd) (743/744)
The Events of the Year 127 (744/745)
The Account of Marwan's Journey and What Caused the Battle [at `Ayn al-Jarr]
The Account of the Cause of the Uprising of `Abdallah (b. Mu`awiyah) and of His Summoning the People to Himself
The Account of the Affair of al-Harith and Nasr after al-Harith Came to See Him
Appendix I. Problems of Translation
Appendix II. Al-Walid's Letter Appointing His Two Sons, al-Hakam and `Uthman, as His Successors
Bibliography of Cited Works
Index

The years 738-745/121-127, which this volume covers, saw the outbreak in Syria of savage internecine struggles between prominent members of the Umayyad family, which had ruled the Islamic world since 661/41. After the death of the caliph Hisham in 743-/125, the process of decay at the center of the Umayyad power--the ruling family itself--was swift and devastating. Three Umayyad caliphs (al-Walid II, Yazid III, and Ibrahim) followed Hisham within little more than a year, and the subsequent intervention of their distant cousin Marwan b. Muhammad (the future Marwan II) could not arrest the forces of opposition that were shortly to culminate in the ¿Abbasid Revolution of 750/132.
In this volume al-¿abari deals extensively with the end of Hisham's reign, providing a rich store of anecdotes on this most able of Umayyad caliphs. He also covers in depth the notorious lifestyle of al-Walid II, the libertine prince and poet, whose career has attracted much scholarly attention in recent years. Moreover, al-¿abari chronicles at great length the events of the rebellion and death of the Shi'ite pretender, Zayd ibn ¿Ali, at al-Kufah, as well as recording in detail the activities farther to the east, where När ibn Sayyar was serving as the last Umayyad governor of Transoxiana and Khurasan, the very area from which the ¿Abbasid Revolution was to spring. The text also contains several official letters which shed much light on Umayyad propaganda and on early Islamic epistolary style.
The hindsight conferred by subsequent centuries highlights the full significance of these half-dozen years or so. Al-¿abari documents the incubation of the ¿Abbasid Revolution, an event of great importance in world history, and traces the failure of the principal Shi'ite revolt of the eighth century, a debacle which was also to have serious repercussions, for it generated the foundation of Zaydi principalities in Iran and the Yemen. Yet even these major themes are secondary to the epic tale that al-¿abari unfolds of the tragic downfall of the first dynasty in Islam.