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The Third Fitna (), was a series of civil wars and uprisings against the Umayyad Caliphate. It began with a revolt against Caliph al-Walid II in 744, and lasted until 747, when Marwan II emerged as the victor. The war exacerbated internal tensions, especially the Qays–Yaman rivalry, and the temporary collapse of Umayyad authority opened the way for Kharijite and other anti-Umayyad revolts. The last and most successful of these was the Abbasid Revolution, which began in Khurasan in 747, and ended with the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate and the establishment of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750.
During his brief reign, Yazid III was an exemplary ruler, modelling himself on the pious Umar II (). He was favourably disposed to the Qadariyya, and consciously tried to disassociate himself from the frequent criticism of autocratic rule leveled at his Umayyad predecessors. He promised to refrain from abuses of his power—mostly concerning widespread resentment at heavy taxation, the enrichment of the Umayyads and their adherents, the preference given to Syria over other parts of the Caliphate, and the long absence of soldiers on distant campaigns—and insisted that not only was he chosen by the community in an assembly (), rather than appointed, but that the community had the right to depose him if he failed in his duties or if they found someone more fit to lead them. At the same time, his reign saw the renewed ascendancy of the Yaman, with Yusuf ibn Umar dismissed and imprisoned after trying, without success, to raise the Qaysis of Iraq into revolt. Yusuf's successor in Iraq and the East was the Kalbi Mansur ibn Jumhur, but he was soon replaced by the son of Umar II, Abdallah ibn Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. During his brief tenure, Mansur tried to dismiss the governor of Khurasan, Nasr ibn Sayyar, but the latter managed to maintain his post. Yazid III died in September 744 after a reign of barely six months. Apparently due to the advice of the Qadariyya, he had appointed his brother, Ibrahim, as his successor, but he did not enjoy much support and was immediately faced with the revolt of Marwan II (), the grandson of Marwan I () and governor of al-Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia).
Marwan II's hold on power appeared to be stabilizing, but when he moved the capital of the caliphate from Damascus to the military city of Harran it was seen as an abandonment of Syria and the move sowed resentment among the defeated Kalbis. Consequently, in summer 745, the Kalbis of Jund Filastin rose in revolt under the local governor, Thabit ibn Nu'aym. The revolt quickly spread across Syria, even to ostensibly loyal Qaysi areas like Hims. Marwan II had to return to Syria and suppress the revolt city by city. After forcing Hims to surrender, he relieved Damascus from its siege by Yazid ibn Khalid al-Qasri, who was killed. He then rescued Tiberias, which was being besieged by Thabit. Thabit fled and his troops scattered to the winds but this three sons, Nu'aym, Bakr, and Imran were caught and executed. Thabit was later caught together with another son, Rifa'a, and executed. Following Marwan II's attack on the Kalbi's stronghold Palmyra, the Kalbi leader Abrash al-Kalbi also surrendered.
With Syria apparently back in his grip, Marwan II ordered the members of the Umayyad family to gather around him and named his two sons as his heirs. He then focused his attention on Iraq, where an army led by Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra was trying to gain control of the province for him. Marwan II assembled a new army and sent it to aid Ibn Hubayra's. Meanwhile, another rebellion led by the previously defeated Sulayman had broken out in northern Syria. At Rusafa, Marwan II's army deserted to Sulayman's side. It then took Qinnasrin, and once again many Syrians dissatisfied with Marwan II joined them. Marwan II brought the bulk of his forces from Iraq and defeated Sulayman's rebels near Qinnasrin. Sulayman again escaped to Palmyra, and thence flee to Kufa. Most of his surviving troops withdrew to Hims under the command of his brother Sa'id, where they were soon besieged by Marwan II's forces. The siege lasted through the winter of 745–746, but in the end Hims surrendered. Enraged at the repeated Syrian revolts despite his earlier leniency, Marwan II now, in the summer of 746, moved to prevent any further resistance by tearing down the walls of most important Syrian towns, including Hims, Damascus and possibly also Jerusalem.
In the meantime, in Iraq, Marwan's rebellion coincided with an Alid uprising in Kufa, headed by Abdallah ibn Mu'awiya, in October 744. The uprising was soon suppressed by Yazid III's governor, Abdallah ibn Umar, and his Syrian troops, but Ibn Mu'awiya had managed to escape to Jibal. There volunteers opposed to the Umayyad regime continued to flock to his banner, and he managed to extend his control over large parts of Persia, including most of Jibal, Ahwaz, Fars province and Kerman. He established his residence first at Isfahan and then at Istakhr. Marwan II appointed a supporter of his own, the Qaysi Nadr ibn Sa'id al-Harashi, as governor of Iraq, but Abdallah ibn Umar retained the loyalty of the Kalbi majority of the Syrian troops, and for several months the two rival governors and their troops confronted and skirmished at each other around al-Hira. This conflict was abruptly ended with the Kharijite revolt which had begun among the Banu Rabi'ah tribes in Upper Mesopotamia. Although "northerners", the Rabi'a, and especially the Banu Shayban, were enemies of the Mudar and Qays and opposed Marwan II's takeover.
The revolt was initially led by Sa'id ibn Bahdal, but he died soon of the plague, and was succeeded by al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani. In early 745 they invaded Iraq and defeated both rival Umayyad governors, who had joined forces, in April/May 745. Nadr fled back to Syria to join Marwan, but Ibn Umar and his followers withdrew to Wasit. In August 745 however Ibn Umar and his supporters surrendered and even embraced Kharijism and Dahhak—who was not even of the Quraysh tribe of Muhammad—as their caliph. Ibn Umar was appointed as Dahhak's governor for Wasit, eastern Iraq, and western Persia, while Dahhak governed western Iraq from Kufa. Taking advantage of the Syrian revolt against Marwan, Dahhak returned to Upper Mesopotamia—probably in spring 746—and while Marwan was occupied by the siege of Hims, he seized Mosul. More men flocked to his banner, whether out of opposition to Marwan, like Sulayman ibn Hisham and the remnant of his Dhakwaniyya, or because he offered high wages to his followers, and his army is said to have reached 120,000 men. Marwan sent his son Abdallah to oppose Dahhak, but the Kharijite leader managed to blockade him in Nisibis. Once Hims had fallen, however, Marwan himself campaigned against Dahhak, and in a battle at al-Ghazz in Kafartuta in August/September 746, Dahhak was killed and the Kharijites had to abandon Upper Mesopotamia. The Kharijites now selected Abu Dulaf as their leader, and on the advice of Sulayman ibn Hisham they withdrew to the eastern bank of the Tigris. As Marwan was able to call upon more and more troops to face the Kharijites, however, they were forced to abandon even this position and withdraw further east. Marwan then sent Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra to establish control over Iraq, which he accomplished this by the summer of 747: after defeating the Kharijite governor of Kufa and taking the city, Ibn Hyubayra marched on Wasit, where he took Abdallah ibn Umar prisoner.
Marwan's capture of Iraq left Abdallah ibn Mu'awiya as the only major leader opposing the Umayyad caliph, and his domain in western Persia became a refuge for the defeated Kharijites of Iraq, and every other opponent of Marwan, including members of the Umayyad family—notably Sulayman ibn Hisham—and even a few Abbasids. Nevertheless, in a short time Ibn Mu'awiya's forces suffered a decisive defeat by one of Ibn Hubayra's generals. Ibn Mu'awiya fled to Khurasan, where the leader of the Abbasid Revolution, Abu Muslim, had him executed, while Sulayman ibn Hisham and Mansur ibn Jumhur fled to India, where they remained until they died.
With Marwan II still trying to consolidate his own position in Syria and Mesopotamia, and western Persia controlled by the Kharijites under Ibn Mu'awiya, Nasr was bereft of any hopes of reinforcement. The allied armies of Ibn Surayj and al-Kirmani drove him out of Merv towards the end of the year, and he retreated to the Qaysi stronghold of Nishapur. Within days al-Kirmani and Ibn Surayj fell out among themselves and clashed, resulting in the latter's death. Al-Kirmani then destroyed the Tamimi quarters in Merv, a shocking act, as dwellings were traditionally considered exempt from warfare in Arab culture. As a result, the Mudari tribes, hitherto ambivalent towards Nasr, now came over to him. Backed by them, especially the Qaysis of Nishapur, Nasr now resolved to take back the capital. During summer 747, Nasr's and al-Kirmani's armies confronted each other before the walls of Merv, occupying two fortified camps and skirmishing with each other for several months. The fighting stopped only when news came of the start of the Hashimiyya uprising under Abu Muslim. Negotiations commenced, but were almost broken off when a member of Nasr's entourage, an embittered son of Ibn Surayj, attacked and killed al-Kirmani. The two sides were able to tentatively settle their differences, and Nasr re-occupied his seat in Merv.
Qahtaba's son al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba led the siege of Nihawand, where the remnants of the caliphal armies and Nasr ibn Sayyar's followers made their last stand. In March 749, Qahtaba defeated another, bigger, caliphal army near Isfahan. Bereft of hope of further aid, Nihawand surrendered two or three months later, opening the way to Iraq. Qahtaba led his troops towards Kufa, but on the way they were confronted by Marwan II's governor Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra. After a surprise night attack in which Qahtaba was killed on 27 August 749, Ibn Hubayra was forced to withdraw to Wasit, and al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba led his army into Kufa on 2 September. As imam Ibrahim had been imprisoned and executed by Marwan II, he was succeeded by his brother, Al-Saffah (), whom the army leaders proclaimed as caliph on 28 November. In January 750, at the Battle of the Greater Zab, the Abbasid army decisively defeated the Umayyad army led by Marwan II in person. Pursued by the Abbasids, Marwan was forced to flee to Syria and then Egypt, where he was finally captured and executed in August 750, putting an end to the Umayyad Caliphate. Saffah established Kufa as the capital of the caliphate, ending the dominance of Damascus in the Islamic political world.
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