The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 26

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 Hishām 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-Walīd II, Yazīd III, and Ibrahim) followed Hishām within little more than a year, and the subsequent interve