Editing Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (section)

===Defeat of the Zubayrids===
{{Further|Battle of Maskin}}

[[File:A bird’s eye view of Mecca and surrounding hillsides.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|alt=An old photograph showing a black, cubic structure enclosed by rectangular arcade surrounded by buildings and hills|The [[Ka'aba]] in [[Mecca]] (''pictured in 1917'') was the headquarters of Ibn al-Zubayr where he was besieged and defeated by Abd al-Malik's forces led by [[al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf]] in 692]]

With threats in Syria and the Jazira neutralized, Abd al-Malik was free to focus on the reconquest of Iraq.{{sfn|Gibb|1960|p=76}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2016|p=84}} While Mus'ab had been bogged down fighting [[Kharijite]] rebels and contending with disaffected Arab tribesmen in Basra and Kufa, Abd al-Malik was secretly contacting and winning over these same Arab nobles.{{sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=33}} Thus, by the time Abd al-Malik led the Syrian army into Iraq in 691, the struggle to recapture the province was virtually complete.{{sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=33}} Command of the army was held by members of his family, his brother Muhammad leading the vanguard and Yazid I's sons Khalid and [[Abd Allah ibn Yazid|Abd Allah]] leading the right and left wings, respectively.{{sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=33}} Many Syrian nobles held reservations about the campaign and counseled Abd al-Malik not to participate in person.{{sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=33}} Nonetheless, the caliph was at the head of the army when it camped opposite Mus'ab's forces at Maskin, along the [[Dujayl Canal]].{{sfn|Kennedy|2016|p=84}} In the ensuing [[Battle of Maskin]], most of Mus'ab's forces, many of whom were resentful at the heavy toll he had exacted on al-Mukhtar's Kufan partisans, refused to fight and his leading commander, Ibn al-Ashtar, fell at the beginning of hostilities.{{sfn|Kennedy|2016|p=84}}{{sfn|Fishbein|1990|p=181}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|pp=195–196}} Abd al-Malik invited Mus'ab to surrender in return for the governorship of Iraq or any other province of his choice, but the latter refused and was killed in action.{{sfn|Dixon|1971|pp=133–134}}

Following his victory, Abd al-Malik received the allegiance of Kufa's nobility and appointed governors to the Caliphate's eastern provinces.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=197}}{{efn|The semi-independent, pro-[[Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr|Zubayrid]] governor of [[Greater Khorasan|Khurasan]], [[Abd Allah ibn Khazim al-Sulami|Abd Allah ibn Khazim]], rejected Abd al-Malik's entreaties in early 692 to recognize his caliphate in return for a confirmation of Ibn Khazim's governorship.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=420}} Ibn Khazim was soon after slain in a mutiny led by one his commanders, [[Bahir ibn Warqa]], and his head was sent to the caliph by the lieutenant governor of [[Merv]], [[Bukayr ibn Wishah]], to whom Abd al-Malik subsequently conferred the governorship of Khurasan.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=421}}}} Afterward, he dispatched a 2,000-strong Syrian contingent to subdue Ibn al-Zubayr in the Hejaz.{{sfn|Dietrich|1971|p=40}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|pp=197–198}} The commander of the expedition, [[al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf]], had risen through the ranks and would become a highly competent and efficient supporter of the caliph.{{sfn|Kennedy|2016|p=87}} Al-Hajjaj remained encamped for several months in [[Ta'if]], east of Mecca, and fought numerous skirmishes with Zubayrid loyalists in the plain of [[Arafat, Makkah|Arafat]].{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=198}} Abd al-Malik sent him reinforcements led by his {{Transliteration|ar|mawlā}}, [[Tariq ibn Amr]], who had earlier captured Medina from its Zubayrid governor.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=199}} In March 692, al-Hajjaj [[Siege of Mecca (692)|besieged Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca]] and bombarded the [[Ka'aba]], the holiest sanctuary in Islam, with catapults.{{sfn|Dietrich|1971|p=40}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=199}} Though 10,000 of Ibn al-Zubayr's supporters, including his sons, eventually surrendered and received pardons, Ibn al-Zubayr and a core of his loyalists held out in the Ka'aba and were killed by al-Hajjaj's troops in September or October.{{sfn|Dietrich|1971|p=40}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=199}} Ibn al-Zubayr's death marked the end of the civil war and the reunification of the Caliphate under Abd al-Malik.{{sfn|Dietrich|1971|p=40}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=200}}{{sfn|Dixon|1971|p=140}} In a [[panegyric]] that the literary historian Suzanne Stetkevych asserts was intended to "declare" and "legitimize" Abd al-Malik's victory, the caliph's Christian court poet [[al-Akhtal]] eulogized him on the eve or aftermath of Ibn al-Zubayr's fall as follows:

<blockquote>
To a man whose gifts do not elude us, whom God has made victorious, so let him in his victory long delight!

He who wades into the deep of battle, auspicious his augury, the Caliph of God through whom men pray for rain.

When his soul whispers its intention to him it sends him resolutely forth, his courage and his caution like two keen blades.

In him the common weal resides, and after his assurance no peril can seduce him from his pledge.

— Al-Akhtal (640–708), {{Transliteration|ar|Khaffat al-qaṭīnu}} ("The tribe has departed"){{sfn|Stetkevych|2016|pp=129, 136–137, 141}}
</blockquote>

After his victory, Abd al-Malik aimed to reconcile with the Hejazi elite, including the Zubayrids and the Alids, the Umayyads' rivals within the Quraysh.{{sfn|Ahmed|2010|p=152}} He relied on the [[Banu Makhzum]], another Qurayshite clan, as his intermediaries in view of the Umayyad family's absence in the region due to their exile in 683.{{sfn|Ahmed|2010|p=152}} Nevertheless, he remained wary of the Hejazi elite's ambitions and kept a vigilant eye on them through his various governors in Medina.{{sfn|Ahmed|2010|p=152}} The first of these was al-Hajjaj, who was also appointed governor of [[Greater Yemen|Yemen]] and the [[Al-Yamama|Yamama]] (central Arabia) and led the [[Hajj]] pilgrim caravans of 693 and 694.{{sfn|Dietrich|1971|p=40}} Though he maintained peace in the Hejaz, the harshness of his rule led to numerous complaints from its residents and may have played a role in his transfer from the post by Abd al-Malik.{{sfn|Dietrich|1971|p=40}} A member of the Makhzum and Abd al-Malik's father-in-law, [[Hisham ibn Isma'il al-Makhzumi|Hisham ibn Isma'il]], was ultimately appointed. During his tenure in 701–706 he was also known for brutalizing Medina's townspeople.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=215}}