Siege of Mecca (692)

Siege of Mecca
Part of the Second Fitna
Mecca was attacked with catapults from a nearby mountain
Date March–October/November 692 Location Mecca 21°25′00″N 39°49′00″E / 21.4167°N 39.8167°E / 21.4167; 39.8167 Result Umayyad victory Death of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr End of Second Fitna
Belligerents
Umayyad Caliphate	Remains of Zubayrid Caliphate
Commanders and leaders
Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Tariq ibn Amr	Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr † Abd Allah ibn Muti † Abd Allah ibn Safwan †
Strength
2,000–5,000[1]	>10,000[2][note 1]

The siege of Mecca (Arabic: حصار مكة) occurred at the end of the Second Fitna in 692 when the forces of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan besieged and defeated his rival, the caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in his center of power, the Islamic holy city of Mecca.

After the death of Caliph Yazid in 683, Ibn al-Zubayr had been recognized as caliph in most of the provinces of the Caliphate, while the Umayyads, who had ruled the Caliphate since the end of the First Fitna, had been confined to their stronghold of Syria. There, the pro-Umayyad tribes elected Marwan ibn al-Hakam as caliph in 684; after his death in 685, his son and successor Abd al-Malik undertook the task of reasserting Umayyad authority across the Caliphate. After defeating his enemies in Syria and Iraq, he sent his general Hajjaj ibn Yusuf to Mecca to defeat Ibn al-Zubayr. To avoid bloodshed in the sanctuary, Hajjaj was ordered to besiege the city and starve out Ibn al-Zubayr. The siege started in March 692 and lasted for six to seven months. The city was bombarded with catapults and supplies were cut off, resulting in large scale desertions by the followers of Ibn al-Zubayr. He was killed along with his few remaining supporters in October 692. The siege brought an end to the decade-long civil war and the Caliphate was united under Abd al-Malik. The Ka'ba, which had been damaged by the bombardment, was rebuilt according to its original plan from the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

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