Battle of Marj Rahit

Date: August 18, 684 • Location: Douma, Syrian Arab Republic

Second Fitna: Umayyad partisans defeated the supporters of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr near Damascus, cementing Umayyad control of Syria.

The Second Fitna was the second civil war in the Islamic community during the early Umayyad Caliphate. It followed the death of the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I in 680 and lasted for about twelve years. The war involved three main challenges to the authority of the Umayyad dynasty: the first by Husayn ibn Ali and his supporters, including Sulayman ibn Surad and Mukhtar al-Thaqafi, who rallied to avenge Husayn's death in Iraq; the second by Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, who proclaimed himself caliph in Mecca and was nominally recognized throughout most of the Caliphate; and the third by the Kharijites, who took over central Arabia and southern Iraq and Persia.