Battle of Marj Rahit (684)

However, it also left a bitter legacy of division and rivalry between the Qays and the Yaman, which would be a constant source of strife and instability for the remainder of the Umayyad Caliphate.

Although Mu'awiya had named his son, Yazid I, as his heir, this choice was not universally recognized, especially by the old Medinan elites, who challenged the Umayyads' claim to the succession.

[6] Husayn at first attempted an outright revolt against the Umayyads, but this resulted in his death at the Battle of Karbala in October 680,[7][8] leaving Ibn al-Zubayr as the leading contender.

[9][10] Yazid was succeeded by his son, Mu'awiya II, but he died a few weeks later and never enjoyed any real authority outside the family's traditional stronghold of Bilad al-Sham.

Nikita Elisséeff explains the Umayyad success by the possible defection of Qays-aligned tribes during the preceding weeks, eager to uphold the Syrian hegemony over the Caliphate.

Abd al-Malik, who had succeeded his father Marwan I after the latter's death in April 685, thereafter restricted himself to securing his own position, while Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr defeated al-Mukhtar and gained control of all of Iraq in 687.

[24][25] The most enduring legacy of Marj Rahit was the hardening of the Qays–Kalb split in Syria, which was paralleled in the division and rivalry between the Mudar, led by the Banu Tamim, and the Rabi'a and Azd alliance in Iraq.

[29] The division continued long after: as Hugh N. Kennedy writes, "As late as the nineteenth century, battles were still being fought in Palestine between groups calling themselves Qays and Yaman".