Battle of al-Harra

Battle of al-Harra
Part of the Second Fitna
The battle was fought just north of Medina on terrain similar to this patch of basaltic, stony desert in the city's environs
Date 26 August 683 Location Harrat Waqim, northeastern outskirts of Medina 24°29′22″N 39°43′40″E / 24.48944°N 39.72778°E / 24.48944; 39.72778 Result Umayyad victory
Belligerents
Umayyads Umayyad Army	People of Medina Ansar Muhajirun (including the Quraysh)
Commanders and leaders
Muslim ibn Uqba Marwan ibn al-Hakam	Abd Allah ibn Hanzala † Abd Allah ibn Muti Ma'qil ibn Sinan al-Ashja'i
Strength
4,000–12,000	2,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown	180–700 Ansar and Quraysh 4,000–10,000 other Medinans after the battle
class=notpageimage| Location of the battle within modern Saudi Arabia

The Battle of al-Harra (Arabic: يوم الحرة, romanized: Yawm al-Ḥarra, lit. 'Day of al-Harra') was fought between the Umayyad army of the caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683) led by Muslim ibn Uqba and the defenders of Medina from the Ansar and Muhajirun factions, who had rebelled against the caliph. The battle took place at the lava field of Harrat Waqim in the northeastern outskirts of Medina on 26 August 683 and lasted less than a day.

The elite factions of Medina disapproved of the hereditary succession of Yazid (unprecedented in Islamic history until that point), resented the caliph's impious lifestyle, and chafed under Umayyad economic acts and policies. After declaring their rebellion, they besieged the Umayyad clan resident in Medina and dug a defensive trench around the city. The expeditionary force sent by Yazid and local Umayyads, who had since been released from the siege, encamped at Harrat Waqim, where the rebels confronted them. Despite an initial advantage, the Medinans were routed due to the defection of one of their factions, the Banu Haritha, which enabled Umayyad horse riders led by Marwan ibn al-Hakam to attack them from the rear.

Afterward, the army pillaged Medina for three days, though accounts of the plunder vary considerably. The Syrian army proceeded to besiege the rebel leader Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca, though Ibn Uqba died en route. In contrast to Ibn al-Zubayr's call for a shura to decide the caliphate and his success in resisting the Umayyads, the rebels in Medina lacked a political program and military experience. The traditional Islamic sources list the Battle of al-Harra and its aftermath as one of the Umayyads' 'major crimes' and malign Ibn Uqba for his role in the plunder of Medina.^[1]