Siege of Mecca (683)

Siege of Mecca
Part of the Second Fitna
The Kaaba (pictured here in 2003), which was severely damaged by fire during the siege
Date 24 September – 26 November 683 CE Location Mecca 21°25′00″N 39°49′00″E / 21.4167°N 39.8167°E / 21.4167; 39.8167 Result Umayyad withdrawal
Belligerents
Umayyad Caliphate	Pro-Zubayrid Meccans
Commanders and leaders
Husayn ibn Numayr al-Sakuni	Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr Mukhtar al-Thaqafi
class=notpageimage| Location of Mecca within modern Saudi Arabia

The siege of Mecca in September–November 683 was one of the early battles of the Second Fitna. The city of Mecca was a sanctuary for Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, who was among the most prominent challengers to the dynastic succession to the Caliphate by the Umayyad Yazid I. After nearby Medina, the other holy city of Islam, also rebelled against Yazid, the Umayyad ruler sent an army to subdue Arabia. The Umayyad army defeated the Medinans and took the city, but Mecca held out in a month-long siege, during which the Kaaba was damaged by fire.^[1] The siege ended when news came of Yazid's sudden death. The Umayyad commander, Husayn ibn Numayr al-Sakuni, after vainly trying to induce Ibn al-Zubayr to return with him to Syria and be recognized as Caliph, departed with his forces. Ibn al-Zubayr remained in Mecca throughout the civil war, but he was nevertheless soon acknowledged as Caliph across most of the Muslim world. It was not until 692, that the Umayyads were able to send another army which again besieged and captured Mecca, ending the civil war.