Battles of Madhar and Harura
| Battles of Madhar and Harura | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Second Fitna | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Zubayrid Caliphate | Pro-Alid forces of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr Al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath † Umar ibn Ubayd Allah al-Taymi Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays Qays ibn al-Haytham Abbad ibn al-Husayn al-Habati Muqatil ibn Misma al-Bakri Shabath ibn Rib'i |
Mukhtar al-Thaqafi † Abu Amra Kaysan † Ahmar ibn Shumayt † Abdallah ibn Qurad al-Khath'ami Salim ibn Yazid al-Kindi † Sa'id ibn Munqidh al-Hamdani † Malik ibn Amr al-Nahdi † Umar ibn Abdallah al-Nahdi † Abd Allah ibn Kamil al-Shakiri † | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Heavy | Heavy | ||||||
The Battles of Madhar and Harura (Arabic transliteration: Yawm Madhār and Yawm Ḥarūrāʾ) took place successively in the latter half of 686 in the environs of Basra and Kufa respectively, both in southern Iraq. The battles were fought between the forces of Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr, the governor of Basra on behalf of his brother, the Mecca-based Caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr (r. 683–692), and Mukhtar al-Thaqafi, the pro-Alid ruler of Kufa. They ended with the latter's decisive defeat and the slaying of most of his commanders. In the immediate aftermath, Mus'ab besieged and killed Mukhtar in Kufa, sanctioned the killing of thousands of his sympathizers in the city, and annexed Kufa and its dependencies, the Sawad (Lower Mesopotamia) and Jibal (northwestern Iran). Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar, Mukhtar's governor over Mosul and its dependencies, the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), Adharbayjan, and Arminiya, defected to Mus'ab afterwards. In effect, all of Iraq came under Zubayrid authority as a result of Mus'ab's victory.