Yazid I

Yazid bin Muawiyah (Arabic: ???? ?? ??????) (c. 645 - 683), also called Yazid the Tyrant, was the sixth caliph of Islam, the second of the Umayyad line; he succeeded his father Muawiyah. He died suddenly in 683, after only three years of rule.

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Since the succession of the caliphate had proved so divisive in the past (see Succession to Muhammad), Muawiyah I decided on the highly controversial step of breaking with early Islamic tradition of public election of the caliph by a committee of respected elders and scholars (The Shura, or "consultation" system). He founded the first Islamic dynasty by directly designating his son Yazid to succeed him. He attempted to observe the form of the election however by requiring his subjects to "elect" his son and swear allegiance to him in his own lifetime. Yazid was duly proclaimed caliph upon his father's death. However, he faced immediate opposition from other Muslims who rejected the dynastic principle, or supported the claims of different lineages.

Arabic: redirect Arabic language...

Caliph: Caliph is the term or title for the Islamic leader of the Ummah, or community of Islam. It is an Anglicized/Latinized version of the Arabic word خليفة or Khalīfah () which means "successor", that is, successor to the prophet Muhammad. Some Orientalists wrote the ti...

Umayyad: The Umayyad Dynasty (Arabic بنو أمية ban? umayya / الأمويون al-umawiyy?n); Persian امویان (Omaviy?n), Turkish, Emevi, ) was the first dynasty of caliphs of the Prophet Muham...