The caliph’s appointment of governors is through a contract of appointment (عَقْد تَقْلِيد ‘aqd taqleed) which does not end with the death or removal of the caliph. It continues, and the new caliph will decide whether to renew the contract and keep the governors in place or appoint new governors. Abu Bakr for example, kept the same governors as the Prophet ﷺ had appointed, but Umar when he became caliph changed the governors and appointed new ones.

During the volatile period after the death of Mu’awiya ibn Yazid, the people of Iraq and Khorasan actually elected new governors until a caliph had been chosen. This is based on the hadith, where the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

وَلَا يَحِلُّ لِثَلَاثَةِ نَفَرٍ يَكُونُونَ بِأَرْضِ فَلَاةٍ إِلَّا أَمَّرُوا عَلَيْهِمْ أَحَدَهُمْ

“It is not permissible for three people to be in an open country (desert) without appointing one of them as their Amir.”[1]

Summary of Elected Amirs

Province	Elected Amir
Damascus	al-Dahhak bin Qays al-Fihri
Basra	1. Ubaydallah ibn Ziyad 2. Abd al-Malik bin Abdallah bin Amir 3. Abdallah bin al-Harith bin Abd al-Muttalib
Kufa	1. Umar ibn Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas 2. Amir bin Masud
Khorasan	Salm ibn Ziyad

Damascus

Al-Dahhak bin Qays al-Fihri was a former governor of Kufa under Mu’awiya,[2] and his Chief of Police (Sahib Ash-Shurta) in Damascus.[3] Ash-Sham at the time of Mu’awiya ibn Yazid’s death was split in to five provinces[4]:

Province	Governor	Tribal grouping
Damascus	al-Dahhak bin Qays al-Fihri[5]	Quraish
Qinnasrin	Zufar bin al-Harith al-Kilabi[6]	Qays
Hims	al-Nu’man bin Bashir al-Ansari[7]	Sahabi/Ansar
Palestine	Natil bin Qays[8]	Qays
Jordan	Hassan ibn Malik ibn Babdal al-Kalbi[9]	Yamani

Tabari mentions, “The people had given bay’ah to al-Dahhak bin Qays al-Fihri on the understanding that he should lead them in prayer and manage their affairs until the question of authority over the community of Muhammad had been settled.”[10]

This echoes what occurred in all the other regions of the state except Hijaz where Abdullah ibn Al-Zubayr received the bay’ah from the Ahlul hali wal-aqd in Makkah and Madinah and was pronounced the caliph of the Muslims. Tabari mentions that after the death of Mu’awiya ibn Yazid, the Kufans, the Basrans, Hijaz, the Syrians and the people of Mesopotamia all accepted ibn Al-Zubayr, except for the people of Jordan.[11] The province of Jordan was under the leadership of Hassan ibn Malik who was a Yamani and he worked to secure Marwan ibn al-Hakam as the caliph. This split between the Qaysi supporting Abdullah ibn Al-Zubayr and the Yamani’s supporting Marwan sowed the seeds for future discord which the Umayyad Caliph’s had to try and manage.

Basra

Ubaydallah ibn Ziyad was the governor of Basra and Kufa under Yazid ibn Mu’awiya,[12] and was the one responsible for the killing of al-Hussain and his followers. Initially the people of Basra elected him as their governor, but then they regretted it after remembering what he did to al-Hussain. So they withdrew their allegiance to him.[13] Ubaydallah then made his way to Syria and was instrumental in getting Marwan ibn al-Hakam to take up the post of caliph instead of giving bay’ah to Abdullah ibn Al-Zubayr.

Tabari mentions, “The Basrans decided together to give authority to one of themselves to lead the prayer until an imam should be agreed upon. They appointed Abd al-Malik bin Abdallah bin Amir for a month and then they appointed Babbah, who was Abdallah bin al-Harith bin Abd al-Muttalib. He led them in prayer for two months until Umar ibn Ubaydullah bin Ma’mar came to them from Ibn Al-Zubayr.”[14] It was known by convention from the time of the Prophet ﷺ that leading the salah implied more than simply praying and was an indication of ruling powers.

Kufa

When Mu’awiya ibn Yazid died, Amr bin Hurayth was the ‘Amil (mayor) for Ubaydallah ibn Ziyad over Kufa. The people of Kufa then deposed him and gathered in the masjid saying, “Let us appoint somebody to authority until a caliph is agreed upon.”[15] Initially they chose Umar ibn Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas who was the commander sent by Ubaydallah ibn Ziyad to fight al-Hussein, but the women of Hamdan (a tribe who supported al-Hussein) came weeping for al-Hussein, and the men of Hamdan came with their swords and encircled the minbar. After some debate they chose Amir bin Masud as their governor and wrote to ibn Al-Zubayr who confirmed his appointment.[16]

Khorasan

Ubaydallah ibn Ziyad’s brother Salm ibn Ziyad, was appointed as governor over Khorasan and Sijistan by Yazid ibn Mu’awiya. Following Yazid and his son Mu’awiya’s death the army of Khorasan gave allegiance to Salm ibn Ziyad that he would remain in power until a caliph was agreed upon.[17] As happened in Basra, the people of Khorasan deposed Salm ibn Ziyad which then led to instability and fitna in the region as rival leaders such as Abdullah ibn Khazim al-Sulami rose up and fought to take power. Ibn Khazim eventually become the governor, but in 72AH he was forcibly removed by Abdul-Maik ibn Marwan.[18]

The Caliph may overturn the election result

In Kufa, the caliph Abdullah ibn Al-Zubayr confirmed the appointment of Amir bin Masud, but in Basra ibn Al-Zubayr appointed his own man Umar ibn Ubaydullah bin Ma’mar. This is the caliph’s prerogative where generally he can accept the choice of the people but maintains the power to overrule this if the benefit of Islam and Muslims demands it.

An example of where this might be required is if there is a heavily factionalised society with rival tribal groupings as occurred in Khorasan under the Umayyad Caliph Abdul-Malik ibn Marwan.

There was conflict and discord between the tribes (Muqa’is and Butan vs Tamim, Awf and Abna) in Khorasan in 72AH-74AH under its governor Bukayr bin Wishah who was from Banu Tamim. The Arab tribes in Khorasan wrote to Abdul-Malik saying that Khorasan would only recover from its disarray under the direction of a man of Quraysh, one who would be the object of neither their envy nor their partisanship.

Abd al-Malik said, “Khorasan is the frontier of the East. It has had its troubles under the governance of this Tamimi, and the troops have broken into factions. Fearing that they will return to the factionalism of the past, and that the region and its people will then be destroyed, they have asked me to appoint as governor over them a man of Quraysh, whom they would heed and obey.” He then appointed one of the Umayyads Umayyah bin Abdallah as the governor.[19]

Notes

[1] Musnad Ahmed 6647, https://shamela.ws/book/25794/5118

[2] Abu Ja`far Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari, ‘The History of Al-Tabari’, translation of Ta’rikh al-rusul wa’l-muluk, State University of New York Press, Vol. 18, p.182

[3] al-Tabari, Op.cit., Vol. 18, p.209

[4] al-Tabari, Op.cit., Vol. 20, p.49

[5] al-Tabari, Op.cit., Vol. 20, p.50

[6] al-Tabari, Op.cit., Vol. 20, p.49

[7] Ibid

[8] al-Tabari, Op.cit., Vol. 20, p.50

[9] Ibid

[10] al-Tabari, Op.cit., Vol. 20, p.48

[11] al-Tabari, Op.cit., Vol. 20, p.47

[12] al-Tabari, Op.cit., Vol.19, p.1

[13] al-Tabari, Op.cit., Vol. 20, p.7

[14] al-Tabari, Op.cit., Vol. 20, p.43