Qualla: Siege of Mecca (683) https://qualla.com/siege-of-mecca-683 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:29 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/3/siege-of-mecca-683-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Siege of Mecca (683) https://qualla.com/siege-of-mecca-683 Siege of Mecca (683): Introduction https://qualla.com/siege-of-mecca-683/ Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. On September 24, 683, the army of the Umayyad Caliph Yazid I placed Mecca under siege and began throwing stones at it with catapults. On Sunday, October 31, fire caught in the wooden covering erected to protect the Kaaba, burned through it, and cracked the Black Stone into three pieces. Sixty-four days into the siege, on November 26, news arrived that Yazid had died in Damascus. The Umayyad army went home. The Kaaba, most sacred site in Islam, would need to be rebuilt. The civil war it was part of, the Second Fitna, would grind on for another nine years.

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/3/siege-of-mecca-683-wp/sgu3-siege-of-mecca-683-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Siege of Mecca (683): The Fitna Begins https://qualla.com/siege-of-mecca-683/ Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. When the founder of the Umayyad Caliphate, Mu'awiya I, died in 680, he left the caliphate to his son Yazid. The hereditary succession was not universally accepted, least of all by the old Medinan elite. Two men fled Medina to avoid swearing allegiance to Yazid: Husayn ibn Ali, gr...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/3/siege-of-mecca-683-wp/sgu3-siege-of-mecca-683-the-fitna-begins.mp3 0:06 2 full Siege of Mecca (683): Medina Rebels https://qualla.com/siege-of-mecca-683/ Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Medinan aristocracy, never fond of the Umayyads, regarded Yazid as dissolute and unfit for the caliphate. Their economic interests had been squeezed by Mu'awiya's agricultural projects around the city. They expelled the Umayyad family members, roughly 1,000 of them including ...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/3/siege-of-mecca-683-wp/sgu3-siege-of-mecca-683-medina-rebels.mp3 0:06 3 full Siege of Mecca (683): Catapults on the Sanctuary https://qualla.com/siege-of-mecca-683/ Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. When the Umayyad army arrived before Mecca in September 683, Ibn al-Zubayr had company. Many refugees from al-Harra had fled south. The commander of the Qurayshite forces at al-Harra, Abd Allah ibn Muti, played a leading role in the defense. The pro-Alid leader Mukhtar al-Thaqafi...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/3/siege-of-mecca-683-wp/sgu3-siege-of-mecca-683-catapults-on-the-sanctuary.mp3 0:06 4 full Siege of Mecca (683): The Day the Kaaba Burned https://qualla.com/siege-of-mecca-683/ Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. On Sunday, October 31, 683, the Kaaba caught fire. The wooden covering burned, and so did the cube beneath it, reducing the most sacred structure in Islam to rubble. The sacred Black Stone cracked into three pieces. The responsibility for the fire is contested in the sources. Man...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/3/siege-of-mecca-683-wp/sgu3-siege-of-mecca-683-the-day-the-kaaba-burned.mp3 0:06 5 full Siege of Mecca (683): Yazid Dies, the Siege Ends https://qualla.com/siege-of-mecca-683/ Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. Yazid I died on November 11, 683, in circumstances that were sudden and, to the Umayyad court at Damascus, catastrophic. News reached the besiegers on November 26. Husayn ibn Numayr opened negotiations. The Umayyad authority had effectively collapsed in the provinces, and shaky e...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/3/siege-of-mecca-683-wp/sgu3-siege-of-mecca-683-yazid-dies-the-siege-ends.mp3 0:06 6 full Siege of Mecca (683): Rebuilding and a Second Siege https://qualla.com/siege-of-mecca-683/ Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. After the Umayyad retreat, Ibn al-Zubayr began rebuilding the Kaaba. Most Meccans, led by Ibn Abbas, initially left the city fearing divine retribution at the sight of the sacred house torn down. Only when Ibn al-Zubayr himself began demolishing the burned remains did they return...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/3/siege-of-mecca-683-wp/sgu3-siege-of-mecca-683-rebuilding-and-a-second-siege.mp3 0:06 7 full