the rival caliph

here's a story about the most interesting period in Muslim history.
its a historical fiction based on real events:

The year is 73 After Hijra.
Its been 63 years since the Prophet died.
The rule of the Khalifa is firmly established in Egypt, Syria, and Persia.
And armies are poised to go eastward towards India and westward towards the Sahara

On a hill outside of a city, in a valley surrounded by dessert, a man and his young son dressed in white sit peacefully looking out at the graceful sand dunes. "SubhanAllah," he whispers to himself, "glory be to Allah," as he bears witness to the beauty of God's creation. Out in the distance, on the road that leads to to Medina, he sees a rider approaching on horseback kicking up a large trail of sand and dust. "He must be a messenger. He is coming towards the city at great speed. There must be some important information for the Khalifa," the father says to his son.

On the outskirts of the city, the rider races past groups of men dressed in the uniforms of the Khalifa's army. They are gathered together in their tribes with supplies being distributed. the commanders of these group are wearing a different color turbans than the rest. One of them calms his soldiers down,"Relax, that was a horse from the Khalifa's stable! There must be important news from Medina."

Inside the city, the call to prayer is being said for the Sunset prayer. the rider slows down as he passes groups of people dressed in white going the same direction that he is. The men in the group wear two white sheets, one wrapped around the lower body and another draped over the shoulder. They are all heading towards a large building in the center of town. "I guess the Khalifa is at the Sacred Mosque. That rider looked like one of his messengers," says one of the men to his wife. "I pray to God that everything is all right, he looked very upset," she replies.

The horse comes to a stop at one of the many doors to the Sacred Mosque. The messenger ties his horse to the post and enters the mosque uttering a short prayer in arabic. He is looking downward as he crosses the threshold, making sure that his right foot enters first. He looks up, and in front of him is the new rectangular building in the center of the mosque courtyard draped in a new cloth with arabic calligraphy. "Salam Alaykum," he says as he walks into mosque. "Wa Laykum asSalam," says an old man sitting nearby, looking up from his Qur'an and replying to the greeting of peace. The old man notices the troubled look on the messenger's face and says, "Oh it's not that bad young man, you know the Rasul said that if he had the chance, he would have expanded the Kaba onto the foundations of Prophet Ibrahim's original mosque. The Khalifa did a good thing here." "I'm not bothered by that sir, I worry about what might happen if the Banu Ummaya reach us again. Please pray for us," the messenger says, as he looks around scanning the mosque for any sign that the Khalifa is present. The old man nods yes and returns to reading his Qur'an.

The messenger walks into the courtyard and heads towards the usual place where the Khalifa sat with his ministers before they offered the Sunset prayers. As he comes close he hears a voice say from behind, "What news from Medina?" It is Khalifa Abdullah Ibn Zubayr. The fist length white hair on his beard are still wet as he returns from doing his wudu. "Sir, our army has retreated from the front lines. The Bedouin tribes that were going to help defend the city are surrendering. They have learned that Hajaj himself is commanding the invading army. The stories told by Iraqi refugees in the city have scared them. What do you command me to do, sir?" The Khalifa does not react to the bad news. And as the call to stand for prayer is made by the Muazzen, he looks into his messengers eyes and gives a reassuring smile. "Its time for Salah. Lets go pray Maghrib first, then we plan our defense of Mecca." As they walk towards the lines of worshippers circling the Kaba, the Khalifa says, "You were just a little boy when Banu Ummaya tried to invade us the last time, it back when I was elected Khalifa..."

flashback:
13 years ago, in the year 60 after hijra.

introduction-
The Khalifa Muawiya, who had ruled the Muslim ummah for 20 years had been sick and there were rumors floating around of his death. Muawiya had appointed a governor for Medina from among his clan, the Banu Ummaya and had made Damascus his capital. In his last visit to Medina he had asked his governor to gather the notable of the second generation and whoever remained of the Rasul's companions, and wanted them to pledge allegiance to his son Yazid as the next Khalifa. They had dismissed Muawiyas request and the Khalifa had returned to the Ummaya base of support in Syria to plan for his son to become his successor with or without them. Not much time had elapsed since this incident.

Inside the old Masjid Nabawi, amidst the palm trunk columns in the oldest parts of the mosque sat two groups of men. One group was around Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. In other group sat Abdullah ibn Zubayr, the first child born in Medina to the Muhajireen community from Mecca. Both Husayn and Abdullah father's were the Prophet's first cousins. Husayn's mother was the Prophet's daughter Fatima, and Abdullah's mother was AbuBakr's daughter Asma. By 60 AH the two of them had grown into the leaders of the 2nd generation Muslims of Medina.

A man entered the mosque and gave each of them a message, "the Governer summons you to the government house immediately to discuss an important matter." He conveyed the message and then left. Abdullah got up and walked over to Husayn and sat down next to him and said,"What do you think the governor wants?" "I don't know, maybe Muawiya really is dead and he wants us to give allegiance to Yazid." replied Husayn. "Are you going to go?" asked Abdullah. "yes, I want to see what he has to say." replied Husayn. Abdullah then said, "I'm not going to go, and I don't think you should either, we should get out of here. Since we don't plan on giving allegiance to Yazid we should go to Mecca. We can be protected at the Kaba." Saying this Abdullah got up, went back to his companions and left the mosque to make preparations to leave the city as soon as possible. Husayn got up and prepared his companions for the meeting with the governor...

chapter 1: meeting with the governor
chapter 2: Husayn to Karbala
chapter 3: IbnZubayr in Mecca
chapter 4: the rise of Marwan
chapter 5: the man named Hajaj
Final chapter: the defence of Mecca