The death of the Umayyad Caliph Hishām in 743 provokes a rebellion in the east after he is succeeded by Al-Walid II, the son of Yazid II.

Al-Walid is reported to have been more interested in earthly pleasures than in religion, a reputation that may be confirmed by the decoration of the so-called "desert palaces" (including Qusayr Amra and Khirbat al-Mafjar, aka Hisham's Palace) that have been attributed to him.

Walid, jealous of Sulayman's popularity, had had him flogged and imprisoned, an act which has aroused considerable opposition and cost Walid much of the initial good will that he had enjoyed at his accession.

He had quickly attracted the enmity of many, both by executing a number of those who had opposed his accession, and by persecuting the Qadariyya, a theological movement in early Islam which holds that man was endowed by God with free will.

Qadariyya resists the Umayyad Caliphs' claims to be ordained rulers of all Muslims by God himself.

Yazid has spoken out against the "immorality" of his cousin, Caliph al-Walid, which includes discrimination on behalf of the Banu Qays Arabs against Yemenis and non-Arab Muslims.

Yazid receives further support from the Qadariya and Murji'iya (believers in human free will).

Yazid slips into Damascus and deposes Walid in a coup in spring 744, following this up with a disbursement of funds from the treasury.

His army tracks down and kills al-Walid II.

The Arabs of the region around Homs, still loyal to Walid, rise up and march on Damascus with the intention of installing as caliph a descendant of the Sufyanid branch of the Umayyad clan, Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani, but Sulayman is released from prison and defeats them.

Yazid III has received a certain reputation for piety, and may have been sympathetic to the Qadariyya.

After a mere six months into his reign, he falls ill of a brain tumor and dies on October 3 or 4, 744.

Yazid had named his brother Ibrahim as his successor.

The powerful and ambitious governor of northern Mesopotamia (Jazira), Marwan ibn Muhammad, the grandson of Marwan I, had decided to oppose Yazid III, and even though he had later given allegiance to Yazid, on the early death of that caliph, Marwan had continued his own ambitions.

Ibrahim only rules for a short time in 744 before he abdicates, and goes into hiding out of fear of his political opponents.

Initially, Marwan does not claim the caliphate for himself, but proclaims his intention to restore the throne to the two imprisoned sons of Walid II.

Marwan's advance is met south of Baalbek by Sulayman with the Dhakwāniyya, his personal army, 5,000 or more strong, maintained from his own funds and estates but recruited mostly from the mawālī (non-Arab Muslims).

In the ensuing battle, Marwan is victorious.

Sulayman retreats to Damascus, where he orders the execution of Walid II's sons, and then flees, together with Ibrahim, to Palmyra.

Marwan, supported mostly by the Qasi of the Jazira and northern Syria, leads an army from the northern frontier and enters Damascus in December 744, where he is proclaimed caliph.

Soon, Ibrahim and Sulayman come before Marwan and surrender themselves.

Ibrahim, having requested and been granted Marwan's assurance of personal safety, travels with Marwan to former Caliph Hisham's residence at Rusafah in Syria.

Marwan immediately moves the capital north to …

…Harran, in present-day Turkey.

The new caliph has succeeded in gaining control of Damascus and Syria, but elsewhere his authority ranges from theoretical to nonexistent.

In Iraq, this turmoil spills over in the form of a struggle between Yazid III's governor Abdallah ibn Umar and Marwan's appointee, al-Nadr ibn Sa'id al-Harashi.

This conflict has allowed the Kharijites, a Muslim sect which had originated in Mesopotamia, to rise up.

This revolt was initially led by Sa'id ibn Bahdal, but he died soon of the plague, and has been succeeded by Al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani, who quickly assembles a sizable army, and manages to defeat the two rival governors, who had joined forces, in April/May 745.

In the aftermath of their defeat, al-Harashi returns to Marwan and Abdallah ibn Umar retreats to the fortress of Wasit, where he is soon besieged.

In August, however, ibn Umar gives himself up, and, in an unprecedented act for a member of the Umayyad dynasty and of the Prophet's own Quraysh tribe, does homage to Dahhak, who is neither and who has by now been declared caliph by his followers.

Marwan, after crushing the Syrian revolt in 745, forms an army of Syrian troops to send into Iraq, but they rebel on their way and accept Sulayman as their leader.

The rebel army takes Qinnasrin, but are soon after defeated by Marwan.

Although much of his army survives and withdraws to …

…Homs under the command of his brother Sa'id (where they are soon besieged by Marwan's forces), Sulayman flees from Homs to …

…Palmyra, then to …

…Kufa, where he enters the service of al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani, the leader of the Mesopotamian Kharijites who, taking advantage of Marwan's preoccupation with the prolonged siege of Homs, has claimed the caliphate.

Kufa, now occupied by Dahhak's forces, has become his seat, while ibn Umar has been named named governor of Wasit, eastern Iraq and western Persia.

Dahhak's generosity in rewarding his followers, as well as the attractiveness of Kharijite doctrine, quickly swells his rank further, until his army is said to have reached one hundred and twenty thousand men.

The destruction of Arab forces in Anatolia in 740 has furthered the decline of the Umayyads.

Constantine reinvades Syria in 745, conquering additional territory as feuds between the Qays and the Kalb erupt into major revolts in Syria, Iraq, and Khorasan.

(The rivalry between Qais and the Banu Kalb, which has extended to the "North Arab" [Qais-led] versus "South Arab" or "Yemeni" [Kalb-led] tribal supergroups, had become firmly established after the Battle of Marj Rahit [684].)

Marwan names his two sons Ubaydallah and Abdallah heirs.

He appoints governors and proceeds to assert his authority by force.

However, anti-Umayyad feeling is very prevalent, especially in Iran and Iraq, where the Abbasids have gained much support.

As such, Marwan's reign as caliph will be almost entirely devoted to trying to keep the Umayyad empire together.

Marwan, taking Homs in early 746 after a bitter ten-month siege, razes the walls of the city, then …