The third fitna: Orthodoxy, heresy and coercion in late Umayyad history.

This dissertation describes the events surrounding the third fitna, the last Umayyad civil war, paying particular attention to the influence of religious agendas and sectarian groups in this conflict. It argues that the Umayyad caliphs were active participants in doctrinal debates and that the regime was not essentially secular, but rather attempted to impose its doctrinal views and establish them as orthodoxy. The study begins with a critique of past scholarship on the late Umayyad period which suggests that the third fitna has generally been ignored or misinterpreted. Drawing on analyses of early European campaigns against heresy, a framework for examining the regime's involvement in religious conflicts is proposed. The next chapter provides a general narrative of the events of the third fitna and its background, emphasizing historiographical problems and comparing the interpretive glosses evident in later sources. After a description of the Umayyad regime's doctrinal views, the dissertation focuses on Umayyad patronage for scholars who shared their views and their appointment of qadis who supported the regime's doctrinal program. The discussion then turns to the regime's confrontations with dissenters and heretics who would not accept the regime's doctrinal dictates. The dissertation argues that the apparent rise in heresy in the late Umayyad period was not the product of fragmentation within, the regime, but rather a response to the regime's increasingly intrusive religious policies. The conclusion assesses the impact the regime's attempts to establish orthodoxy had on the third fitna itself, suggesting that religious differences were at the heart of this conflict.PhDMiddle Eastern historyPhilosophy, Religion and TheologyReligious historySocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/130743/2/9811109.pd