ABSTRACT
Within three years of the restoration of Umayyad control over the central provinces by Marwan II, his power and that of his dynasty were completely destroyed. The agent of destruction was a rising which, beginning in Khurasan, was carried through mainly by Khurasanis and organised by a group known as the Hashimiyya. The result was the passing of the caliphate into the possession of the ‘Abbasid family. 1
