Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr
In 683 the Umayyad caliph Yazid I died and was succeeded by his teenage son Mu'awiya II, who died weeks after his accession. With no suitable successors among the descendants of Yazid, Umayyad authority collapsed across the Caliphate amid the leadership vacuum in the Umayyad capital Damascus. In the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, neither Yazid nor his son had been recognized as legitimate caliphs and after Yazid's death, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, based in Mecca, was recognized instead. Ibn al-Zubayr’s sovereignty soon extended to most of the Caliphate's provinces and he appointed his brother Mus'ab as governor of Iraq.