Marwan II
Abbasid pursuers kill Marwan II at Busir in Egypt
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗In one account preserved by al-Tabari, the man who cut off Marwan’s head had previously sold pomegranates in Kufa.
Found sheltering in a church
In early August 750 — rendered as 6 August by one chronology and 5 August by another — an Abbasid vanguard pursuing the fugitive Umayyad caliph found Marwan II sheltering at a church in Busir, attacked near the end of the night, and killed him after he emerged with a small group of followers.
Al-Tabari names Amir ibn Ismail al-Harithi and Shubah ibn Kathir al-Mazini as the officers sent forward by Abu Awn. One report says an unidentified Basran struck Marwan first and a Kufan pomegranate seller then cut off his head.
A head passed along a chain
Marwan’s head went from Amir ibn Ismail to Abu Awn, then to Salih ibn Ali, and was finally dispatched to the Abbasid caliph al-Saffah, who was not present at Busir.
Salih returned to Fustat and left Abu Awn in command in Egypt, completing the immediate replacement of Umayyad authority there by Abbasid government. Separate Umayyad resistance at Wasit had not yet surrendered.
Which day, and which village
The Common Era date is inconsistent. The SUNY translation of al-Tabari gives Sunday, three days before the end of Dhu al-Hijjah 132 AH, rendered as 6 August 750; the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi converts 26 Dhu al-Hijjah 132 to 5 August. Early August 750 is the safest conclusion.
Busir was the immediate location, described variously as in Upper Egypt, in the Fayyum region, or near the entrance to the Fayyum — “at Faiyum” loses that precision.
Al-Tabari also preserves multiple reports about who delivered the fatal blow, so the commander of the party is clearer than the identity of Marwan’s killer.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes Date disputed
How this was checked
Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →
Date disputed. Sources disagree about when this happened.
What the sources leave uncertain
- The exact Common Era date is inconsistent: the SUNY translation of al-Tabari gives 6 August, while the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi converts 26 Dhu al-Hijjah 132 to 5 August. The safest conclusion is early August 750.
- Busir/Buṣir was the immediate location. Sources variously describe it as in Upper Egypt, in the Fayyum region, or near the entrance to the Fayyum; simply saying “at Faiyum” loses this precision.
- Al-Tabari preserves multiple reports about the individual who delivered the fatal blow, so the commander of the party is clearer than the identity of Marwan’s actual killer.