This time power was contested between Muawiya’s son and designated heir, Yazid, and Ali’s surviving younger son, Husayn. When Muawiya announced his intention to hand the caliphate on to his son, Husayn refused to take an oath of allegiance. He set out on a long march of protest, from Arabia toward Iraq, and on his way was killed in a desert skirmish; he was decapitated and his head sent as a trophy to Damascus. Once more, the Umayyads had triumphed. While this bloody piece of theater ensured the Umayyads’ survival, it also cemented a schism within Islam that has survived for more than thirteen
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