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"And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth."[61] This dragon represents the Umayyads, who seized the reins of the religion of Muhammad; and the seven heads and seven crowns represent the seven dominions and kingdoms over which they came to rule: the Roman dominion in Syria; the Persian, the Arabian, and the Egyptian dominions; the dominion of Africa- that is, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria; the dominion of Andalusia, which is now Spain; and the dominion of the Turkish tribes of Transoxania. The Umayyads gained power over all these dominions. The ten horns represent the names of the Umayyad rulers, for, barring repetition, they are ten sovereigns, or ten names of chiefs and rulers. The first is Abú Sufyan and the last is Marvan. Some of their names have been repeated, including two Mu'aviyihs, three Yazíds, two Valíds, and two Marvans. If, however, these names are each counted only once, they number ten in total. These Umayyads- the first of whom was Abú Sufyan, the former chief of Mecca and founder of the dynasty, and the last of whom was Marvan- destroyed a third of the holy and sanctified souls who descended from the pure lineage of Muhammad and who were even as the stars of heaven.
(13:6)
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