When the news of al-Zubayr’s death arrived, even … the ramparts of Medina and the awe-struck mountains bowed low.⦗1⦘

Al-Bukhari and others report that he was killed in the month of Rajab, in the year 36 AH.

Wadi al-Sibaʿ is seven parasangs from Basra.

Al-Waqidi and Ibn Numayr said that he was sixty-four years old when he was killed, while others maintained that he was in his mid-fifties, and that view is the more likely.

Al-Qaḥdhamī said: His wives were Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr, ʿĀtika—sister of Saʿīd ibn Zayd—Umm Khālid bint Khālid ibn Saʿīd, and Umm Muṣʿab al-Kalbiyya.

Ibn al-Madini related: I heard Sufyān say that Ibn Jurmuz came to Musʿab ibn al-Zubayr—after Musʿab had been made governor of Iraq by his brother, the caliph ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr—and said, “Apply the law of retaliation upon me for (killing) al-Zubayr.”

Musʿab wrote to consult Ibn al-Zubayr about the matter. The reply came back: “Shall I kill Ibn Jurmuz for al-Zubayr? He is not worth even the thong of his sandal.”

I (the author) say: That wretch wrung his hands in remorse for the murder and sought forgiveness—unlike the slayers of Talhah, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī.

Al-Zubayr: ʿAlī ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated to me, from ʿĀmir ibn Ṣāliḥ, from Musālim ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, that ʿUmayr ibn Jurmuz came, placed his hand in Musʿab’s, whereupon Musʿab imprisoned him and wrote to his brother about the case. His brother wrote back: “What an evil thing you have done! Do you think I would execute a Bedouin to avenge al-Zubayr? Let him go.”

So Musʿab released him, and he withdrew to a fortress in the Sawād, upon it