while he was preaching to the people about that from this very pulpit, and on that day I had already reached puberty. He said: “Fāṭimah is a part of me, and I fear that she may be tried in her religion.” He then mentioned a son-in-law of his from the clan of Banū ʿAbd Shams, praising the way he had entered into marriage with him and speaking well of him, saying: “He spoke to me and told the truth, he promised me and kept his word. I do not make lawful what is forbidden, nor do I forbid what is lawful; but—by Allah!—the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and the daughter of the enemy of Allah will never share the same household.” (1)

From this it is clear that al-Miswar was already a grown man at that time.

ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yazīd said: Ibn al-Zubayr would not take any decision in Mecca without consulting al-Miswar.

Abū ʿAwn reported: When al-Ḥuṣayn ibn Numayr advanced to besiege Mecca, al-Miswar brought out weapons and coats of mail that he had carried from Medina and distributed them among his hardy, horse-mounted freedmen. When the fighting began, they closed ranks around him and then pulled back, while al-Miswar was striking with his sword and Ibn al-Zubayr was in the very first line.

Those freedmen of al-Miswar killed a number of the Syrians.

It was said that a catapult-stone struck him; a fragment split off from it (2) and hit al-Miswar on the cheek while he was praying. He fell ill and died on the very day the news of Yazīd’s death arrived. (3)

Umm Bakr said: I used to see pieces of bone being removed from his cheek.

He lingered for five days and then died.

Another report says that the stone struck him, he was carried off unconscious, and he remained for a day without speaking, then