He kept visiting Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, and people would hear from him things they found objectionable.
When Yazīd died, Mukhtār asked Ibn al-Zubayr for permission to go to Iraq. Ibn al-Zubayr trusted him, approved the request, and wrote to his governor there, ʿAbd Allah ibn Muṭīʿ, recommending that he look after Mukhtār. Mukhtār therefore became a frequent caller on Ibn Muṭīʿ.
Before long he began, in secret, to denigrate Ibn al-Zubayr while praising Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah and calling the people to give their allegiance to him. He started to stir up trouble against Ibn Muṭīʿ, plotting and lying, and he enticed a group to his side; the Shiʿah gathered around him. Ibn Muṭīʿ grew afraid of him and fled Kūfa, leaving Mukhtār firmly in control. Mukhtār then urged Ibn al-Zubayr to pledge allegiance to Muḥammad Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah. When he refused, Mukhtār laid siege to him, tightened the pressure, and threatened him. The Shiʿah were distressed on his account and forced Mukhtār back to Mecca.
Afterward Ibn al-Zubayr sent him, together with Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah, to oversee the land-tax of Kūfa. Mukhtār arrived to find the Shiʿah already in ferment, clamoring for vengeance, under the leadership of Sulaymān ibn Ṣurad.
Mukhtār set about corrupting them, declaring, “I have come on behalf of the Mahdī, the son of the Legatee”—meaning Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah. A great many people followed him, and he said, “Sulaymān can achieve nothing; he is only casting people into destruction and knows nothing of warfare.”
ʿUmar ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ grew apprehensive. ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazīd al-Khaṭmī, Ibn al-Zubayr’s deputy, together with Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad, went to Sulaymān ibn Ṣurad and said:
“You are the dearest people of our city to us. Do not deprive us of yourselves, and do not diminish our numbers by marching out. Wait until we are prepared.”
Ibn Ṣurad replied, “We have set out for a purpose and see no course for ourselves but to press on.”
He therefore advanced, every man with him determined to die. They passed by al-Ḥusayn’s grave, wept, stayed there a day, and prayed, “O Lord, we abandoned him—so forgive us and turn toward us in mercy.”
They then halted at Qarqīsiyā, and battle was joined at ʿAyn al-Wardah. Ibn Ṣurad and most of the Penitents were killed. ʿUbayd Allah fell ill in al-Jazīrah and spent a year preoccupied with that and with fighting its inhabitants, laying siege to Mosul.
As for Mukhtār, he was jailed for a time; after his release the people of Kūfa fought him, and he killed Rifāʿah ibn Shaddād, ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿd, and several others. Nonetheless he gained mastery over Kūfa, and they fled from him—