judgment concerning my own life.”

He fought on until he was killed, and the people inside the palace then gave themselves up. Musʿab sent ʿAbbād ibn Ḥuṣayn to them; he would drag them out in fetters and put them to death.

One of the prisoners said to Musʿab ibn al-Zubayr, “Praise be to Allah, Who has tried us with captivity and tried you with pardoning. There are two stations: one earns Allah’s pleasure, the other His anger. Whoever shows clemency, Allah will show him clemency; whoever kills cannot be sure of retribution. We pray toward your qiblah and follow your religion; we are not Turks or Daylamites. We fought our brothers just as the Syrians once fought one another and then made peace. You now possess power—so be magnanimous.”

Musʿab’s heart softened and he was about to spare them, but ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ashʿath leapt up and said, “Choose—either us or them!”

Another man cried out, “My father was slain among 500 men of Hamdān, and you would let these people go?!”

Al-Mukhtār’s severed hand was then nailed to the side of the mosque.

Isḥāq ibn Saʿīd relates from his father:

Musʿab once visited Ibn ʿUmar and said, “Uncle, I wish to ask about a group who broke their allegiance and fought us. When they were overpowered they barricaded themselves, asked for safe-conduct, were granted it, and were then killed.”

Ibn ʿUmar asked, “How many were they?”

“5,000,” Musʿab replied.

Ibn ʿUmar glorified Allah and said, “Musʿab! If a man went to al-Zubayr’s flock and in a single morning slaughtered 5,000 sheep, would you not call him wasteful?”

“Yes,” he answered.

Ibn ʿUmar said, “You judge that extravagance with animals, yet you killed people who professed Allah’s oneness. Was there not among them someone coerced, or an ignorant soul whose repentance could be hoped for? Pour, my nephew, as much cold water as you can over yourself in this world.”

Al-Mukhtār had greatly honored Ibn ʿUmar, regularly sending him money, and Ibn ʿUmar was married to Ṣafiyyah, al-Mukhtār’s sister.

Al-Mukhtār was raised in Medina and was known for his sympathy toward the Banū Hāshim. Later he went to Baṣrah, publicly invoking Ḥusayn’s memory during the reign of Muʿāwiyah. ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyād heard of this, seized him, flogged him 100 lashes, wrapped him in a coarse cloak, and banished him to al-Ṭāʾif.

When Ibn al-Zubayr sought sanctuary in the Sacred House, al-Mukhtār went out to join him.