and he said to him:
“March; if you find the Banū Hāshim still alive, stand beside them as a helper and carry out whatever they command you. But if you find that Ibn al-Zubayr has killed them, bar the people of Mecca until you reach Ibn al-Zubayr, and then do not spare the family of al-Zubayr—leave them neither hair (1) nor nail.”
He also said, “O soldiers of Allah, Allah has honoured you with this expedition; for this single march you shall have the reward of ten ḥajj and ten ʿumrah.”
They travelled on until they came within sight of Mecca, where a man seeking help met them, crying, “Hurry, for I do not think you will reach them in time!” Eight hundred men at once volunteered, led by ʿAṭiyyah ibn Saʿd al-ʿAwfī. They entered Mecca and proclaimed “Allāhu akbar!” so loudly that Ibn al-Zubayr heard it; he fled to the Dār al-Nadwah—some say he clung to the curtains of the Kaʿbah—saying, “I seek refuge with Allah.”
ʿAṭiyyah said: “We then went to Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah and their companions, who were in houses around which firewood had been heaped until it was level with the tops of the walls; had a spark struck it, not one of them would have survived. We dragged the wood back from the doorways. ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās—already a grown man—hurried through the logs to get out, and they cut his feet so that he bled.
“The followers of Ibn al-Zubayr then advanced, and we and they formed two ranks in the mosque all that day and night, not withdrawing even for prayer until morning. Al-Jadalī arrived with the main force, and we said to Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, ‘Let us rid the people of Ibn al-Zubayr.’
“They replied, ‘This is a land Allah has made sacred; He permitted none to fight in it except His Prophet for one hour. So shield us and grant us safe-conduct.’
“So they moved off, while a herald called out from the mountain, ‘No detachment after its Prophet ever took booty like that taken by this one; a detachment usually wins gold and silver, whereas you have taken our blood!’
“They led the two men out and lodged them at Minā, where they stayed for some time. They then proceeded to al-Ṭāʾif, and there Ibn ʿAbbās died; Muḥammad offered the funeral prayer over him, and we remained with him.
“When the time for ḥajj came, Muḥammad arrived with his followers and stood for the rites, while Najdah ibn ʿĀmir al-Ḥanafī with the Khārijites remained apart, and the Banū Umayyah performed the pilgrimage under one banner, halting at ʿArafah (2).”