Ibn Masʿūd, ʿAlī, and Ibn ʿAbbās.
He then asked, “And what did Ibn ʿAbbās say about it? He was, indeed, a thorough investigator. (1)”
I replied, “He treated the grandfather as the father, allotted one-third to the mother, and left the sister with nothing.”
He said, “And what did the Commander of the Believers—meaning ʿUthmān—decide?”
I answered, “He divided the estate into three equal shares.”
He said, “What did Zayd rule?”
I replied, “He made it nine shares: three for the mother, four for the grandfather, and two for the sister.”
He said, “And what did Ibn Masʿūd say?”
I replied, “He reckoned it as six shares—three to the sister, one to the mother, and two to the grandfather.”
He said, “And what did Abū Turāb say?”
I replied, “He also calculated six shares, giving three to the sister, two to the mother, and one to the grandfather.”
He said, “Instruct the judge to enforce it according to the ruling of the Commander of the Believers, ʿUthmān.” At that moment the chamberlain entered and said, “Envoys are waiting at the door.”
“Admit them,” he ordered.
They entered with their turbans tied around their waists, swords slung over their shoulders, and letters in their right hands. A man from Banū Sulaym named Siyābah ibn ʿĀṣim stepped forward. He (al-Ḥajjāj) asked, “Where have you come from?”
“From Syria,” he replied.
“How is the Commander of the Believers? How are his attendants?”
He then asked, “Did you leave any rain behind you?”
“Yes,” he said, “three clouds showered the ground between me and the Commander of the Believers.”
“Describe them to me,” he said.
He replied, “A cloud overtook me in Ḥawrān; small drops fell together with large ones, the larger seeming to provide meat for the smaller. Then came a thick, uninterrupted torrent—the drenching downpour (2) you have heard about—one valley in full flood while another lay parched (3), one tract of land facing it and another turning away. Then a cloud met me at Sawāʾ—or, he said, at the Two Villages (4); ʿĪsā was uncertain—and it packed down the soft earth,