Al-Fasawī said: He approached Hishām about a debt, but Hishām refused him and spoke to him harshly.

ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus reported: The Rāfiḍah (the Rejecters) came to Zayd and said, “Repudiate Abū Bakr and ʿUmar and we will support you.” He replied, “Rather, I profess loyalty to them both.” They said, “In that case we reject you,” and from that moment they were called Rāfiḍah.

As for the Zaydiyyah, they accepted his stance and fought alongside him.

Ismāʿīl al-Suddī narrated from him that he said: “The Rāfiḍah were our party, but they broke away from us.”

It is said that when Hishām shouted at him and called him a liar, Zayd remarked, “Whoever clings to life will be humiliated.”

He also recited:
“Indeed, the one who rules yet fails to foresee envy
and does not dread the sword or the stabbing spear will cry out.
Whoever seeks refuge in the sword gains a wondrous escape:
either a hasty death, or—if he lives—he wins his due.”

He lived a little over forty years and was killed on the second of Ṣafar, 122 AH—may Allah have mercy on him.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr al-ʿAtakī transmitted from Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim, who said: “I saw the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, as though he were leaning against the crucifixion stake of Zayd ibn ʿAlī, saying, ‘Is this what you will do to my children?!’ ”

ʿAbbād al-Rawājini related: ʿAmr ibn al-Qāsim told us, “I entered upon Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq while some Rāfiḍah were with him. I said, ‘They disown your uncle Zayd.’ He replied, ‘May Allah disown anyone who disowns him! By Allah, he was the most learned among us in the Book of Allah, the most insightful concerning the religion of Allah, and the most dutiful in maintaining family ties. He left us, and none of us was his equal.’ ”

Hāshim ibn al-Barīd narrated from Zayd ibn ʿAlī that he said, “Abū Bakr—may Allah be pleased with him—was the leader of the grateful.” He then recited, “And Allah will reward the grateful” (Qur’an 3:144), and added, “To renounce Abū Bakr is to renounce ʿAlī.”

Muʿādh ibn Asad said: “A son of Khālid al-Qaṣrī prevailed over Zayd ibn ʿAlī …”