five hundred each, and their conversion to Islam proved sound.(1)

They dealt their own people severe blows in battle; it even reached the point that, when they laid siege to a fortress which resisted them, one of them came under cover of night and threw himself against its gate,(2) smearing his clothes with blood. The defenders, thinking he was one of their own, opened the gate to shelter him. He then leapt upon the gate-keeper and killed him, brought the rest of his comrades, opened the fortress, and slew the Magians inside—along with other astonishing exploits. Allah guides whom He wills to a straight path.

Ibn Jarīr(3) relates that ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb unfurled the standards and great banners in Khurasan and Iraq for the invasion of Persia and the expansion of Muslim rule there, acting on the counsel of al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays. As a result, many conquests were achieved in the following year, as we shall explain and draw attention to—in gratitude to Allah, the Possessor of bounty and favor.

He further said: In this same year the Commander of the Believers, ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, led the people in the pilgrimage; he then listed his deputies over the provinces—the same men named for the previous year, except that Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī now governed Basra in place of al-Mughīrah.

I say: In this year there were deaths of certain individuals whom others claimed had died earlier—whom we have already mentioned—and yet others said they died later; their mention will come in its proper place, and Allah, exalted is He, knows best.

[Then the year 18 AH began.]

The well-known position held by the majority is that the plague of ʿAmwās occurred this year. We have followed Suf ibn ʿUmar and Ibn Jarīr in recording it for the previous year, yet we shall nevertheless note in this year, if Allah wills, those who died in the plague.

Ibn Isḥāq and Abū Maʿshar said: In this year occurred the plague of ʿAmwās and the “Year of the Ashes,” in both of which people perished in great numbers.

I say: During the Year of the Ashes a drought enveloped the land of the Hijaz and the people suffered grievous hunger; we have detailed this in the life of ʿUmar. It was named the “Year of the Ashes” because the earth blackened from the scarcity of rain until its color resembled ashes. It is also said that the name arose because the wind would drive dust like ashes.(4) It may have been called so for both reasons,(5) and Allah knows best.

That same year the people of the Hijaz were struck by famine, and the Bedouin(6) tribes converged upon Madinah until none of them retained any provisions. They sought refuge with the Commander of the Believers, who spent on them from the stores of the Public Treasury—its foodstuffs and its funds.