I endured and did not lose heart, though my brothers have died;
Yet never for a single day could I endure the ṣaḥbāʾ (wine). (1)

The Commander of the Believers hurled it to its death,
And now its companions weep beside the wine-presses. (2)

Al-Waqidī (3) and others report that in this same year, during Dhū al-Ḥijjah, ʿUmar moved the maqām (the Station of Abraham). It had been attached to the wall of the Kaʿbah, but he set it back to its present position so that those praying there would not disturb those performing ṭawāf.

I have already cited the chains of transmission for this in the Life of ʿUmar—praise and bounty belong to Allah.

He also said: In this year ʿUmar appointed Shurayḥ as judge over Kūfah and Kaʿb ibn Sūr over Basrah.

He further said: In this year ʿUmar led the pilgrimage with the people, and his deputies were the same as those mentioned for the previous year.

In the same year al-Raqqah, al-Ruhā, and Ḥarrān were conquered by ʿIyāḍ ibn Ghanm.

He continued: Raʾs ʿAyn al-Wardah (4) was likewise taken by ʿUmar ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, though others report otherwise.

Our teacher, the ḥadīth-master al-Dhahabī, said in his History (5): “In this very year Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī captured al-Ruhā and Sumaysāṭ (6) by force. Early in the year Abū ʿUbaydah dispatched ʿIyāḍ ibn Ghanm to al-Jazīrah; he met up with Abū Mūsā, and together they took Ḥarrān, Naṣībīn, and several towns of the region by force—though some say by treaty. Later ʿIyāḍ marched to Mosul, which he and its environs conquered by force. In the same year Saʿd built the congregational mosque of Kūfah.”

Al-Waqidī also said: In this year the plague of ʿAmwās broke out, causing twenty-five thousand deaths.

I comment: This plague is named after a small town called ʿAmwās—located between Jerusalem and Ramla—because the illness first appeared there before spreading throughout Syria; hence it was attributed to that place. Truly we belong to Allah and to Him we return.

Al-Waqidī further stated: In the year of the plague of ʿAmwās, twenty-five thousand Muslims died in Syria; others put the figure at thirty thousand.

Here follows mention of some of their notable figures (may Allah be pleased with them):

Al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām (7), the brother of Abū Jahl. He embraced Islam on the Day of the Conquest and retained, within Islam, the same noble leadership he had formerly enjoyed