Each day they would strike the lock, whereupon they would hear a tremendous, terrifying noise; from this they understood that behind the gate there were guards (1) and sentinels. Close to the gate stand two enormous fortresses with a spring of fresh water flowing between them. In one of the two are remnants of the original construction—ladles, bricks fashioned from iron, and other items. Each brick is a cubit and a half long by the same in width, and a span thick. They reported that they asked the inhabitants of those regions whether they had ever seen any of Gog and Magog. The people replied that on one occasion they had spotted some figures of them upon the battlements; a wind then rose and hurled them down toward the observers. When they examined them, they found that a man among them was a span— or half a span—tall. And Allah knows best.
Al-Wāqidī (2) said: In this very year Muʿāwiyah led the summer expedition against the Byzantine lands; with him were Ḥammād and several Companions. He marched forth, seized booty, and returned safely.
In that year Yazīd son of Muʿāwiyah and ʿAbd al-Malik son of Marwān were born.
That same year ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb conducted the ḥajj with the people, and his governors over the provinces were the same as in the preceding year.
It is related that in this year ʿUmar dismissed ʿAmmār from Kūfah after its people complained, saying, “He is not skilled in governance.” So he removed him and appointed Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī. The people of Kūfah protested, “We do not want him,” and they even voiced suspicions about his attendant. ʿUmar said, “Leave me to consider the matter,” and he went to a part of the mosque to reflect on whom he should appoint. Overcome by concern, he fell asleep. Al-Mughīrah came, stood guard over him until he awoke, and said, “O Commander of the Faithful, the affair that has weighed on you so heavily is indeed grave.”
ʿUmar replied, “And how could it not be, when the people of Kūfah are one hundred thousand—no governor satisfies them, and they satisfy no governor.” He then gathered the Companions and consulted them: should he assign over them a strong, strict ruler or a weak yet devout Muslim?
Al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah said, “O Commander of the Faithful, the strength of a strong man is for you and the Muslims, and his sternness is upon himself; whereas the weakness of a weak yet pious man will be against you and the Muslims, and his piety is for himself alone.”
Pleased with what he had said, ʿUmar told al-Mughīrah, “Go, for I have appointed you over Kūfah.” Thus he reinstated him after having earlier deposed him on the testimony of witnesses who had themselves previously been punished for slander—and Allah, exalted is He, knows best.
He dispatched Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī to Basrah. (Someone said to ʿAmmār, “Did the dismissal upset you?” He replied, “By Allah, the governorship never delighted me, but the dismissal has saddened me.” In another report it was ʿUmar himself, may Allah be pleased with him, who asked him that.) ʿUmar then intended to send Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ to Kūfah in place of al-Mughīrah, but death overtook him in 23 AH, as will be detailed later; for that reason he designated Saʿd as a member of the consultative council.
Al-Wāqidī said: In this year al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays campaigned in the lands of Khurāsān and advanced upon the town in which Yazdajird, the Persian king, was lodging. Ibn Jarīr (3) said: Sīf claimed that this occurred in 18 AH. I say: the first view is the more widely known, and Allah knows best.