and my saying, whenever the breast heaves and surges:
“Hold your ground—win praise, or else find rest.”

He said, “So I stood my ground.”

Muʿāwiyah then looked at ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀs on the Day of Ṣiffīn and said, “Today is for endurance, tomorrow for boasting.” ʿAmr replied, “You have spoken the truth.” Muʿāwiyah continued, “So attain the best of this world while I hope to attain the best of the Hereafter.”

This was also reported by Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Bakr, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥāṭib, from Muʿāwiyah.

Muʿāwiyah then sent word to Khālid ibn al-Muʿtamar, who was the commander of cavalry under ʿAlī, saying, “Join me as you are and you shall have the governorship of Iraq.” Khālid coveted the offer, and when Muʿāwiyah assumed authority (1)—he did in fact appoint him over Iraq, but Khālid, may Allah have mercy on him, never reached it—ʿAlī, on seeing that his right wing had regrouped, returned to the troops. He rebuked some, excused others, exhorted the people and steadied them. The Iraqis rallied, their ranks closed, and the millstone of war began to grind between the two forces. They pressed and repelled the Syrians; champions stepped forth for single combat, and many of the notables on both sides were killed. To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return.

It is said that among those slain that day (2) was ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, fighting with the Syrians. They differed as to which of the Iraqis killed him (3).

Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Dīzil relates that when ʿUbayd Allah came out that day as the commander of the battle line for Muʿāwiyah, he brought with him his two wives (4): Asmāʾ bint ʿAṭārid ibn Ḥājib al-Tamīmī and Baḥriyya bint Hāniʾ ibn Qabīṣa al-Shaybānī. The two women stationed themselves behind him on their mounts so they could watch his fighting, bravery, and strength. Confronting him from the Iraqi army (5) were the men of Rabīʿa of Kūfa, led by Ziyād ibn Khaṣafa al-Taymī. They charged him as one man (6) and killed him after his companions had fled. The warriors of Rabīʿa then dismounted and pitched a tent for their commander, but one of its ropes (7) lacked a peg, so they fastened it to the leg of ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar. His two wives came wailing until they reached him and wept over him. His wife Baḥriyya interceded with the commander, who released him (8) to them; they placed him in their howdah and carried him away. Dhu’l-Kalāʿ al-Ḥimyarī was also killed alongside him.

Al-Shaʿbī said: Concerning the death of ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, Kaʿb ibn Juʿayl (9) al-Taghlibī (10) recited:

Indeed, it is only for a horseman that eyes should weep:
At Ṣiffīn his cavalry turned back while he himself stood fast.