He then said (1): “ʿUmar ibn Shabbah related to me; Abū al-Ḥasan—meaning al-Madaʾinī—ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad related to us, from ʿAlī ibn Mujāhid, who reported that al-Shaʿbī said:
When ʿAlī had slain the people of Nahrawān, many groups rose against him, the outskirts of his domain broke away, the Banū Nājiya opposed him, Ibn al-Ḥaḍramī came to Basra, the mountain folk (2) rebelled, and the land-tax payers hoped to overthrow him. They drove Sahl ibn Ḥunayf out of Fārs—he was ʿAlī’s governor there—so Ibn ʿAbbās advised ʿAlī to appoint Ziyād ibn Abīh over it, and he did so. Ziyād set out for the province in the following year with a large force and subdued its people until they paid the kharāj (land tax).
Ibn Jarīr (3) and others said: The man who led the people in pilgrimage this year was Qutham ibn al-ʿAbbās, ʿAlī’s deputy in Mecca; his brother ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās was deputy over Yemen; their brother ʿAbd Allāh (ibn ʿAbbās) was deputy of Basra; and their brother Tamām ibn al-ʿAbbās was deputy of Madinah. Over Khurāsān was Khālid ibn Qarra al-Yarbūʿī, and some say Ibn Abzā. As for Egypt, it had settled firmly in Muʿāwiyah’s hand, and he appointed ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ over it. Allah knows best.
[Those who died in this year among the notable figures]
Sahl ibn Ḥunayf (6) ibn Wahb ibn al-ʿUkaym (7) ibn Thaʿlabah al-Anṣārī al-Awsī took part in Badr, stood firm on the Day of Uḥud, and was present at the remaining campaigns. He was a close companion of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and fought with him in all his battles except the Camel, for ʿAlī had left him as his governor over Madinah. Sahl ibn Ḥunayf died in 38 AH in Kūfah (8). ʿAlī offered the funeral prayer for him and pronounced the takbīr (declaring “Allāh is Greatest”) five times—and it is said six (9)—and remarked, “He was one of the people of Badr.” May Allah be pleased with him.
Ṣafwān ibn Bayḍāʾ (10), the brother of Sahl ibn Bayḍāʾ, witnessed every campaign with the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—and he died this same year, in the month of Ramaḍān (11), leaving no progeny.