appointing Maʿqil ibn Qays to command three thousand men. He marched against the rebels and placed Abū al-Ruwāʿ at the head of a vanguard of three hundred—equal in number to the Khārijites. Abū al-Ruwāʿ encountered them at a place called al-Madhar (1); battle was joined, and the Khārijites routed him. He charged again, but the Khārijites put him to flight once more—[yet none of his men was killed] (2).

The vanguard therefore held its ground opposite the enemy (3), awaiting the arrival of the overall commander, Maʿqil ibn Qays. He did not reach them until late in the day, after the sun had set. He dismounted, led his troops in prayer, and began praising Abū al-Ruwāʿ. Abū al-Ruwāʿ said to him, “Commander, they make fearsome charges; be the people’s bulwark (4) and order the cavalry to fight before you.”

Maʿqil replied, “You have spoken well.” Hardly had he uttered these words when the Khārijites charged Maʿqil and his men, and most of his troops scattered (5). Maʿqil thereupon dismounted and cried, “O Muslims, to the ground, to the ground!” A band of horsemen and brave fighters—nearly two hundred riders, among them Abū al-Ruwāʿ al-Shākirī—dismounted with him. Al-Mustawrid ibn ʿAllafah [the Khārijite leader] (6) charged with his followers, but they were met with lances and swords. Meanwhile some cavalry overtook the fleeing soldiers, rebuked and shamed them for their flight, and drove them back. The men returned to Maʿqil, who was fighting the Khārijites with the Anṣār (7) in fierce combat, the sides skirmishing deep into the night.

Maʿqil then drew up his forces, forming a right and a left wing, and said, “Do not leave your lines until morning, when we shall charge them.” But dawn had scarcely broken when the Khārijites had already slipped away. They withdrew along the road by which they had come, and Maʿqil set off in pursuit, placing Abū al-Ruwāʿ ahead with six hundred men.

They caught up with the rebels at sunrise. The Khārijites rose, singles dueled for a time, then they charged in one mass. Abū al-Ruwāʿ and his men stood firm; he kept goading, taunting, and reproaching them for their earlier flight while urging them to persevere. They held their ground with resolve until they drove the Khārijites back to their positions.

When the Khārijites saw this, they feared that Maʿqil would storm them and leave none alive, so they fled before him, crossed the Tigris, and entered the district of Bahrasīr (8). Abū al-Ruwāʿ pursued, closely followed by Maʿqil ibn Qays. The Khārijites reached the Old City, whereupon Shurayk ibn ʿUbayd—the deputy of al-Madāʾin—rode out against them, and Abū al-Ruwāʿ with his advance guard caught up with them.