ʿUlayyah ⦗1⦘ transmitted, from Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, on the authority of his father: “Al-Ḥasan died at the age of forty-seven.” Several others have said the same, and this is the soundest report.

The prevailing view is that he died in the year 49 AH, as we have already noted. Others said he died in 50 AH; some said 51 AH; others said 58 AH. Allah, exalted is He, knows best.

Then the year 50 AH began.

In that year, according to one opinion, Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī passed away, though the correct view, to be mentioned later, is that he died in 52 AH.

That same year Muʿāwiyah led the people in the pilgrimage, although some said it was his son Yazīd. Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ was governor of Madinah, while Ziyād held authority over Kūfah, Baṣrah, the eastern provinces, Sijistān, Fārs, Sind, and India.

During this year the Banū Nahshal brought a complaint against the poet al-Farazdaq before Ziyād, whereupon al-Farazdaq fled to Madinah. The cause was that al-Farazdaq had satirized Muʿāwiyah and alluded to him in a poem; Ziyād therefore pursued him relentlessly. Al-Farazdaq sought refuge with Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ and composed verses about the affair. He continued moving between Mecca and Madinah until Ziyād died, after which he returned to his homeland. Ibn Jarīr ⦗2⦘ recounts the story at length.

Ibn Jarīr also recorded among the events of this year what al-Wāqidī transmitted: Yāḥyā ibn Saʿīd ibn Dīnār told me, from his father, that Muʿāwiyah had resolved to move the pulpit (minbar) of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from Madinah to Damascus and to take the staff ⦗3⦘ that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to hold while preaching, so that Muʿāwiyah might stand on the pulpit holding it. But Abū Hurayrah and Jābir ibn ʿAbdillāh said, “O Commander of the Believers, we remind you before Allah not to do this; it is neither proper nor permissible to remove the pulpit from the place where the Messenger of Allah ﷺ set it, or to take his staff out of Madinah.” Muʿāwiyah therefore abandoned the idea, though he added six steps to the pulpit ⦗4⦘.

Al-Wāqidī further narrated that during his caliphate ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān contemplated and firmly intended the same. He was told, “Muʿāwiyah once resolved upon this but then abandoned it, and when he so much as jostled the pulpit and sought to uproot it, the sun was eclipsed ⦗5⦘.” So ʿAbd al-Malik desisted.

Later, when al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik came on pilgrimage, he too wished to do so, but was told, “Muʿāwiyah and your father both intended it and then refrained.”