—and he is likewise bound by close kinship to Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him. I do not imagine that the people of Iraq will leave him alone until they bring him out against you. If you gain power over him, then pardon him, for had I been the one to face him I would certainly have forgiven him.
As for Ibn al-Zubayr, he is a crafty, wily fox. If he comes out against you, there is no option but to deal decisively with him (1) unless he seeks a reconciliation from you; if he does, accept it. And spare the blood of your kinsmen as far as you are able.
Muʿāwiyah’s death took place with the appearance of the crescent of Rajab in this very year, according to Hishām ibn al-Kalbī. Others say it occurred in the middle of the month, as reported by al-Wāqidī; still others maintain that it was on Thursday, with eight days of the month remaining, as stated by al-Madāʾinī. Ibn Jarīr (2) said: they are unanimous that he died in that same Rajab.
His independent rule, counted from Jumādā of the year 41 AH, when al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī pledged allegiance to him at Adhruh (3), therefore lasted nineteen years and three months. He had previously served as governor of Syria for roughly twenty years, though other figures have been mentioned. His age at death is variously given as seventy-three, seventy-five, seventy-eight, or eighty-five. The rest of the discussion will follow at the end of his biography.
Abū al-Sukayn (4) Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā said: My uncle Abū Zaḥr ibn Ḥiṣn (5) related to me from his grandfather Ḥumayd ibn Munhib, who said:
Hind bint ʿUtbah was married to al-Fākih ibn al-Mughīrah al-Makhzūmī. Al-Fākih was one of the young nobles of Quraysh and owned a guest-house that people entered without permission. One day the house was empty; during the qāʾilah (midday siesta) (6) al-Fākih lay down there with Hind, then went out on some errand. A man who used to frequent the place came in; when he saw a woman inside, he turned and fled. Al-Fākih saw him leaving, so he went up to Hind, who was still reclining, kicked her with his foot and said, ‘Who was that man with you?’
She replied, ‘I saw no one; I was not even awake until you roused me.’
He said, ‘Go back to your father.’ People began to talk about her.
Her father said to her, ‘My daughter, people have spoken of you at length. Tell me what happened. If the man is truthful, I shall send someone to kill him and the gossip will cease; but if he is lying, I will take him before one of the soothsayers of Yemen.’ Hind swore to her father—by the oaths used in the pre-Islamic era—that the man was indeed lying about her.
ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah then said to al-Fākih, ‘Man, you have accused my daughter of a grave matter and of a disgrace that water itself cannot wash away; you have placed us among the Arabs in a position of humiliation and reproach. Had you not been related to me, I would have killed you—but I shall bring you before a soothsayer of Yemen ⦗7⦘. So take me to one of those soothsayers.’ Al-Fākih therefore set out accompanied by a party of his kinsmen from Banū Makhzūm