Muʿāwiyah then rose and, turning to her husband, said, “Go in, for I have calmed her nature and made her ready for you.” Ibn ʿĀmir entered, found her good-tempered, and satisfied his marital need of her. (1) May Allah have mercy upon them all.
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Muʿāwiyah’s judge—appointed back in the time of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—was Abū al-Dardāʾ. When death approached him he advised Muʿāwiyah to install Faḍālah ibn ʿUbayd; when Faḍālah died, Muʿāwiyah appointed Abū Idrīs al-Khawlānī.
The commander of his personal guard was a freedman named al-Mukhtār—some said Mālik—whose kunya was Abū al-Mukhāriq, a man of Ḥimyarite origin. Muʿāwiyah was the first to establish a caliphal bodyguard.
His chamberlain was Saʿd, his own freedman.
The chief of police (shurṭah) was Qays ibn Ḥamzah, followed by Zumayl ibn ʿAmr al-ʿUdhri, and then al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Qays al-Fihrī.
His principal administrator was Sarjūn ibn Manṣūr the Greek.
Muʿāwiyah was also the first to set up a chancery register for the official seal and to seal state documents.
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Among those reported to have died this year—namely, the year 60 AH—was Ṣafwān ibn al-Muʿaṭṭal (2) ibn Raḥḍah (3) ibn al-Muʾammal ibn Khuzāʿī, Abū ʿAmr. His first military engagement was the expedition of Muraysiʿ (4), in which he served with the rear guard. (5)
(1) Tarikh Ibn Asakir, Biographies of Women, p. 460.
(2) al-Tabaqat al-Khulafa’ (vol. 51, 181, 318); Tarikh Khulafa’ (p. 226); Musnad Ahmad (vol. 5:312); Tarikh al-Bukhari al-Kabir (vol. 4:305); Tarikh al-Saghir (43); al-Ma‘rifah wa al-Tarikh (vol. 1:309); al-Jarh wa al-Ta‘dil (vol. 4:420); Mashahir ‘Ulama’ al-Amsar (p. 171); Mu‘jam al-Tabarani al-Kabir (vol. 8:61, 63); al-Mustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn (vol. 3:518); al-Isti‘ab (vol. 2:725); Tarikh Ibn Asakir (vol. 8:174/A); Asad al-Ghabah (vol. 3:30); al-Lubab fi Tahdhib al-Ansab (vol. 1:531; al-Dhakwani); Mukhtasar Tarikh Dimashq (vol. 11:101); Tarikh al-Islam (vol. 2:27); Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’ (vol. 2:545); Mu‘jam al-Zawa’id (vol. 9:363); al-Isabah (vol. 5:152); Kanz al-‘Ummal (vol. 13:436); Tahdhib Ibn Asakir (vol. 6:440).
(3) The letter ṭ has been emended to read rukhsah (permission).
(4) “al-Muraysi‘” was a watercourse belonging to Banū Khuzā‘ah, at which the Prophet (peace be upon him) fought Banu al-Muṭlaṭiq in the year 5 AH (though some place it at another time); this engagement is also called the Battle of Banu al-Muṭlaṭiq. See Ibn Hisham, Sīrat Rasul Allah (2:289) and other sīrah works.
(5) “saqat al-jaysh” denotes the army’s rearguard; “al-sā’iqah” (pl. of sā’iq) refers to those who guide and follow the raiding army to protect it (al-Lisan, s.v. “sawq”).