ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, and others. He flogged each of them—some forty, others fifty, even sixty lashes—while ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUthmān al-Taymī and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUmar (1) ibn Sahl managed to slip away with a group of Makkan men.

Not long thereafter, a firm order arrived from Yazīd instructing ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd to track down Ibn al-Zubayr. Yazīd declared that he would not accept Ibn al-Zubayr’s pledge—even should he offer it—until he was brought before him in a jāmiʿah (fetter) of gold or silver, hidden beneath his burnus (hooded cloak) so that nothing would be seen of it save the clinking of the chain.

At that time Ibn al-Zubayr had forbidden al-Ḥārith ibn Khālid al-Makhzūmī—who served as ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd’s deputy in Makkah—from leading the prayer for the people there. This prompted ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd to resolve upon sending a military detachment against Ibn al-Zubayr.

ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd then consulted ʿAmr ibn al-Zubayr: “Whom should we dispatch to Makkah to fight him?”

ʿAmr ibn al-Zubayr replied, “You will find no one who can hurt him more than I.” So he was appointed to command the expedition, while the vanguard—seven hundred fighters—was placed under the leadership of Unays ibn ʿAmr al-Aslamī.

Al-Wāqidī, however, records that Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah himself made both appointments and informed ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd accordingly. Unays pitched camp at al-Jurf.

Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam advised ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd not to attack Makkah, suggesting that Ibn al-Zubayr be left alone there, “for before long, if he is not killed, he will die.” But ʿAmr’s brother, ʿAmr ibn al-Zubayr, retorted, “By Allah, we shall attack him—even if he is inside the very Kaʿbah—despite whoever may dislike it!”

Marwān answered, “By Allah, nothing would displease me more.” (2)

Unays set out, and ʿAmr ibn al-Zubayr followed with the remainder of the army—about two thousand men—until he encamped at al-Abṭaḥ. (Some say he stayed in his own residence near al-Ṣafā, while Unays halted at Dhū Ṭuwā.)

ʿAmr ibn al-Zubayr led the prayer for the people, and his brother ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr prayed behind him.

Subsequently ʿAmr sent word to his brother: “Fulfil the caliph’s oath, come to him with a gold or silver fetter around your neck, do not let the people shed one another’s blood, and fear Allah, for you are in a sacred land.”

ʿAbd Allah replied, “Your appointment is in the mosque.”

Then ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr dispatched ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah at the head of a detachment. They met Unays ibn ʿAmr al-Aslamī in battle, routed him decisively, and the men of ʿAmr ibn al-Zubayr scattered. ʿAmr himself took refuge in the house of Ibn ʿAlqamah, where he was granted protection by his brother ʿUbaydah ibn al-Zubayr.

When ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr learned of this he exclaimed, “Will you grant safety from the people’s rightful claims?!” He then ordered that ʿAmr receive a stroke for every stroke he had administered in Madinah—except in the cases of al-Mundhir ibn al-Zubayr and his son, for they refused to exact retribution. ʿAmr was thrown into prison together with a man named ʿĀrim, and the jail thereafter became known as ʿĀrim’s Prison.

It is also said that ʿAmr ibn al-Zubayr died under the lash; Allah knows best.