When the envoys reached ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, Marwan sent his two sons, ʿAbd al-Malik and ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, so that they might attend his deliberation on the matter, saying, “Let him hear what I have to say about this.” ʿAbd al-ʿAziz related: “When the envoys were seated before him, I began to recite those lines while he listened, though I did not make him aware of it. He then turned to me and said, ‘Tell your father that I say:

I am of a stock whose joints will not splinter
when the winds batter al-Qasbāʾ and al-ʿUshar;
I shall never yield to one who asks for other than truth
until the stone itself softens beneath the grinder’s tooth. (1)

ʿAbd al-ʿAziz continued: “I do not know which of the two replies was more astonishing! (2)”

Abu Maʿshar said: The specialists in historical accounts agree that al-Walid ibn ʿUtbah led the people in pilgrimage that year while serving as governor of the Two Sanctuaries. ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyad governed Basrah and Kufah; Khurasan and Sijistan were under Salm ibn Ziyad—brother of ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyad. Shurayḥ was judge of Kufah, and Hisham ibn Hubayrah was judge of Basrah.

[Those who died in this year among notable figures]

• al-Husayn ibn ʿAli (may Allah be pleased with him): together with a dozen or so members of his household, all of whom were slain at Karbala. Some say they were a little over twenty, as mentioned earlier. A group of stalwart warriors and horsemen were killed alongside them.

• Jabir (3) ibn ʿAtik ibn Qays (4), Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Ansari al-Salami. He fought at Badr and every battle thereafter, and on the Day of the Conquest he carried the banner of the Ansar (5), as stated by Ibn al-Jawzi. He adds that Jabir died this year at the age of seventy-one.

• Hamzah ibn ʿAmr al-Aslami (6): a distinguished Companion. It is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs that ʿAʾishah said, “He asked …"